"I am always working very hard," she answered, with her sweet smile of patient endurance. "There is a great deal to be done in schools, you know; but I am well off at Miss Jupp's compared to what I was at the other place. They are very kind to me." "You have a look upon you as if you felt tired always. It is a curious impression to draw though, perhaps, considering I have seen you but for ten minutes." "I do feel tired nearly always," acknowledged Anna. "The Miss Jupps think London does not agree with me. I am going to Coastdown for a change for the holidays; I shall get better there." He thought she would require a longer change than a few holiday weeks. Never in the old days had it struck him that Anna looked _fragile_; but she certainly did now. "And now, Robert Hunter, you'll stay with us, as these young ladies are here?" said hospitable Mrs. Macpherson. He hesitated before replying. Very much indeed would he have liked to remain, but he had made an appointment with a gentleman. "Put it off," said Mrs. Macpherson. "There's no time for that. Certainly--if I am not at the office when he comes, one of the partners would see him. But--" "But what?" asked the professor. "Would not that be a solution of the difficulty?" "A way out of the mess," put in the professor's wife. Mr. Hunter laughed. "I was going to say that I have never put away any business for my own convenience since--since I took to it again." The attraction, or whatever it might be, however, proved too strong for business this afternoon, and Robert Hunter remained at the professor's. When he and Miss Thornycroft parted at night, it seemed that they had known each other for years. It was very singular; a thing of rare occurrence. We have heard of this sudden mutual liking, the nameless affinity that draws one soul to another; but believe me it is not of very frequent experience. The thought that crossed Robert Hunter's mind that evening more than once was--"I wish that girl was my sister." Any idea of another sort of attachment would be a very long while yet before it penetrated to him as even a possibility. In the evening, when they got home, at an early hour--Miss Jupp had only given them until eight o'clock, for there was packing to do--Mary Anne Thornycroft went into a fever of indignation to think that no message had been left by or from any of her brothers. "It is so fearfully careless of them! That is just like my brothers. Do they expect we are to travel alone?" "My dear, do not put yourself out," said Miss Jupp. "Two young ladies can travel alone very well. You will get there quite safely." "So far as that goes, ma'am, I could travel alone fearlessly to the end of the world," spoke Mary Anne. "But that is not the question; neither does it excuse their negligence. For all they know, I might have spent all my money, and have none to take me down." Miss Emma Jupp laughed. "They would suppose that we should supply you."