'It is paradise to me,' said the girl enthusiastically. 'I am a Londoner, and have never stayed in the country before.'
Clare looked at her, and noted that her shabby serge dress and pale pinched face seemed strangely incongruous with her surroundings. But when she had left the room shortly afterwards, Miss Villars said: 'Miss Foster is the eldest daughter of an East End vicar. She has not had a holiday or any change from home since her school-days; and she is mother and governess to five younger brothers and sisters. I hope to send her back a different creature. It is a great pleasure to give pleasure to other people, is it not?'
'I don't think I ever have,' said Clare frankly.
'Ah, well, my circumstances have made it easy for me to do so. My house is too big to live alone in it, and so I have relays of young visitors who need a little brightness in their lives. It is so sad to think of some young lives being cramped and dwarfed by their surroundings; and some natures utterly sink beneath the burden of household cares and anxieties, that ought not to touch them at all in youth.'
'You are very good, Miss Villars, are you not?'
Miss Villars laughed brightly. 'Not at all, my dear child. I wish I were.'
'I wish I were too,' said Clare, with sudden impulse. 'You look so happy—I wish I knew your secret.'
'"Happy is that people whose God is the Lord,"' said Miss Villars softly.
Clare sighed. 'I never have found religion make me happy, Miss Villars.'
'No more have I. It is only the Lord Himself who can do that. Do you know Him as your Friend and Saviour?'