"I or my brother," was the calm response, "Would you expect us to leave her alone with a stranger?" The doctor made no answer, and the young man, taking a step sidewise, threw me a glance full of anxiety and trouble. "I don't like it," he murmured; "but there must be a woman of some kind in the room, and a stranger----" He did not finish his words, but it seemed as if he were going to say: "And a stranger may, after all, be preferable to a neighbor." But I cannot be sure of this, for he was not a man easy to sound. But what I do know is that he stepped forward, to me with an easy grace, and giving me a welcome as courteous as if I had been the one of all others he desired to see, led me up the stairs to a room which he announced to be mine, saying, as he left me at the door: "Come out in five minutes, and my brother will introduce you to your duties." So far I had seen no woman in the house, and I was beginning to wonder if Mrs. Pollard had preferred to surround herself with males, when the door was suddenly opened and a rosy-cheeked girl stepped in. "Ah, excuse me," she said, with a stare; "I thought it was the nurse as was here." "And it is the nurse," I returned, smiling in spite of myself at her look of indignant surprise. "Do you want any thing of me?" I hastened to ask, for her eyes were like saucers and her head was tossing airily. "No," she said, almost with spite. "I came to see if you wanted any thing?" I shook my head with what good nature I could, for I did not wish to make an enemy in this house, even of a chambermaid. "And you are really the nurse?" she asked, coming nearer and looking at me in the full glare of the gas. "Yes," I assured her, "really and truly the nurse." "Well, I don't understand it!" she cried. "I was always Mrs. Pollard's favorite maid, and I was with her when she was took, and would be with her now, but they won't let me set a foot inside the door. And when I asked why they keep me out, who was always attentive and good to her, they say I am too young. And here you be younger than I, and a stranger too. I don't like it," she cried, tossing her head again and again. "I haven't deserved it, and I think it is mighty mean." I saw the girl was really hurt, so I hastened to explain that I was not the nurse they expected, and was succeeding, I think, in mollifying her, when a step was heard in the hall, and she gave a frightened start, and hurried towards the door. "So you are sure you don't want anything?" she cried, and was out of my sight before I could answer.