Nell of Shorne Mills

"No; oh, no," explained Lady Wolfer. "Miss Lorton has come to set us all

straight, and keep us so, I hope."

"Trust I'm included; want it," said Sir Archie--"want it badly."

"Oh, you're incorrigible--incorrigibly stupid, I mean," retorted Lady

Wolfer. "She has come to take care of us--Wolfer and me."

"Run the show--I see," he said gravely. "If it isn't a rude question, I

should like to ask: 'Who's goin' to take care of Miss Norton?'"

"Lorton, Lorton," corrected Lady Wolfer. "And it is a rude question, to

which you won't get an answer. Go downstairs and smoke a cigarette. I'll

be ready presently."

"All right--delighted; but time's up, you know," he said; and, with a

bow to Nell, sauntered out.

Lady Wolfer sat down at the desk, and wrote rapidly for a moment; then

she said casually--a little too casually, it would have struck a woman

of the world: "That is a great friend of mine--and Lord Wolfer's," she added quickly.

"He is an awfully nice man, and--and very useful. He is a kind of tame

cat here, runs in and out as he likes, and plays escort when I'm

slumming or attending meetings. I hope you'll like him. He's not such a

fool as he looks, and though he does clip his 'Gees'--sounds like a

pun, doesn't it?--and cuts his sentences short, he--he is very

good-natured and obliging."

"He seems so," said Nell, a little puzzled to understand why Lady Wolfer

did not take her maid or one of her lady friends to her meetings,

instead of being taken by Sir Archie Walbrooke.

Burden knocked at the door at this moment, and announced that Miss

Lorton's room was ready.

"Very well," said Lady Wolfer, as if relieved. "Be sure that Miss Lorton

has everything she wants. And, oh, Burden, please understand that all

Miss Lorton's orders are to be obeyed--I mean, obeyed without hesitation

or question. She is absolutely in command here."

"Yes, my lady," responded Burden respectfully.

Nell followed her to a corridor on the next floor, and into a large and

handsomely furnished room with which the bedchamber communicated. Her

box had been unpacked, and its modest contents arranged in a wardrobe

and drawers. The rooms looked as if they had been got ready hurriedly,

but they were handsome and richly furnished, and Burden apologized for

their lack of homeliness.

"I'll get some flowers, miss," she said. "There's a big box of them

comes up from the country place every morning. And if you think it's

cold, I'll light a fire----"