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 on the opposite side of the hearth, and drank her own tea out of a pint bowl. Mally wagged her head wisely.

"I tak' no notice o' them ateing-houses and their tea," said she. "It's nobbut poor wishy-washy stuff at t' best o' times, and their bread's sad, and t' butter's sour. I'd rather pine thro' here to Sicaster and back, and hev' my own when I get home again, than depend o' them ateing-houses."

She then said that as the master would want nothing for a while, she would show Elisabeth the house, so that she might know her way about next morning. Elisabeth assented with alacrity, and followed Mally through various chambers, upstairs and downstairs, all scrupulously clean and old-fashioned, and redolent of soap and water. Before a great chest on the staircase Mally paused and looked at her companion with a significant expression.

"That'll be your job, lass," she said. "It's linen, is that; sheets, and table-cloths, and napery, and the good Lord knows what. The