then, and shut
the door in her face.

Well, she went away, on and on, till she came to a fen, and there she
gathered a lot of rushes and made them into a kind of a sort of a cloak,
with a hood, to cover her from head to foot, and to hide her fine
clothes.

And then she went on and on till she came to a great house.

"Do you want a maid?" says she.

"No, we don't," said they.

"I haven't nowhere to go," says she; "and I ask no wages, and will do
any sort of work," says she.

"Well," said they, "if you like to wash the pots and scrape the
saucepans you may stay," said they.

So she stayed there, and washed the pots, and scraped the saucepans, and
did all the dirty work. And because she gave no name they called her
"Cap o' Rushes."

Well, one day there was to be a great dance a little way off, and the
servants were allowed to go and look on at the grand people. Cap o'
Rushes said she was too tired to go, so she stayed at home.

But when they were gone, she offed with her cap o' rushes, and cleaned
herself, and went to the dance. And no one there was so finely dressed
as she!

Well, who should be there but her master's son, and what should he do
but fall in love with her the minute he set eyes on her. He wouldn't
dance with anyone else.

But before the dance was done, Cap o' Rushes slipped off and away she
went home. And when the other maids came back she was pretending to be
asleep with her cap o' rushes on.

Well, next morning they said to her: "You did miss a sight, Cap o'
Rushes!"

"What was that?" says she.

"Why, the beautifullest lady you ever saw, dressed right gay and ga'.
The young master--he never took his eyes off her."

"Well, I should like to have seen her," says Cap o' Rushes.

"Well, there's to be another dance this evening, and perhaps she'll be
there."

But, come the evening, Cap o' Rushes said she was too tired to go with
them. Howsoever, when they were gone, she offed with her cap o' rushes,
cleaned herself, and away she went to the dance.

The master's son had been reckoning on seeing her, and he danced with no
one else, and never took his eyes off her. But before the dance was over
she slipped off and home she went, and when the maids came back she
pretended to be asleep with her cap o' rushes on.

Next day they said to her again: "Well, Cap o' Rushes, you should have
been there to see the lady. There she was again, gay and ga', and the
young master--he never took his eyes o