“And I’m sure you will!” her uncle exclaimed. “You will prove yourself a true Adair—your father’s own flesh and blood. You see,” he continued more seriously, “what I am most troubled about is your future and Eileen’s. While your mother lives there is the pension, such as it is, but when she dies, you two little girls will have practically nothing—except an old uncle who will always do what he can.” Paddy looked up gratefully, but he gave her no opportunity to speak, continuing immediately: “If I were a rich man, you should none of you want _for_ anything, but I am far from it. We Adairs have a fatal gift of getting through money—a truly Irish trait—and a great part of my private means have gone in medical research, and my practice is in a poor parish, where I have to get what fees I can and leave the rest. As you know, your aunt has a little money, but she has insisted upon giving Basil a most expensive education, and now he is only half through his exams. He may not pass his final for two or three years, and meanwhile he is a great expense.” He paused and there was a long silence, then Paddy looked up, and, steadying her voice with an effort, said: “I must earn money, uncle. I must do something at once.” The doctor knit his forehead together. He knew only too well how, in spite of the widening opportunities for women of earning a livelihood, it is desperately hard for a young girl, fresh from the country, who has done nothing but play most of her life, to gain any kind of a footing in the ranks of women workers. “It is difficult to begin,” he said, “and you have had no training.” Paddy was silent. “I think it will be better to go away from this neighbourhood first,” he began, as if feeling his way a little. “Oh, must we?” she cried. “I think I could teach or something. It would break our hearts to go away from the mountains.” The doctor shook his head. “I have a plan,” he said, “and you must talk it over together and let me know your answer in a week or two. Comparatively recently, it has become usual for doctors to employ women, instead of men, as dispensers. There is a certain amount of studying necessary and an examination to be passed, but this once over, they are able to demand very good salaries. You are a smart little woman, Paddy, and I have been thinking it would be an excellent arrangement for you all to come to London, and for you to fit yourself to be my dispenser. I would pay you a hundred a year, and that would not only be a help to your mother, but it would mean that you had something substantial to fall back upon when she is gone.” “A hundred a year!” Paddy half gasped. “Isn’t that a great deal?” “Oh, no!” carelessly. “It is what most dispensers get.” He knew that it was considerably above the salary of the average lady-dispenser, but he did not want Paddy or her mother to know, and in any case he believed she would be well worth it to him.