uld do
if one slapped her in the face. She was a round, rosy,
good-natured-looking creature, but she had a sturdy way which made
Mistress Mary wonder if she might not even slap back--if the person who
slapped her was only a little girl.

"You are a strange servant," she said from her pillows, rather
haughtily.

Martha sat up on her heels, with her blacking-brush in her hand, and
laughed, without seeming the least out of temper.

"Eh! I know that," she said. "If there was a grand Missus at
Misselthwaite I should never have been even one of th' under
house-maids. I might have been let to be scullerymaid but I'd never
have been let upstairs. I'm too common an' I talk too much Yorkshire.
But this is a funny house for all it's so grand. Seems like there's
neither Master nor Mistress except Mr. Pitcher an' Mrs. Medlock. Mr.
Craven, he won't be troubled about anythin' when he's here, an' he's
nearly always away. Mrs. Medlock gave me th' place out o' kindness.
She told me she could never have done it if Misselthwaite had been like
other big houses." "Are you going to be my servant?" Mary asked, still
in her imperious little Indian way.

Martha began to rub her grate again.

"I'm Mrs. Medlock's servant," she said stoutly. "An' she's Mr.
Craven's--but I'm to do the housemaid's work up here an' wait on you a
bit. But you won't need much waitin' on."

"Who is going to dress me?" demanded Mary.

Martha sat up on her heels again and stared. She spoke in broad
Yorkshire in her amazement.

"Canna' tha' dress thysen!" she said.

"What do you mean? I don't understand your language," said Mary.

"Eh! I forgot," Martha said. "Mrs. Medlock told me I'd have to be
careful or you wouldn't know what I was sayin'. I mean can't you put
on your own clothes?"

"No," answered Mary, quite indignantly. "I never did in my life. My
Ayah dressed me, of course."

"Well," said Martha, evidently not in the least aware that she was
impudent, "it's time tha' should learn. Tha' cannot begin younger.
It'll do thee good to wait on thysen a bit. My mother always said she
couldn't see why grand people's children didn't turn out fair
fools--what with nurses an' bein' washed an' dressed an' took out to
walk as if they was puppies!"

"It is different in India," said Mistress Mary disdainfully. She could
scarcely stand this.

But Martha was not at all crushed.

"Eh! I can see it's different," she answered almost sympathetically.
"