 skill, with inspiration; the very attitude in which she seated
herself was a triumph of the artist's felicity.
    »I just said a word or two in my note,« she resumed, »that you might have
replied if you thought nothing could be gained by my speaking to you. I couldn't
explain fully what I had in mind. I don't know that I've anything very clear to
say even now, but - you know what has happened to me; you know that I have
nothing to look forward to, that I can only hope to keep from being a burden to
my father. I am getting stronger; it's time I tried to find something to do. But
I -«
    Her voice failed again. Sidney gazed at her, and saw the dull lamplight just
glisten on her hair. She was bending forward a little, her hands joined and
resting on her knee.
    »Have you thought what kind of - of work would be best for you?« Sidney
asked. The work stuck in his throat, and he seemed to himself brutal in his way
of uttering it. But he was glad when he had put the question thus directly; one
at least of his resolves was carried out.
    »I know I've no right to choose, when there's necessity,« she answered, in a
very low tone. »Most women would naturally think of needlework; but I know so
little of it; I scarcely ever did any. If I could - I might perhaps do that at
home, and I feel - if I could only avoid - if I could only be spared going among
strangers -«
    Her faltering voice sank lower and lower; she seemed as if she would have
hidden her face even under its veil.
    »I feel sure you will have no difficulty,« Sidney hastened to reply, his own
voice unsteady. »Certainly you can get work at home. Why do you trouble yourself
with the thought of going among strangers? There'll never be the least need for
that; I'm sure there won't. Haven't you spoken about it to your father?«
    »Yes. But he is so kind to me that he won't hear of work at all. It was
partly on that account that I took the step of appealing to you. He doesn't know
who I am meeting here to-night. Would you - I don't know whether I ought to ask
- but perhaps if you spoke to him in a day
