irabel. We all heard he was at Brighton for
his health, and was going to preach. Didn't we cram the church! As
to describing him, I give it up. He is the only little man I ever
admired--hair as long as mine, and the sort of beard you see in
pictures. I wish I had his fair complexion and his white hands. We were
all in love with him--or with his voice, which was it?--when he began
to read the commandments. I wish I could imitate him when he came to
the fifth commandment. He began in his deepest bass voice: 'Honor thy
father--' He stopped and looked up to heaven as if he saw the rest of
it there. He went on with a tremendous emphasis on the next word. '_And_
thy mother,' he said (as if that was quite a different thing) in a
tearful, fluty, quivering voice which was a compliment to mothers in
itself. We all felt it, mothers or not. But the great sensation was when
he got into the pulpit. The manner in which he dropped on his knees,
and hid his face in his hands, and showed his beautiful rings was, as a
young lady said behind me, simply seraphic. We understood his celebrity,
from that moment--I wonder whether I can remember the sermon."

"You needn't attempt it on my account," Emily said.

"My dear, don't be obstinate. Wait till you hear him."

"I am quite content to wait."

"Ah, you're just in the right state of mind to be converted; you're in
a fair way to become one of his greatest admirers. They say he is so
agreeable in private life; I am dying to know him.--Do I hear a ring at
the bell? Is somebody else coming to see you?"

The servant brought in a card and a message.

"The person will call again, miss."

Emily looked at the name written on the card.

"Mrs. Ellmother!" she exclaimed.

"What an extraordinary name!" cried Francine. "Who is she?"

"My aunt's old servant."

"Does she want a situation?"

Emily looked at some lines of writing at the back of the card. Doctor
Allday had rightly foreseen events. Rejected by the doctor, Mrs.
Ellmother had no alternative but to ask Emily to help her.

"If she is out of place," Francine went on, "she may be just the sort of
person I am looking for."

"You?" Emily asked, in astonishment.

Francine refused to explain until she got an answer to her question.
"Tell me first," she said, "is Mrs. Ellmother engaged?"

"No; she wants an engagement, and she asks me to be her reference."

"Is she sober, honest, middle-aged, clean, steady, good-tempered,
industrious?" F