rue looked at her with interest. She was in a shabby blue serge coat
and skirt, but she wore a bunch of violets in her buttonhole. Her hat
was dark blue, her gloves were white worsted ones, and her face was
bright and smiling. Her whole appearance was pleasant. When she got
up to go, she held out her hands to them.

'Come on. I'll show you where governesses can be found, and perhaps
help you choose one. It will be great fun!'

True and Bobby followed her delightedly. The old lady shook her head
after them with a sigh.

'The irresponsibility of men! It's to be hoped that young person won't
decoy them away and rob them. I think we ought to have handed them
over to the police to see them safely home.'

The man at the farther end of the 'bus spoke for the first time. As
the old lady addressed him he was obliged to do so.

'The rising generation can soon dispense with their fathers,' he said.
'Those are small specimens of a type.'

Meanwhile the girl in blue serge had walked True and Bobby up a side
street, and in at an office door.

'This is one of the best registries in this part of the world,' she
said. 'Now we'll tell Mrs. Marsh what you want, and see if she knows
of one. When I get the certificates I am working for, I mean to come
to her to find me a situation.'

An elderly woman behind a table looked up at them as they entered. The
girl spoke to her brightly.

'Good morning, Mrs. Marsh. I have brought you two young people who
want a governess. I don't know whether they can pay your fees. But
perhaps you can make that right with their father.'

'We want a very cheap governess,' said True, looking up anxiously into
Mrs. Marsh's face. 'Dad is very poor, but he'll pay her something.'

'I think your father will have to write me some particulars,' said Mrs.
Marsh, looking at the small children with some amusement.

Oh, we'll be able to choose her,' cried Bobby. 'She must be 'ticularly
kind and nice.'

'And what will she have to do?'

Bobby looked at True.

'_You_ say. She'll teach me to read, won't she?'

True tried hard to put on a grown-up air. She did not like Mrs.
Marsh's amused smile at all.

'Margot says we ought to have a governess to teach us in the morning,
and we shan't do any lessons in the afternoon; and she mustn't stay to
dinner, because Margot says she doesn't know how to cook for us; we
seem to eat more than we ought to. And she mustn't have a cross face,
and mustn't