"I presume, madam--pardon me--that you were hoping to obtain help from this uncle."
"Yes," was the answer, given falteringly. "Should you admit me into your house, sir, I will do my best to help on the studies of your daughter."
"But--will you reconcile yourself to fill a situation of this kind in a stranger's house after having ruled in a home of your own?" questioned Mr. Castlemaine, considerately, as he remembered his wife's domineering and difficult temper.
"Ah, sir, the beggars, you know, must not be the choosers. I must do something to keep me, and I would like to do this."
"The salary Mrs. Castlemaine offers is fifty guineas."
"It seems a large sum to me, sir," was the truthful and candid answer. "Appointments in France, a very few excepted, are not so highly paid as in England. I should of course be permitted to go out to see my child?"
"Dear me, yes: whenever you pleased, madam. You would be quite at liberty here--be as one of ourselves entirely. Mrs. Castlemaine--but here she is; returning home."
The Master of Greylands had heard the carriage drawing up. He quitted the room, and said a few hasty words to his wife of what had occurred. Mrs. Castlemaine, much taken with the project, came in, in her black satin pelisse, coated with crape. She sat down and put a few questions as to the applicant's acquirements.
"I am a brilliant pianist, madam, as I know you sometimes phrase it in your country," said Madame Guise. "My French is of course pure; and I could teach dancing. Not drawing; I do not understand it."
"Drawing is quite a minor consideration," replied Mrs. Castlemaine. "Could you undertake the English?"