anny--Arthur's old nurse you know.
It need not prevent you going to the seaside, however. It is not you
she comes to see."

"I am not so sure of that," said Arthur, smiling across the table to his
pretty wife. "I fancy Fanny has as much to do with the visit as any of
us. She will have to be on her good behaviour, and to look her
prettiest, I can assure her."

"And Janet was not Arthur's nurse," said Rose. "Graeme was baby when
she came first."

"And I fancy nursing was but a small part of Janet's work in those
days," said Arthur. "She was nurse, and cook, and housemaid, all in
one. Eh, Graeme?"

"Ay, and more than that--more than could be told in words," said Graeme,
with glistening eyes.

"And I am sure you will like her," said Rose, looking straight into Mrs
Grove's face. "Her husband is very rich. I think he must be almost the
richest man in Merleville."

Arthur did not reprove Rose this time, though she well deserved it. She
read her reproof in Graeme's look, and blushed and hung her head. She
did not look very much abashed, however. She knew Arthur was enjoying
the home thrust; but the subject was pursued no farther.

"Do you know, Fanny," said Mrs Grove, in a little, "I saw Mrs Tilman
this morning, and a very superior person she turns out to be. She has
seen better days. It is sad to see a lady--for she seems to have been
quite a lady--so reduced."

"And who is Mrs Tilman?" asked Arthur.

Fanny looked annoyed, but her mamma went on.

"She is a person Mrs Gridley was speaking to Fanny about--a very worthy
person indeed."

"She was speaking to you, you mean, mamma," said Fanny.

"Was it to me? Well, it is all the same. She is a widow. She lived in
Q---a while and then came here, and was a housekeeper in Haughton Place.
I don't know why she left. Some one married, I think. Since then she
has been a sick nurse, but it didn't agree with her, and lately she has
been a cook in a small hotel."

"She seems to have experienced vicissitudes," said Arthur, for the sake
of saying something.

"Has she not? And a very worthy person she is, I understand, and an
admirable cook. She markets, too--or she did at Haughton House--and
that is such a relief. She must be an invaluable servant."

"I should think so, indeed," said Arthur, as nobody else seemed inclined
to say anything.

Graeme and Rose were speaking about Janet and her expected visit, and
Fanny sat silent and embarrassed. But Nell