"Dr. Stanchon has been talking about me!" she cried with hot memories of her interminable domestic woes.
"Indeed not," said the grey lady. "I knew nothing.... I only asked if ignorant persons really accomplished their drudgery to any one's satisfaction nowadays? They used not to when—when I employed them...."
So she had been wrecked beyond repair, this shadowy, large-eyed thing! She spoke as of a day long over. The other woman felt ashamed of her suspicion.
"No, indeed," she answered wearily, "that was an exaggeration, naturally. But they might, if they would take pains. They are paid enough for it, heaven knows."
"Ann and Hester are not paid," said the voice from the dim chair. "Perhaps that is why they take pains."
The woman nodded fretfully.
"That is all very well," she said, "and sounds very poetic, but it would be rather impractical for us all to do, on that account."
"Impractical? Impractical?"
A hint of gentle laughter from the long chair. "But it seems to me that Ann and Hester are the least impractical of people—are they not? They are surely less harassed than you were?"
("I must have been very sleepy: I don't remember telling her all about it," thought the woman, "but she seems to know.")