But it was late when she got to bed that night, and she felt almost as if life in that house would be more than she could bear. And then she remembered that she had come there willing to do God's will, whatever that might be, and she determined to make the best of the home to which she had come, and to do her utmost to brighten it.
The next morning Marjorie was awakened at six o'clock by the "bulls" in the different works calling the men to begin their labour for the day. She jumped up, wondering what the noise was and where she could be. Then she remembered to what a forlorn place she had come the night before, and she determined to make things a little more comfortable as soon as possible. She lighted the gas and dressed quickly, and as she was doing so, she heard Mr. Holtby knocking at the servant's door and telling her to get up.
Marjorie was downstairs long before the maid, and finding a little gas-stove in the back kitchen, she lighted it and boiled some water in a small kettle which was standing on the shelf. Mrs. Holtby was very much surprised when, as soon as her husband had gone downstairs, there came a knock at her door, and Marjorie entered with a cup of tea and a thin slice of bread and butter.
"Oh! How nice," she said. "I am so thirsty; I have had such a restless night. Whatever made you think of it?"
"I have an invalid sister at home," Marjorie said, "so you see, I know what invalids like. Now I will help Bessie to get breakfast ready, and then dress the babies."
The next hour and a half was a very busy time. It was like starting a regiment, to get all those children off to school. Everything that they wanted was lost, and the scampering up and downstairs after books, boots, hats, caps, and coats was a most wearying proceeding.
At last they were off, and the house was quiet; only the two babies were left behind, and they were busily playing on the floor with a large box of bricks. Then Marjorie went upstairs to take Mrs. Holtby's breakfast, and to see what she could do to make her comfortable. She felt that nothing short of a regular spring cleaning of the bedroom would make it really clean and as she longed to see it, but she did not like to propose that the first day. She must get Bessie to help her, if that was to be done, and Bessie could not be driven too fast. She had her own ideas, and these were conservative to the last degree.
So on this first morning, Marjorie contented herself with smaller measures of reform. She brought warm water and sponged the sick woman's face and hands, and then she went quietly about the room, tidying it and clearing away the piles of rubbish which it contained. The children's clothes she carried to their own room, the books and papers she dusted and took downstairs, and then, after shaking up the pillows and straightening the bed clothes, she went downstairs to see what Bessie was doing about dinner.
"What time do they come in, Bessie?"
"One o'clock, and the master a quarter past."