'
'No, no,' said Kitty, quickly, laying her hand on his arm, 'I will
tell you all about it, Mr Wopples; but you must be a friend to me,
for I sadly need one.'
'I will be your friend,' said the actor, emphatically, taking her
arm and walking slowly down the street; 'tell me how I find you
thus.'
'You won't tell anyone if I do?' said Kitty, imploringly.
'On the honour of a gentleman,' answered Wopples, with grave
dignity.
Kitty told him how she had left Ballarat, but suppressed the name of
her lover, as she did not want any blame to fall on him. But all the
rest she told freely, and when Mr Wopples heard how on that night
she had left the man who had ruined her, he swore a mighty oath.
'Oh, vile human nature,' he said, in a sonorous tone, 'to thus
betray a confiding infant! Where,' he continued, looking inquiringly
at the serene sky, 'where are the thunderbolts of Heaven that they
fall not on such?'
No thunderbolt making its appearance to answer the question, Mr
Wopples told Kitty he would take her home to the family, and as they
were just starting out on tour again, she could come with them.
'But will Mrs Wopples receive me?' asked Kitty, timidly.
'My dear,' said the actor, gravely, 'my wife is a good woman, and a
mother herself, so she can feel for a poor child like you, who has
been betrayed through sheer innocence.'
'You do not despise me?' said Kitty, in a low voice.
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