answered advertisements, but without success. At last the little money which I

had saved began to run short, and I was at my wit’s end as to what I

should do.


“There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End called

Westaway’s, and there I used to call about once a week in order to see

whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway was the name of

the founder of the business, but it is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits

in her own little office, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an

anteroom, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers and

sees whether she has anything which would suit them.


“Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as

usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously stout man

with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled down in fold upon

fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose,

looking very earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a

jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.


“‘That will do,’ said he; ‘I could not ask for

anything better. Capital! capital!’ He seemed quite enthusiastic and

rubbed his hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a

comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at him.


“‘You are looking for a situation, miss?’ he asked.


“‘Yes, sir.’


“‘As governess?’


“‘Yes, sir.’


“‘And what salary do you ask?’


“‘I had £ 4 a month in my last place with Colonel Spence

Munro.’


“‘Oh, tut, tut! sweating—rank sweating!’ he

cried, throwing his fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling

passion. ‘How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such

attractions and accomplishments?’


“‘My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you

imagine,’ said I. ‘A little French, a little German, music, and

drawing—’