verness to two small children would seem to her an easy task
after having taught for three years in a big school. Of one thing,
however, Margaret felt quite convinced. If Eleanor had known of the
predicament in which Margaret was placed, she would, after a moment or
two of consternation, have gone off into fits of laughter. And no doubt
the situation had its comic side; even Margaret, full of alarm as she
was, could not restrain a smile as she thought of the very queer
governess that she would make.

"You look pretty young to be a governess, don't you?" said Maud. "Did you
ever have any difficulty in keeping order?"

"No, never," said Margaret, truthfully enough.

"How many girls were there?"

"Twenty boarders, forty day girls, and five governesses when I--when
I----" this came out with a gulp, for Margaret found the first falsehood
she had been obliged to tell most distasteful to her--"went there. But
the school has been going down the last few years, and last term there
were only seven boarders and ten day girls."

"Sounds rather a poor sort of show, doesn't it?" said Maud with a yawn.
"I say, what a slow horse we have got, haven't we? We shall be all night
getting home at this rate. What sort of place was Putney or Hampstead, or
wherever the school was to live in?"

"Miss McDonald's school was at Hampstead, which is a suburb of London and
is situated high up. It is celebrated for its Heath, which is a great
holiday resort for the lower orders--the 'Arrys and 'Arriets, you
know--on Bank Holidays, at which time it is advisable for quieter members
of society to keep off it. But at other times it affords an excellent
exercise ground for all the young ladies' schools in the neighbourhood.
The air is fine and invigorating, and there is no reason why, with the
help of a little imagination, one should not fancy oneself in the heart
of the country, and many miles away from the greatest metropolis in the
world. The sunsets can, by those who appreciate the beauties of Nature,
be viewed from that portion of the Heath which commands a view of the
western sky, and----"

"Very interesting indeed," broke in Maud, who had been listening with
astonishment to this flow of instructive discourse.

At first she had thought that Margaret was, to use her own phrase,
"rotting her," but a glance at the serious face beside her was sufficient
to dispel that theory, and she came to the conclusion that young though
she was, Margaret was