"Continue," he said. "Proceed. You are stimulating me."

"But why should you want a girl like me to stimulate you? Surely
London is enough to do it without my help? You can always find
something new, surely? Listen, Mr. Marson. I was thrown on my own
resources about five years ago--never mind how. Since then I have
worked in a shop, done typewriting, been on the stage, had a
position as governess, been a lady's maid--"

"A what! A lady's maid?"

"Why not? It was all experience; and I can assure you I would
much rather be a lady's maid than a governess."

"I think I know what you mean. I was a private tutor once. I
suppose a governess is the female equivalent. I have often
wondered what General Sherman would have said about private
tutoring if he expressed himself so breezily about mere war. Was
it fun being a lady's maid?"

"It was pretty good fun; and it gave me an opportunity of
studying the aristocracy in its native haunts, which has made me
the Gossip's established authority on dukes and earls."

Ashe drew a deep breath--not a scientific deep breath, but one of
admiration.

"You are perfectly splendid!"

"Splendid?"