Morrison said I must come here on Saturday, the tenth day of July, to go to work. This is the tenth day of July." "H-m--h-m; I see. When did Mrs. Morrison tell you that?" "It was last September." "Oh; so she hired you a year in advance and didn't tell you, afterward, that she was going abroad?" "I didn't see her since, sir." Mr. Conant was perplexed. He went into the kitchen and told Aunt Hannah about it and the good woman came at once to interview Sarah Judd, followed by Mary Louise, who had just finished wiping the dishes. "This seems very unfortunate for you," began Mrs. Conant, regarding the strange girl with mild interest. "I suppose, when Mrs. Morrison engaged you, she expected to pass the summer at the Lodge, and afterward she forgot to notify you." Sarah Judd considered this soberly; then nodded her head. "I've walked all the way from Millbank," she said with another sigh. "Then you've had nothing to eat!" exclaimed Mary Louise, with ready sympathy. "May I get her something, Aunt Hannah?" "Of course, my dear." Both Mr. and Mrs. Conant felt rather embarrassed. "I regret," said the latter, "that we do not need a maid at present. We do our own housework, you see." "I have left a good place in Albany to come here," said Sarah, plaintively. "You should have written to Mrs. Morrison," declared the lawyer, "asking if she still required your services. Many unforeseen things may happen during a period of ten months." "Mrs. Morrison, she have paid me a month in advance," asserted the girl, in justification. "And she paid me my expenses to come here, too. She said I must not fail her; I should come to the Lodge on the tenth of July and do the work at the Lodge. She did not say she would be here. She did not say you would be here. She told me to come and work, and she paid me a month in advance, so I could give the money to my sister, who needed it then. And I must do as Mrs. Morrison says. I am paid to work at the Lodge and so I must work at the Lodge. I cannot help that, can I?"