'I do not like to take a servant without first knowing something of her
from her last employer,' she said: 'and, if you do not mind, I should
like to ask if Martha left for anything very bad.'

Mrs. Tracy colored scarlet, and for a moment was silent. She could not
tell that fine lady in the white muslin dress, with seas of lace and
embroidery, that Martha had called her _second classy_, and _stingy_ and
_strooping_, and _mean_, because she objected to the amount of coal
burned, and bread thrown away, and time consumed at the table, besides
turning down the gas in the kitchen when she thought it too light, to
say nothing of turning it off at the meter at ten o'clock, just when the
servants were beginning to enjoy themselves. All this she felt would
scarcely interest a person like Mrs. Atherton, who might sympathize with
Martha more than with herself, so she finally said:

'Martha was saucy to me, and on the whole it was better for them all to
go; and so I am doing my own work.'

'Doing your own work!' and Grace gave a little cry of surprise, while
her shoulders shrugged meaningly, and made Mrs. Tracy almost as angry as
she had been with Martha when she called her mean and second-class. 'It
cannot be possible that you cook, and wash, and iron, and do
everything,' Mrs. Atherton continued. 'My dear Mrs. Tracy, you can never
stand it in a house like this, and Mr. Arthur would not like it if he
knew. Why he kept as many as six servants, and sometimes more. Pray let
me advise you, and commend to you a good girl; who lived with me three
years, and can do everything, from dressing my hair to making a
blanc-mange. I only parted with her because she was sick, and now that
she is well, her place is filled. Try her, and do not make a servant of