"It is a very pleasant change. I am not going to pose as a martyr, though Lady Chatterton did regard me in that light, I think."
"Do you always put the claims of others before your own?" asked Rufus, lightly. "I wonder if you are one of the people born to help others?"
She looked at him with an odd expression, and knitted her brows into a reflective frown, as she said quietly—
"I think we are all born to do that."
"I was told once," Rufus said, "that there were only two sorts of people in the world: those born to be helped, and those born to help them. I have often thought of it since, and wondered in which class I am ranked."
The girl looked at him with half-parted lips, then gazed away over the moor with her most dreamy air.
"That saying was one I was accustomed to hear when quite a tiny child," she said, slowly; "I was brought up to believe that I was to go through life as a protector and helper of others. I have never lost some of my childish aspirations. I have a strange feeling when I meet any fresh acquaintance—'Now, what can I do to help you?' And though I found quite early in life that there were people waiting to protect and help me, I can never forget the revelation it was to me."
Rufus looked steadfastly into the sweet face by him, and then asked rather emphatically—
"And to whom do you owe such an original training?"
"To a very old and valued nurse."