"As you are going to stay with me," she had said, when she tarried a little while in the nursery after Mrs. Brenton had gone downstairs, "I think we had better start as we intend to go on. Agnes, I know, wants to carry you home again with her to-night, but Betty and Babsy want you--don't you, darlings?" Caroline asked for nothing better, except, indeed, that she was divided in her desire to show deference to both these women who were so extraordinarily kind to her. "I only hope I shall do," she said earnestly. Camilla had laughed at this. Her baby had climbed on her knee, and was cuddling her very tightly. "This is not what frightens me," she said. "I am only afraid you won't stand our ways. This is a very funny sort of household--isn't it, Betty?" The child nodded her head wisely. She looked so pretty with her bright hair screwed up in curl rags. It was Caroline who introduced the subject of Rupert Haverford. "I fancy Mrs. Brenton thinks I ought to have referred things to Mr. Haverford," she had said, a little hesitatingly. "I know," Mrs. Lancing had answered quickly, "but I don't in the least see that. Of course you went to Mr. Haverford last night because you did not know what else to do. But surely that does not entitle him to order all your ways? I shall be awfully disappointed if you don't stay with me," she finished; and Caroline had laughed softly at this. "Then you shall not be disappointed," she had answered. And so everything had been arranged, and when Mrs. Lancing had whisked away for a long--and a late--evening at cards, Mrs. Brenton had kissed the girl, and told her to go to rest. "Camilla is right; you do look very tired," she said. "Oh, I am always pale, but I am not really tired--I am only happy. I don't think I could explain to you exactly how I feel. Just a little while ago I seemed to have nothing given to me, that nothing was possible; and now I feel almost as if I had found everything that had been lacking all these years!" "Only because you have settled to be the governess to two children who are bound to be naughty and tiresome sometimes, you know?" "No, not entirely because of that," Caroline answered. There was something familiar to her to find herself occupying a small bed in a room with children, but this was the only element that was familiar; all the rest was so new and so sweet. As she lay on the pillows and looked from one little sleeping form to the other her eyes filled, and she had a fluttering sensation at her heart. After so many barren years these last few hours seemed over full with sympathy and kindness, and with that recognition from others that almost amounted to kinship. She found herself endowed with a personality all at once. It was very strange to realize that she had some defined standing; now that the oppression of dependence had been lifted she marvelled that she could have endured the burden so long.