"But he must have paid for the cab—I will look out of the window—yes, it has gone—and I had the money ready in case you forgot!" 

 Harry could have beaten himself, but he could not tell his mother just then that he had arrived without a penny, and that Lowndes had not only paid the cabman, but must be pounds out of pocket by him on the day. 

 "Don't you like him, dear?" said his mother, divining that he did not. 

 "I do and I don't," said Harry bluntly. 

 "He has been so kind to me!" 

 "Yes; he is kind enough." 

 "Did you not think it good of him to rush from Scotland to meet you and then bring you all the way to your—new—home?" 

 "It was almost too good. I would have been happier alone," said Harry, forgetting all else in his bitter remembrance of some speeches Lowndes had made. 

 "That is not very grateful, my boy. You little know what he has been to me!" 

 "Has he done so much?" 

 "Everything—all through! You see what I have saved from the wreck? It was he who went to bid for me at the sale!" 

 "You bought them in, mother?" 

 "Yes; I could accept nothing from the creditors. That is the one point on which I quarrel with Mr. Lowndes; but we have agreed to differ. Why do you dislike him, Harry?" 

 "Mother, don't you know?" 

 "I cannot imagine." 

 "He thinks the worst—about my father." 

 It was the first mention of the father's name. Mrs. Ringrose was silent for many moments. 

 "I know he does," she said at length. 

 "Then how can you bear the sight of him?" her boy burst out. 

 "It is no worse than all the world thinks." 

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