ts manifestation? The events of the world will now have
significance for us, inasfar only as they are the letters out of which
we may read the Idea of man. We can never again believe with the
vulgar--"

"Oh, my goodness!" cried Norah to herself. "To think that it should
have come to this! I'm vulgar! I must be; and I never knew it! I
don't understand one _word_ she is saying. If I ever get out of this
room alive--"

She sank still farther back in her chair and stared at Miss Mellor with
fascinated, unblinking eyes, like a poor little rabbit beneath the spell
of the boa-constrictor. In a dim, far-off way, she heard the stream of
unmeaning eloquence, but her one supreme longing was to bring the
interview to an end, to crawl home and lie down upon the sofa, and put
wet cloths on her head, and go to sleep and forget all about her
sufferings... Suddenly the dock chimed, and she awoke to the fact that
it was over half an hour since she had entered the room. She rose to
her feet, and was about to falter forth apologies for her ignorance,
when, to her astonishment, the advanced lady bore down upon her, and
grasping her hand in fervent fashion, declared that she was enchanted to
have discovered a kindred spirit, and that, suffering as she did from
constant coldness and misunderstanding, it was soul-refreshing to meet
with one whose mind was as her own, and that she would henceforth live
in anticipation of their afternoon communions!

For one moment Norah was stupefied with amazement, the next her eyes
shone, and the dimples dipped in her cheeks, for with a flash of
intuition she had grasped the significance of the situation! What the
advanced lady really desired was not a companion who would talk and air
her own opinions, but a dummy figure to whom she herself could lay down
the law; a target at which she could let fly the arrows of her
newly-acquired wisdom. An occasional murmur of assent would therefore
be the extent of the companion's duties, which feat Norah felt herself
well able to accomplish.

For the next few months the enterprising Miss Boyce fulfilled her two
daily engagements with equal satisfaction to herself and her employers.
In the morning, within the fusty confines of Number 8 Berrington Square,
she read aloud extracts from antiquated volumes which had been the
favourites of the old lady's youth; likewise retrimmed caps, sprayed the
leaves of the india-rubber plant, retrieved dropped stitches in