our 'prentice, if she can do our work.'

'You know nothing about it,' returned her husband. 'If she is bound to
us, we shall be bound to keep her; but if she is not, whenever we find
her father we can send him in a good bill for her keep, and make him pay
it too, that is my opinion of the matter.'

'And so,' answered his wife, 'for the sake of this fine dream you mean
to lose the 'prentice fees, do you?'

'Aye, do I,' replied he, 'and you'll thank me for it too, when his
earlship gives me the thousand pounds.'

'And in the meantime,' asked his wife, 'what is to be done with her
ladyship? Is she to be kept for looking at?'

'You may look at her as much as you please,' answered her husband, 'but,
as she will eat, so she must work or starve, and now give me a glass of
gin and water, for tea is not worth drinking, and I have talked till my
throat is dry.'

His wile brought out and mixed the liquor, repeating to herself: 'And so
for this fine castle in the air we are to lose the 'prentice fees.'

Mr. Smith now had a pipe, and sat smoking and drinking, his wife and
sister talked on indifferent subjects, and the children amused
themselves by repeatedly coming to me, and saying, 'How do you do, Lady
Anne? I hope you are very well,' and the like idle expressions. Their
father laughed, and said they had learned their lesson already, but
their mother, who was vexed at losing the apprentice fees, after some
little time told them to be quiet, or she would send them to bed. This
command released me from their silly questions; they got different
playthings, and seated themselves on the floor near the fire, while I
sat on a stool on a distant part of the room, but glad at any rate to be
free from their questions.

At length nine o'clock came. Mrs. Smith gave each of the children a
slice of bread-and-butter, and I was in hopes she would have given me
one too, but I was mistaken. After the children had taken their supper
she said to me:

'Now, Anne, you will go upstairs with us, and I will show you where you
are to sleep. You must be up betimes in the morning, and let us see what
you can do for your living; for, I assure you, we shall not keep you in
idleness, though you are a lady.'

Without reply, I followed them upstairs into a large back attic, which
was in the same comfortless state as the shop and parlour. There was
only one bed in the room, and it had neither curtains or posts: it had
not been made that day at the leas