There had been no bargain made, and no intention that Grace should stay.

She had been invited to fill the place of an absent superintendent, first for one month, then for another, and then for two more months; and when the assistant came back, the Miss Prettymans thought there were reasons why Grace should be asked to remain a little longer.

But they took great care to let the fashionable world of Silverbridge know that Grace Crawley was a visitor with them, and not a teacher.

"We pay her no salary, or anything of that kind," said Miss Anne Prettyman; a statement, however, which was by no means true, for during those four months the regular stipend had been paid to her; and twice since then, Miss Annabella Prettyman, who managed all the money matters, had called Grace into her little room, and had made a little speech, and had put a little bit of paper into her hand.

"I know I ought not to take it," Grace had said to her friend Anne.