"Oh! my little room—my little room!" inwardly sighed Rachel, as she sat down to her work. She hoped that the story was, at least, finished and over; but if it was, the commentaries upon it were only beginning, and Heaven knows if they were not various and abundant.
Rachel did her best to abstract herself; to hear, and not listen. She succeeded so well that she only awoke from her dream when Mrs. Brown said to her,
"Well, Rachel, why don't you answer, then?"
Rachel looked up, with a start, and said, in some trepidation,
"Answer! I didn't hear you speak, ma'am."
"Didn't you now!" knowingly observed Mrs. Brown, winking on the rest of the company.
"No, ma'am, I did not, indeed," replied Rachel, earnestly.
"Bless the girl!" said Mrs. Brown, laughing outright; "why, you must be growing deaf."
"I hope not," said Rachel, rather perplexed; "yet, perhaps, I am; for, indeed, I did not hear you."
"La, Miss Gray! don't you see they are making fun of you?" impatiently observed Jane. "Why, Mrs. Brown hadn't been a saying anything at all."