"And I will help with the parlour-work," said Fay, "and you can dismiss one of the maids. If we all take our share of the duties, we can get along quite well with one servant."
All this time Margie had not spoken. At last she said, "I do not know enough to teach, and if I take up other work I would rather it were not at home. I must think what I can do."
Then the conference broke up, and each member of the family went to his or her own duties.
For a few days Margie was wonderfully silent and preoccupied; but she gave no explanation of the change in her manner, and her sisters rallied her on it in vain, and teased her because during these days she was always studying the newspapers.
But Margie had a very definite object in view, and when she eventually came across the following advertisement, it struck her that she had found what she had been in search of:
WANTED, by an invalid widow lady, a respectable young person of intelligence and refinement, as attendant. She must have perfect health, pleasant looks, and a good temper. Liberal salary and a comfortable home to a suitable person. Personal interview indispensable.—Apply, Mrs. BEACH, Garden Lodge, River Park, Surrey.
"I may not get the post, but I'll try for it," said Margie to herself.
[CHAPTER II.]
AT GARDEN LODGE.
THE personal interview to which Margie readily consented did more for her than the written character which she had forwarded.