"Let her wait a bit!" said a sharp voice, as the door was held open; and the "bit" the young traveller had to wait was about three-quarters of an hour, for no earthly reason save that Mrs Saint Clair Marter wished, as she said, "to teach her her place." But at last there was the tinkling of a bell somewhere in the lower regions; the footman ascended, entered what Ella supposed to be the drawing-room, and then returned to say gruffly, "Now, miss, this way, please!" And Ella was shown into the presence of her new mistress. As a rule, no doubt, a young lady engaged to act as governess in a family would speak of the feminine head of that family as her employer, or the lady whose daughter she instructed. She might easily find some other term that would avoid that word which expresses the relation between hirer and servant; but Mrs Saint Clair Marter always spoke of herself as the mistress of the ladies she engaged to act as governess to her children, and therefore we say that Ella was shown into the presence of her new mistress. Mrs Saint Clair Marter was a very diminutive lady, with a flat, countenance, and very frizzly fair hair. She gave a visitor the idea of having been a small negress carefully bleached or made "beautiful for ever;" while the first glance told that, had she really been a sufferer from the slave-trade, whatever others may have valued and sold her at, her purchase at her own valuation would have been a ruinous speculation. She was dressed in the height of ultra-fashion, and reclined upon a couch perfectly motionless, evidently for fear of making creases; for her dress was carefully spread out over the back and foot, with every fold and plait arranged as may be seen any day behind plate glass at the establishments of Messrs. Grant and Gask, Marshall and Snellgrove, or Peter Robinson; and upon Ella's entrance, Mrs Marter inspected her for full a minute through a large gold-rimmed eyeglass. "Ah!" she said at last, with an expiration of the breath, and a look as if she had just made a discovery, "you are the young person recommended to me by Mrs Brandon?" Ella bowed. "Exactly. I have a good deal to say to you about the young ladies, but I'm afraid my memory will not allow me to recall it at present. I daresay, though, that I shall recollect a little from time to time." Ella remained standing; for Mrs Marter, doubtless from having to recall so much, entirely forgot to invite her dependent to a seat. "I am very particular about my governesses, Miss Bedford," said the lady; "and mind, I don't at all approve of their making friends of, or associating with, the other servants. I expect, too, that the young person I have in the house to superintend my children's education will rise early. The young ladies' linen, of course, you will keep in order, and assist the nurse in dressing them of a morning. Let me see, I think Mrs Brandon said you understood German?" "Yes," said Ella quietly. "And Italian?"