Page:Jepson--Pollyooly.djvu/17

Rh An' whatever would your Aunt Hannah have said to that? An' she so strict with you," said Mrs. Brown, raising her plump hands.

"It isn't for me—it's for the Lump. And it's all there is to do," said Pollyooly with a touch of distress in her resolute voice. "And I shan't tell any lies, Mrs. Brown; I shan't really. If they ask me straight out if Aunt Hannah is dead, I shall tell them the truth."

"What a row there'll be, when, they do find out," said Mrs. Brown.

"I can't help that—there's the Lump," said Pollyooly. "Besides, I cook their breakfasts for them and clean their rooms quite well—ever so much better than that dirty old Mrs. Meeken does the floor below."

"I must say that your aunt did bring you up to do things proper. And I expect you to do them two sets of chambers quite well. What's two sets of chambers, after all? And gentlemen too who never know whether a room's clean, or whether it isn't. I do 'ope as you'll keep the jobs a good long time. I don't see who's to tell the gentlemen that your Aunt Hannah's dead. But things do out so," said