So Janet went with hushed footsteps up the well-remembered staircase, opened the door softly, and stood for a moment on the threshold. Sister Agnes was lying on a sofa. She put her hand suddenly to her side and rose to her feet as Janet entered the room. A tall wasted figure robed in black, with a thin spiritualized face, the natural pallor of which was just now displaced by a transient flush that faded out almost as quickly as it had come. The white head-dress had been cast aside for once, and the black hair streaked with silver, was tied in a simple knot behind. The large dark eyes looked larger and darker than they had ever looked before, and seemed lit up with an inner fire that had its source in another world than ours. Sister Agnes advanced a step or two and held out her arms. "My darling!" was all she said as she pressed Janet to her heart, and kissed her again and again. They understood each other without words. The feeling within them was too deep to find expression in any commonplace greeting. The excitement of the meeting was too much for the strength of Sister Agnes. She was obliged to lie down again. Janet sat by her side caressing one of her wasted hands. "Your coming has made me very, very happy," murmured Sister Agnes after a time. "Through all the seven dreary years of my school life," said Janet, "the expectation of some day seeing you again was the one golden dream that the future held before me. That dream has now come true. How I have looked forward to this day none save those who have been circumstanced as I have can more than faintly imagine." "Are you at all acquainted with Lady Pollexfen's intentions in asking you to come to Dupley Walls?" "Not in the least. A fortnight ago I had no idea that I should so soon be here. I knew that I could not stay much longer at the Pension Clissot, and naturally wondered what instructions Madame Duclos would receive from Lady Pollexfen as to my disposal. The last time I saw her ladyship, her words seemed to imply that after my education should be finished I should have to trust to my own exertions for earning a livelihood; in fact, I have looked upon myself all along as ultimately destined to add one more unit to the great tribe of governesses." "Such a fate shall not be yours if my weak arm has power to avert it," said Sister Agnes. "For the present your services are required at Dupley Walls, in the capacity of 'companion' to Lady Pollexfen--in brief, to occupy the position held by me for so many years, but from which I am now obliged to secede on account of ill health." Janet was almost too astounded to speak. "Companion to Lady Pollexfen! Me! Impossible!" was all that she could say.