With this plan in her mind, she turned round, and walked up town again. When she reached Twenty-First Street she decided to try her luck. Accordingly she went up to the front door of a handsome house with a brown stone front, and rang the bell.
The door was opened by a servant, who waited respectfully for her to announce her errand, supposing her to be a school-mate of one of the children of the family. Her neat dress favored this mistake.
“Is the lady of the house at home?” inquired Tom.
“Who shall I say wishes to see her?” asked the servant, doubtfully.
“Does she want to hire a girl to do chamber-work?” continued Tom.
“Who wants the place?”
“I do,” said Tom.
“Then, she don’t want any,” said the girl, preparing to shut the door, with an entire change of manner. “Don’t you know better than to come to the front door? There’s the basement door below.”
“One door’s as good as another,” said Tom, independently.
“Both are too good for you,” said the servant, angry that under the influence of a mistake she had at first treated Tom with the respect due to a visitor.