il teacher, taken in literally out of charity, in a second-rate
suburban school. I am sure for a time I must have behaved too hatefully
for words, and if Miss McDonald had sent me to the workhouse it would
have served me right. But she knew that she was the only friend I had,
and was awfully good to me. If I had only been older when the crash came
I daresay I should have been better provided with friends; but at that
age I wanted no friends except my own horses and dogs, and my father and
mother were always too wrapped up in each other to care to make friends.
So that was really why at their death I was left so utterly stranded, and
had Miss McDonald not come forward to my rescue I would have gone, I
suppose, to a charity school. She was, as I say, awfully good to me. You
see, she understood, and that made all the difference. She had gone
through much the same sudden change of fortune herself, for she had never
been brought up to work for her living either. Somehow she did not say
much, but she made me see the utter uselessness of repining and taught me
how much braver it was to accept things as they are and to make the best
of them. And so I set my teeth and made the best of them, or rather tried
to make the best of them, which isn't quite the same thing, but still the
best I could do. And I was getting sort of resigned to my lot when the
idea came to me that I had a voice, and I went to see Signor Vanucci. An
unknown girl and a famous man like that! The utter cheek of it, Margaret!
But I have told you all about it and the hopes he raised, which were only
to be dashed to the ground by his unexpected death. It took me months and
months to get over it; in fact, in the sense of the word I never did get
over it; even the gradual down-fall of the school and the awful struggle
that Miss McDonald was going through never seemed to me as real as my own
disappointment. I sometimes think, Margaret, that I must be horribly
selfish and heartless. And then through you, Margaret, this second chance
came, and though I held back at first, I seized it gladly and mean to
hold it as long as I can, although I know," she added, "how very
atrociously I am behaving to you and Mrs. Murray."

"Oh!" said Margaret in surprise, for this was the very first time Eleanor
had admitted as much.

"Of course, I always knew I was doing wrong," Eleanor said, "but I tried
to hush my conscience up. I can't hush it up any longer, but," she added
with much vig