And so she was—or she tried to persuade herself that she was—glad that her fate was decided for her by circumstances beyond her control.
With all a very young girl’s enthusiasm for an imperial beauty, Lilith admired the baroness, and felt that, since she must take service with some lady, she could be better satisfied with the companionship of the beautiful and gracious Madame Von Bruyin than with any one else.
Lilith walked so slowly that when she reached her boarding-house she found that lunch had been over for some time, and all her fellow-lodgers had dispersed to their business or to their rooms.
But Aunt Sophie was anxiously waiting for her in the parlor.
“Take off your things down here, dearie, and then come with me to the dining-room, and you shall have a cup of fresh tea before you tell me anything, though I am half dying to hear,” was the greeting of the old lady.
Lilith kissed her affectionately, and then followed her to the basement dining-room, where a fresh white cloth had been laid over one end of the long table, and adorned with a fine china tea service—that had been bought many years before for Aunt Sophie’s bridal housekeeping, but which was never, never used, except on the most sacred occasions.
The kettle was boiling, and the tea was soon made and brought in, with the accompaniments of light biscuits and lamb chops.
But not until Lilith had drunk her first cup of tea would Aunt Sophie, who sat beside her, watching her affectionately, ask one question.
Then when she had refilled the cup for her young guest, she inquired:
“And have you got the situation, honey?”