"Mary Barnes." The answer came out readily enough considering that it had not occurred to her before to choose a new name.
"Your address?" continued the dame, who transcribed the answers in a deliberate round hand in the book before her.
This staggered Mary, and unable to draw on her imagination quickly enough, she blurted out her father's address.
"Ah indeed," said her interlocutor, "Mrs. Grimm; I once provided her with a girl—let me see—three years ago I think; and how long have you been in her service?"
"Two years, ma'am."
"As housemaid?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"That is very good, my dear; and why are you leaving her?"
To this query her reply was a fairly truthful one, though she stammered over it a good deal.