know that I may be as rude as I like.'

'Is that what you've learnt from the grand company you've been keeping
to-day? I expected to find you so polite and ceremonious, that I read a
few chapters of _Sir Charles Grandison_, in order to bring myself up to
concert pitch.'

'Oh, I do hope I shall never be a lord or a lady.'

'Well, to comfort you, I'll tell you this. I am sure you'll never be a
lord; and I think the chances are a thousand to one against your ever
being the other, in the sense in which you mean.'

'I should lose myself every time I had to fetch my bonnet, or else get
tired of long passages and great staircases long before I could go out
walking.'

'But you'd have your lady's-maid, you know.'

'Do you know, papa, I think lady's-maids are worse than ladies. I
should not mind being a housekeeper so much.'

'No! the jam-cupboards and dessert would lie very conveniently to one's
hand,' replied her father, meditatively. 'But Mrs. Brown tells me that
the thought of the dinners often keeps her from sleeping; there's that
anxiety to be taken into consideration. Still, in every condition of
life there are heavy cares and responsibilities.'

'Well! I suppose so,' said Molly, gravely. 'I know Betty says I wear
her life out with the green stains I get in my frocks from sitting in