The door was opened by the pleasant-looking lady whom Olivia had noticed in church. She had a diffident blush on her face, and a deprecating smile, which made her look pleasanter than ever. Olivia rose, and the lady hurried forward.
“No, don’t get up. Don’t make me feel I’ve disturbed you,” she entreated. “I know I’ve taken a dreadful liberty, but I caught sight of you in here as we came in, and I’m so devouringly anxious to know you that when Mrs. Denison offered to take us all upstairs, I slipped behind to try to get a peep at you.”
Olivia was disarmed. Miss Williams took a chair beside her, and looked with interest at the work in her hand.
“I could show you such a much better way of mending that heel if you’d let me,” she said, almost with eagerness.
“Oh, if you’re what they call ‘clever with your needle’ I musn’t work before you,” said the girl, smiling, “I’m only a beginner at anything useful, and I bungle frightfully over everything at present.”
“But you want to learn?” asked the lady quite earnestly.
“Indeed I do. We haven’t enough servants now to do everything; and unless I learn to give real help in the house—not mere amateurish dabbling, you know—half the things that ought to be done will be left undone.”
Miss Williams’ gloves were off, and she was already busy with the small stocking. Olivia was astonished to notice that the quick, clever fingers bore distinct traces, both in shape and texture, of former hard work. The elder lady glanced up, caught the girl’s eyes, and blushed.
“Yes,” she said, smiling, and as if telling a secret, “you would be astonished if I were to tell you of all the work these hands have done in their time. Now that my father has got on, and married a lady, all that has to be forgotten. But, oh! if the servants knew, when I tell them the hall has not been properly scrubbed, how I long to be down on my knees doing it myself!”
She was in earnest, but there was such a twinkle of fun in her eyes that Olivia, who liked her more and more every minute, joined her in a burst of laughter. Then Olivia remembered that there was a bond of union between them, and she said, in a confidential tone—