She was ushered into the sitting-room; and the woman who entered presently had been suggested by it. She seemed the natural complement of the haggard prints, of the four cumbersome chairs in a line against the wall, of the family Bible on the crochet tablecover. She wore silk, dark and short--plain, except for three narrow bands of velvet at the hem. She wore a gold watch-chain hanging round her neck, garlanded over her portly bosom. She said she was the invalid lady's married daughter, and her tone implied a consciousness of that higher merit which the woman whose father has left her comfortably off feels over the woman whose father hasn't. "You've called about my mother's advertisement for a companion?" she said. "Yes; I've had a long experience of nursing. I think I should be able to do all you require." "Have you ever lived as companion?" "No," said Mary, "I have never done that, but--but I think I'm companionable; I don't think I'm difficult to get on with." "What was your--won't you sit down?--what was your last place?" Mary moistened her lips. "I am," she said, "rather awkwardly situated. I may as well tell you at once that I am a stranger here, and--do you know--I find that's a great bar in the way of my getting employment? Not being known, I've, of course, no friends I can refer people to, and--well, people always seem to think the fact of being a stranger in a city is rather a discreditable thing. I have found that! They do." She looked for a gleam of response in the stolid countenance, but it was as void of expression as the furniture. "As I say, I have had a lengthy experience of nursing; I--it sounds conceited--but I should be exceedingly useful. It's just the thing I am fitted for." The married daughter asked: "You have been a nurse, you say? But not here?" "Not here," said Mary, "no. Of course, that doesn't detract from----" "Oh, quite so. We've had several young women here already to-day. Do I understand you to mean there is nobody at all you can give as a reference?" "Yes, that unfortunately is so. I do hope you don't consider it an insuperable difficulty? You know you take servants without 'characters' sometimes when----" "I _never_ take a servant without a 'character.' I have never done such a thing in my life." "I did not mean you personally," said Mary, with hasty deprecation; "I was speaking----" "I'm most particular on the point; my mother is most particular, too." "Generally speaking. I meant people do take servants without 'characters' occasionally when they are hard pushed."