"Mrs. Chandos requires a companion, at the present moment, to replace one who has gone away ill."
"What of that?" returned Hill.
"I have come to offer myself for the appointment," said the visitor, handing her card, which Hill dropped on the table without looking at. "I flatter myself I shall be found eligible."
Hill looked surprised, and I felt so. Only a candidate for the vacant place?—after all that circumlocution!
"Why could you not have said at first what you wanted?" was Hill's next question, put with scant politeness. Indeed, she seemed to resent both the visit and the application as a personal affront. "I don't think you'll suit, madam."
"Why do you think I shall not?"
"And we are about somebody already. Mr. Chandos is gone to inquire for her now."
A flush, and a shade of disappointment, immediately hid under a smile, appeared on the lady's face. I felt sorry for her. I thought perhaps she might be wanting a home.
"Mr. Chandos may not engage her," observed the visitor.
"That's true enough," acknowledged Hill. "Yet she would have suited well; for she is not a stranger to the Chandos family."