"I can give you the address if you like. You will be the third who has gone to-day. But that, I think, does not matter. Mrs. Chard, I know, intends to be very, very particular this time."
"What is the salary?"
"Twenty-five pounds a year."
"And to live in the house?"
"Why, of course."
"She would not engage a person who wished to lodge outside?"
"My dear madam, picture a companion-housekeeper who arrived with the milk--shall we say?--and left with the last post at night! It's unpractical, to say the least."
Isla smiled and sighed a little as she rose.
"I see that beggars can't be choosers and that one must give up something in order to earn one's living. I wish, however, that it was not one's freedom. May I have the address, if you really think there is the smallest use in my calling?"
"I am sure that it is worth your while calling. I have even a sort of odd feeling that Mrs. Chard's choice might fall on you. You see, you are just a little different from the average run of reduced ladies who come here."