"So you are a little Devonshire woman?"
"No; I was born in India. Mamma brought me over when I was three years old."
"And your father?"
"He had to stay behind in India. He was in the army. After that he sold out to come home, and died very soon. Mamma died when I was eleven, and since that I have been at school."
"Had you no relatives to offer you a home?"
"No!" And I felt my face flush as I thought of Mr. Edwin Barley. He must have noticed it: he was looking at me.
"No home all those years! How you must long for one!"
"I keep my longings down. It may never be my happiness to know a home; certainly there is no present prospect of it. I resign myself to my position, doing my duty, as it is placed before me, and not looking beyond it."
"What do you call your 'position'?"
"That of a governess."