"Oh! ever so long, sir," she exclaimed, speaking with more confidence. "You see there's nothing for me to do here except when there's any one staying, like you, sir, and that's not often. Mother won't let me help with the rough work, and Ruth's growing up now, she's ever such a strong girl. And I should like to go away if I could, and learn to be a little more--more ladylike," she added, with reddening cheeks. Macheson was puzzled. The girl was not looking him in the face. He felt there was something at the back of it all. "My dear girl," he said, "you can't learn to be ladylike. That's one of the things that's born with you or it isn't. You can be just as much a lady helping your mother here as practising grimaces in a London drawing-room." "But I want to improve myself," she persisted. "Go for a long walk every day, and look about you," he said. "Read. I'll lend you some books--the right sort. You'll do better here than away." She was frankly dissatisfied. "But I want to go away," she declared. "I want to leave Thorpe for a time. I should like to go to London. Couldn't I get a situation as lady's help or companion or something of that sort? I shouldn't want any money." He was silent for a moment. "Does your mother know of this, Letty?" he asked. "She wouldn't object," the girl answered eagerly. "She lets me do what I like." "Hadn't you better tell me--the rest?" Macheson asked quietly. The girl looked away uneasily. "There is no rest," she protested weakly. Macheson shook his head. "Letty," he said, "if you have formed any ideas of a definite future for yourself, different from any you see before you here, tell me what they are, and I will do my best to help you. But if you simply want to go away because you are dissatisfied with the life here, because you fancy yourself superior to it, well, I'm sorry, but I'd sooner prevent your going than help you." Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh! Mr. Macheson, it isn't that," she declared, "I--I don't want to tell any one, but I'm very--very fond of some one who's--quite different. I think he's fond of me, too," she added softly, "but he's always used to being with ladies, and I wanted to improve myself so much! I thought if I went to London," she added wistfully, "I might learn?" Macheson laughed cheerfully. He laid his hand for a moment upon her arm. "Oh! Letty, Letty," he declared, "you're a foolish little girl! Now, listen to me. If he's a good sort, and I'm sure he is, or you wouldn't be fond of him, he'll like you just exactly as you are. Do you know what it means to be a lady, the supreme test of good manners? It means to be natural. Take my advice! Go on helping your mother, enter into the village life, make friends with the other girls, don't imagine yourself a bit superior to anybody else. Read when you have time--I'll manage the books for you, and spend all the time you can out of doors. It's sound advice, Letty. Take my word for it. Hullo, who's this?"