He did not finish his words, but it seemed as if he were going to
say: "And a stranger may, after all, be preferable to a neighbor."
But I cannot be sure of this, for he was not a man easy to sound.
But what I do know is that he stepped forward, to me with an easy
grace, and giving me a welcome as courteous as if I had been the one
of all others he desired to see, led me up the stairs to a room
which he announced to be mine, saying, as he left me at the door:

"Come out in five minutes, and my brother will introduce you to your
duties."

So far I had seen no woman in the house, and I was beginning to
wonder if Mrs. Pollard had preferred to surround herself with males,
when the door was suddenly opened and a rosy-cheeked girl stepped
in.

"Ah, excuse me," she said, with a stare; "I thought it was the nurse
as was here."

"And it is the nurse," I returned, smiling in spite of myself at her
look of indignant surprise. "Do you want any thing of me?" I
hastened to ask, for her eyes were like saucers and her head was
tossing airily.

"No," she said, almost with spite. "I came to see if you wanted any
thing?"

I shook my head with what good nature I could, for I did not wish to
make an enemy in this house, even of a chambermaid.