'Miss Esther, you're tired, bad!' said the housekeeper wistfully, coming up beside her. 'There's all black rings under your eyes; and your cheeks is pale. You have worked too hard, indeed.'
'Never mind,' said Esther cheerfully; 'that will pass. How pretty it is, Barker! Look out at that sky.'
'Yes 'm, it's just the colour from that sky that keeps your cheeks from showin' how white they be. Miss Esther, you've just done too much.'
'Never mind,' said the girl again. 'I wanted to have papa comfortable before I went to school. I am going to school Monday morning, Barker. Now I think he'll do very nicely.' She looked round the room, which was a pattern of neatness and of comfort that was both simple and elegant. But the housekeeper's face was grave with disapproval and puckered with lines of care. The wistful expression of anxiety upon it touched Esther.
'Barker,' she said kindly, 'you do not look happy.'
'Me! No, Miss Esther, it is which I do not expect to look.'
'Why not?'
'Mum, things is not accordin' in this world.'
'I think you are mistaken. Do you know who the happy people are?'
'Indeed, Miss Esther, I think they're the blessed ones that has gone clean away from the earth.'