"Sure," said Mr. French to himself, "it'll be all right if I get one old enough."
It was only this morning that he broke the news.
"Dick," said Mr. French. "There's a governess coming for Effie."
"A what did you say?" asked Mr. Giveen, looking up from the newspaper, the advertisement page of which he had been reading upside down. One of his not altogether sane habits was to sit and stare at a paper and pretend to be reading it, so that his thoughts might wander unperceived. "A what did you say?"
"Oh," said Mr. Giveen, and relapsed into the study of the newspaper.
Now, this appearance of indifference was a very ominous sign. The news that a new servant was coming would have caused this inveterate tattler to break into a volley of questions, questions of the most minute and intimate description as to the name, age, colour, looks, height, and native place of the newcomer; yet this important information left him dumb, but it was a speechlessness that only affected the tongue. If you had watched him closely you would have noticed that his eyes were travelling rapidly up and down the columns of the paper, that his hand was tremulous.
Mr. French, who was not an observer, went on to talk of other matters, when suddenly Mr. Giveen dropped his paper.
"What's who like?" replied Mr. French, who at the moment was discussing turnips.
"I haven't seen her yet," said Mr. French, "but her name is Grimshaw, and she's over forty."
At this news Mr. Giveen clapped his hat on his head and made for the open French window. "I'll see you to-morrow," he cried back as he disappeared amidst the rose trees.
Then through the same window he passed into the garden, and thence to the stable-yard, where he found Moriarty, who was standing at the harness-room door engaged in cleaning a bit.
"Moriarty," said Mr. French, "you'll take the car to the station to meet the half-past five train."
"Yes, sir," said Moriarty. "Any luggage?"
"Oh! I shouldn't think much," replied Mr. French. "You're to meet the lady that's coming as governess for Miss Effie. You're sure to recognise her--she's elderly. If she has more than one trunk you can tell Doyle to bring it on in the morning."
As he went back to the house he took the letter he had received a week before from Miss Grimshaw from his pocket and reread it.