It had never struck Mrs. Crook that it was natural for the young to yearn for companionship, and that to live in such a quiet house, with a mistress who never dreamed of sympathising with them, either in joy or sorrow, or troubled herself about their affairs or their friends, must be rather trying.
It would have been an easy matter for Mrs. Crook to brighten things for her handmaidens by allowing a little indulgence in the way of visitors; but such an idea never crossed her mind. Surely what was enough for her ought to satisfy them! At any rate, if they wanted anything different, they would not get it under her roof!
There had, however, always been a struggle between mistress and maid for the little privileges which the younger combatants longed for, and the elder was resolved not to grant. Then, when both were weary of the contest, one or the other gave a month's notice, and the interval was too often spent in mutual aggravation. Fanny had proved herself the single exception. She was conscientious, honest, truthful, painstaking, patient, and a daily puzzle to her mistress.
"If she had been like this for a week or two I could have understood it," thought Mrs. Crook. "One expects good work from a new broom, and I am used to it. But the longer Fanny stays, the better she works; and if I go out, I come back to find that she has done almost more and better whilst I was away than she does when I am looking after her. She falls into my ways without grumbling, and never contradicts me."
Fanny's good conduct was becoming monotonous, almost aggravating; for it deprived Mrs. Crook of the only thing she had in the shape of domestic excitement. It was now depriving her of nightly rest, as if to compensate for the too great peace of the daylight hours, and interfering with the clockwork regularity of her habits.
Whatever caused the difference between Fanny and her former servants Mrs. Crook felt was in some way owing to Miss Lawton, and she determined to find out the secret if possible.
An almost sleepless night was so unusual with Mrs. Crook, that it affected her very unpleasantly. Instead of feeling inclined to rise at her usual hour, her aching head seemed to cling to the pillow. It needed a great deal of self-communion before she could determine to have her breakfast brought upstairs, instead of going down to it.
She had not breakfasted in bed for many a year past, indeed she could hardly remember the last occasion, and she hated to be put out of her way.
Besides, only sick people ought to be indulged in such a manner, and she dreaded the very thought of illness. She had often said that half the people who died were killed by being fussed over and doctored, and because they gave in for the first little ache that came to them, instead of facing small ailments, as they would other little troubles.
However, Mrs. Crook remembered that Crook's doctor had once told her that if people would take care of themselves and nurse up at the beginning of a cold, it would never get any farther. No doubt her headache would be cured by a little extra rest, and she would take it.