Then Mary said, “Is your daughter at home, Mrs. Gibbons?”
“Ees, miss, someweres handy,” replied Mrs. Gibbons; “her hav'n't been gone out, not dree minnit.”
“I should like so much to say good-bye to her,” said Mary. “We shall be leaving Barton soon, and I shall not see her again till next summer.”
“Lor bless'ee, miss, 'tis werry good ov'ee,” said the old dame, very proud; “do'ee set down then while I gees her a call.” And with that she hurried out of the door which led through the back kitchen into the little yard behind the lodge, and the next moment they heard her calling out—
“Patty, Patty, wher bist got to? Come in and see the gentlefolk.”
The name which the old woman was calling out made Tom start.
“I thought you said her name was Martha,” said Mrs. Porter.
“Patty is short for Martha in Berkshire,” said Katie, laughing.
“And Patty is such a pretty name. I wonder you don't call her Patty,” said Mary.
“We had a housemaid of the same name a year or two ago, and it made such a confusion—and when one once gets used to a name it is so hard to change—so she has always been called Martha.”