ze. He gave her a little time in
which to recover herself, too; he spoke of indifferent subjects in an
indifferent tone, so that when five minutes had elapsed Janetta was
quite herself again, and had begun to speculate upon her chance of an
engagement to sing at another musical party.

"I hope Lady Ashley is well," she said, when at last a short pause came.

"Quite well, I thank you, and hoping to see you soon."

"Oh, I am so grateful to you for saying that," said Janetta,
impulsively. "I felt that I did not know whether she was satisfied with
my singing or not. You know I am a beginner."

"I am sure I may say that she was perfectly satisfied," said Sir Philip,
courteously. "But it was not in allusion to your singing that she spoke
of wishing to see you again."

"Lady Ashley is very kind," said Janetta, feeling rather surprised.

"She would like to see more of you," Sir Philip went on in a somewhat
blundering fashion. "She is very much alone: it would be a great comfort
to her to have some one about her--some one whom she liked--some one who
would be like a daughter to her----"

A conviction as to the cause of his visit flashed across Janetta's mind.
He was going to ask her to become Lady Ashley's companion! With her
usual quickness she forgot to wait for the proposition, and answered it
before it was made.

"I wish I could be of some use to Lady Ashley," she said, with the warm
directness that Sir Philip had always liked. "I have never seen any one
like her--I admire her so much! You will forgive me for saying so, I
hope? But I could not be spared from home to do anything for her
regularly. If she wants a girl who can read aloud and play nicely, I
think I know of one, but perhaps I had better ask Lady Ashley more
particularly about the qualifications required?"

"I did not say anything about a companion, did I?" said Sir Philip, with
a queer little smile. "Not in your sense of the word, at any rate."

"Oh, I beg your pardon," said Janetta, suddenly flushing scarlet: "I
thought--I understood----"

"You could not possibly know what I meant: I was not at all clear," said
Sir Philip, decidedly. "I had something else in my mind."

She looked at him inquiringly. He rose from his chair and moved about
the room a little, with an appearance of agitation which excited her
deepest wonderment. He averted his eyes from her, and there was
something like a flush on his naturally pale cheek. He seemed really
nervous.