I will not even say that when I have sat beside her, heard her low soft voice, and watched the tremor of that lovely mouth vibrating with wit, or tremulous with feeling, I have been all indifference; but this I will say, she shall not number _me_ amongst the victims of her fascinations; and when she counts the trinkets on her wrist that record the hearts she has broken--a pastime I once witnessed--not one of them shall record the initial of Dick Kearney.' [Illustration: Kate, still dressed, had thrown herself on the bed, and was sound asleep] With these brave words he mounted the narrow stair and knocked at his sister's door.

No answer coming, he knocked again, and after waiting a few seconds, he slowly opened the door and saw that Kate, still dressed, had thrown herself on her bed, and was sound asleep.

The table was covered with account-books and papers; tax-receipts, law-notices, and tenants' letters lay littered about, showing what had been the task she was last engaged on; and her heavy breathing told the exhaustion which it had left behind it.
'I wish I could help her with her work,' muttered he to himself, as a pang of self-reproach shot through him.

This certainly should have been his own task rather than hers; the question was, however, Could he have done it?
And this doubt increased as he looked over the long column of tenants' names, whose holdings varied in every imaginable quantity of acres, roods, and perches.

Besides these there were innumerable small details of allowances for this and compensation for that.