laughter at such exquisite wit. But Rosie, seeing the effects of it, only
became more lively and satirical, until Fan, goaded beyond endurance,
started up from her seat, determined to make her escape. Fortunately at
that moment the lady of the house returned, and the maid scampered off to
open the door to her. Soon she returned and dropped Fan a mocking
curtsey. "Please follow me this way," she said. "Miss Starbrow regrets
that she has been detained so long, and is now quite ready to receive
you."

Fan followed her up the kitchen stairs to the hall, where Miss Starbrow,
with her hat on as she had come in, stood waiting to see her. She looked
keenly at the girl's flushed and tearful face, and turned to Rosie for an
explanation; but that lively damsel, foreseeing storms, had already
vanished up the stairs.

"Has she been teasing you?" said the lady. "Well, never mind, don't think
any more about it. She's an impudent hussy, I know--they all are, and one
has to put up with them. Now sit down here and tell me your name, and
where you live, and all about yourself, and why you go out cleaning steps
for a living."

Then she also sat down and listened patiently, aiding with an occasional
question, while the girl in a timid, hesitating way related the principal
events in her unhappy life.

"Poor girl!" was Miss Starbrow's comment when the narrative was finished.
She had drawn off her glove and now took Fan's hand in hers. "How can you
do that hard rough work with such poor thin little hands?" she said. "Let
me look at your eyes again--it is so strange that you should have such
eyes! You don't seem like a child of such people as your parents were."