she stopped. I could see the look of
amazement on our junior's face, and did not wonder at it. What sudden
dislike could her mistress have conceived against this inoffensive and
devoted creature?

"You say this other maid was a stranger?" he asked.

"Yes, sir; she'd never been in the house before, so far as I know.
Miss Frances brought her back with her in the carriage."

"And what sort of looking woman is she?"

The girl hesitated.

"She looked like a foreigner, sir," she said at last. "A Frenchwoman,
maybe, by the way she rolls her r's."

I pricked up my ears. The same thought occurred at that instant to
both Mr. Royce and myself.

"Does she resemble Miss Holladay?" he asked quickly.

"Miss Holladay? Oh, no, sir. She's much older--her hair's quite gray."

Well, certainly, Miss Holladay had the right to choose any maid she
pleased, and to discharge any or all of her servants; and yet it
seemed strangely unlike her to show such seeming injustice to anyone.

"You say she sent down word that she was ill?" said Mr. Royce, at
last. "Was she ill when you dressed her?"

"Why, sir," she answered slowly, "I wouldn't exactly say she was ill,
but she seemed troubled about something. I think she'd been crying.
She's been crying a good deal, off and on, since her father died, poor
thing," she added.

That would explain it, certainly; and yet grief for her father might
not be the only cause of Frances Holladay's tears.

"But she didn't seem vexed with you?"

"Oh, no, sir; she gave me a brooch, as I told you."

"I fear I can't promise you anything," said Mr. Royce slowly, after a
moment's thought. "Of course, it's none of my business: for Miss
Holladay must arrange her household to suit herself; yet, if you don't
get back with your old mistress, I may, perhaps, be able to find you a
position somewhere else. Suppose you come back in three or four days,
and I'll see what I can do."

"All right, sir; and thank you," she said, and left the office.

I had some work of my own to keep me busy that night, so devoted no
thought to Frances Holladay and her affairs, but they were recalled to
me with renewed force next morning.

"Did you get Miss Holladay's signature to that conveyance?" Mr. Graham
chanced to ask his partner in the course of the morning.

"No, sir," answered Mr. Royce, with just a trace of embarrassment. "I
called at the house last night, but she sent down word that she was
too ill to see me or to transa