"Oh, it won't live, my boy! If it had been a permanent job, I shouldn't have handed it over to you--I'm not a philanthropist. But it will give you a chance to turn round, and an enlightened publisher may discern the merits of _The Eye of the Beholder_ in the meanwhile. You'd better go on looking for something while you are on the thing; perhaps you'll be able to get the Paris Correspondence for a paper, if you try." "What more? What besides the scissors--nothing?" "There's the paste; I don't imagine you'll need much else." "You're a trump!" repeated Kent gratefully. "I feel an awful fraud taking such a berth, Turk; but in this world one has to do what one----" "Can't!" "Exactly. By George! it seems to be a paying line." "There is always room at the top, you know," said Turquand. "When you rise in what you can't do, the emolument is dazzling." Beaufort was returning to Paris the same day, and he was anxious for Kent to join him there with all possible speed. Kent's first intention was to go alone and let Cynthia follow him at her leisure; but when he reached home and cried, "'Mary, you shall drive in your carriage, and Charles shall go to Eton!'" she refused to be left behind. "I can be ready by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest," she exclaimed delightedly, when explanations were forthcoming. "What did you mean by 'Charles' and 'Mary'? Oh, Humphrey, didn't I tell you it would all come all right? How lovely! and how astonished mamma and papa will be!" "Yes, I fancy it will surprise 'em a trifle," he said. "We'll go round there this evening, shall we? And we'll put the salary in francs--it sounds more." He hesitated. "I say, do you think Nurse will mind living in Paris?" Cynthia paled. "I must ask her; I hadn't thought of that. Oh ... oh, I dare say I shall be able to persuade her! It's rather a hurry for her, though, isn't it? She does so dislike being hurried." "Tell her at once," he suggested; "she'll have all the more time to prepare in. Run up to her now." "Let--let us think," murmured Cynthia; "we'll consider.... Ann must be sent away, and we shall have to give her a month's wages instead of notice." "She's no loss," he observed. "I don't know I what your mother ever saw in her. She can't even cook a steak, the wench!" "She fries them, dear." "I know she does," said Kent. "A woman who'd fry a steak would do a murder. Well, we shall have to give her a month's wages instead of notice--it's an iniquitous law! But what about Nurse?" "Perhaps," said Cynthia nervously, "if _you_ were to mention it to her, darling, if you don't I mind----" "Of course I don't mind," he answered, but without alacrity. "What an idea! Tell Ann to send her down." She entered presently, an important young person in a stiff white frock; and he played with the newspaper, trying to feel that he had grown quite accustomed to seeing an important young person in his service. "You wished to speak to me, madam, but baby will be waking directly----"