"As we cannot build a palace, and have it new, I should say the old one had better be cleaned."
"Sabrina Rogers would do it, I dare say," Matilda went on; "and maybe that would be something good for her."
"Teach her to clean her own?" said Norton.
"Why no, Norton; her own is clean. I meant, maybe she would be glad of the pay."
"There's another princess, eh, that wants a palace?" said Norton. "If we could, we would new build Lilac Lane, wouldn't we? But then, I should want to make over the people that live in it."
"So should I, and that is the hardest. But perhaps, don't you think the people would be different, if they had things different?"
"I'm certain I should be different, if I lived where they do," said Norton. "But go on, Pink; let us try it on—what's her name. We have only cleaned her house yet."
"The first thing, then, is a bedstead, Norton."
"A bedstead! What does she sleep on?"
"On the floor; with rags and straw, and I think a miserable make-believe of a bed. No sheets, no blankets, nor anything. It is dreadful."