ONE SUNDAY EVENING
"THERE'S a letter for you, Fanny, on the kitchen table. When you have
read it, I want you to go out again and fetch some cakes and biscuits
for tea to-morrow. I have a friend coming in the afternoon, and she
will stay to tea, of course."
It was Saturday afternoon, and Fanny had been out for some errands for
her mistress, who met her at the lower street door as she was coming in.
"You must shut the cat outside when you go," said the lady. "Twice
to-day she has fetched me down here with her scratching to get out."
"Yes, ma'am," answered Fanny; but she was thinking what a nuisance
Sunday visitors were, and wondering what time she would be able to get
out if this lady visitor was coming to tea. She wanted to go early,
for she had promised to meet Miriam at six, to go and see about their
new dresses, and she would go too, visitor or no visitor, if it was
possible. She muttered this to herself, as she picked up her letter,
which she saw at once came from her father.
She tore it open, and read the few lines that it contained, and then
threw it on the table again.
"I might have known it was something like that!" she exclaimed in a
tone of vexation. "Father says he is coming to meet me, to go to church
to-morrow. Of course he will some about six, and how am I to be in
three places at once?"
Fanny stood for a minute pondering the situation, and then went for the
money for the cake, resolving to take what advantage she could of her
father's letter.
She took it with her, and handed it to her mistress.
"You see, ma'am, father says he is coming to meet me, to go to church
to-morrow evening. Shall I send and tell him not to come, as you are
going to have company?"
"Oh dear, no! There is not time to do that, and I should not like to
disappoint you both if there was. If my friend is here, punctually to
her time, tea will be nearly over before you want to go out, and in
any case I can manage it if you get everything ready before you go. If
you leave here five minutes before the time, you will meet him at the
corner of the road. I can leave the tea-things in the dining-room, for
you to clear away when you come home."
"Thank you, ma'am," said Fanny; and she went off on her errand, glad to
know that she would be able to go out in good time the next day, but
wondering how she could avoid meeting her father on her way to Mrs.
Scott's, for she had no intention of missing this appointment.
Almost at the same moment Miriam touched her on the shoulder.
"Just the girl I wanted to see!" she exclaimed. "I want you to come out
a bit earlier to-morrow. Meet me at a quarter to six instead of six
o'clock."
"I only wish I could," answered Fanny; "but the missus is going to have
company to tea, and I may have a job to get away at six."
"What a bother, to be sure!" exclaimed Miriam. "Some of our folks are
going out to tea, and so I can get away earlier. I do think it is a
shame that poor servants can be muddled about as we are, we ought to
be able to claim our own time and stick to it. Half-past five is your
time, I know. That was why I said a quarter to six, for I thought you
could walk round to my place in that time, and it would be nice to talk
over things again before we go in to my cousin's."
Fanny shook her head. "I don't believe I can get away so early as
that," she said. "I shall have a scramble to get away before six."
She did not say a word about meeting her father, for she did not
want Miriam to see him. He looked just what he was, a respectable
working-man; but Miriam's cousin and her husband were very genteel
people, and would be sure to look down upon people like her father.
Fanny was very fond of him, she thought, and would guard him and
herself from hearing disparaging remarks passed upon his manners and
his clothes. But she did not consider the pain she would cause him by
keeping him waiting, while she went about this other business.
She quite intended to see him after her visit to Mrs. Scott, but she
could not afford to wait much longer for her new dress, because Miriam
had noticed that her present one was shabby and short, and Miriam
always looked so nice, that Fanny was almost ashamed to be seen out
with her.
Miriam pressed again that she should insist upon coming out at her
promised usual time, and Fanny gave a sort of half promise to do this,
although she feared it would not be of much use. Still, the thought
that she was being hardly dealt with easily found a lodgment in her
present frame of mind, and she went home feeling she had a grievance
against her mistress for having company to tea on Sunday.
The old-fashioned practice of Saturday cooking prevailed in Mrs.
Lloyd's small household, so that Sunday was a very quiet day, and Fanny
had very little to do beyond setting and clearing away meals; so on
this particular Sunday Fanny had time to think over what Miriam had
said about servants having a right to keep to their own time, until she
had worked herself up to a state of surprising dissatisfaction, and
Mrs. Lloyd, looking at her gloomy, sullen face, wondered what could
have happened to upset her while she was at church in the morning.
"Did any one come while I was out this morning?" she said, at last.
"No," answered Fanny, in an insolent tone.
"I think you are forgetting who you are speaking to," said the lady,
reprovingly.
"I ain't likely to forget that. Servants seem to have no rights in
these days."
"Certainly not the right to be insolent!" said Mrs. Lloyd.
Fanny went out of the room, and shut the door with a bang.
As she sat over her dinner in the kitchen, she recalled something else
her friend had told her. She was to have her wages raised in a few
weeks' time, and it had been brought about by having given her mistress
notice to leave, and it occurred to Fanny that she might do the same
thing with a similar advantage. Mrs. Lloyd was evidently annoyed,
"cross," Fanny called it, and she took care to do all that was possible
to vex her through the afternoon, and when at last the lady said, in a
tone of expostulation, "Fanny, you really must be more careful," she
said, in reply, "Well, as I don't seem to please you lately, I'll go
this day month."
"I cannot take your notice to-day, Fanny, and I hope by to-morrow you
will have thought over what has happened, and be ready to beg my pardon
for what has occurred."
"Beg your pardon!" repeated Fanny, in an angry tone. "That I never
will, and so you need not think it."
"Leave the room at once, Fanny; you have said quite enough for to-day,"
said her mistress, in a firm tone, and Fanny went out, feeling somewhat
ashamed of herself.
The visitor came a few minutes after five, and Fanny carried in tea and
had her own before the clock struck the half-hour, and she was dressed
and ready to go out by ten minutes to six.
She did not go where she was likely to meet her father, but in another
direction to see her new friend, Miriam.
"You are late," grumbled Miriam; "I told you to meet me a quarter to
six, and it will strike in a minute or two!"
"Well, I told you I wasn't sure that I could come," said Fanny, in a
deprecating tone.
"And I told you to stand up for your rights and not be put upon."
The day had been a miserable one to Fanny, and this greeting from her
friend did not make her more cheerful.
"I wish you knew my missus."
"I know my own, and they're all about alike, I expect," said Miriam.
"But now about our frocks. I want to have a word with you before we go
to Lizzie's. I was there on Friday evening, and she showed me a lovely
piece of stuff. It is not the colour I wanted; but it is such a lovely
piece of stuff, and my cousin says it will wear so well, that I shall
put up with the colour if you like it."
"I shall like it if it is cheap," said Fanny, trying to laugh; "but, as
the people won't take back my watch, I shall have to be careful."
"I tell you what it is, you ought to have more money than you get. You
do all the work of that house, and you ought to be paid well for it,
and I should tell the missus so if I was you."
"I mean to, if I get the chance," said Fanny. "I must, if I am to have
a new frock," she added.
"Well, now will be a good time," commented Miriam. "You have been there
just over three months—haven't you?—and so you could easily say, 'I
want you to raise my wages next month, and I shall give you notice if
you don't.'"
"Is that what you said when you got yours raised?" asked Fanny.
"Something like it," answered Miriam. "Of course I am older, and do
nearly all the cooking at my place, and that makes a difference. But
still you ought to have nine pounds a year now, and I should tell the
lady so, and that you can't stay unless she raises your wages to that."
By this time they had reached Mrs. Scott's, and were very soon looking
over the patterns she had obtained for them.
"There, this is the one I like," said Miriam, drawing forward a piece
of material, soft, and fine, with a small satin flower of the same
colour—a rather dark cinnamon-brown.
"Oh, I do like that!" said Fanny, as soon as she saw it. "My mother
would like it too, I am sure," she added.
"It is neat enough for any one to like it," said Mrs. Scott. "But the
question you girls have to consider is whether you can afford it."
"You said the stuff was very cheap, Lizzie," said Miriam, quickly.
"So it is, very cheap indeed, considering how good it is; but I could
not make either of you a dress for less than a pound, and I should want
half the money when you had the dress, and the other half within two
months."
Fanny looked at Miriam in blank dismay, it seemed an enormous sum to
her.
"Suppose we wanted four months to pay it, what would you charge then?"
"Twenty-five shillings," answered Mrs. Scott, promptly. She did not
attempt to persuade the girls to have dresses of that particular
material, but showed them some cheaper, which she assured them would
also be durable, and serve them for afternoon dresses when they had
done with them for best. Fanny looked on silently, leaving Miriam and
her cousin to discuss the merits of the various stuffs; but although
she took no part, she was thinking and making up her mind about whether
she should say she would have the brown dress, and give notice the
next day that she would leave, unless her mistress would give her nine
pounds a year.
When she was being served with the cake, the previous evening, she
heard a lady ask if they knew of a servant who could do housework, and
that she gave ten pounds a year. Ten pounds seemed an immense sum to
Fanny just now, and she thought if she could only get that, she need
not be so worried about the watch and other things, for with this she
would have plenty of money for all she needed.
So, by the time Miriam had finished her discussion, Fanny had made up
her mind to have that ten pounds a year if it was possible; and so,
when Miriam turned to her, she said—
"I will have the brown dress, if you do, and I will pay five shillings
a month, as I have not got much put away for it."
Mrs. Scott looked at her in some surprise. "You have thought it all
out, I suppose?" she said.
"Yes; I have counted it all over, and I don't think I could do better
than have the brown frock," said Fanny, decidedly.
"I am glad," said Miriam. "Of course, I can have one too; so we shall
have frocks alike after all. Now, when can we have them, Lizzie?" she
asked.
"Well, if you come in one day this week to be measured, I dare say I
can let you have them in a fortnight," said Mrs. Scott; and then she
wished the girls good night, and they went away.
It struck seven as they went up the street. "I am going to St. Peter's
to-night," said Miriam.
"I want to go to St. Mary's; that is close by; and we are late now,"
said Fanny. Her father was to meet her at the corner of St. Mary's
Road, close to the church, and Fanny hoped he had waited for her. She
was not sorry that Miriam was determined to go in the other direction,
and she crossed the road and looked eagerly round, feeling sure her
father was waiting for her somewhere near.
She went a little way up each road in turn, and then back to the corner
of the churchyard, and waited; but her father was not to be seen. Fanny
went to the church porch and looked into the church, hoping to see him
on one of the benches near the door, and because he was not there Fanny
grew anxious and disappointed, almost heart-sick, as she looked into
strange faces, and her father was not among them.
She wished now that she had come here direct, instead of going first
to meet her friend. She lingered near the church until the service
was over, and then looked eagerly at the people as they came out, and
among those she saw the lady who had asked about a servant at the
confectioner's shop the day before. She walked up the street alone, and
not seeing anything of her father, Fanny decided to speak to the lady,
and ask if she still wanted a servant.
The lady looked a little surprised at being asked such a question at
such a time and place, but replied—
"I am wanting a servant. But how did you hear of it?"
"I was at Carpenter's buying some cakes for my mistress yesterday, and
heard you tell the young woman that served me that you were in want of
a servant, and would give ten pounds a year."
"Yes, I will, to a suitable girl. But you had better come and see me
to-morrow morning," added the lady; and then she gave Fanny her address
and walked on, leaving the girl almost bewildered by the swiftness with
which her good fortune had come to her.
She gave one last lingering look round the two streets to see if she
could by any possibility have missed her father coming out of church,
and then walked home.
"Why, Fanny, where have you been?" said her mistress, when she opened
the door.
"To St. Mary's church, where I was to meet my father."
"And did you meet him, after all?" asked the lady.
"No; I could not see him anywhere," answered Fanny.
"You were not there by six o'clock, nor yet by half-past six; for your
father came here about a quarter to seven to ask if you were going out,
for he had not seen you anywhere."
"Father came here?" uttered Fanny, slowly.
"Yes, he did, and seemed a good deal put about that you were not at the
place to meet him. If I could have left my friend, I should have asked
him to come in, that I might have had a few words with him about you;
but, as it was, I could only tell him that you went out about a quarter
to six, as nearly as I could tell."
Fanny tossed her head. "I want to give you warning to-morrow, and so
you need not trouble yourself about me if father does," she said.
Mrs. Lloyd took no notice of this rude speech, and Fanny went upstairs
to take off her hat before setting the supper-tray.
The next morning, directly after breakfast, when Fanny went to clear
the table, she said—
"If you please, ma'am, I should like to leave this day month, and can I
have an hour this morning to see a lady about another place?"
Mrs. Lloyd looked at her in amazement.
"Another place!" she repeated. "Have you told your mother and father
what you intend to do?"
"No, ma'am, not yet; but I dare say I shall before I leave."
"Do you think your mother will be pleased to hear that you have done
this without asking her advice? When you were coming here, she wisely
came to see me first and judge what sort of a home you were likely to
have with me. I suppose you have been tempted by the offer of higher
wages?" concluded Mrs. Lloyd.
"Yes, partly," answered Fanny. "Everybody wants as much money as they
can get," added the girl.
"You will learn one day that money is not everything, Fanny, and a
light, comfortable place such as you have here may be worth more than
higher wages with little comfort."
Fanny muttered something about "being so particular;" but Mrs. Lloyd
took no notice of this, but gave her permission to go out for an hour
when some of the morning work was finished.
Fanny's coolness and assurance puzzled the lady, and she wondered who
or what could have effected the change that had undoubtedly taken place
in the girl.
Looking back to that time, Mrs. Lloyd recalled the Fanny that first
came to her—a happy, lighthearted, hopeful girl, willing and eager
to give satisfaction, and then, after a few weeks of this, a change
gradually crept over the girl, and she grew anxious and dissatisfied
and careless, as though her heart was no longer in her work, but as if
she had some secret care upon her mind that was constantly troubling
her. What could it be? What could have happened in the short time she
had been with her?
But there was no answer to her anxious questioning. She knew nothing of
Fanny's watch, or of the way in which she spent her money. She had to
remind the girl once or twice that she must keep herself supplied with
house-slippers, but beyond this she had never made any complaint about
her dress. Indeed, she was much pleased with her neat, tidy appearance
always, and the way in which her mother had provided for her first
start in life gave her great satisfaction, so that she was unusually
disturbed when the girl gave her notice to leave after she had been
there little more than three months.