"What will your maid think?" suggested Mary. "If I am to do what I please, she will soon find me trespassing on her domain."
"I never trouble myself about what my servants think," said Hesper.
"But it might hurt her, you know—to be paid to do a thing and then not allowed to do it."
"She may take herself away, then. I had not thought of parting with her, but I should not be at all sorry if she went. She would be no loss to me."
"Why should you keep her, then?"
"Because one is just as good—and as bad as another. She knows my ways, and I prefer not having to break in a new one. It is a bore to have to say how you like everything done."
"But you are speaking now as if you meant it," said Mary, waking up to the fact that Hesper's tone was of business, and she no longer seemed half playing with the proposal. "Do you mean you want me to come and live with you?"
"Indeed, I do," answered Hesper, emphatically. "You shall have a room close to my bedroom, and there you shall do as you like all day long; and, when I want you, I dare say you will come."
"Fast enough," said Mary, cheerily, as if all was settled. In contrast with her present surroundings, the prospect was more than attractive. "—But would you let me have my piano?" she asked, with sudden apprehension.
"You shall have my grand piano always when I am out, which will be every night in the season, I dare say. That will give you plenty of practice; and you will be able to have the best of lessons. And think of the concerts and oratorios you will go to!"