Part 36 (1/2)

”I was told that she wanted a girl.”

”She does; will you walk in?”

I pique myself somewhat on the power of judging character, and there was something about this applicant which inspired hope; so that, before I introduced her into the room, I felt it necessary to enlighten my mother with a little of my wisdom. I therefore whispered in her ear, with the decisive tone of an eldest son, ”I think, mother, this one will do; you had better engage her at once.”

”Have you lived out much?” said my mother, commencing the usual inquiries.

”I have not, ma'am. I am but lately come to the city.”

”Are you Irish?”

”No, ma'am; I am American.”

”Have you been accustomed to the care of the table,--silver, gla.s.s, and china?”

”I think, ma'am, I understand what is necessary for that.”

All this while the speaker remained standing with her veil down; her answers seemed to be the briefest possible; and yet, notwithstanding the homely plainness of her dress, there was something about her that impressed both my mother and me with an idea of cultivation and refinement above her apparent station,--there was a composure and quiet decision in her manner of speaking which produced the same impression on us both.

”What wages do you expect?” said my mother.

”Whatever you have been accustomed to give to a girl in that place will satisfy me,” she said.

”There is only one thing I would like to ask,” she added, with a slight hesitation and embarra.s.sment of manner; ”would it be convenient for me to have a room by myself?”

I nodded to my mother to answer in the affirmative.

The three girls who composed our establishment had usually roomed in one large apartment, but there was a small closet of a room which I had taken for books, fis.h.i.+ng-rods, guns, and any miscellaneous property of my own. I mentally turned these out, and devoted the room to the newcomer, whose appearance interested me.

And, as my mother hesitated, I remarked, with the a.s.sured tone of master of the house, that ”certainly she could have a small room to herself.”

”It is all I ask,” she briefly answered. ”In that case, I will come for the same wages you paid the last girl in my situation.”

”When will you come?” said my mother.

”I am ready to come immediately. I only want time to go and order my things to be sent here.”

She rose and left us, saying that we might expect her that afternoon.

”Well, sir,” said my mother, ”you seem to have taken it upon you to settle this matter on your own authority.”

”My dear little mother,” said I, in a patronizing tone, ”I have an instinctive certainty that she will do. I wanted to make sure of a prize for you.”

”But the single room.”

”Never mind; I'll move all my traps out of the little third-story room. It's my belief that this girl or woman has seen better days; and if she has, a room to herself will be a necessity of her case,--poor thing!”

”I don't know,” said my mother hesitatingly. ”I never wish to employ in my service those above their station,--they always make trouble; and there is something in this woman's air and manner and p.r.o.nunciation that makes me feel as if she had been born and bred in cultivated society.”

”Supposing she has,” said I; ”it's quite evident that she, for some reason, means to conform to this position. You seldom have a girl apply for work who comes dressed with such severe simplicity; her manner is retiring, and she seemed perfectly willing and desirous to undertake any of the things which you mentioned as among her daily tasks.”

On the afternoon of that day our new a.s.sistant came, and my mother was delighted with the way she set herself at work. The china-closet, desecrated and disordered in the preceding reigns of terror and confusion, immediately underwent a most quiet but thorough transformation. Everything was cleaned, brightened, and arranged with a system and thoroughness which showed, as my mother remarked, a good head; and all this was done so silently and quietly that it seemed like magic. By the time we came down to breakfast the next morning, we perceived that the reforms of our new prime minister had extended everywhere. The dining-room was clean, cool, thoroughly dusted, and freshly aired; the tablecloth and napkins were smooth and clean; the gla.s.s glittered like crystal, and the silver wore a cheerful brightness. Added to this were some extra touches of refinement, which I should call table coquetry. The cold meat was laid out with green fringes of parsley; and a bunch of heliotrope, lemon verbena, and mignonette, with a fresh rosebud, all culled from our little back yard, stood in a winegla.s.s on my mother's waiter.