Could this be Pamela, actually speaking in a bantering tone, unawed by a young man considerably her senior?
"I am glad," he said a moment later, "that you are surviving not only the experiment of teaching my little cousin, but this experiment at the Mansion."
"Oh, this isn't an experiment, it's—it's—"
"The real thing?"
"Yes, it really is. If you wish to understand it, you must come here some day when the classes are at work. Miss South or Edith will be happy to show you about."
"But I am a working-man now. At the time when I might properly visit the school I am afraid that there would be no classes in session."
"Of course I'm busy myself, too," said Pamela, "and sometimes I feel that I am here on false pretences."
"Remembering your reputation, I don't believe that you are very idle."
"Oh, of course I help; but then some one else could as well do my work."
"Tell me exactly what you do."