an element of exuberance scarcely less potent. Mrs. Guy
was already known to several of the visitors already on
the scene, but she wasn't yet known to our young lady,
who found her, after many wires and counter-wires had
at last determined the triumph of her arrival, a strange
charming little red-haired black-dressed woman, a
person with the face of a baby and the authority of a
commodore. She took on the spot the discreet, the
exceptional young governess into the confidence of her
designs and, still more, of her doubts; intimating that it
was a policy she almost always promptly pursued.
"To-morrow and Thursday are all right," she said frankly
to Charlotte on the second day, "but I'm not half-satisfied
with Friday."
"What improvement then do you suggest?"
"Well, my strong point, you know, is _tableaux vivants_."
"Charming. And what is your favourite character?"
"Boss!" said Mrs. Guy with decision; and it was very
markedly under that ensign that she had, within a few
hours, completely planned her campaign and recruited
her troop. Every word she uttered was to the point,
but none more so than, after a general survey of their
equipment, her final enquiry of Charlotte. She had been
looking about, but half-appeased, at the muster of
decoration and drapery. "We shall be dull. We shall want
more colour. You've nothing else?"
14
HYLAND
