manner as she crossed the room towards him. Without any exchange of
words she divined that he took more interest in herself than in any of
the other applicants, and also that for some mysterious reason he was
sorry for her, and imagined that she was making a mistake, and the smile
was meant at once as thanks and reassurement.

They walked together down the slippery floor, such a slippery, shiny
floor, that one felt as if skates would be almost more in keeping than
boots, and finally arrived at a cosy little room at the back of the
house, where a tired-looking gentleman and a bored-looking lady stood
ready to receive her. They looked at each other, they looked at the
butler, they looked again at the little pig-tailed figure, with short
skirts and beaming, childlike face, and their faces became blank with
astonishment.

"Bon jour, mademoiselle!" began the lady uncertainly.

"Good day to ye!" said Pixie in response, and at that the bewilderment
became more marked than ever. The lady sat down and drew a long, weary
sigh. She was handsome and young, but very, very thin, and looked as if
she had hardly enough energy to go through any more interviews.

"Then--then you are not French after all?"

"I forgot!" sighed Pixie sadly. She sat down and hitched her chair
nearer the fire in sociable fashion. "It's just like me to make up me
mind, and then forget at the right moment! I intended to let you hear
me speak French, before I broke it to you that I'm Irish and all my
people before me."

"I almost think I should have discovered it for myself!" said the lady,
looking as if she were not quite sure whether to be amused or irritated.
"But if that is so, what is your business here? I advertised for a
French lady."

"You did. I read the advertisement, but if I'm not French I'm just as
good, for I've just last month returned from Paris, and the lady where I
was staying was most particular about my accent. Over in Ireland I was
so quick in picking up the brogue that I had to be sent to England to
get rid of it, and I was just as handy with another language. If I'd
remembered to answer you in French, you would never have known the
difference between me and those old ladies who came in first."

"Old ladies, indeed! I'll never advertise again if this is what it
means!" sighed the lady _sotto voce_. She looked across the room, met a
gleam of amusement in her husband's eyes, and said in a tolerant voice,
"Well, then, l