And he found a board for her to put her feet on, and a box for her to sit on, and then stood bending down to talk to her with courteous attention which would have brought tears of envy to Joan’s eyes, had she seen him.
“What a shame of them to drag you out in the rain,” said he sympathetically.
“Oh, no!” she answered, smiling. “I am glad to be dragged anywhere, in any weather, as a change from the musty old school room.”
“I suppose you are. I can’t imagine how any girl can become a governess.”
She looked up at him in pathetic surprise.
“I don’t suppose any girl likes to be a governess; but there is nothing else for her if she is poor.”
“Oh, yes, there is—there’s the Thames!”
“But you wouldn’t recommend that, surely?”
“I don’t know that I wouldn’t. I would try it myself, rather than endeavor to cram knowledge into the heads of little fools who will never be any the better for it.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” she entreated. “It is just what I am tempted to think myself sometimes; but, if I gave way and really did believe I wasn’t doing them any good at all, just think what a martyrdom my life would be!”