I wouldn't have that pampered creature at any price!" Barbara walked a long way that day and to the best houses.

On a large sheet of paper, folded in three, she had the Consul-General's long and excellent testimonial to exhibit; moreover she was fully conscious of the extent to which she was known.

But though she stood so large and erect and smart at the door, and comported herself so well, there was no one who could make any use of her! And late in the evening, later than was needful, as she did not wish to show herself, she came home again, disappointed and weary.
It really seemed as if all the celebrity she had acquired during all these years, all her fidelity, all her prestige as nurse at the Veyergangs, was to vanish at one stroke into thin air! Deeply hurt as she was after her unlucky expedition, it was remarkable that no one in the house asked her how she had got on--though there were plenty of mischievous glances from her fellow-servants, whose standing with their mistress had depended for so many years upon her.

And whenever she tried to broach the subject with Mrs.Veyergang, the latter always turned the conversation--indeed, once she even dismissed the subject, saying that Barbara must know that she never meddled with such things.
But the kindness increased as the day of her departure approached.
Barbara began to perceive how this screw of kindness, that turned so gently, was screwing her farther and farther out of the house.

The Consul had Nikolai placed on trial as apprentice in a smithy down by the crane, and from Mrs.Veyergang she received one thing after another, as remembrances.