"Did Miss Thorley say that?" asked Nelly, who had a profound veneration for Lady Longridge's maid, and thought it impossible for her to say a harsh word.
"No. She came to me with such a heartbroken look, for she loves to hear me sing, and says my voice is the only pleasant thing she hears. I had just put myself in a comfortable place, leaning against a tree, and she stole up to me looking miserable when I was in the midst of a fresh song. 'Don't tell me the message,' I said, 'I will tell you. Grandmother has sent you to bid me stop screeching. I am right, am I not?'"
"'Yes, my darling. That is just what my lady did say. It seems as if you cannot get out of hearing, so as to sing in peace, and yet she is always complaining of being deaf, and turning what people say into nonsense. She hears well enough. She only pretends to misunderstand them, so that she may catch things that were never meant for her ears at all.'"
"Then I wished I were a bird, and that I could fly out of hearing. I sometimes think I shall run away, Nelly, for life here is so dreadful. And to have to live it for six long years, or five and a half, for I have been here a few months already! Thorley was quite shocked, and said, 'Oh, dear Miss Margaretta, you make me tremble, and I am just as nervous as I can be to begin with, through your grandma scolding.'"
"'If you don't call me "Meg," I will start off this minute,' I said. 'I can run so fast that I should be out of reach before you could begin to follow.'"
"Then Thorley gasped out, 'Oh, Meg, do not,' and I laughed until I forgot my grandmother's cross message. You see I make Thorley call me 'Meg,' because it was my poor father's pet name for me, and mamma got into the way of using it too. No one but those who loved me ever used it, so I ask Thorley to say it, because I want to feel loved yet, and she does care for me."
"She does indeed. And, dear Miss Longridge, so do I. There isn't a thing you could ask me to do that I would not do for you."
"Then call me 'Meg' this minute, you dear little nice thing," said Margaretta, and then she flung her arm round the little seamstress's neck and kissed her with such energy that Nelly was half frightened at the suddenness of the embrace.
"Kiss me back again. Kiss me, Nelly," cried Margaretta. "Don't you see I am hungering for love and kindness? Thorley is an old dear, but I want a young one. I will have you for a friend. I like you, and grandmother gives me no choice."
So on that day a compact was entered into, and Nelly returned Margaretta's somewhat tempestuous affection with an almost worshipping devotion, calling her "Meg" in a whisper, as Thorley did when no one was within hearing, and resolving that if ever she in her humble way could help the lonely young lady, she would do it with all her might.