es, usually, much more space."

"But do they keep it separate--the family life!"

("Evidently," she thought, "they have not been able to give her a
private room, like mine, or perhaps she eats with them.")

"I think that is how they do it," the stranger went on, "by not having
any separate life, really. It is all one life, with them."

"All one life..." the other repeated, vaguely, recalling, for some
reason, the doctor's words, "but, of course, in a larger establishment
that would not be possible. With servants..."

"I suppose that is why they have no servants," said the stranger.

There was a soft assurance in the tone, soft, but undoubtedly there.
And yet what assurance should a woman have who did not find this house
small? She discovered that she was still a little irritable, for she
spoke brusquely.

"People do not employ servants, I imagine, for the very simple reason
that they cannot afford to."

"Not always," said the other quietly. "I have known Ann and Hester
many years, and there has never been a time when they could not have
afforded at the least one servant."

"Tastes differ, I suppose," she answered shortly. "I should have
supposed that every woman would take the first opportunity of relieving
herself from the strain of household drudgery, which any ignorant
person can accomplish."

"Have you found so many of them to accomplish it for you?"

She flushed angrily.

"Dr. Stanchon has been talking about me!" she cried with hot memories
of her interminable domestic woes.

"Indeed not," said the grey lady. "I knew nothing.... I only asked if
ignorant persons really accomplished their drudgery to any one's
satisfaction nowadays? They used not to when--when I employed them...."

So she had been wrecked beyond repair, this shadowy, large-eyed thing!
She spoke as of a day long over. The other woman felt ashamed of her
suspicion.

"No, indeed," she answered wearily, "that was an exaggeration,
naturally. But they might, if they would take pains. They are paid
enough for it, heaven knows."

"Ann and Hester are not paid," said the voice from the dim chair.
"Perhaps that is why they take pains."

The woman nodded fretfully.

"That is all very well," she said, "and sounds very poetic, but it
would be rather impractical for us all to do, on that account."

"Impractical? _Impractical?_"

A hint of gentle laughter from the long chair. "But it seems to me
that Ann and Hester are the leas