Peggy did not give Miss Shipley time to speak.
"I'm quite respectable," she said. "I'm goin' to service because my aunt has died. Lots o' people know me."
The lady looked at her gloomily.
"You look very small," she said. "Are you strong?"
"I'm quite strong, please 'm, and, please 'm, have you an ill 'usband? That's the place I'm lookin' for. To wait on a lady with an ill 'usband. But I can mind your babies for yer. I'm first-rate with babies, so long as there's only one in arms."
Miss Shipley turned sharply away. The lady frowned ferociously upon Peggy.
"I am a single lady," she said, "and want a clean honest respectable girl, who does her work, and keeps a quiet tongue in her head."
Peggy was not a whit abashed.
"I don't talk if I'm not wanted to," she said; "only, please 'm, what kind of 'ouse do yer live in? Has it a garding? And is there carpets on the front stairs? I'm lookin' for a real nice place."
"Miss Shipley!" called the lady sharply. "This girl will be no use to me; she is either most impertinent or half-witted."