,
now a reformed and steady character and engaged to the head housemaid,
brought in the tray, and a modest and appetising little meal was
served. Cutlets with sauce piquant and pigeon pie, salad such as
Malcolm loved, and a delicate pudding which seemed nothing but froth
and sweets, while an excellent bottle of hock, sent up by Anderson,
completed the repast.

"I wish mother could have joined us," observed Anna regretfully; "I did
my best to persuade her, but she said there was no time. The people
have not gone yet, and she has to dress, you see, so she said she would
have some tea in her dressing-room and talk to you later."

"I must just see about getting the mistress's things ready,"
interrupted Dawson, but she spoke in a grumbling tone. "Don't you fash
yourself, Mr. Malcolm,--I told Charles to unpack your Gladstone and put
out your clothes ready for the evening. My mistress won't be dressed,
you may take my word for it, for a good three-quarters of an hour.
There is nothing like a committee for dawdling along, and keeping one
standing on one leg as it were, like a pelican in the wilderness, or a
stuffed goose, or anything you like to call it. Don't you let Mr.
Malcolm hurry his dinner, Miss Anna, for there is nothing so bad for
the digestion; a good digestion comes next to a good conscience in my
opinion," and Dawson hurried away, all ready primed with a scolding for
her mistress--sandwiches being like the proverbial red rag to a bull to
this excellent woman.

"Such a pack of nonsense," she ejaculated, as she took down the black
satin dress from its place in the wardrobe and shook out its lustrous
folds, "a lady of her age, just passed fifty, and acting as though she
were in her teens;" for Dawson, who was a privileged person, always
spoke her mind to her mistress; indeed, it was rumoured in the
household that Mrs. Herrick stood somewhat in awe of her faithful
retainer, and it was certainly the fact that if any of the servants had
incurred their mistress's displeasure, Dawson was always the mediator,
and brought the apology or conciliatory message. Mrs. Herrick had a
great respect for the straightforward, honest little woman, who was
never afraid to speak the truth on any occasion, and she was
sufficiently magnanimous to forgive her sharp speeches.

"Dawson is worth her weight in gold," she would say sometimes. "When
the children were young I was never afraid to leave them in her charge,
I knew I could trust he