Gareth-Lawless the mistress of her
dreams. But her husband had met with an accident and must be kept
in a hospital, and an invalid daughter must live by the seaside--and
suddenly, when things were at their worst with her, had come
Benby with a firm determination to secure her with wages such as
no other place would offer. Besides which she had observed as she
had lived.
"Things have changed," she reflected soberly. "You've got to resign
yourself and not be too particular."
She accepted the third floor, as Benby had said, because it was to
be rearranged and the Night and Day Nurseries, being thrown into
one, repainted and papered would make a decent place to live in.
At the beautiful little girl given into her charge she often looked
in a puzzled way, because she knew a good deal about children, and
about this one there was something odd. Her examination of opened
drawers and closets revealed piles of exquisite garments of all
varieties, all perfectly kept. In these dingy holes, which called
themselves nurseries, she found evidence that money had been spent
like water so that the child, when she was seen, might look like
a small princess. But she found no plaything--no dolls or toys,
and only one picture book, and that had "Donal" written on the
fly leaf and evidently belonged to someone else.
What exactly she would have done when she had had time to think
the matter over, she never knew, because, a few days after her
arrival, a tall, thin gentleman, coming up the front steps as she
was going out with Robin, stopped and spoke to her as if he knew
who she was.
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