"You may certainly stay now," and Miss Leigh rang a bell to summon the neat maid-servant. "Rachel, the rooms are let to this young lady, Miss Armitage. Will you prepare the bedroom and help her unpack her things?" Then, turning round to Innocent, she said kindly,--"You will of course take your meals with me at my table--I keep very regular hours, and if for any cause you have to be absent, I should wish to know beforehand." Innocent said nothing;--her eyes were full of tears, but she took the old lady's little hand and kissed it. They went down together again to the drawing-room, Innocent just pausing to tell the maid Rachel that she would prefer to unpack and arrange the contents of her satchel--all her luggage,--herself; and in a very few minutes the whole business was settled. Eager to prove her good faith to the gentle lady who had so readily trusted her, she drew from her bosom the envelope containing the bank-notes left to her by Hugo Jocelyn, and, unfolding all four, she spread them out on the table. "You see," she said, "this is my little fortune! Please change one of them and take the two months' rent and anything more you want--please do!" A faint colour flushed Miss Leigh's pale cheeks. "No, my dear, no!" she answered. "You must not tempt me! I will take exactly the two months' rent and no more; but I think you ought not to carry this money about with you--you should put it in a bank. We'll talk of this afterwards--but go and lock it up somewhere now--there's a little desk in your room you could use--but a bank would be safest. After dinner this evening I'll tell you what I think you ought to do--you are so very young!"--and she smiled--"such a young little thing! I shall have to look after you and play chaperone!" Innocent looked up with a sweet confidence in her eyes. "That will be kind of you!" she said, and leaving the one bank-note of a hundred pounds on the table, she folded up the other three in their original envelope and returned them to their secret place of safety. "In a little while I will tell you a great deal about myself--and I do hope I shall please you! I will not give any trouble, and I'll try to be useful in the house if you'll let me. I can cook and sew and do all sorts of things!" "Can you, indeed!" and Miss Leigh laughed good-naturedly. "And what about studying for literature?" "Ah!--that of course comes first!" she said. "But I shall do all my writing in the mornings--in the afternoons I can help you as much as you like." "My dear, your time must be your own," said Miss Leigh, decisively. "You have paid for your accommodation, and you must have perfect liberty to do as you like, as long as you keep to my regular hours for meals and bed-time. I think we shall get on well together,--and I hope we shall be good friends!"