be able to recommend to you will not
stand anything of that kind," answered Mr. Cranley. "She is quiet, but
extremely firm, and has been accustomed to deal with a very desperate
character. At one time, I mean, she was engaged as the attendant of a
person of treacherous and ungovernable disposition."

This was true enough; and Mr. Cranley then began to give a more or less
fanciful history of Margaret She had been left in his charge by her
father, an early acquaintance, a man who had known better days, but had
bequeathed her nothing, save an excellent schooling and the desire to
earn her own livelihood.

So far, he knew he was safe enough; for Margaret was the last girl to
tell the real tale of her life, and her desire to avoid Maitland was
strong enough to keep her silent, even had she not been naturally proud
and indisposed to make confidences.

"There is only one thing I must ask," said Mr. Cranley, when he had
quite persuaded the lady that Margaret would set a splendid example to
her young friends. "How soon does your housekeeper leave you, and when
do you need the services of the new-comers?"

"Well, the plumber is rather in a hurry. He really is a good man, and I
like him better for it, though it seems rather selfish of him to want
to rob me of Joan. He is; determined to be married before next Bank
Holiday--in a fortnight that is--and then they will go on their
honeymoon of three days to Yarmouth."

Mr. Cranley blessed the luck that had not made the plumber a yet more
impetuous wooer.

"No laggard in love," he said, smiling. "Well, in a fortnight the two
women will be quite ready for their new place. But I must ask you to
remember that the younger is somewhat delicate, and has by no means
recovered from the shock of her father's sudden death--a very sad
affair," added Mr. Cranley, in a sympathetic voice.

"Poor dear girl!" cried Mrs. St. John Deloraine, with the ready tears
in her eyes; for this lady spontaneously acted on the injunction to weep
with those who weep, and also laugh with those who laugh.

Mr. Cranley, who was beginning to feel hungry, led her thoughts off to
the latest farce in which Mr. Toole had amused the town; and when Mrs.
St. John Deloraine had giggled till she wept again over her memories of
this entertainment, she suddenly looked at her watch.

"Why, he's very late," she said; "and yet it is not far to come from the
_Hit or Miss_."

"From the _Hit or Miss_!" cried Mr. Cranley, muc