After a silent look round the room, she slowly took off her hat, and when the boy was turning away, she said—
"Wait a minute; you must show me where to find things, if I am to clear up this muddle."
A fire was lighted in the choked-up grate, for the first thing, and a kettle of water put on to boil, and when the little boy had told her where various things were kept, and had left her to find out what she could for herself, she commenced her task by taking off her afternoon frock, and putting on the one she had worn in the morning, and a large coarse apron over it, for the kitchen did not look as though it had been cleaned for a month, and dresser, cupboards, and table looked equally dirty.
At first, Fanny felt disposed to sit down and cry, but as the fire burned up, the kitchen began to look more cheerful, and with all her faults, Fanny was not afraid of hard work, and so she was soon sorting and separating cups and saucers from plates and dishes, and had more water on the fire to get hot, for she could do nothing without plenty of hot water.
No one came near her for nearly an hour. The children seemed very quiet, and she supposed Mrs. Lewis was upstairs with the little girl who was ill; so she set about her task of clearing up, and was nearly half done when her new mistress came into the kitchen.
"Come, make haste, Mary, I want the supper things set as soon as possible," she said.
"My name is Fanny," said the new servant.
"Well, we have been used to call the girls 'Mary' until the last, and she would be called Jane."
"I should like to be called by my own name, too," said Fanny; but the lady said that "Mary" was a much more convenient name, and so Fanny had to accept it.
She could not wash up all the dirty crockery, but as soon as she had done plates enough for the supper-table, she had to go upstairs and lay the cloth. Most of the children sat down to that meal, as well as her master and mistress, so that by the time that was cleared away, Fanny was tired with running up and down stairs, and had apparently made very little progress with clearing up the kitchen.