ret Moffatt's private library she
found a bright cannel coal fire in the little grate, beside which sat a
tall, handsome girl in house gown of creamy white.

"And so you are--Miss Glynn?"

As a professional accepts a non de plume, Priscilla had accepted her
name.

"Yes. And you are--Miss Moffatt?"

"Please sit down--no, not way off there! Won't you take this chair beside
me? I'm rather an uncanny person, I warn you. If I do not like to have
you close to me now, we could never get on--across the water! What
belongs to me, and what I ought to have, is mine from the first. Besides,
I want you to know the worst of me--for your own sake. Would you mind
taking off your hat? You have the most cheerful hair I ever saw."

Priscilla laid her broad-brimmed hat aside and laughed lightly. She was
as uncanny as Margaret Moffatt, but she could not have described the
charm that drew her to the girl across the hearth.

"I'm rather a hopelessly cheerful person," she said, settling herself
comfortably; "it's probably my chief virtue--or shortcoming."

"You know I am not a bit sick--bodily, Miss Glynn. It's positively
ridiculous to have a nurse for me, but if I am to get my way with my
father I must humour him. A dear old family servant is going with me.
Father did want a private cook and guide, but we've compromised on--you!
I do hope you'll undertake the contract. I'm not half bad when I have my
way. Do you think, now that you have seen me for fifteen minutes, that
you could--tolerate me; take the chance?"

"I should be very glad to be with you." Priscilla beamed.

"Your eyes are--blue, I declare! Miss Glynn, by all the laws of nature
you should have eyes as dark as mine."

"Yes; an old nurse back in my Canadian home used to say I was made of the
odds and ends of all the children my mother had and lost."

"What a quaint idea! I believe she was right, too. That will make you
adaptable. Miss Glynn, let me tell you something, just enough to begin
on, about myself--as a case. I'm tired to death of everything that has
gone before; I do not fit in anywhere. I believe I'm quite a different
person from what every one else believes; I've never had a chance to
know myself; I've been interpreted by--by generations, traditions, and
those who love me. I want to get far enough away to--get acquainted with
myself, and then if I am what I hope I am, I will return like a happy
queen and triumphantly enter my kingdom. If I am not worthy--well,