There was one matter which did trouble her, however—­the debt to Rawson-Clew.  She had no money, and no possibility of raising any; yet it must and should be paid, for her father’s name could not otherwise be cleared.  She turned over in her own mind how she could earn enough, but there was little hope of that; it seemed rather a large sum for a girl to earn, and any sum was impossible to her; she had no gifts to take to market, no ability for any of the arts, not enough education for teaching, no training for commerce.  The only field open to her was that of a nursery-governess or companion; neither was likely to enable her to pay this debt of honour quickly.  Once, nearly a year ago, she had had a sort of half-offer of the post of companion.  It was while she was staying with a friend; during the visit there had come to the house an old Dutchman of the name of Van Heigen, a business acquaintance of her host.  He had stayed nearly a week, and in that time taken a great fancy to her.

In those first bad days after the Captain’s leaving the army, the Polkingtons had lived, or perhaps more accurately, drifted about, a good deal abroad.  It was then that Julia picked up her only accomplishment, a working knowledge of several languages.  She had also acquired one other thing, perhaps not an accomplishment, a rather unusual knowledge of divers men and divers ways.  It may have been that these qualities made her more attractive to the old Dutchman than the purely English game-expert daughters of the house.  Or it may have been her admirable cooking; the cook was ill during the greater part of her visit, and her offer to help was gladly accepted and duly appreciated.  Something, at all events, pleased the old man, so that before he left he asked her, half in fun, if she would come and live with his wife.  This lady, it seemed, had bad health, and no daughters; she always had a companion of some sort, and was never satisfied with the one she had.  In Holland, as in England, it seemed posts were not easy to fill satisfactorily, for those often in want of employment were also constitutionally inefficient.

At the time Julia had laughingly refused the offer, now she recalled it, and thought seriously about it.  It would not be very nice, a mixture of upper servant and lady help; the Van Heigens were bulb growers, old-fashioned people, the lady a thorough huisvrouw, nothing more probably.  Still that did not matter; such things need not be considered if the end could be attained that way.  But unfortunately it did not look very likely; the Van Heigens would pay less to a companion than English people would, not enough to buy clothes; there was practically nothing to be made out of it.  Julia was obliged to admit the fact to herself, and reluctantly to dismiss the Dutchman and his offer from her thoughts.