"Our sojourn by the sea lasted another month for her sake, but by then I was busy once again, and working easily and well. "Need I say that my darlings were both soon back in their old home, never to leave us again?" "I could not refrain from smiling. "`Why do you laugh?' he said. "`I was only thinking,' I said, sadly, as I could not help comparing the young happy maidenhood of the two girls with my own. I did not know that I smiled. "Oh, I see your meaning," he said, laughing. "Well, yes, perhaps you are right: young birds will make nests elsewhere, and there may be fresh partings; for the son of our old clergyman, who called upon Hetty in Woodmount Square, spends a great deal of his spare time here." "Yes," I said, "and I thought Marie blushed very vividly the other day when I saw her here with that lad Edwards." "Ah, yes," he said, nodding his head thoughtfully. "I knew John Edwards' father at school. He's a good young fellow, and as you say, or rather as you think, we may lose our darlings after all." "And that was your great trouble?" I said. "Yes," he replied, "sunshine and rain. I had both, though I could not see clearly through the storm." "Your failing was that of many," I said sadly; "and it is so, that whatever rain falls into each life, God sends his sunshine to dry those tears." CHAPTER EIGHT. AS COMPANION TO A LADY. The governess question was discussed more than once at the Hendricks-- the position of governesses and companions, Mrs Hendrick and her daughters agreeing with me that some poor girls suffered a martyrdom at the hands of their employers, especially where there was a family of spoilt children, but at the same time we acknowledged that there was often a want of tact on the part of the young people who undertook the duties of governesses. On the last occasion it was in the presence of a quiet subdued lady, who seemed to be about four or five-and-thirty, who had formed a friendship for Hetty while she was at Mrs Saint Ray's, and had continued the acquaintance since. There was something about her that attracted me at the first occasion of our meeting, and by degrees our friendly feeling strengthened, but it was not until after the evening when she spoke that my heart truly warmed to her, for there was a similarity in her career to mine that seemed to act as a bond. On the evening in question Agnes Laurie had been listening quietly to the conversation, and at last said:-- "I believe, of course, that there is a great deal of ill-treatment of governesses, but my experience has been as companion to a lady, and I have found nothing but kindness. It is many years ago, now over ten, since I came from the country, and I can recall, only too well, the morning when my landlady came into the room upon a very unpleasant errand.