ll think about
it. Perhaps Delia wouldn't consent. You know there is no dumb-waiter
in the house, and if she had to carry up all the dishes at every meal,
it would more than double her work."

Nan's face fell. "O dear!" she complained. "What a horrid old house!
Can't do a single thing with it! It would have been such fun to change
everything about!"

Miss Blake laughed. "Oh, if that was all your reason for wanting the
improvements," she retorted. "I thought you wanted to gratify your
sense of the beautiful."

"Well, I do," declared Nan.

"Then we'll see what can be done," and the governess set down her glass
of water with a very knowing smile.

After dinner was eaten and Delia had carried away the tray and Miss
Blake removed the wonderful folding stand, the governess looked up
suddenly and said with unusual gravity:

"Nan, while I am here I hope you will never run out after dark alone
again. It is dangerous. Do you understand me, my dear?"

The girl's eyes dropped. Yes, she understood perfectly. When the
governess spoke in that low, decided voice it would have been hard to
mistake her meaning.

"I had to go to-night," Nan answered, in a suddenly sullen voice.

"If you had waited a few moments I could have, and most willingly would
have, gone with you. Never hesitate to ask me. I am always at your
service. That is what I am here for."

Nan hesitated. "I--I thought you had gone away--for good," she
stammered, lamely.

Miss Blake flushed. "What made you think I had gone away for good?"
she asked, slowly repeating the girl's words.

Nan shook her head and gulped.

"I was in my room," continued the governess, after a pause, "and I
heard--"

Nan put out both hands. "I know it! I know it!" she gasped. "But I
didn't mean what I said--I didn't, honestly and truly. Before you came
I learned it off, and I meant to say it, but that was before I saw you.
I feel different now, and I hope--I hope--"

Miss Blake's hand was laid quietly on hers. "Wait a moment, Nan.
Don't go on till you know what I was going to say. You seem to be
trying to explain something that perhaps you might regret later. You
think I overheard something you would rather I did not know? What I
was going to say is this: I was in my room this afternoon and I heard a
man crying 'Chestnuts!' It carried me back to the time when I was a
little girl and used to roast them in this very--" she hesitated, then
added slowly, "town