s thoughts at once ran to
the conclusion that this had been suggested by Waymark, and, when she
found that her grandfather really wished it, gave a ready assent. A
week or two later the suitable person had been discovered--a lady of
some thirty years of age, by name Miss Hurst. She was agreeable and
refined, endowed, moreover, with the tact which was desirable in one
undertaking an office such as this. Ida found her companionship
pleasant, and Mr. Woodstock con gratulated himself on having taken the
right step.

At the same time that the governess came to the house, Waymark left it.
He returned to his old lodgings, and, with an independence which was
partly his own impulse, partly the natural result of the slight
coolness towards him which had shown itself in Mr. Woodstock, set to
work to find a means of earning his living. This he was fortunate
enough to discover without any great delay; he obtained a place as
assistant in a circulating library. The payment was small, but he still
had his evenings free.

Ida did not conceal her disappointment when Abraham conveyed this news
to her; she had been hoping for better things. Her intercourse with
Waymark between his recovery and his leaving the house had been
difficult, full of evident constraint on both sides. It was the desire
of both not to meet alone, and in Mr. Woodstock's presence they talked
of indifferent things, with an artificiality which it was difficult to
support, yet impossible to abandon. They shunned each other's eyes.
Waymark was even less at his ease than Ida, knowing that Mr. Woodstock
observed him closely at all times. With her grandfather Ida tried to
speak freely of their friend, but she too was troubled by the
consciousness that the old man did not seem as friendly to Waymark as
formerly.

"This will of course only be for a time?" she said, when told of
Waymark's new employment.

"I don't know," Abraham replied indifferently. "I should think it will
suit him as well as anything else."

"But he is clever; he writes books. Don't you think he will make
himself known some day?"

"That kind of thing isn't much to be depended on, it seems to me. It's
a doubtful business to look forward to for a living."

Ida kept silence on the subject after that. She did not seem to brood
any longer over sad thoughts, yet it was seldom she behaved or spoke
light-heartedly; her face often indicated an absent mind, but it was
the calm musing of one whose thoughts lo