“There is one that came in this morning,” Miss Cruickshank answered.

She bent over her employer’s shoulder and turned over the pages rapidly.

“Lady Lynche the name was, but – ”

She bent down and placed her mouth close to Mrs. Macey’s ear. Carina made an effort not to overhear what was being said, and yet two words were unavoidable – ‘strange’ and ‘common’.

“Oh! Oh, indeed!” Mrs. Macey murmured as Miss Cruickshank finished whispering. “Still, if there is nothing else – ”

She looked across at Carina.

“Someone called here this morning on behalf of Lady Lynche,” she said. “I am not personally acquainted with her Ladyship, but it appears that she requires a Governess or someone trustworthy to take her child on a journey.”

“Abroad?” Carina asked quickly, a sudden light in her eyes.

Mrs. Macey glanced at Miss Cruickshank who shook her head and said,

“No, I think it was to the North or it may have been the West of England. I am not really sure. There were so many applicants in this morning asking different questions.”

“It is immaterial,” Mrs. Macey said briskly. “Lady Lynche requires someone and I presume, Miss – Warner, you consider yourself trustworthy.”

“Yes, yes – I hope so,” Carina replied.

“Very well, then. I will give you our card with the address on it and you may call on Lady Lynche. Our fee, of course, is payable before we give you the address.”

“Fee!” Carina faltered. “I did not know that I had to pay anything.”

“Well, naturally,” Mrs. Macey retorted. “In some low class Agencies I believe only the employer is charged for the introduction. But here, where we are most careful and no one is taken on our books without proper references and thorough investigation, we also charge the employee. That will be ten shillings, if you please.”

Mrs. Macey did not miss the look on Carina’s face. It was, she thought, almost one of despair.

Carina opened her handbag and brought out a very small and very thin purse. At the same time Mrs. Macey’s experienced eye did not fail to note that the handbag was an expensive one and the purse of real leather.

‘What has brought her to this?’ she wondered and experience supplied the answer. ‘A man, for a certainty!’

The girl’s clothes were also good and just for a moment Mrs. Macey wondered whether she was wise in sending this unknown person to Lady Lynche.

Then she remembered in her own words that she was not acquainted with her Ladyship and Miss Cruickshank had made it quite clear that there was something peculiar about the application. There could therefore be no harm in the girl trying to obtain the appointment.