"Oh, don't you?" she replied, as if she had been explaining most fully. "You are the figurehead, the goddess of the machine. You will see that all goes right, and give Lord Wolfer his breakfast, and preside at the dinner when I'm out on the stump----" "On the what?" asked the mystified Nell. "Out speaking at meetings or serving on committees," said Lady Wolfer. "And you will arrange about the dinner parties and--and all that kind of thing, you know--the stupid things that I'm expected to do, but which I really haven't any time for. Do you quite see now?" "I will do all I can," Nell said, and she laughed. Lady Wolfer glanced at her rather curiously. "How pretty you look when you laugh--quite different. You struck me as looking rather sad and sobered when I first saw you; but when you laugh----I should advise you not to laugh when you first see Lord Wolfer, or he'll think you too absurdly young and girlish for the post. Do take your hat and jacket off! It will be some time before your room is ready. Let me help you." Nell got her outdoor things off quickly, and Lady Wolfer looked at her still more approvingly. "You really are quite a child, my dear!" she said, and for some reason or other she sighed. "Why didn't Wolfer tell me about you before, I wonder? I wish he had; I should like to have had you come and stay with us. But he is so reserved----" she sighed again. "But never mind; you are here now. And how tired you must be! You are looking a little pale now. Why don't you drink that wine? When you are rested--quite rested--to-night, after dinner, perhaps--let me see, am I going anywhere?" She consulted a large engagement slate of white porcelain which stood erect on the crowded table. "Hem! yes, I have to speak at the Sisters of State Society. Never mind; to-morrow, after lunch--if I'm at home. Yes, I can see that we shall be great friends, and that is what I wanted. The others--I mean your predecessors--were such terrible old frumps, without any idea above cutlets and clean sheets, that they only bored and worried me; but you will be quite different----" "Perhaps I shan't be able to rise to the cutlet and clean sheets," suggested Nell diffidently; but her ladyship laughed. "Oh, yes, you will!" she declared. "I am an excellent judge of character--it's one of my qualifications for the work I'm engaged in--and I can see that you are an admirable manager. I suppose you ran the house at home?" Nell smiled. "'Home' meant quite a small cottage," she said. "This is a mansion." "Same thing," commented Lady Wolfer encouragingly. "It's all a question of system. I haven't any; you have; therefore you'll succeed where I fail. You've got that quiet, mousy little way which indicates strength of character----What beautiful hair you have, by the way." Nell blushed. "It's no prettier than yours. Why do you wear it so short, Lady Wolfer?" Lady Wolfer laughed--just a little wearily, so it struck Nell.