dom. I therefore whispered
in her ear, with the decisive tone of an eldest son, "I think, mother,
this one will do; you had better engage her at once."

"Have you lived out much?" said my mother, commencing the usual
inquiries.

"I have not, ma'am. I am but lately come to the city."

"Are you Irish?"

"No, ma'am; I am American."

"Have you been accustomed to the care of the table,--silver, glass,
and china?"

"I think, ma'am, I understand what is necessary for that."

All this while the speaker remained standing with her veil down; her
answers seemed to be the briefest possible; and yet, notwithstanding
the homely plainness of her dress, there was something about her that
impressed both my mother and me with an idea of cultivation and
refinement above her apparent station,--there was a composure and
quiet decision in her manner of speaking which produced the same
impression on us both.

"What wages do you expect?" said my mother.

"Whatever you have been accustomed to give to a girl in that place
will satisfy me," she said.

"There is only one thing I would like to ask," she added, with a
slight hesitation and embarrassment of manner; "would it be convenient
for me to have a room by myself?"

I nodded to my mother to answer in the affirmative.

The three girls who composed our establishment had usually roomed in
one large apartment, but there was a small closet of a room which I
had taken for books, fishing-rods, guns, and any miscellaneous
property of my own. I mentally turned these out, and devoted the room
to the newcomer, whose appearance interested me.

And, as my mother hesitated, I remarked, with the assured tone of
master of the house, that "certainly she could have a small room to
herself."

"It is all I ask," she briefly answered. "In that case, I will come
for the same wages you paid the last girl in my situation."

"When will you come?" said my mother.

"I am ready to come immediately. I only want time to go and order my
things to be sent here."

She rose and left us, saying that we might expect her that afternoon.

"Well, sir," said my mother, "you seem to have taken it upon you to
settle this matter on your own authority."

"My dear little mother," said I, in a patronizing tone, "I have an
instinctive certainty that she will do. I wanted to make sure of a
prize for you."

"But the single room."

"Never mind; I'll move all my traps out of the little third-story
room. It's my be