Page:Penelope's Progress.djvu/31

Rh "Can I send a message, please?" I asked the maid.

"I couldna say, mam."

"Will you be good enough to ask Mrs. M'Collop, please?" Interval; then:— "The Boots will tak' it at seeven o'clock, mam."

"Thank you; is Fotheringay Crescent near here?" "I couldna say, mam."

"Thank you; what is your name, please?" I waited in well-grounded anxiety, for I had no idea that she knew her name, or that if she had ever heard it, she could say it; but, to my surprise, she answered almost immediately, "Susanna Crum, mam!" What a joy it is in a vexatious world, where things "gang aft agley," to find something absolutely right.

If I had devoted years to the subject, having the body of Susanna Crum before my eyes every minute of the time for inspiration, Susanna Crum is what I should have named that maid. Not a vowel could be added, not a consonant omitted. I said so when first I saw her, and weeks of intimate acquaintance only deepened my reverence for the parental genius that had so described her to the world.