emale
went with her. She was chaperoned to church, chaperoned on her morning
constitutional, a chaperon sat on guard during the period of music and
drawing lessons, and at their conclusion escorted her back to the
Pension. What wonder that the thought of life as a bachelor girl in
London seemed full of a thrilling excitement!

Suppose for one minute that she decided on London--what would become of
mother? Again and again Claire asked herself this question, again and
again she recalled the interview between herself and the headmistress,
Miss Farnborough, when the subject of teaching had been discussed. It
had happened one morning in the salon of the Pension, when Claire had
been coaching an English visitor in preparation for a French interview
which lay ahead, and Miss Farnborough, laying down her book, had
listened with smiling interest. Then the Englishwoman left the room,
and Miss Farnborough had said, "You did that very cleverly; very
cleverly indeed! You have a very happy knack of putting things simply
and forcibly. I've noticed it more than once. Have you ever done any
teaching?"

"None professionally," Claire had replied with a laugh, "but a great
deal by chance. I seem to drift into the position of coach to most of
the English visitors here. It pleases them, and it interests me. And I
used to help the French girls with their English at school."

Then Miss Farnborough had inquired with interest as to the details of
Claire's education, the schools she had attended, the examinations she
had passed, and finally had come the critical question, "Have you ever
thought of taking up teaching as a profession?"

Claire had never thought of taking up work of any kind, but the
suggestion roused a keen interest, as one of the temporary "tight" times
was in process, so that the prospect of money-making seemed particularly
agreeable. She discussed the subject carefully, and out of that
discussion had arisen the final offer of a post.

The junior French mistress in the High School of which Miss Farnborough
was head was leaving at midsummer. If Claire wished she could take her
place, at a salary beginning at a hundred and ten pounds a year. In
Trust Schools, of which Saint Cuthbert's was one, there was no fixed
scale of advancement, but a successful teacher could reach a salary of,
say, two hundred a year by the time she was thirty-eight or forty, as
against the permanent sixty or seventy offered to mistresses i