A sudden flush, however, rose to her very brows as Webster entered the room, and she nervously held out her hand. She was remembering that momentous meeting on the bridge; remembering her terrible misery and despair. And the ordinarily calm Webster was also ill at ease. He took the thin, trembling little hand in his, almost without a word; he looked at the altered face, and a strange, painful emotion stirred his heart. "You are better?" he said a moment later, but not in his usual firm tones. "Yes, much better," she answered. It was the same sweet, low voice that he had listened for too eagerly at his aunts' house; that had touched some hidden chord in his heart that hitherto had been mute. "Doctor Brentwood told me you were much better," he went on, still nervously, "and I hope soon to see you quite well." May made no reply for a moment or so, then she looked up in his face. "And did Doctor Brentwood tell you anything else?" she asked. "Did he tell you that I wish to find some employment at once?" "He told me something of this," answered Webster, taking a chair and drawing it nearer to her; "but for you to do anything at once is, I am sure, impossible." "But I must, indeed I must, Mr. Webster," said May, earnestly. "I can not any longer be a burden to you--I know I have been--" Here she paused, and tears came unbidden into her eyes, and she turned away her head to hide her emotion. "Do not, I entreat you, speak thus," said Webster, also much moved. "I have only been too happy, too thankful, to have been of any use to you. And anything I can do for you, anything that a most sincere friend can do, I am sure you know I will do." "You have been most kind, most good," faltered May. "But--but do not let us speak of the painful past; it upsets me, and unfits me for what I have got to say, for what I must do. What I want is to find some work, some employment." "And what have you thought of?" "I have thought of many things," answered May with a wan smile. "I am not sufficiently educated to be a governess, I fear, for I have never been at any college nor passed examinations as they do now. I could go into a shop--" "Certainly not," interrupted Webster, quickly. "Why not? It is a means of livelihood, and what matter is it?" said May, quietly. "It is a life you are quite unsuited for, and one utterly unsuited to you. That is out of the question." "Then there are telegraph and post office clerks, are there not, who are women?" "Yes, but--" "But Mr. Webster, I must do something. And--there is another thing I have thought of--what I should like best, I think--to be a nurse." "Do you mean a hospital nurse?" "Yes, like Nurse Margaret, who has attended upon me. I am sure I should like this best, and if Doctor Brentwood would give me a chance--"