"How soon do you require a situation?"
"At once."
"Has Miss Mee applied to anyone else in the neighbourhood on your account?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"And you yourself, have you written to anyone here?"
"There's no one I could write to. There's not one of my father's old friends I've kept up. They've all forgotten my very existence, years ago."
"Sure?"
"Who am I to remember?" asked Mavis simply.
It was on Mrs Devitt's lips to give the girl Sir Archibald's message, but the thought of her unmarried step—daughter restrained her. She addressed Mavis rather hurriedly (she tried hard to act conscientiously):
"I may as well say at once that the opportunity that presented itself, when I wrote to Miss Mee, has passed."