The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Modern Cinderella, by Amanda M. Douglas

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Title: A Modern Cinderella

Author: Amanda M. Douglas

Release Date: March 29, 2009 [EBook #28441]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MODERN CINDERELLA ***

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A MODERN CINDERELLA

BY

AMANDA M. DOUGLAS

AUTHOR OF "THE GIRLS AT MT. MORRIS," "SHERBURNE SERIES,"
"A LITTLE GIRL SERIES."

ETC.

[Illustration]

M. A. DONOHUE & CO.

CHICAGO

Made in U. S. A.

A MODERN CINDERELLA

CHAPTER I

AT THE PALACE

"You may stay down here until nine o'clock if you like," said Bridget.
"It's awful cold upstairs. Be sure to wrap yourself good in the old
blanket. And put a little coal on the range. If you let my fire go
out, I'll skin you alive."

When Marilla first heard that threat she shuddered all over. If you
scratched a little bit of skin off it hurt dreadfully. But Bridget
never did it. Sometimes she hit her a slap on the shoulder. She
couldn't even bear to skin a rabbit. "What do you mean by it?" Marilla
gained courage to ask once, when she came to feel at home.

"Oh, I don't know. My mother used to say it. Sometimes she took a
strap to us, but she wasn't ever real hard."

Marilla knew about the strap in Bethany Home though she didn't often
get it.

"I'll remember about the fire."

"Good night!" Bridget was off.

She always took two or three evenings out in the week and had Sunday
afternoon instead of Thursday because they had late dinners during the
week. She was very excellent help, so Mrs. Borden let her have her own
way.

It was nice and warm in the kitchen; clean, too. Bridget couldn't
abide a dirty kitchen. Marilla had wiped the dishes, scoured out the
sink and set the chairs straight around. It was a basement kitchen
with a dining room above. The front was the furnace cellar, the middle
for vegetables and what Bridget called truck.

Marilla sat in the little old rocking chair and put her feet on the
oven hearth. It was very nice to rock to and fro and no babies to te