26 GARRYOWEN 



looking up from the newspaper, the advertisement 

 page of which he had been reading upside down. 

 (One of his not altogether sane habits was to sit 

 and stare at a paper and pretend to be reading it, 

 so that his thoughts might wander unperceived. ) 

 " A what did you say? " 



" A governess is coming for Effie." 



" Oh," said Mr Giveen, and relapsed into the 

 study of the newspaper. 



Now this appearance of indifference was a very 

 ominous sign. The news that a new servant was 

 coming would have caused this infernal tattler to 

 break into a volley of questions, questions of the 

 most minute and intimate description as to the 

 name, age, coloiu", looks, height and native place 

 of the newcomer, yet this important information 

 left him dumb ; but it was a speechlessness that 

 only affected the tongue. If you had watched him 

 closely you would have noticed that his eyes were 

 travelhng rapidly up and down the columns of the 

 paper, that his hand was tremulous. 



Mr French, who was not an observer, went on 

 to talk of other matters, when suddenly ]\lr Giveen 

 dropped his paper. 



" What's she like? " said he. 



" What's who like? " rephed Mr French, who at 

 the moment was discussing turnips. 



" The governess." 



" I haven't seen her yet," said Mr French, " but 

 her name is Grimshaw, and she's over forty." 

 ., At this news Mr Giveen clapped his hat on his 



