Agnes thankfully accepted it.

For three happy months she lived under the roof of her friend.

The girls hung round her in tears at her departure; the youngest of them wanted to go back with Agnes to London.

Half in jest, half in earnest, she said to her old friend at parting, 'If your governess leaves you, keep the place open for me.' Mrs.Westwick laughed.

The wiser children took it seriously, and promised to let Agnes know.
On the very day when Miss Lockwood returned to London, she was recalled to those associations with the past which she was most anxious to forget.