Miss Staunton," said Mrs. Troubridge. "I am sure that with your large household, Mrs. Lindsay, you could easily spare me Miss Staunton for a month or six weeks."
"We've had to spare Jessie for good," said Mrs. Lindsay, "and I'm sure I have no done missing her yet."
"Certainly, I quite enter into your feelings; but suppose Miss Staunton and Miss Isabel (Miss Lindsay, I should call her now) would come to keep me company at Richlands for a month, the change would do them a great deal of good. I should like the two together, because they might find it dull. We have splendid rides all round about, and I have no end of books for them to read." .
"Yes, but how's the work to get on if both Amy and Isabel are away?"
"How did it get on when they went to Gundabook?" asked Mrs. Troubridge.
"That was a matter of necessity to go to see Jessie, poor thing, left all alone in that far-off region," said Mrs. Lindsay.
"And I am sure she never could be duller than I am. I'm often amused to think how little I say, and how little is said to me, week after week, at home. Nobody believes it, I know, but I am naturally quiet—very quiet, and Mr. Trou-
