"I might have been, yesterday," was the reply; "but, to-night, I feel nothing so much as the anxiety to be free."
"Free," muttered he; "free; that is a word for men; the more our intellectual range is unfettered, the freer we are to pursue unbeaten tracts of usefulness the better; but free is a dangerous word on the lips of a woman."
"You mistake me, sir," she said, blushing; "I did not mean free from constraint, for that I must meet with in the situation I am trying to obtain; but, indeed, it is very hard to stay where I am, neither useful nor welcome. If this be wrong, excuse me, to-night, for my feelings have been sadly tried."
"Excuse," he said, severely; "that is a word which has been fertile in wrong. Excuse—excuse," he continued to mutter till they had entered the hotel, where he enquired, rather fiercely, for Mrs. Noble, and they were soon ushered into the apartment, where the lady, he enquired for was sitting. She was a stout, heavy, weighty looking person, with a sallow complexion, a pair of small, dead black eyes, and hair of the same dull, heavy hue, shading a forehead of no ordinary expanse; and her countenance gave an idea of cumbrous intellect. She was seated in an easy attitude, from which she did not care to move, by the dinner-table, on which lay some early strawberries.
"This is Miss Lesly," said Mr. Morley, whose manner was still ruffled.
Mrs. Noble acknowledged the introduction by a heavy bend—and a still heavier stare, while she slowly begged them to be seated.
"Mr. Morley has, no doubt, been kind enough," she observed, at length, turning to Mabel, "to explain the nature of the situation I have to offer, and I conclude you feel inclined, and able to undertake it."
"No, indeed," said Mr. Morley; "I have done nothing of the kind."
"Then I must explain that I have eight children under fourteen, whom you would have to instruct. You can, I believe, undertake French, Latin, German, and the ordinary branches of a sound English education, together with music?"
"I think I could, with children of that age, and if you would let me try, as I have no other interest now, I could devote myself entirely to them."