her to me in the Green Saloon after dinner. It will be time enough
to-morrow to consider what must be done with her."

Dance curtsied again. Her ladyship sailed slowly across the hall, and
passed out through another curtained doorway.

Dance's first act was to pay and dismiss the driver, who had been
waiting outside all this time. Then, taking me by the hand, "Come along
with me, dear," she said. "Why, I declare, you look quite white and
frightened! You have nothing to fear, child. We shall not eat you--at
least, not just yet; not till we have fed you up a bit."

At the end of a long corridor was Mrs. Dance's own room, into which I
was now ushered. Scarcely had I made a few changes in my toilette when
tea for two persons was brought in, and Mrs. Dance and I sat down to
table. The old lady was well on with her second cup before she made any
remark other than was required by the necessities of the occasion.

I have called her an old woman, and such she looked in my youthful eyes,
although her years were only about sixty. She wore a dark brown dress
and a black silk apron, and had on a cap with thick frilled borders,
under which her grey hair was neatly snooded away. She looked ruddy and
full of health. A shrewd, sensible woman, evidently; yet with a motherly
kindness about her that made me cling to her with a child's unerring
instinct.

"You look tired, poor thing," she said, as she leisurely stirred her
tea; "and well you may, considering the long journey you have had
to-day. I don't suppose that her ladyship will keep you more than ten
minutes in the Green Saloon, and after that you can go to bed as soon