"No--only middle-aged. This morning, after her master had left the house, she actually asked me what I thought of my brother-in-law! I told her, as coldly as possible, that I thought he was very kind. She was quite insensible to the tone in which Ihad spoken; she went on from bad to worse. "Do you call him the sort of man who would take the fancy of a young woman?" was her next question. She actually looked at me (I might have been wrong; and I hope I was) as if the "young woman" she had in her mind was myself! I said: "I don't think of such things, and Idon't talk about them." Still, she was not in the least discouraged; she made a personal remark next: "Excuse me--but you do look wretchedly pale." I thought she seemed to enjoy the defect in my complexion; I really believe it raised me in her estimation. "We shall get on better in time," she said; "I am beginning to like you." She walked out humming a tune. Don't you agree with me? Don't you think she's crazy?""I can hardly give an opinion until I have seen her. Does she look as if she might have been a pretty woman at one time of her life?""Not the sort of pretty woman whom I admire!"Mr. Rayburn smiled. "I was thinking," he resumed, "that this person's odd conduct may perhaps be accounted for. She is probably jealous of any young lady who is invited to her master's house--and (till she noticed your complexion) she began by being jealous of you."Innocently at a loss to understand how _she_ could become an object of the housekeeper's jealousy, Mrs. Zant looked at Mr. Rayburn in astonishment. Before she could give expression to her feeling of surprise, there was an interruption--a welcome interruption. A waiter entered the room, and announced a visitor;described as "a gentleman."
