be at your
disposal, for I sit as a rule in my dining-room. You can go into town
when you want to, and you will make me happy, and--and I think Maurice
would like it."

As Mrs. Trevor spoke she looked full at the girl, and Florence found
herself trembling and even colouring as Trevor's name was mentioned.

"Will you think over it, my dear," said Mrs. Trevor, "and let me know?"

"I will think over it and let you know. You are very kind to me. I
scarcely know how to thank you enough," replied Florence.

"As to the terms," continued Mrs. Trevor, "they would be very moderate.
My cottage is my own, and I have few expenses. I could take you in and
make you comfortable for fifteen shillings a week."

"Oh!" said Florence. She thought of that money which was getting daily
less. She looked into the lovely garden and her heart swelled within
her. Her first impulse was to throw her arms round Mrs. Trevor's neck:
to say it would be peace, comfort, and happiness to live with her. She
would save money, and her worst anxieties would be removed. But she
restrained herself. There was a heavy weight pressing against her heart,
and even the widow's kindness scarcely touched her.

"I will let you know. You are more than kind," she said.

A moment afterwards she had said good-bye to Mrs. Trevor, and Maurice
and she were hurrying down the hill to meet the omnibus which was to
convey the girl back to Prince's Mansions.

"My mother has told you what we both wish?" he said. "To be honest with
you, I feel that we owe you something. I am usurping your place; I can
never get over that fact."

"I wish you wouldn't think of it, for it is not the truth," said
Florence. "I have told you already that even if you did not exist I
should never inherit a farthing of my aunt's money, and what is more,"
she added, the crimson dyeing her cheeks, "I wouldn't take it if she
offered it to me."

"You are a strange girl," he said. He bade her good-bye as she entered
the omnibus, and then turned to walk up Hampstead Hill once again.

The next day at twelve o'clock Florence Aylmer, neatly dressed, and
looking bright and purposeful, and no longer overpowered by any sense of
remorse, appeared at Mr. Anderson's office. She was received with the
politeness which is ever accorded to the successful. The very clerks in
the outer office seemed to know that she was not to be confounded with
the ordinary young person who appears daily and hourly offering
unsaleab