'Kitty, my dear,' said Madame, gravely, 'I have been looking for you
vainly for a year--but I have found you at last.'
Kitty's breast was full of conflicting emotions; she thought that
Madame knew all about her intimacy with Vandeloup, and that she
would speak severely to her. Mrs Villiers' next words, however,
reassured her.
'You left Ballarat to go on the stage, did you not?' she said
kindly, looking at the girl; 'why did you not come to me?--you knew
I was always your friend.'
'Yes, Madame,' said Kitty, putting out her hand and averting her
head, 'I would have come to you, but I thought you would stop me
from going.'
'My dear child,' replied Madame, 'I thought you knew me better than
that; what theatre are you at?'
'She's with us,' said Miss Fanny, who had been staring at this
grave, handsomely-dressed lady who had alighted from such a swell
carriage; 'we are the Wopples Family.'
'Ah!' said Mrs Villiers, thinking, 'I remember, you were up at
Ballarat last year. Well, Kitty, will you and your friend drive down
to St Kilda with me, and I'll show you my new house?'
Kitty would have refused, for she was afraid Madame Midas would
perhaps send her back to her father, but the appealing looks of
Fanny Wopples, who had never ridden in a carriage in her life, and
was dying to do so, decided her to accept. So they stepped into the
carriage, and Mrs Villiers told the coachman to drive home.
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