Meantime Elizabeth penetrated farther, investigating the back
kitchen, with its various conveniences; especially the pantry, every
shelf of which was so neatly arranged and beautifully clean.
Apparently this neatness impressed the girl with a sense of novelty
and curiosity; and though she could hardly be said to meditate--her
mind was not sufficiently awakened for that--still, as she stood at
the kitchen fire, a slight thoughtfulness deepened the expression of
her face, and made it less dull and heavy than it had at first
appeared.

"I wonder which on 'em does it all. They must work pretty hard, I
reckon; and two o' them's such little uns."

She stood a while longer; for sitting down appeared to be to
Elizabeth as new a proceeding as thinking; then she went up stairs,
still literally obeying orders, to shut windows and pull down blinds
at nightfall. The bedrooms were small, and insufficiently, nay,
shabbily furnished; but the floors were spotless--ah! poor
Johanna!--and the sheets, though patched and darned to the last
extremity, were white and whole. Nothing was dirty, nothing untidy.
There was no attempt at picturesque poverty--for whatever novelists
may say, poverty can not be picturesque; but all things were decent
and in order. The house, poor as it was, gave the impression of
belonging to "real ladies;" ladies who thought no manner of work
beneath them, and who, whatever they had to do, took the pains to do
it as well as possible.

Mrs. Hand's roughly-brought-up daughter had never been in such a
house before, and her examination of every new corner of it seemed
quite a revelation. Her own little sleeping nook was fully as tidy