"Mrs. Ross laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, and said, 'Do not cry, Joyce. I feel deeply for you. It must be hard to look back and think how things were whilst he lived. I have heard so much of your father's excellences, and how you were both loved by rich and poor.'" "'I am not unhappy,' I replied. 'Service here is not servitude, and I am much better satisfied to earn my bread than to owe it to the charity of another.'" "'You are right; but I should be wrong to accept the faithful labours of a governess in return for a nursemaid's salary. Henceforth you will receive forty pounds a year, and, Miss Mirlees, I shall look for you, with the children, in the drawing-room daily, when we have no formal company and are alone, or have only a few friends.'" "I began to wonder if my old Welton frocks would be good enough, but that evening a parcel came to me, containing a dress-length of good mourning silk, with all requisites for making it up. Mrs. Ross sent a note a little later, to say that it was a mark of the satisfaction felt by her husband and herself at the improvement in their children." "I can now wear my dear mother's watch and ornaments without their seeming unsuitable, and I shall once again find myself amongst people of the class I used to mix with as the parson's daughter at Welton. How can I thank God enough for all His goodness?" "I have so long been used to my Christian name only, that it seemed quite strange when Mrs. Ross with marked emphasis, called me 'Miss Mirlees,' and I subsequently found that the servants were instructed to address me in the same way. They obeyed quite willingly, and the little maid who waits at nursery meals seemed so charmed to apply it, that she repeated the 'miss' as often as possible." "I wonder the servants are not jealous, but I presume they catch the spirit of their employers. As to dear old Mrs. Powell, she is almost as pleased as you will be, dear Sarah, when you read my good news." "I know that my uncle, cousins, and Mrs. Evans are away. When they return, give Adelaide this letter to read, and she will show it to her father, at any rate." "In a day or two, this house will be full of visitors for the shooting. I have been beset by a cowardly dread that anyone who knew me at Welton should be amongst them. You see I have the old pride to conquer yet; but, as the governess, Mrs. Ross will treat me with consideration, I know, and I did not really feel ashamed of being only a servant." "With more love than I can express," "Your ever affectionate foster-child," "JOYCE MIRLEES." How often Sarah had to wipe her eyes whilst reading the letter, and how she exulted that her darling was working her way upward again, and would yet lift her head amongst the best, may be left to the imagination. CHAPTER VI.