real satisfaction to keep the handsome rooms in order, to polish
plate, and spread bountiful meals. There was an atmosphere of ease
and comfort about her which contrasted agreeably with the shabbiness
of Mrs. Flint's boarding-house, and the bare simplicity of the old
home. Like most young people, Christie loved luxury, and was
sensible enough to see and value the comforts of her situation, and
to wonder why more girls placed as she was did not choose a life
like this rather than the confinements of a sewing-room, or the
fatigue and publicity of a shop.

She did not learn to love her mistress, because Mrs. Stuart
evidently considered herself as one belonging to a superior race of
beings, and had no desire to establish any of the friendly relations
that may become so helpful and pleasant to both mistress and maid.
She made a royal progress through her dominions every morning,
issued orders, found fault liberally, bestowed praise sparingly, and
took no more personal interest in her servants than if they were
clocks, to be wound up once a day, and sent away the moment they got
out of repair.

Mr. Stuart was absent from morning till night, and all Christie ever
knew about him was that he was a kind-hearted, hot-tempered, and
very conceited man; fond of his wife, proud of the society they
managed to draw about them, and bent on making his way in the world
at any cost.

If masters and mistresses knew how skilfully they are studied,
criticised, and imitated by their servants, they would take more
heed to their ways, and set better examples, perhaps. Mrs. Stuart
never dreamed that her quiet, respectful Jane kept a sharp eye on