"Lor'! how you talk—don't go on that way; you've got a while to live yet; you are nothing but a baby."
"Shall I always live here?" asked Rose, looking round again, as if in fear of Mrs. Markham.
"You'll live here till you are bound out, I reckon."
"What's that?" asked Rose, innocently.
"Wall, I never!" exclaimed Timmins; "haven't you never heern about being bound out?"
"No," answered Rose, a little ashamed of her ignorance.
"Wall, the upshot of it is, that you are sent away to live with any body that Mrs. Markham and the committee say, and work for them just as long as they tell you, for your meat, and drink, and clothing."
"What is a committee?" asked Rose.
"Why, it's Mr. Balch, and Mr. Skinner, and Mr. Flint, and Mr. Stone, and Mr. Grant, and them."