mine, was Mary Ellen, and she
married a very worthy young man, an assistant in a bank at Bradford.
Yes! She had two lovely little boys. It was very good of you to come
and see me, my dear, and I should like very much to have you with me. I
am reading a most interesting biography at present, and I take in
several periodicals. Yes! Perhaps you could come on Monday morning.
At eleven o'clock."

Three months' experience of answering advertisements had left Norah so
little prepared for this speedy acceptance of her services, that she was
surprised into protest.

"But I do not wish to hurry your decision! Perhaps you would like to
have references, or to consult your--"

"No, love! I have no one to consider but myself, and you have such a
strong resemblance to Mary Ellen! It is in this way: My nephew has been
in the habit of going to church with me. I cannot hear very much; but I
like to go all the same, and John was in the habit of repeating the
sermon to me in the afternoon. Yes! He is a very estimable-minded
young man, and very good to his old aunt! It was he who suggested that
I should advertise for a companion. He said it would be so lonely for
me if he ever went out of town, but he will be very pleased when I tell
him that I have found someone so like Mary Ellen. He has such a dislike
for these new-fashioned, strong-minded girls who are always calling out
for their rights. I am sure, my dear, that you have too much sense for
such notions. You look far too pretty and amiable. Now about the
little matter of remuneration! ... Would half a crown a day be
agreeable?"

Norah gasped again, with a sensation as if a pail of water had been
suddenly douched over her head. Half a crown a day! It was what people
paid to charwomen. Good Gracious! She tried to calculate what sum was
represented by seven half-crowns, and the delay which took place before
she succeeded in settling the point convinced her that, after all, she
would be wise to accept Mrs Baker's offer, since in another situation
she might possibly be required to teach arithmetic and mathematics! She
perjured herself, therefore, by declaring that half a crown would be
very agreeable indeed, and returned home undecided between hilarity and
depression.

For the next three weeks Norah earned her half-crown a day with equal
satisfaction to herself and her employer. The biographies were a trifle
dull, it is true, and the harmonium decidedly creaky