“I know of a very neat, respectable young girl, who would please you, I am sure,” she said; “only I am not quite sure whether her mother will let her go, because she needs the child so much at home.”

“Promise her good pay,” said Mrs. Stanhope, eagerly.  “I will give the mother whatever she asks, if she will let me have the girl.”

Mrs. Stein was so delighted with such a prospect for Elsli that she started out immediately to see what Marget would say to it, accompanying Mrs. Stanhope for some distance on her way home, and then turning off on the lane that led to Heiri’s cottage.  Marget was alone, at the wash-tub.  It did not take much persuasion to obtain her consent, for of course the money was a great inducement.

“It will not be for long,” she said, “and the children must manage to get along without Elsli.”  So it was settled that Elsli should go the next day, at eleven o’clock, to Mrs. Stanhope’s, to begin her new duties.

Late that evening, when the two sisters sat down at the work-table together, after the children were in bed, aunty repeated Emma’s confidences to her mother; how the visit to the sick girl had been a complete failure, for Emma was sure that Nora did not care to have her come again, any more than she herself cared to go; for she couldn’t think of anything to say, and Nora didn’t want to talk either, and they didn’t like the same things at all.

Mrs. Stein was surprised and disappointed.  Emma’s stock of conversation had never been known to give out before, and her mother had been confident that her merry talk would be a real pleasure to the sick child, and help to pass happily many a tedious hour of her long day; and, on the other hand, she relied much on the benefit which her romping little girl would receive from the refined and gentle Nora.  She saw, however, that there was nothing to be done about it, and that she could only trust to time, which often works wonders when things seem hopeless.

“By and by, perhaps, they will come together.  Children often do, just when you least expect it,” she said.

Her sister shook her head.  “Emma and Nora were not made for each other, any more than fire and water,” she said; and then they quitted the subject, and talked about Elsli’s prospects, and rejoiced at the thought that the days of servitude to her burdensome little brothers were over, at least for the present.

CHAPTER VI.

Aunty is in demand again.

On the following day, at eleven o’clock, Elsli entered the house at Oak-ridge as quietly as a little mouse; so quietly that Nora did not hear her come into the house, and was startled when she suddenly saw her standing just inside the door of the sitting-room.  Elsli had brushed her light brown hair carefully back from her forehead, leaving only a few soft curls to wave about her eyes.  Her mother had allowed her to put on a fresh white apron and a bright kerchief, as she was going among the gentry.  The little pale face had a somewhat anxious look, and her big blue eyes had a timid expression as she glanced toward Nora, doubting whether she ought to come into the room or not.