"Bad!" The opening of the door cut short Hannah's indignant utterance. There was no help for it; retreat was impossible now. Hannah had to compose herself as best she could, ask for Mrs. Campbell, and follow the neat parlour-maid across the hall to the drawing-room, with a mortifying conviction that the coming interview must prove a failure. What had her mother and Salome been about, not to see that Juliet started properly equipped?
"My dear Juliet, do sit with your back to the light, and keep your hands out of sight as much as possible," Hannah admonished her when the servant had left them to themselves.
"Really, Hannah, I don't think that would be fair to Mrs. Campbell," Juliet replied, with provoking, gravity. "I came here that she might inspect me, and she has a right to see me in the best light."
She seated herself as she spoke opposite to a window with her feet well exposed to view. With fresh consternation, Hannah perceived that two buttons were missing from her left boot.
"Dear me," said Juliet, as Hannah pointed it out, "it is strange how buttons will sometimes come off!"
Before Hannah could say another word, Mrs. Campbell entered the room. No woman could bear herself with more dignity and self-possession than Hannah was wont to display; but now her usual self-possession deserted her. Her sense of shame at the appearance Juliet presented made her nervous and almost shy. She half suspected that Juliet had deliberately planned to discomfort her thus, and she was in absolute dread as to how her young sister might comport herself during the interview. What could she venture to say, whilst Juliet sat by with that mischievous light in her eyes, and that innocent—all too innocent—expression of the rosy mouth, the meaning of which Hannah knew but too well? Never had she felt herself in a more uneasy position.
Mrs. Campbell was a graceful little woman with pleasant manners. Her blue eyes had a very keen, alert expression, and Hannah felt sure that she took in at the first glance the glaring defects of Juliet's attire.
"I could have sunk through the floor with shame," she said afterwards, when describing her sensations to Salome.
Mrs. Campbell's glance softened as it rested on Juliet's pretty, childish face.
"This is surely not the sister of whom Miss Tucker wrote to me," she said, turning to Hannah. "She looks far too young to be a governess."