“Excuse me, Miss Clyde, but your own good sense, of which I am sure you have an abundance, must tell you that now Mr. Remington and myself are at home, your intercourse with our family must be rather limited—that is—ahem—that is, neither Mr. Remington nor myself are accustomed to having our governess very much with us. I suppose you have had the range of the parlors, sitting there when you liked, and all this was perfectly proper. Mind, I am finding no fault with you. It is all quite right,” she continued, as she saw the strange look of terror and surprise visible on Maddy’s face. “The past is right, but in future it will be a little different. I am willing to accord to a governess all the privileges possible. They are human as well as myself, but society makes a difference. Don’t you know it does?” “Yes—no—I don’t know. Oh, pray tell me what you mean, what I am to do!” Maddy gasped her face white as ashes, and her eyes wearing as yet only a scared, uncertain look. With little, graceful tosses of the head, which set in motion every one of the brown curls, Mrs. Agnes replied: “You are not, of course, to go to Mr. Remington. It is my matter, and does not concern him. What I wish is this: You are to come to the parlor only when invited, and are not to intrude upon us at any time, particularly when company is here, such as—well, such as Dr. Holbrook, if you please. As you cannot be with Jessie all the while, you will, when your duties as governess are over, sit in your own room, or the school-room, or walk in the back yard, just as the higher servants do—such as Mrs. Noah and the seamstress, Sarah. Occasionally we shall have you in to dine with us, but usually you will take your meals with Mrs. Noah and Sarah. By following these directions you will, I think, give entire satisfaction.” When Mrs. Agnes had finished, Maddy began to understand her position, and into her white face the hot blood poured indignantly. Wholly inexperienced, she had never dreamed that a governess was not worthy to sit at the same table with her employer, that she must never enter the parlors unbidden, or intrude herself in any way, and her cheeks burned at the degradation, and for an instant she felt like defying the proud woman to her face. But the angry words trembling on her tongue were repressed as she remembered her grandfather’s teachings; and with a bow as haughty as any Mrs. Agnes could have made, and a look on her face which could not easily be forgotten, she left the room, and in a kind of stunned bewilderment sought the garden, where she could, unseen, give way to her feelings.