erformance of her duty to
leave much room for even a more exacting mistress to find fault; but
now, to be overtasked and sick, and to be chidden, rebuked, and even
angrily assailed, was more than she could well bear. She did not
suffer herself to speak for some moments, and then her voice
trembled, and the tears came out upon her cheeks.

"I wish you to get another in my place. I find I don't suit you. My
time will be up day after to-morrow."

"Very well," was Mrs. Smith's firm reply, as she turned away, and
left the kitchen.

Here was trouble in good earnest. Often and often had Mrs. Smith
said, during the past two or three years--"What should I do without
Rachel?" And now she had given notice that she was going to leave
her, and under circumstances which made pride forbid a request to
stay. Determined to act out her part of the business with firmness
and decision, she dressed herself and went out, hot and oppressive
as it was, and took her way to an intelligence office, where she
paid the required fee, and directed a cook and chamber maid to be
sent to her. On the next morning, about ten o'clock, an Irish girl
came and offered herself as a cook, and was, after sundry questions
and answers, engaged. So soon as this negotiation was settled,
Rachel retired from the kitchen, leaving the new-comer in full
possession. In half an hour after she received her wages, and left,
in no very happy frame of mind, a home that had been for three
years, until within a few days, a pleasant one. As for Mrs. Smith,
she was ready to go to bed sick; but this was impracticable. Nancy,
the new cook, had expressly stipulated that she was to have no
duties unconnected with the kitchen. The consequence was, that,
notwithstanding the thermometer ranged above ninety, and the
atmosphere remained as sultry as air from a heated oven, Mrs. Smith
was compelled to arrange her chamber and parlors. By the time this
was done she was in a condition to go to bed, and lie until dinner
time. The arrival of this important period brought new troubles and
vexations. Dinner was late by forty minutes, and then came on the
table in a most abominable condition. A fine sirloin was burnt to a
crisp. The tomatoes were smoked, and the potatoes watery. As if this
were not enough to mar the pleasure of the dinner hour for a hungry
husband, Mrs. Smith added thereto a distressed countenance and
discouraging complaints. Nancy was grumbled at and scolded every
time she ha