upshot of this was that Miss Egerton went sorrowfully
away, for the doctor absolutely forbade the girls to move from their
present quarters for another week or fortnight. At the end of that
time he said Daisy would be better, and might have got over the
foolish fancy which now troubled her, but for the time being she must
be yielded to, and at any risk kept easy in her mind.

Miss Egerton went very sorrowfully away, and upstairs to the rooms she
meant to make so pretty.

"There is no special hurry about the furnishing, Bridget," she said to
her servant. "Little Miss Daisy is too ill to be moved for the
present."

"The men have come round to be paid for the bits of furniture,
leastways, ma'am," answered Bridget, "and the foreman from the other
shop is standing in the hall, and wants to know if you'll settle with
him now, or if he shall call again."

"I'll settle with him now, Bridget. Dear Miss Primrose left some money
in my charge yesterday morning, and I can pay the man at once."

One of the rules of Miss Egerton's life was never to leave a bill
unpaid for twenty-four hours, if possible--she hated accounts, and
always paid ready money for everything. She now ran downstairs, and
unlocking her desk, took out Mr. Danesfield's envelope. Primrose had
begged of her to open it when the bills came in, and pay for the
furniture--Primrose seemed to have an absolute prejudice against
unfastening that envelope herself.

Miss Egerton opened it slowly now, smiling as she did so at the quaint
inscription on the cover. A folded sheet of paper lay within--she
spread the paper before her, expecting to see the three five-pound
notes folded within its leaves--blankness and emptiness alone met her
view--no money was inside the envelope--the whole thing was a cruel
fraud. The poor governess fairly gasped for breath--there lay the bill
for six pounds nineteen shillings which she had incurred, making sure
that she could meet it out of Primrose's money. Primrose had spoken so
confidently about her little nest-egg, and behold, she had not
any!--the envelope was a fraud--the girl had been subjected to a cruel
practical joke.

Miss Egerton was extremely poor--it was with the utmost difficulty she
could make two ends meet. She thought hard for a minute--then her brow
cleared, and she rose to her feet.

"Better I than those orphan girls!" she said, under her breath, and
then she went to her desk again, and filled in a cheque for the
amou