e
one of those Sisters of Mercy in the large towns, who go about among
poor people and visit the hospitals and prisons. She is allowed to live
here always, and Lady Chillington would hardly know how to get through
the day without her."

"Is she not a relative of Lady Chillington?" I asked.

"No, not a relative," answered Dance. "You must try to love her a great
deal, my dear Miss Janet; for if angels are ever allowed to visit this
vile earth, Sister Agnes is one of them. But there goes her ladyship's
bell. She is ready to receive you."

I had washed away the stains of travel, and had put on my best frock,
and Dance was pleased to say that I looked very nice, "though, perhaps,
a trifle more old-fashioned than a girl of your age ought to look." Then
she laid down a few rules for my guidance when in the presence of Lady
Chillington, and led the way to the Green Saloon, I following with a
timorous heart.

Dance flung open the folding-doors of the big room. "Miss Janet Hope to
see your ladyship," she called out; and next moment the doors closed
behind me, and I was left standing there alone.

"Come nearer--come nearer," said her ladyship's cracked voice, as with a
long, lean hand she beckoned me to approach.

I advanced slowly up the room, stopped and curtsied. Lady Chillington
pointed out a high footstool about three yards from her chair. I
curtsied again, and sat down on it. During the interview that followed
my quick eyes had ample opportunity for taking a mental inventory of
Lady Chillington and her surroundings.

She had exchanged the black dress in which I first saw her for one of
green velvet, trimmed with ermine. This dress was made with short
sleeves and low body, so as to leave exposed her ladyship's arms, long,
lean and skinny, and her scraggy neck. Her nose was hooked and her chin
pointed. Between the two shone a row of large white, even teeth, which
long afterwards I knew to be artificial. Equally artificial was the mass
of short black, frizzly curls that crowned her head, which was
unburdened with cap or covering of any kind. Her eyebrows were dyed to
match her hair. Her cheeks, even through the powder with which they were
thickly smeared, showed two spots of brilliant red, which no one less
ignorant than I would have accepted without question as the last genuine
remains of the bloom of youth. But at that first interview I accepted
everything au pied de la lettre, without doubt or question of any kind.