they just worship propriety and the
correct, and have the greatest notion of the importance of their
neighbours' eyes. It is a perfect treat to be out alone, and not have
to regard them--this is the first time I have been out alone since I
have been here."

"Rather hard; I thought every one had--er--time off."

"An evening out?" she suggested. "I believe the number of evenings out
is regulated by the number of applications for the post when vacant;
cooks could get more evenings than housemaids, and nursery governesses
might naturally expect a minus number, if that were possible. There
would be lots of applications for my post, so I can't expect many
evenings; however, I have thought of a plan by which I can get out
again and again!"

"What will you do?" he inquired.

"I shall get Denah--she is one of the girls who went for the
excursion--to come and teach Mevrouw a new crochet pattern after
dinner of a day. It will take ages, Mevrouw learns very slowly, and
Denah will know better than to hurry matters; she admires Mijnheer
Joost, the Van Heigens' son, and she will be only too delighted to
have an excuse to come to the house."

"And if she is there you will have a little leisure? Some one always
has to be on duty? Is that it?"

Julia laughed softly. "If she is there," she said, "she will want me
out of the way, and I am not satisfactorily out of the way when I am
anywhere on the premises. Not that Mijnheer Joost talks to me when I
am there, or would talk to her if I were not; she just mistrusts every
unmarried female by instinct."

"A girl's instinct in such matters is not always wrong," Rawson-Clew
observed.

But if he thought Julia had any mischievous propensities of that sort
he was mistaken. "I should not think of interfering in such an
affair," she said; "why, it would be the most suitable thing in the
world, as suitable as it is for my handsome and able sister to marry
the ambitious and able nephew of a bishop; they are the two halves
that make one whole. Denah and Joost would live a perfectly ideal
pudding life; he with his flowers--that is his work, you know; he
cares for nothing besides, really--and she with her housekeeping. He
with a little music for relaxation, she with her neighbours and
accomplishments; it would be as neat and complete and suitable as
anything could be."

"And that commends it to you? I should have imagined that what was
incongruous and odd pleased you better."

"I like that