After she had taken Florence’s hat and mantle, and given her the softest seat in the bright little room, she sat smilingly by, while Julia talked to their visitor. Florence was quietly amused at the candor with which, after their mutual reserve wore off, both the cousins confessed that they had long wished to make her acquaintance.
“Not from precisely similar motives,” Julia acknowledged. “I wanted to know you because you were evidently a lady, intelligent and accomplished; while Susan’s motives were——”
She stopped herself in a little confusion, but Florence finished the sentence for her.
“Benevolent ones, were they not? She saw me very lonely and friendless, and was eager to do me good. It is precisely because I think she will help me that I have come to you now.”
Susan Denham dropped her work in her lap, and listened with grave and encouraging attention.
The blood rushed to Florence’s cheeks and temples, but she would not play the coward, and, after a very short pause, she said:
“I must frankly tell you that I fear a change for the worse in our circumstances. I must work for papa and myself, and—I want to be a governess.”
Susan Denham sighed, and Julia impulsively exclaimed:
“Oh, choose any life but ours, Miss Heriton! You little know the slights you would have to contend with—all your best feelings trampled on—all your aspirations crushed beneath the contempt or indifference of your sordid employers. You must be a lady in appearance, in education, in tastes and sympathies, or you are not fit to be the instructress of their children. But you must not consider yourself their equal; you must neither associate with them, nor expect consideration from them; and, above all,” she added, with a bitter laugh, “you must not permit their sons to fall in love with you.”
“On the other hand,” said Susan gently, “you are fairly paid for your labor. By consistent conduct you cannot fail to win the respect and esteem of your employers; the children you teach often become very dear to you, and, on the whole, the hardships of a governess’ lot are not greater than those of any other profession.”