DICK RUMBELOW ENLISTS
THE Raes' young governess was very glad to teach Josephine, for the arrangement meant a considerable increase to her salary. Mrs. Cummings had a small annuity, so small indeed that it was only with the greatest care and aided by her daughter's earnings that it was possible to make both ends meet; therefore some extra money was most acceptable.
Mrs. Cummings was a sad-faced woman, who always spoke and looked as though life had served her badly, the truth being that she remembered her sorrows and forgot her blessings. She did most of the work of the little house which she and her daughter occupied at Midbury, but she did not do it uncomplainingly. She was a trying woman to live with, for she persistently looked on the dark side of things. Thus it was that when, one chilly afternoon, she and her daughter sat taking their tea together in their cosy little parlour and she heard that Josephine Basset had received a letter from Captain Basset, from France, she shook her head mournfully and said—
"Ah, poor child, poor child! To think that that letter may be his last!"
"We won't think anything of the kind, mother," was the quick rejoinder; "it's wrong to anticipate trouble."
"If any one belonging to me was at the front, I shouldn't have a minute's peace of mind, Margaret!" Mrs. Cummings declared solemnly.
Margaret Cummings knew this was true. Her mother's fretting, worrying disposition had always been something to contend against.
"Fortunately Josephine is not like you, mother," she answered; "although I have not seen a great deal of her yet, I have discovered that she has a very brave spirit. She has been taught to be fearless. I think her father must be a very fine character, judging from what she has told me of him—she likes nothing better than to talk of him, I find."
"You are evidently pleased with your new pupil," remarked Mrs. Cummings. "How does she get on with the Raes?"
"She and May are good friends, but I am not sure that Donald altogether likes her. She is too outspoken to please him, I fancy. You know he has been accustomed to tyrannize over his sister, and Josephine shows her disapproval of that very plainly. The other day he made May cry—he often does—and then Josephine gave him to understand what she thought of his conduct."