“It may turn out to be a fortunate thing that we could not hire a maid for Dodo’s mother,” said Polly.
“What is that?” asked Dodo, curiously.
Then the girls told how Mrs. Courtney had gone to the employment office to engage a good lady’s maid for Mrs. Alexander.
Dodo laughed at the interviews and their termination.
“Just as well you were unsuccessful in the quest,” said she. “If mother has a maid, she becomes so dependent upon her for the least act, that she soon grows too heavy to feel comfortable. Then she feels cross, because she cannot dance and act like a girl, and, worst of all, her new costumes never will meet. Life then becomes impossible, until she has dieted down again. Algy is better than a maid, because he induces her to walk and go out with him, and that is good for her health.”
At this moment the men returned from the smoking compartment, and Mr. Dalken said: “It’s time for bed, children.”
“Oh, dear me, is it?” sighed Mrs. Alexander, suddenly seeming to feel indisposed to move.
“You don’t have to go to bed, Maggie, if you like to sit up and enjoy that young man’s conversation,” returned Mr. Alexander.
“It’s not that, Ebeneezer—but I really feel as though I were going to have one of my nervous spells,” explained the lady, sighing again, more emphatically this time.
“By the Great Horned Spoon! Don’t carry on like that, while we are travelin’!” cried her husband, glancing anxiously about for some one to share his troubles.