was 'proper to have
one.' So how can I believe Granny when she says that it is not my name?
Or at least that she has forgotten whether I had any other? If she had
really forgotten all that, wouldn't she have forgotten my existence
altogether, and not have taken the trouble to hunt me out, and to take
me away from the place where she found me?"

"Where was that?" asked Max.

The girl hung her head, and answered in a lower voice, as if her reply
were a distasteful, discreditable admission:

"I was bookkeeper at a hotel--a wretched place, where I was miserable,
very miserable."

Max was more puzzled than ever.

Every fresh detail about herself and her life made him wonder the more
why she was refined, educated. Presently she looked up, and caught the
expression on his face.

"That was after Miss Aldridge died," she said, with a sigh. "I had lived
with her ever since I was a little girl. I can hardly remember anything
before that--except--some things, little things, which I would rather
forget." And her face clouded again. "She was a very old lady, who had
been rich once, and poor after that. She had kept a school before she
had me; and after that, I was the school. I had to do all the learning
of a schoolful. Do you see?"

"Ah," said Max, "_now_ I understand! And didn't she ever let you know
who placed you with her?"

"She said it was my grandmother," answered Carrie, doubtfully.

"This grandmother? The one you call Granny?"

"I don't know. You see, Mrs. Higgs never turned up till about ten months
ago, long after Miss Aldridge had died. She died the Christmas before
last."

"And how did you get to the hotel?"

"I had to do something. Miss Aldridge had only her annuity. I had done
everything for her, except the very hardest work, that she wouldn't let
me do; and when she died, suddenly, I had to find some way of living.
And somebody knew of the hotel. So I went."

"Where was it?"

"Oh, not so very far from here. It was a dreadful place. They treated me
fairly well because I am quick at accounts, so I was useful. But, oh, it
wasn't a place for a girl at all."

"But why didn't you get a better one? Anything would have been better,
surely, than coming here, to live like this!"

Max was earnest, impassioned even. The girl smiled mournfully as she
just caught his eyes for a moment, and then looked at the fire again.

"You don't understand," she said, simply. "How should you? I should have
had no reference