She was grey-haired and handsome, and most beautifully dressed. She turned slightly when Esther entered, and stared at her through her lorgnette, then she looked at the stiff and stately one.
"Is this--er--the young lady?" she asked.
"Yes, madam--this is Miss Shepstone." The stately one introduced Esther with a wave of her hand. "This lady, Miss Shepstone, is looking for a companion. Some one who can work well--and read aloud." She looked at Esther sharply. "Can you read aloud?" she asked.
Esther stammered out that she supposed she could, but ...
"That is a minor detail," the lady with the lorgnette interrupted. "Miss Shepstone, I am not wanting a companion in the ordinary sense of the word. That is to say, I do not want you to be constantly with me. You will have your own bedroom and sitting-room--and I shall only want you at certain hours of the day. You will write letters for me and make yourself generally useful." She paused, she searched the girl's eager face through her glasses.
"Humph! And what have you done up till now?"
"I was in the workroom at Eldred's. The manager has promised to give me a reference, but----"
"Eldred's!" the sharp gaze wavered a little. "And why did you leave there, may I ask?"
"I don't want to get used to you and to get you used to my ways and then for you to leave me," she was told. "And I don't want a young man constantly dangling round the house." Her voice was sharp, but not unkind, and there was a smile in the keen eyes.
"Well," said the owner of the lorgnette then, "what do you think about it? Do you think you would like to come? Do you think you would like me?"
Esther smiled, there was something in this blunt questioning that reminded her of June Mason.
"Yes," she said. "I think I should, but----"
"I hate that word," she was told promptly. "I don't want any 'buts' in the question. You either wish to come or you do not. I will give you fifty pounds a year, and your keep, of course. It's too much for an inexperienced girl like you, but I think I shall rather like you. Well, what do you say?"
Esther did not know what to say. The offer was tempting enough, but she thought of June Mason and the room with the mauve cushions where she was settling down so happily, and her heart sank.