to the acceptance of that fact, the better it will be for
you in every way. If I have found the position of companion to Lady
Chillington not quite unendurable, why should it be found so by you?
Besides, her ladyship has many claims upon you--upon your best services
in every way. Every farthing that has been spent upon you from the day
you were born to the present time has come out of her purse. Except mere
life itself, you owe everything to her. And even if this were not so,
there are other and peculiar ties between you and her, of which you know
nothing (although you may possibly be made acquainted with them
by-and-by), which are in themselves sufficient to lead her to expect
every reasonable obedience at your hands. You must clothe yourself with
good temper, dear Janet, as with armour of proof. You must make up your
mind beforehand that however harsh her ladyship's remarks may sometimes
seem, you will not answer her again. Do this, and her words will soon be
powerless to sting you. Instead of feeling hurt or angry, you will be
inclined to pity her--to pray for her. And she deserves pity, Janet, if
any woman in this sinful world ever did. To have severed of her own
accord those natural ties which other people cherish so fondly; to see
herself fading into a dreary old age, and yet of her own free will to
shut out the love that should attend her by the way and strew flowers on
her path; to have no longer a single earthly hope or pleasure beyond
those connected with each day's narrow needs or with the heaping
together of more money where there was enough before--in all this there
is surely room enough for pity, but none for any harsher feeling."

"Dear Sister Agnes, your words make me thoroughly ashamed of myself,"
said Janet, with tearful earnestness. "Arrogance ill becomes one like me
who have been dependent on the charity of others from the day of my
birth. Whatever task may be set me either by Lady Chillington or by you,
I will do it to the best of my ability. Will you for this once pardon my
petulance and ill-temper, and I will strive not to offend you again?"

"I am not offended, darling; far from it. I felt sure that you had
good-sense and good-feeling enough to see the matter in its right light
when it was properly put before you. But have you no curiosity as to the
nature of your new duties?"

"Very little at present, I must confess," answered Janet, with a wan
smile. "The chief thing for which I care just now