'My dear child,' the Doctor observed, laughing,'your simplicity is touching. Make that remark, in that tone, and with that expression of countenance, to Mr Townsend, and take a note of his answer. It won't be polite - it will express irritation; and I shall be glad of that, as it will put me in the right; unless, indeed - which is perfectly possible - you should like him the better for being rude to you.'

'He will never be rude to me,' said Catherine, gently.'Tell him what I say, all the same.'

She looked at her father, and her quiet eyes filled with tears.

'I think I will see him, then,' she murmured, in her timid voice.'Exactly as you choose.' And he went to the door and opened it

for her to go out. The movement gave her a terrible sense of his turning her off.

'It will be only once, for the present,' she added, lingering a moment.

'Exactly as you choose,' he repeated, standing there with his hand on the door.'I have told you what I think. If you see him, you will be an ungrateful, cruel child; you will have given your old father the greatest pain of his life.'

This was more than the poor girl could bear; her tears over - flowed, and she moved toward her grimly consistent parent with a pitiful cry. Her hands were raised in supplication, but he sternly evaded this appeal. Instead of letting her sob out her misery on his shoulder, he simply took her by the arm and directed her course across the threshold, closing the door gently but firmly behind her. After he had done so, he remained listening. For a long time there was no sound; he knew that she was standing outside. He was sorry for her, as I have said; but he was so sure he was right. At last he heard her move away, and then her footstep creaked faintly upon the stairs.

The Doctor took several turns round his study, with his hands in his pockets, and a thin sparkle, possibly of irritation, but partly also of something like humor, in his eye.'By love,' he said to himself,'I believe she will stick - I believe she will stick!' And this idea of Catherine'sticking' appeared to have a comical side, and to offer a prospect of entertainment. He determined, as he said to himself, to see it out.