n't promise to
do _this_ sort of thing."

"But we mustn't choose," said Matilda.

"But we _did_ choose," said Maria. "I said what I would do, and other
people said what they would do; and nobody said anything about washing
dishes and peeling potatoes. We were not talking of _that_."

"The covenant says, 'we stand ready to do His will.' Don't you know?"

"I believe you know that covenant by heart," said Maria. "I don't. And
I don't care. Matilda, I wish you would run down cellar with the
butter, and the cream, and the bread--will you?"

Matilda did not run, but she made journey after journey down the cellar
stairs, with feet that grew weary; and then she dried the china while
her sister washed it. Then they brushed up the kitchen and made up the
fires. Then Maria seated herself on the kitchen table and looked at
Matilda.

"I'm tired now, Tilly."

"So am I."

"Is there anything else to be done?"

"Why, there is the dinner, Maria."

"It isn't near dinner time. It is only ten o'clock."

"How long will it take the potatoes to boil?"

"Oh, not long. It is not time to put them on for a great while."

"But they are not ready, are they?"

"No."

"And what else, Maria?"

Here came a call from the stair head. Maria went to the foot of the
stairs to hear what the business was, and came back with her mood
nowise sweetened; to judge by the way she went about; filled an iron
pot with water and set it on the stove, and dashed things round
generally. Matilda looked on without saying a word.

"I've got my day's work cut out for me now," said Maria at last.
"There's that leg of mutton to boil, and turnips to be mashed; besides
the potatoes. And the turnips have got to be peeled. Come and help me,
Tilly, or I shall never get through. Won't you?"

Now Matilda had her own notions about things she liked and things she
did not like to do; and one of the things she did not like to do was to
roughen or soil her hands. To put her little hands into the pan of
water, and handle and pare the coarse roots with the soil hanging to
them, was very distasteful to her nicety. She looked a little dismayed.
But there were the roots all to be pared and washed, and Maria would
have her hands full; and was not this also work given to Matilda to do?
At any rate, she felt that she could not refuse without losing
influence over Maria, and that she could not afford. So Matilda's hands
and her knife went into the pan. She thought it was