domestic service for which she had been
designed. The Sister received twenty or thirty boarders--daughters of
gentlemen for the most part, for whom ordinary terms were paid--in
addition to the orphans; these girls of a superior class were educated
by the Sisters, and often remained at St. Elizabeth's until they were
eighteen or nineteen. If the amount paid for Jane Wood could be
increased to forty pounds a year, the Sisters proposed to educate her as
a governess; with her talent for music and other accomplishments, they
were quite sure that the girl would turn out a credit to her kind
patrons and patronesses, as well as to St. Elizabeth's.

Mr. Lepel sent back an answer by return of post. Jane Wood--he knew her
by no other Christian name--was to have every advantage the good sisters
could give her. If she had talents, they were to be cultivated. When she
was old enough to be placed out in the world to earn her own living, his
allowance would of course cease; till then, and while she wanted help,
her friends would provide for her.

"So Westwood's child is to be made a lady of!" said Mrs. Rumbold, laying
down the letter with a sense of virtuous indignation. "Well, I hope that
Mr. Lepel won't repent it. I wonder what Miss Vane thinks of it?"

But Miss Vane had never even heard the name of Jane Wood.

Hubert Lepel was gradually achieving literary success. But the road to
success is often stony and beset with thorns and briars. His name was
becoming known as that of a writer of popular fiction; he had a play in
hand of which people prognosticated great things. For all these reasons
he was much too busy to give any special attention to the affairs of the
child at St. Elizabeth's School. He agreed to Sister Louisa's
proposition, and sent money for the girl's education--that was all that
he could do. And so another year went by, and then another, and he heard
nothing more about Jane Wood.

But at the close of a London season, when town was emptying fast and the
air was becoming exhausted, and everybody who had a chance of going into
the country was sighing to be off, it occurred to Hubert Lepel to
wonder how the child that he had befriended was progressing. It took
little time for him to make up his mind that he would go down to
Winstead and see the school, which was quite a show-place and had been a
great deal talked about. A card and a line from a clerical friend would
introduce him, and his literary work gave him an exc