erty,
not mine. In the second place, she's dead. Poisoned, as the other
half-bloods supposed, by some enemy among the blacks. She said herself,
she was under a spell!"

"What did she mean?"

Francine was not interested enough in the subject to explain. "Stupid
superstition, my dear. The negro side of Sappho was uppermost when she
was dying--there is the explanation. Be off with you! I hear the old
woman on the stairs. Meet her before she can come in here. My bedroom is
my only refuge from Miss Ladd."

On the morning of the last day in the week, Emily had a little talk in
private with her old schoolmistress. Miss Ladd listened to what she had
to say of Mrs. Ellmother, and did her best to relieve Emily's anxieties.
"I think you are mistaken, my child, in supposing that Francine is in
earnest. It is her great fault that she is hardly ever in earnest. You
can trust to my discretion; leave the rest to your aunt's old servant
and to me."

Mrs. Ellmother arrived, punctual to the appointed time. She was shown
into Miss Ladd's own room. Francine--ostentatiously resolved to take no
personal part in the affair--went for a walk. Emily waited to hear the
result.

After a long interval, Miss Ladd returned to the drawing-room, and
announced that she had sanctioned the engagement of Mrs. Ellmother.

"I have considered your wishes, in this respect," she said. "It is
arranged that a week's notice, on either side, shall end the term of
service, after the first month. I cannot feel justified in doing more
than that. Mrs. Ellmother is such a respectable woman; she is so well
known to you, and she was so long in your aunt's service, that I am
bound to consider the importance of securing a person who is exactly
fitted to attend on such a girl as Francine. In one word, I can trust
Mrs. Ellmother."

"When does she enter on her service?" Emily inquired.

"On the day after we return to the school," Miss Ladd replied. "You will
be glad to see her, I am sure. I will send her here."

"One word more before you go," Emily said.

"Did you ask her why she left my aunt?"

"My dear child, a woman who has been five-and-twenty years in one place
is entitled to keep her own secrets. I understand that she had her
reasons, and that she doesn't think it necessary to mention them to
anybody. Never trust people by halves--especially when they are people
like Mrs. Ellmother."

It was too late now to raise any objections. Emily felt relieved, rather