questions like the clapper o' a
bell. 'Is she a servant? If she's no, why does she wear servants' claes?
Why does she have hair like a boy? Has she had a fever or something
wrong wi' her heid? Is she one of they suffragette buddies and been in
prison?'--till I was fair deeved and bade the lassie hold her tongue.
But so it will be wherever Miss Morton goes in they fantastic claes.
Now, Miss Jan, tell me the honest truth--did you ever see a
self-respecting, respectable servant in the like o' yon? Does she _look_
like any servant you've ever heard tell of out of a stage-play?"

"Not a bit, Hannah; she looks exactly like herself, and therefore not in
the least like any other person. Don't you worry. Miss Morton requires
no explanation. All we must do is to see that she doesn't overwork
herself."

"Then ye'll no speak to her, Miss Jan?"

"Not I, Hannah. Why should I dictate to her as to what she wears? She
doesn't dictate to me."

This was not strictly true, for Meg was most interfering in the matter
of Jan's clothes. Hannah shook her head. "I thocht it my duty to speak,
Miss Jan, and I'll say no more. But it's sheer defiance o' her Maker to
crop her heid and to clothe herself in whim-whams, when she could be
dressed like a lady; and I'm real vexed she should make such an object
of herself when she might just be quite unnoticeable, sae wee and
shelpit as she is."

"I'm afraid," said Jan, "that Miss Morton will never be quite
unnoticeable, whatever she may wear. But don't let us talk about it any
more. You understand, don't you, Hannah?"

When Jan's voice took that tone Hannah knew that further argument was
unavailing.

Jan turned to go, and saw Tony waiting for her in the open doorway.
Neither of them had either heard or seen him come.

Quite silently he took her hand and did not speak till they were well
away from the house. Meg and little Fay were nowhere in sight. Jan
wondered how much he had heard.

"She's a very proud cook, isn't she?" he said presently.

"She's a very old servant," Jan explained, "who has known me all my
life."

"If," said Tony, as though after deep thought, "she gets very
chubbelsome, you send for me. Then I will go to her and say '_Jao!_'"
Tony followed this up by some fluent Hindustani which, had Jan but known
it, seriously reflected on the character of Hannah's female ancestry.
"I'll say '_Jao!_'," he went on. "I'll say it several times very loud,
and point to the door. Then she'll r