As they drove along, Mrs Villiers delicately refrained from asking
Kitty any questions about her flight, seeing that a stranger was
present, but determined to find out all about it when she got her
alone down at St Kilda.
Kitty, on her part, was thinking how to baffle Madame's inquiries.
She knew she would be questioned closely by her, and resolved not to
tell more than she could help, as she, curiously enough--considering
how he had treated her--wished to shield Vandeloup. But she still
cherished a tender feeling for the man she loved, and had Vandeloup
asked her to go back and live with him, would, no doubt, have
consented. The fact was, the girl's nature was becoming slightly
demoralised, and the Kitty who sat looking at Madame Midas now--
though her face was as pretty, and her eyes as pure as ever--was not
the same innocent Kitty that had visited the Pactolus, for she had
eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, and was already cultured in worldly
wisdom. Madame, of course, believed that Kitty had gone from
Ballarat straight on to the stage, and never thought for a moment
that for a whole year she had been Vandeloup's mistress, so when
Kitty found this out--as she very soon did--she took the cue at
once, and asserted positively to Madame that she had been on the
stage for eighteen months.
'But how is it,' asked Madame, who believed her fully, 'that I could
not find you?'
'Because I was up the country all the time,' replied Kitty, quickly,
'and of course did not act under my real name.
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