s dreadful unpleasant and was just as hard for her to
say as 'twould be for me to hear. And she said I could be sartin' sure
she'd never say it if 'twan't absolutely necessary and that she hadn't
made up her mind to say it until she'd laid awake night after night
tryin' to think of some other way out, but that, try as she could, she
didn't see no other way. And so then--so then she said it. Oh, my savin'
soul! I declare I never thought--"

"Hush, hush, Primmie. Ah--control yourself, please. You promised not to
cry, you know."

"Cry! Well, ain't I tryin' not to cry, for mercy sakes? She was cryin',
too, I tell you, afore she finished. If you'd seen the pair of us
settin' there bellerin' like a couple of young ones I cal'late you'd a
thought so."

"Bellowing? Miss Phipps?"

"Oh, I don't mean bellerin' out loud like a--like a heifer. I guess
likely I was doin' that, but she wan't. She was just cryin' quiet, you
know, but anybody could see how terrible bad she was feelin'. And then
she said it--oh, dear, dear! How CAN I tell it? How CAN I?"

Galusha groaned, in harassed desperation.

"I don't know," he admitted, "But I--really I wish you would."

Miss Phipps had, it seemed, told her maidservant that, owing to the
steadily increasing cost of living, of food and clothes and every item
of daily expense, she was finding it more and more hard to get along.
She said her income was very small and her bills continually growing
larger. She had cut and scrimped in every possible way, hoping against
hope, but at last she had been driven to the point where even the small
wage she was paying Primmie seemed more than she could afford. Much as
she hated to do it, she felt compelled to let the girl go.

"She said she'd help me get another place," said Primmie, "and that I
could stay here until I did get one, and all sorts of things like that.
I told her I didn't want no other place and I didn't care a bit about
the wages. I said I'd rather work here without a cent of wages. She said
no, she wouldn't let me do that. If she couldn't pay me I couldn't work
here. I said I could and I should and she said I couldn't and shouldn't.
And--and we both cried and--and that's the way it ended. And that's why
I come to you, Mr. Bangs. I CAN'T go away and leave her. I CAN'T, Mr.
Bangs. She can't keep this whole house a-goin' without somebody to help.
I've GOT to stay. You make her keep me, Mr. Bangs. I don't want no pay
for it. I never was no ha