“Miss Douglas,” he said, fixing a keen look upon her face, “I told you, when we first talked this matter over, that I considered it a mere form. I have been fully satisfied from the first that you are a lady, and amply qualified for the position I offer you. Now, if you will assure me that there has been nothing in your life, morally speaking, which would debar you from entering my family, I can rest satisfied, and there will be time enough in the future to write to Mr. Conrad.” Anything in her life, morally speaking! A little smile of scorn curled her red lips, and the color leaped again to her very brow; but she lifted her clear, truthful eyes to his, and he was answered, even before she said, with conscious pride: “There is nothing, there has been nothing in my life which any one could question.” “I knew it,” he answered; “and now I have a request to make, and that is, that you will allow me to send my carriage for you this evening. There remains only about a day and a half before we sail, and my family would like to become somewhat acquainted with you beforehand.” Brownie shrank from this ordeal, but she knew it must come sooner or later, and the quicker it was over with the better for all parties. “Very well, sir,” she answered. “At what time shall I send for you?” “An hour will give me ample time to make all needful preparations for the change.” “It is five o’clock now. Then at six precisely the carriage shall call for you. We dine at half-past, when you will meet my family. Now, about this account; it is not a very large one, Miss Douglas,” he said, smiling, and turning to the books. After a moment, he continued, with some hesitation: “Allow me to give you a check on account. You may wish to make some purchases before leaving New York.” Brownie drew herself up like a little princess. “If you will please pay me what I have earned, sir, it will be all I require, thank you.” He ran his eye quickly over the figures, and then paid her just sixteen dollars and a half, the amount of her earnings for three weeks and two days. “Thank you; that is correct,” she said, after counting it; then, with a bow, she withdrew, a strange feeling of pride and independence in her heart that for three weeks she had supported herself by the labor of her own hands. True, it would take about fourteen of it to pay for her board and washing, leaving her only two dollars and fifty cents surplus. She was to receive a salary of five hundred dollars a year, and she smiled to think how large the sum looked to her now and besides there were her expenses and the opportunity of a year of travel in charming Europe. Brownie arrived at the Coolidge mansion in season to be introduced to the family before dinner was served. She did not feel particularly drawn toward either Mrs. Coolidge or her eldest daughter.