Chapter XXVII.
In the hour of Dorothy's desolation her heart went back to Jack Garner, who had loved her so in other days. Poor Jack! whom she had thrown over so cruelly for a handsomer, wealthier fellow, only to be deserted by him in turn for the first pretty face that had crossed his path.
And that very day came the turning point of her life.
She had answered an advertisement a few days before by letter to an intelligence office, and in the course of a week she received the following reply:
"My Dear Madam—Replying to your note, would say your communication was hardly explicit enough for us to determine whether you would suit our patron or not.
"The party we refer to is Mrs. Garner, a widow. Her family consists of one son, a niece who lives with them, and a young lady.
"They wish a companion for Mrs. Garner. She requires a somewhat elderly woman. Even the child would not be so objectionable, if the right person were secured."
The letter dropped from Dorothy's hand, and she uttered a low cry; but presently picking it up, and reading it eagerly through again, she found a postscript added to it which read as follows:
"Call, if you please, at the Garner homestead to-morrow, at 10:30 a. m., if convenient."
Dorothy's heart beat quickly. Could it be possible that this Garner family and the one she had known were one and the same? Oh, no! it could not be, for they were poor, very poor, and these people lived in a fashionable quarter.