"Only those two having a jar." "I heard that. But what was it about? Sophie Chalk?" "Well, yes; that was it, Anna." We were at the front window then. A man was lighting the street-lamps, and Anna seemed to be occupied in watching him. There was enough care on her face to set one up in the dismals for life. "No harm may come of it, Anna. Any way, you can do nothing." "Oh, Johnny, I wish I knew!" she said, clasping her hands. "I wish I could satisfy myself which way _right_ lies. If I were to speak, it might be put down to a wrong motive. I try to see whether that thought is not a selfish one, whether I ought to let it deter me. But then--that's not the worst." "That sounds like a riddle, Anna." "I wish I had some good, judicious person who would hear all and judge for me," she said, rather dreamily. "If you were older, Johnny, I think I would tell you." "I am as old as you are, at any rate." "That's just it. We are neither of us old enough nor experienced enough to trust to our own judgment." "There's your mother, Anna." "I know." "What you mean is, that Sir John and Lady Whitney ought to have their eyes opened to what's going on, that they may put an end to Miss Chalk's intimacy here, if they deem the danger warrants it?" "That's near enough, Johnny. And I don't see my way sufficiently clearly to do it." "Put the case to Helen." "She would only laugh in my face. Hush! here comes some one." It was Sophie Chalk. She looked rather sharply at us both, and said she could not find Helen anywhere. And the days were to go on in outward smoothness and private discomfort, Miss Sophie exercising her fascinations on the whole of us. * * * * * But for having promised that lame child to call again in Torriana Square, I should not have cared to go. It was afternoon this time. The servant showed me upstairs, and said her mistress was for the moment engaged. Mabel Smith sat in the same seat in her black frock; some books lay on a small table drawn before her. "I thought you had forgotten to come." "Did you? I should be sure not to forget it." "I am so tired of my lessons," she said, irritably, sweeping the books away with her long thin fingers. "I always am when _they_ teach me. Mrs. Smith has kept me at them for two hours; she has gone down now to engage a new servant." "I get frightfully tired of my lessons sometimes." "Ah, but not as I do; you can run about: and learning, you know, will never be of use to me. I want you to tell me something. Is Sophonisba Chalk going to stay at Lady Whitney's?" "I don't know. They will not be so very long in town." "But I mean is she to be governess there, and go into the country with them?" "No, I think not."