Letty considered a little. The work would not be so very hard, after all, and the house was extremely convenient. She would not have so much time to go out; but she did not care about that, so long as she had the evenings to herself. She made a little calculation in her own mind. Two dollars for twenty-five weeks would be fifty dollars. She need be at no present expense for her clothes, since she had bought plain, respectable mourning when Sally died, which she meant to wear all winter. Fifty dollars, with the fifteen already in hand, would do a good deal towards buying the respectable "setting-out" on which she had set her heart. Moreover, as Mrs. Prescott said, she would all the time be acquiring knowledge which would be useful to her as the mistress of a family.
Letty did not look forward to keeping a girl. She knew she should have her own work to do; and she very sensibly thought that the more she knew about housekeeping beforehand, the easier it would be to take the whole responsibility. So she accepted the proposal, with the stipulation that she should be allowed to go to church on Sunday, and to Bible-class, as usual,—to which Mrs. Trescott very readily agreed; and it was understood that she should enter upon her duties the next Monday.
When Letty mentioned this new arrangement at her aunt Train's, whither she usually went to tea every other Sunday afternoon, there was a great outcry. The Trains thought it rather derogatory to their dignity that a niece of theirs should "live out" at all; and they had made many attempts, both direct and indirect, to induce Letty to leave her place and learn a trade, or at least work in the shop, as Agnes did.
But Letty knew when she was well off. She had a comfortable home at Mrs. Trescott's,—far more comfortable, to her mind, than her aunt's house; where, except in the one front room kept for company, nothing ever seemed to be in its place from one year's end to another. She was sure of her wages the year round; whereas Agnes was often out of work for weeks at a time. Moreover, she had a feeling that the company with which Agnes was associated in the rooms where she worked would not please her at all. Mrs. Train said to herself that Letty was a strange girl,—a very obstinate girl, with very little self-respect and many queer notions,—and saved the family dignity by always speaking of her niece as Mrs. Trescott's seamstress. And now here she was actually turning herself into a maid-of-all-work! It was too bad!
"Letty Bright, a'n't you ashamed of yourself?" she exclaimed. "Why, you will be neither more nor less than a kitchen-girl,—a regular drudge! You had better go out to washing, and have done with it!"
"There is no use in talking to Letty, mother," said Agnes. "She will have her own way, you know. But I must say, this is too bad; and all for such a paltry sum, when you might make three times that by working in the shop. Why, I earned six dollars only last week."
"Out of which you had to pay for your board," said Letty,—"to say nothing of streetcar tickets, which use up money very fast. Take out your expenses, and how much are you better off than I am, after all?"
"Nonsense!" said Agnes. "I hate such close calculations. At least I have the pleasure of spending it, and a home of my own."
"So have I," replied Letty,—"and a good home, too."
"Yes,—in a kitchen," sneered her aunt.