ow of each other out of school hours. The
first school I was in--a much smaller one by the sea,--we were so
friendly and jolly, just like sisters, but in the big towns every one
seems detached. It's hard on the new-comers. I don't know _what_ I
should have done if I hadn't a brother's house to go to on Sundays and
holiday afternoons. Except through him, I haven't made a single friend.
At the other place people used to ask us out, and we had quite a good
time; but in town people are engrossed in their own affairs. They
haven't time to go outside."

"I wonder you ever left that school! What made you want to change?"

"Oh, well! London was a lure. Most people want to come to London, and
I had my brother. Do tell me, another time, if you are not going away.
It worries me to think of you being alone. How did you come to get this
post, if you have no connections in town?"

"Miss Farnborough came to stay in Brussels, in the _pension_ which my
mother and I had made headquarters for some time. She offered me the
post."

Miss Bates stared with distended eyes. "How long had she known you?"

"About a fortnight, I think. I don't remember exactly."

"And you had never seen her before? She knew nothing about you?"

"She had never seen me before, but she _did_ know something about me.
Professionally speaking, she knew all there was to know."

"That accounts for it," said Miss Bates enigmatically. "I wondered--
You are not a bit the usual type."

"I hope that doesn't mean that I can't teach?"

Miss Bates laughed, and shrugged her thin shoulders. "Oh, no. I should
say, personally, that you teach very well. That play was
extraordinarily good. It absolutely sounded like French. Can't think
how you knocked the accent into them! English girls are so self-
conscious; they are ashamed of letting themselves go. Mademoiselle
thinks that your classes are too like play; but it doesn't matter what
she thinks, so long as--" she paused a moment, lowered her voice, and
added impressively, "Keep on the right side of Miss Farnborough. You
are all right so long as you are in her good books. Better be careful."

"What do you mean?" Claire stared, puzzled and discomposed, decidedly
on the offensive; but Miss Bates refused a definite answer.

"Nothing!" she said tersely. "Only--people who take sudden fancies, can
take sudden dislikes, too. Ask no more questions, but don't say I
didn't warn you, that's all!"

She lif