‘I suppose it makes you all very proud to have a minister in the family, William?’ said Miss Llewellyn kindly.
‘That it does; and he’s a fine preacher too, as Hetty here can tell you, and draws the people to hear him for miles round, so that the parson up at the church is quite jealous of Hugh’s influence with his parishioners. And that’s something to be proud of, isn’t it?’
‘It is indeed. And what are you, Will?’
‘Oh, he’s a farmer, Nell,’ interposed Hetty, ‘and we are to live with his parents at Dale Farm as soon as we go back. So poor mother will be left alone. Oh, Nell, how I wish you could come back to Panty-cuckoo Farm, and stay with mother, now she’s lost me.’
Miss Llewellyn flushed scarlet at the idea.
‘Hetty, how could I? How could I leave my place where I have been for so many years now, to go back and be a burden on my parents? Besides, dear, I’m used to town life, and don’t think I should know how to get on in the country.’
‘But you care for mother surely?’ said her sister, somewhat reproachfully; ‘and you can’t think how bad she’s been with sciatica this spring, quite doubled-up at times, and Dr Cowell says it’s bound to come back in the autumn. I’m sure I don’t know what she’ll do if it does! You should have heard how she used to cry out for you in the spring, Nell. She’s always wanting her beautiful daughter. I’m nothing to mother, and never have been, compared to you. And I’ve heard her say, dozens of times, that she wished that London town had been burned to the ground before the agency office had persuaded you to take service here. They do seem so hard on servants in this place. Here have you been five years away from home, and never once a holiday! I think Lord Ilfracombe must be very mean not to think that a servant girl would want to see her own people once in a way!’
‘You mustn’t blame Lord Ilfracombe, Hetty!’ said her sister, hastily, ‘for it’s not his fault. He would let me go to Usk if I asked him, I daresay; but I have the charge of all the other servants you see, and where would the house be without me? It is not as if there was a lady at the head of affairs.’
‘Then why doesn’t he marry and get his wife to do all that for him?’ demanded Hetty, with the audacity of ignorance. ‘It does seem strange that a gentleman with such a heap of money should remain a bachelor. What does he do with it all, I wonder? And what is the good of such a big house to a man without a wife? Wouldn’t you rather that he was married, Nell? It must be so funny taking all your orders from a man.’
‘You don’t understand, Hetty,’ said Miss Llewellyn. ‘Lord Ilfracombe does not give me any orders. He never interferes in the household arrangements. It is to save himself all that trouble that he has engaged me. I hardly ever see him—that is, about dinners, or anything of that sort. When he is going to have a party, he tells me the number of people whom he expects, and I prepare for them accordingly. But this is all beyond your comprehension. It is past five o’clock. You and William will be glad of some tea.’