"Just about Christmas--I hadn't been to a dance for a year. I had been slaving at canteen work all day"--she turned to Mrs. Friend--"and doing chauffeur by night--you know--fetching wounded soldiers from railway stations. And then somebody asked me to a dance, and I went. And next morning I just made up my mind that everything else in the world was rot, and I would go to a dance every night. So I chucked the canteen and I chucked a good deal of the driving--except by day--and I just dance--and dance!" Suddenly she began to whistle a popular waltz--and the next minute the two elder people found themselves watching open-mouthed the whirling figure of Miss Helena Pitstone, as, singing to herself, and absorbed apparently in some new and complicated steps, she danced down the whole length of the drawing-room and back again. Then out of breath, with a curtsey and a laugh, she laid a sudden hand on Mrs. Friend's arm. "Will you come and talk to me--before dinner? I can't talk--before _him_. Guardians are impossible people!" And with another mock curtsey to Lord Buntingford, she hurried Mrs. Friend to the door, and then disappeared. Her guardian, with a shrug of the shoulders, walked to his writing-table, and wrote a hurried note. "My dear Geoffrey--I will send to meet you at Dansworth to-morrow by the train you name. Helena is here--very mad and very beautiful. I hope you will stay over Sunday. Yours ever, Buntingford." "He shall have his chance anyway," he thought, "with the others. A fair field, and no pulling." CHAPTER II "There is only one bathroom in this house, and it is a day's journey to find it," said Helena, re-entering her own bedroom, where she had left Mrs. Friend in a dimity-covered arm-chair by the window, while she reconnoitred. "Also, the water is only a point or two above freezing--and as I like boiling--" She threw herself down on the floor by Mrs. Friend's side. All her movements had a curious certainty and grace like those of a beautiful animal, but the whole impression of her was still formidable to the gentle creature who was about to undertake what already seemed to her the absurd task of chaperoning anything so independent and self-confident. But the girl clearly wished to make friends with her new companion, and began eagerly to ask questions. "How did you hear of me? Do you mind telling me?" "Just through an agency," said Mrs. Friend, flushing a little. "I wanted to leave the situation I was in, and the agency told me Lord Buntingford was looking for a companion for his ward, and I was to go and see Lady Mary Chance--" The girl's merry laugh broke out: "Oh, I know Mary Chance--twenty pokers up her backbone! I should have thought--" Then she stopped, looking intently at Mrs. Friend, her brows drawn together over her brilliant eyes. "What would you have thought?" Mrs. Friend enquired, as the silence continued.