The greatest of all barriers, he felt assured, would be Kate herself.

He had seen enough of her in that last interview, when his tender pleading had restored the harmonies between herself and Harry, to know that she was no longer the child whose sweetness he loved, or the girl whose beauty he was proud of--but the woman whose judgment he must satisfy.

Nor could he see that any immediate change in her mental attitude was likely to occur.

Some time had now passed since Harry's arrival at his house, and every day the boy had begged for admission at Kate's door, only to be denied by Ben, the old butler.

His mother, who had visited her exiled son almost daily, had then called on her, bearing two important pieces of news--one being that after hours of pleading Harry had consented to return to Moorlands and beg his father's pardon, provided that irate gentleman should send for him, and the other the recounting of a message of condolence and sympathy which Willits had sent Harry from his sick-bed, in which he admitted that he had been greatly to blame.