sewing-machine, and have so much to do. But I'm afraid such work would
seem very stupid to you. It would mean sitting still all day, you know,
with no one to talk to but Eleanor and me."

Jane looked wonderingly at the two women before her. No one but them to
talk to! She never had imagined an opportunity to talk to such people
at all. She supposed all such women regarded her as part of the scum of
the earth, yet here they were speaking pleasantly to her,--Mrs. Prency,
a woman who naturally would fill the eye of an impulsive animal like
Jane,--Eleanor, the belle of the town,--two women whom no one could
look at without admiration. No one but them to talk to! All her
associates faded from Jane's mind like a fleck of mist under a
sunburst, as she answered,--

"If there's anything you want done that I can do, Mrs. Prency, I'd
rather work for you for nothin' than for anybody else for any money."

"Come to my house as soon as you like, then, and we'll promise to keep
you busy: won't we, daughter?"

"Yes, indeed," murmured Eleanor, who saw, in her mind's eye, a great
deal of her work being done without effort of her own.

"You sha'n't do it for nothing, however; you shall earn fully as much
as you do now. Good day," Mrs. Prency said, as she passed on, and
Eleanor gave Jane a nod and a smile.

The hotel drudge stood still and looked after the couple with wondering
eyes. The judge's wife dropped something as she walked. Jane hurried
after her and picked it up. It was a glove. The girl pressed it to her