“You need not be, as you will hear in a moment; and, at any rate, I don’t look much like an object of pity,” he said, with a laugh.  “I was on the docks one winter evening, wet, dark, and late, when I saw a man robbed of his purse.  I chased the thief, collared the purse, and took it back to its owner, who proved to be one of the richest merchants of the town.  He wanted to give me money.  I told him that I wanted work.  I told him, too, about my damaged reputation, and my inability to clear myself.”

“Did he believe you?” she asked eagerly.

“He did; or if he didn’t then, he did afterwards.  Years later he admitted that for the first twelve months of my time with him he paid to have me watched; but that was really to my advantage, as I came scatheless through the ordeal.”

“It was really good of him to take so much interest in you,” said Katherine.

“So I have always felt,” Mr. Selincourt answered.  “Christopher Ray stood to me for employer and friend.  In course of time he became still more, for he gave me his daughter, Mary’s mother, and when he died he left me his wealth.”

“It was not all a misfortune for you, then, that for a time you had to live under a cloud,” said Katherine eagerly.

“Rightly speaking it was not misfortune, but good fortune that came to me when I lost position and character at one blow.  I have often thought that perhaps I owed my downfall to someone who either said about me what was not true, or kept silent when a word might have put me straight; but, if so, that person was my very good friend, and it is to him, or to her, that I owe the first step to the success which came after.”

Poor Katherine!  One desperate effort she made after self-control, but it was of no use, and, covering her face with her hands, she burst into tears.

CHAPTER XXV

The Rift in the Clouds

“My dear child, I can never forgive myself for having made you cry like this!” exclaimed Mr. Selincourt; for Katherine was sobbing as vigorously as she did most other things, and he was genuinely distressed.

“Oh, I am glad to cry!  I mean, I am so happy, because it came out all right.  And oh, please do forgive me for having been so foolish!  I wonder whatever you must think of me!” and, heaving a deep sigh of relief, Katherine sat up and wiped her eyes.

“I think you are a very charming and tender-hearted young lady.  But I shall have to be very careful how I tell you sad things, if this is the way you are going to receive my confidences,” he said, with a rather rueful air; for she was by no means the sort of girl he would have expected to indulge in the weakness of tears.

Katherine laughed.  She was desperately ashamed of having been so foolish; but those words of gratitude, spoken by Mr. Selincourt about the person who had wronged him were like balm to her sore heart.  It was as if her father had confessed his fault, and had been forgiven on earth as well as in heaven.