"Demetroula," he said, "take the child in; she will be hungry; look
to her while I pay Yanni for his trouble."
Her aunt took Mattina into a little room which opened on the courtyard,
and taking her bundle from her, pushed it under a big bed in the
corner. Mattina had never seen her before. The poor do not take
journeys for pleasure, or for the sake of visiting their relations. But
her new aunt had a kind round face and pretty shiny brown hair which
one could see quite well, as she did not wear a kerchief; and when she
spoke she smiled very often, so that Mattina did not feel shy with her.
"Come here to the window," she said, "and let me look better at
you. Ah, yes; it is your poor father that your face brings back to one,
not your mother at all. Now, my girl," and she let her hand fall on
Mattina's shoulder as she spoke, "let us say things clearly! You did
well to come, and it is with joy that your uncle and I would keep you
to live here with us. How should it not be so, since God has given
us no children? A piece of bread and a mattress there would always
be for you. But we are poor people, and, ... that would be all; so
it would be a sin to keep you with us. It is myself I injure when I
say this, for you would be a great help to me in the house. But that
you should work, and get only your bread for it!--no, that must not
be! We have spoken with your uncle, and he thinks as I do. What do
you say also? Do you not wish to earn money?"
"Yes, my aunt."
"Well, then, see what good luck you have! We thought that not till
September could a house be found, but only yesterday the boy from the
grocer's round the street, told me that his brother who works for
a butcher in the Piræus Road, knows a house where they are looking
for a serving maid. It is a good house, he says, where they buy meat
every day; there are only two small children, and the master has
a shop of his own in the big street of shops. The lady, he said,
prefers a girl from the islands who has not as yet served, and she
will give ten drachmæ[12] a month and dress her. So that you will have
naught to spend and we can put all your money in the People's Bank
for you. Will not that be well?"
"Yes, my aunt."
"Good!" said Kyra Demetroula, "I will take you there to-morrow early,
to speak with the lady. Now come and eat! There is plenty left of
the artichoke stew, and I will warm it up for you."