The Portland daily press., 1875-06-12

dme0u, ii YOU uuu idoie "A"AAo~s ON' =
shall try to bear it."
"What wages do you expect%"
s'Whatever is customary. I don't know
what is given usually"
at is easy to see you are not accustomed
to service I gave my last girl fourteen dol
lars per month and allowed her every other
Sunday out"
''The wages will do, madame; and, as for
the Sunday out, should like to 60 to church
once week, il convenient: but have no &C
quaintarces, and, in New York, shall make
uone.'
Every well; when can you Gomez"
;.As soon as can have my trunk brought
here, mas am"
Nothing was said about reference, but she
evidently credited my story; and, by AFTER
noon. was installed as mistress OF the KItch-
en- where found all those modern labor-sav-
inc contriyances which have reduced kltch-
en- toll to its minimum. l found my fellow
servant. the chambermaid who had let me
in, preparing 10 leave. She had given warn
ing to Mrs. Darfnellsthat morning. IN
quired her grievance.
"Ain't got none," was the reply. "Nothin'
much to do-only three beds to make, except
when the old woman's nephew comes here
once wear: but prefer tactory-work that
I've been used to; and, besides, I'll get some
So She went off to her "factory-work' and
her ''society" next day, and we got another
in her stead-one out of four applicants-a
tidy, quiet girl, my pick, in fact, for MIS-
Dartnell took her at my favorable impression.
liked the mistress, and liked the place
from the first. and continued to like it. / did
not find the old lady to be as disagreeable as
she said, and she never found fault except III
the mildest and most hesitating way. And SO
six months passed off, and my mistress and
myself began TO approach familiarity. Iired
of her loneliness, she frequently brought her
knitting-she piled her needles with all inc
assiduity of German Frdu-to the kltcnen,
and would sit there while l was engaged
about my duties, rarely saying any thlhg' pu1
At length there was little change in my
monotonous life One Sunday | was at the
morning service in church, and had been In a
pew in the gallery, taking my sert, as uSuai,
where could get it, and was a little taIdy IN
coming out. As / came to the vestlDuie, the
rector came down the aisle and passed by me,
pausing at the door moment to speak to the
organist. ~ ns.
aWhat was the trouble in the choir, Mr..
Esten2" he asked
suddenly ill, and ] don't know now l can
supply her place at short notice for the alter
s.Tbat ia inconvenient,' said the rector,
and after some other remarks, passed on.
I stepped up to where the organist stood
with knitted brow, and tapped his arm. lie
turned at once. -,
"Excuse me for having overheard you with
out intending it," said; shut perhaps can
get you out of your difficulty. have con-
tralto voice, am familiar with the church
services, and sing at sight"
,r,fo choir
folio wed him, and he signaled the other
members of the choir, who were still there
A very short trial satisfied him, and prom
ised to come in the afternoon.
| asked leave of Mrs. Dartnell, OF course,
telling her the circumstances,
aWill YOU not fail ?" the old lady inquired.
smiled negative.
"Why, I never knew you were musical.
| You never touched the piano"
st is not the business OF house-maids 10
play on their mistresses pianos
.'Very good but you have been something
more than a servant mere. WIN you ie' hio
hear you sing now?"
NV fingers had been long itching TO touch
| that piano, which was kept regularly IN tune,
though never used, and sat down to 1t Will
lingly. l was out of practice, my fingers
were stiff: but excitement more than made up
for it, I suppose, for had never played better,
and my voice was in excellent order.
''I foresed you will get the place perma-
| nently." H..
ly."
mo, no! see this is your turning-pont,
and shall lose YOU" ~,
.sYou shall Lot lose me, Mrs. Dartnel,. l
| said for the old lady betrayed in her voice
| that she would really be sorry if went.
NV singing that afternoon was success.
Mrs. Dartnell was right about Miss Patten.
| She never returned to the choir. She had
| ruptured blood-vessel, was sent 10 f1orlda,
| remained there some mODths, and came back
| to de- l was engaged in her place at salary
of five hundred dollars year-a little for
tune to me; but did not lose my place in
| the house, which liked, and did not lind one
occupation TO interfere with the other. To
nv surprise, Mrs. Dartnell engaged another
| house-maid, and put her under my super
| vision, thus promoting me to be a KIND OF
| house keeper. did not demur to this, but
| insisted on serving without pay; and it was
settled on that basis. The old lady, whose
| confidence in me was unbounded, gave ID
| the keys, and we always took our meals to-
gether. was quite happy, though somewhat ma
| uneasy about my brother, from whom had
| heard nothing all this while, though my ad-
| dress had been sent to our old rector with a
request to forward any letters that might
| come.
One evening letter came to Mrs. Dar.-
| NELL
"Betty, my dear,'' she said, "Fred is be-
| low in the bay, and is coming tomorrow TO
pay me visit. He has promised to stay
week, and we must have the front room
above got ready for him."
"Very good,'' was the reply.
s'Fred' was her nephew, Mr.. Drury, very
rich, rather eccentric, and quite distinguished
as naturalist. had heard enough of him,
| his merits and peculiarties being standing
subject.
Next dav he came, could hear his noisy
l greeting up stairs from where l was in the
kitchen, experimenting preparations for
dinner; but it was "none of my funeral as
| they say, and / calmly proceeded with my
duties.
Mrs, Dartnell came down after while.
sWhv don't YOU dress for dinnerT' she
asked.
SIP thought after SO long an absence
| you'd want to monopolize him." said l., CIV
| ing pudding mixture its final stir.
| TOh, Pllsee enough of him before his Wis
| 1t is over" she replied; "and want you to
| like him. :.
GOOD graciousr' exclaimed. You don't
| expect him to tall in love with the mousse
maid"
Don't go, Betty, for TO put me in pas,
| SION - she cried, quoting an old play, and
upstairs Eshe went in high spirits.
| Just before dinner was ready, after giving
| final directions to FRANCHISE. my Swiss lieu,
tenant, I ran up stairs and freshened myself
| up bit. 1 was anxious to see this paragon
| of nephews, and determined he should not
see me at my worst. made my appearance
| in the parlor few minutes before we were
| called to the dining room, and there MIS-.
Dartnell cooed out, in her soft way: miss
| Norman, this is my nephew, Mr.. Druryp
bowed, raised my eyes, and 10! there
stood the bug hunter whom had seen nearly
| year before.
But what shock to my vanity! He had
not apparently carried away any vague pic
| ture printed by the look he had given me
then, for he did not seem to recognize me.
OF course, sat at the table to listen. He
had a great deal to say, for his aunt piled
him with questions. He had been up the
Amazon River and its tributaries; and had
come home with boxes of birds and insects,
and all kinds of oddities, enough to STOCK
| museum.
THE reason / did not write ito you OF
late," he said, in reply to question, was
that was away from all mails for six months,
locked up in the forests, and with savage peo-
pie. ] came near staying there entirely"
SLOW was thatT'