"It seems to me you ought to have known what answer to send to that letter as soon as ever you read it." And then she went away, leaving Fidelia to ponder her words. She came back to add another word, however. "Let your answer, whether it be Yes or No, be final. Don't let there be any half-and-half doings--any waiting to find out what your real feelings are. You ought to know this minute all you need to know. Say it once for all." That very day another letter came, not so long as the other, but it brought help to Fidelia, in a way unexpected. This letter was from "Ella Wainright." Fidelia knew that Miss Kent had married; but she did not know that she had married a widower with children. The letter told her this, and it told her also that the two little girls who had fallen into her hands more than filled them. They had been spoiled all their lives by two loving grandmothers and several aunts, all of whom had the best intentions with regard to the motherless children. "As for me," wrote Mrs Wainright, "I am to them the cruel or indifferent stepmother of the story-books, and I should not have a chance with them, even if I had any faculty with children, which I have not. They are bright girls of nine and twelve. I might leave them in school while I go to Europe with my husband, but that would not be good for them nor right for me, and it would only be postponing, perhaps increasing, the trouble. I know you mean to teach, and I have heard from your friend Nelly Austin that you covet hard work; and here it is, ready to your hand. You may name your salary. You will earn it, whatever it is. We shall be in Europe two years at least, perhaps longer. You will have a chance to see much that every one wishes to see, and you can improve yourself in your music, and learn a language or two; and you can help me to do the same. Do not decide against me till you come over to Eastwood to see me." And so on. Fidelia came into the room where Mrs Stone was sitting with her letter in her hand. "Aunt Ruby, listen, and tell me what I had better do." Then she read the letter. Mrs Stone listened, but she did not need to advise. She saw that, though she was not aware of it herself, Fidelia had almost made up her mind to go. "I think I would go over to Eastwood and see Mrs Wainright, and talk it over with her." And she would have liked to add--"You may as well write your letter to Dr Justin before you go," but she did not. "It is all right, I guess; and I, for one, am glad of it." Fidelia went to Eastwood. If she had been inclined to hesitate over her decision, she could hardly have done so. Mrs Wainright took possession of her at once.