and.

"Really? Why, how young and----" She was going to say "pretty," but
stopped in time. "Did you wire? But of course you did. I must have
forgotten. I have such a mass of correspondence!" She laughed again. "I
thought you were a new disciple! Come with me!"

And, with what struck Nell as scant courtesy, her ladyship left the
other ladies, took her by the hand, and led her out of the room.

CHAPTER XX.

Lady Wolfer led Nell to her ladyship's own room. It was as unlike a
boudoir as it well could be; for the furniture was of the simplest kind,
and in place of the elegant trifles with which the fair sex usually
delight to surround themselves, the tables, the couch, and even the
chairs were littered with solid-looking volumes, blue books, pamphlets,
and sheets of manuscript paper.

There was a piano, it is true; but its top was loaded with handbills and
posters announcing meetings, and the dust lay thick on its lid. The
writing table was better suited to an office than a lady's "own room,"
and it was strewn with the prevailing litter.

Lady Wolfer cleared a chair by sweeping the books from it, and gently
pushed Nell into it.

"Now, you sit down for a moment while I ring for a maid to take you to
your room. Heaven only knows where it is, or in what condition you will
find it! You see, I quite forgot you were coming. Candid, isn't it? But
I'm always candid, and I begin at once with you. By the way, oughtn't
you to have come earlier--or later?"

Nell explained that she had had her breakfast at the station, and spent
an hour in the waiting room, so as not to present herself too early.

"How thoughtful of you!" said Lady Wolfer. "You don't look--you look so
young and--girlish."

"I'm not very old," remarked Nell, with a smile. "Perhaps I'm not old
enough to fill the position."

"Oh, for goodness' sake, don't throw a doubt upon your staying!" said
her ladyship quickly. "I'm so tired of old, or what I call old, people,
and I am sure you will do beautifully. For, though you are so young, you
look as if you could manage; and that is what I can't do--I mean manage
a house. I can talk--I can talk the hind leg off a donkey, as Archie
says"--she stopped, looking slightly embarrassed for a moment, and Nell
supposed that her ladyship alluded to Lord Wolfer--"but when it comes to
details, fortunately there is always somebody else."

While she had been speaking, Lady Wolfer had taken off her hat and
jacket, and flun