again.

"The person doesn't wish to intrude, miss; it will be quite sufficient
if you will send a message by me."

Emily crossed the room to the door.

"Come in, Mrs. Ellmother," she said. "You have been too long away
already. Pray come in."

CHAPTER XXIX. "BONY."

Mrs. Ellmother reluctantly entered the room.

Since Emily had seen her last, her personal appearance doubly justified
the nickname by which her late mistress had distinguished her. The old
servant was worn and wasted; her gown hung loose on her angular body;
the big bones of her face stood out, more prominently than ever. She
took Emily's offered hand doubtingly. "I hope I see you well, miss,"
she said--with hardly a vestige left of her former firmness of voice and
manner.

"I am afraid you have been suffering from illness," Emily answered
gently.

"It's the life I'm leading that wears me down; I want work and change."

Making that reply, she looked round, and discovered Francine observing
her with undisguised curiosity. "You have got company with you," she
said to Emily. "I had better go away, and come back another time."

Francine stopped her before she could open the door. "You mustn't go
away; I wish to speak to you."

"About what, miss?"

The eyes of the two women met--one, near the end of her life,
concealing under a rugged surface a nature sensitively affectionate and
incorruptibly true: the other, young in years, with out the virtues of
youth, hard in manner and hard at heart. In silence on either side,
they stood face to face; strangers brought together by the force of
circumstances, working inexorably toward their hidden end.

Emily introduced Mrs. Ellmother to Francine. "It may be worth your
while," she hinted, "to hear what this young lady has to say."

Mrs. Ellmother listened, with little appearance of interest in anything
that a stranger might have to say: her eyes rested on the card which
contained her written request to Emily. Francine, watching her closely,
understood what was passing in her mind. It might be worth while to
conciliate the old woman by a little act of attention. Turning to Emily,
Francine pointed to the card lying on the table. "You have not attended
yet to Mr. Ellmother's request," she said.

Emily at once assured Mrs. Ellmother that the request was granted. "But
is it wise," she asked, "to go out to service again, at your age?"

"I have been used to service all my life, Miss Emily--that's one reason