Hastings, advancing towards the fire, exclaimed, "My double
gown! And it's so long since I saw it! To whose thoughtfulness am
I indebted for this?"
"'Twas Dora," answered Ella. "She thinks of everything. She is my
good angel, and I mean to keep her always, if she will stay. Will
you, dear?"
"Oh, if I only could," answered Dora; "but I can't. They need me
at home!"
"Why need you? They have servants enough," said Ella, who had not
yet identified Eugenia's waiting-maid with the bright, intelligent
child before her.
"We have no servants but _me,_" answered the truthful Dora.
"We are poor, and I help Aunt Sarah to pay for my board; so, you
see, I can't stay. And then, too, I must go to school."
Perfectly astonished at this fresh disclosure, Ella glanced
towards her husband, whose quizzical expression kept her silent,
for it seemed to say, "I told you all the time, that Miss Eugenia
was not exactly what you supposed her to be."
"How could she deceive me so?" thought Ella, while Mr. Hastings
was mentally resolving to befriend the child, in whom he felt such
a strong interest.
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