could be heard form below, he was seized with a sudden desire to learn
something of her past history.

"How long have you been here, Aunt Lucy?" he inquired.

She looked up from her knitting, and sighed as she answered, "A long and
weary time to look back upon, Paul. I have been here ten years."

"Ten years," repeated Paul, thoughtfully, "and I am thirteen. So you
have been here nearly all my lifetime. Has Mr. Mudge been here all that
time?"

"Only the last two years. Before that we had Mrs. Perkins."

"Did she treat you any better than Mrs. Mudge?"

"Any better than Mrs. Mudge!" vociferated that lady, who had ascended
the stairs without being heard by Aunt Lucy of Paul, and had thus
caught the last sentence. "Any better than Mrs. Mudge!" she repeated,
thoroughly provoked. "So you've been talking about me, you trollop, have
you? I'll come up with you, you may depend upon that. That's to pay for
my giving you tea Sunday night, is it? Perhaps you'll get some more.
It's pretty well in paupers conspiring together because they aint
treated like princes and princesses. Perhaps you'd like to got boarded
with Queen Victoria."

The old lady sat very quiet during this tirade. She had been the subject
of similar invective before, and knew that it would do no good to oppose
Mrs. Mudge in her present excited state.