many ways, but I hardly know what to think about trying to do
without an extra servant. I cannot let you work too hard; you will have
your studies, you know, and we are rather a large family now. I cannot
let you become a little slave with no time for enjoyment; at the same
time, I must admit I really do not know how Anna and another maid would
get on. Anna does not like the idea, and to prove that one is not
necessary, she slaves and slaves to do everything herself, gets over-tired
and worried, and--and--well, she is very difficult; her only fault is her
temper, but that _is_ rather trying. I know she means well, and I keep on
telling myself so. She gets so hurt and offended if I try to help her;
she seems quite to resent it; and it requires a great deal of tact,
more than I possess, I am afraid," concluded Miss Ashe with another deep
sigh.

"Perhaps she wouldn't mind so much if I helped her," said Esther shrewdly;
"you see, it is we who have made so much extra work. Do let me try,
Cousin Charlotte, if it is only for a time."

Esther's face was very eager, her voice very pleading; Cousin Charlotte
could not resist the appeal, and gave in with another sigh, but of relief
this time. Esther, in her joy and excitement, marked every egg twice with
the wrong date, but what did it matter when she had gained her point?

For a few minutes Miss Ashe went on making her list, but in an
absent-minded fashion. "I wonder," she said at last, rather nervously,
"how it would be best to broach the subject to Anna?"

Esther looked up somewhat puzzled; she would have gone straight out to
Anna and told her she was going to undertake this, that, and the other
thing, and give all the help she could, but Miss Ashe had other views,
born of experience.

"My dear," she said, smiling rather shamefacedly, as though aware of her
weakness, "it all depends on how we manage it, whether all goes smoothly,
or there is constant friction. I think the best way will be not to speak
to Anna about it as though we had planned it, but just begin gradually,
doing what you can. I think it is always wiser not to begin violently
with changes and reforms. No one likes to have new plans made and thrust
on them, or their work taken from them, even though they grumble at having
to do it. We should not like it ourselves, should we, dear?"

Esther's memory flashed back to the morning, and her objection to Angela's
desire to share in the new scheme; she u