he prayed, her face in her hands. "I want
so to stay--make me a success!"

Never was a prayer more generously answered. Miss Paget was an instant
success. In something less than two months she became indispensable to
Mrs. Carr-Boldt, and was a favorite with every one, from the rather
stolid, silent head of the house down to the least of the maids. She
was so busy, so unaffected, so sympathetic, that her sudden rise in
favor was resented by no one. The butler told her his troubles, the
French maid darkly declared that but for Miss Paget she would not for
one second r-r-remain! The children went cheerfully even to the
dentist with their adored Miss Peggy; they soon preferred her escort
to matinee or zoo to that of any other person. Margaret also escorted
Mrs. Carr-Boldt's mother, a magnificent old lady, on shopping
expeditions, and attended the meetings of charity boards for Mrs.
Carr-Boldt. With notes and invitations, account books and cheque
books, dinner lists, and interviews with caterers, decorators, and
florists, Margaret's time was full, but she loved every moment of her
work, and gloried in her increasing usefulness.

At first there were some dark days; notably the dreadful one upon
which Margaret somehow--somewhere--dropped the box containing the new
hat she was bringing home for Harriet, and kept the little girl out in
the cold afternoon air while the motor made a fruitless trip back to
the milliner's. Harriet contracted a cold, and Harriet's mother for
the first time spoke severely to Margaret. There was another bad day
when Margaret artlessly admitted to Mrs. Pierre Polk at the telephone
that Mrs. Carr-Boldt was not engaged for dinner that evening, thus
obliging her employer to snub the lady, or accept a distasteful
invitation to dine. And there was a most uncomfortable occasion when
Mr. Carr-Boldt, not at all at his best, stumbled in upon his wife with
some angry observations meant for her ear alone; and Margaret, busy
with accounts in a window recess, was, unknown to them both, a
distressed witness.

"Another time, Miss Paget," said Mrs. Carr-Boldt, coldly, upon
Margaret's appearing scarlet-cheeked between the curtains, "don't
oblige me to ascertain that you are not within hearing before feeling
sure of privacy. Will you finish those bills upstairs, if you please?"

Margaret went upstairs with a burning heart, cast her bills haphazard
on her own desk, and flung herself, dry-eyed and furious, on the bed.