"Then you and Agnes will have to do the washing," I replied, in a
fretful voice; this new source of trouble completely breaking me
down.

"Indeed, ma'am," replied Netty, tossing her head and speaking with
some pertness, "_I_ can't do the washing. I didn't engage for any
thing but chamber-work."

And so saying she left me to my own reflections. I must own to
feeling exceedingly angry, and rose to ring the bell for Netty to
return, in order to tell her that she could go to washing or leave
the house, as best suited her fancy. But the sudden recollection of
a somewhat similar collision with a former chambermaid, in which I
was worsted, and compelled to do my own chamber-work for a week,
caused me to hesitate, and, finally, to sit down and indulge in a
hearty fit of crying.

When my husband came home at dinnertime, things did not seem very
pleasant for him, I must own. I had on a long, a very long
face--much longer than it was when he went away in the morning.

"Still in trouble, I see, Jane," said he. "I wish you would try and
take things a little more cheerfully. To be unhappy about what is
not exactly agreeable doesn't help the matter any, but really makes
it worse."

"If you had to contend with what I have to contend with, you
wouldn't talk about things being _exactly agreeable,_" I replied to
this. "It is easy enough to talk. I only wish you had a little of my