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Will Warburton by George Gissing
page 67 of 347 (19%)
humorous note. Then when her mother had been wearying her for half
an hour with complaints and lamentations over the misdoings of one
Emma, Bertha as the alternative to throwing up her hands and rushing
out of the house, began laughing to herself, whereat Mrs. Cross
indignantly begged to be informed what there was so very amusing in
a state of affairs which would assuredly bring her to her grave.

"If only you could see the comical side of it, mother," replied
Bertha. "It really has one, you know. Emma, if only you would be
patient with her, is a well-meaning creature, and she says the
funniest things. I asked her this morning if she didn't think she
could find some way of remembering to put the salt on the table. And
she looked at me very solemnly, and said, 'Indeed, I will, miss.
I'll put it into my prayers, just after 'our daily bread.'"

Mrs. Cross saw nothing in this but profanity. She turned the attack
on Bertha, who, by her soft way of speaking, simply encouraged the
servants, she declared, in negligence and insolence.

"Look at it in this way, mother," replied the girl, as soon as she
was suffered to speak. "To be badly served is bad enough, in itself;
why make it worse by ceaseless talking about it, so leaving
ourselves not a moment of peace and quiet? I'm sure I'd rather put
the salt on. the table myself at every meal, and think no more about
it, than worry, worry, worry over the missing salt-cellars from one
meal to the next. Don't you feel, dear mother, that it's shocking
waste of life?"

"What nonsense you talk, child! Are we to live in dirt and disorder?
Am I _never_ to correct a servant, or teach her her duties? But of
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