I suppose?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied Nelly, who had not yet been invited to enter.

"Well, you're not as big as I thought you'd be, and you don't look
very strong. Come in;" and she led the way into a dull, bare
dining-room, where she went on with her work of setting the table,
while she put Nelly through an examination as to her qualifications.
She either was, or appeared to be, dissatisfied, and after dryly
expressing a hope that she would suit, she told her to follow her down
to the kitchen.

It was a dark, cellar-like place, with an equally cellar-like room of
very small dimensions opening off it, where Nelly was to sleep. Many
houses seem built on the principle--not the Christian one of loving
our neighbours as ourselves--that "anything is good enough for
servants," as if light, and air, and pleasant things to look out upon,
were not just as much needed by them as by their employers! Kitchens
and servants' rooms need not be luxurious. It would be doing servants
an injury to accustom them to luxuries of which they would some time
feel the privation; but many of them have been accustomed to pure,
free air, and a pleasant outlook, and feel the reverse far more than
is imagined by those who condemn them to live in underground cells.

Nelly felt her abode very dismal after the light, airy farmhouse. Even
from her old attic-window she had a pleasant view of the river, and
could always see the moon and stars at night; while from this the
utmost she could see from the windows was a little bit of street
pavement. But when she unpacked her bundle, and came upon her
"watchword card," as Lucy had called it, her courage rose as she
remembered that her heavenly Friend was as near her here as in the
free, fresh country, and that where He was He could make it home. She
could not have put this feeling into words, but it was there, in her
heart, where doubtless He Himself had put it.

It was some time before Mrs. Williams thought of inquiring whether she
had had any dinner. On her replying in the negative--she was beginning
to feel quite tired and faint--Mrs. Williams, with a half-reluctant
air, brought out of a locked cupboard some very dry-looking bread and
cold meat, which she set before Nelly.

She was very hungry, so that even this was very acceptable, and she
did justice to the meal. Before she had finished, a voice called from
an upper story, "Mother, tell the new girl to bring up some water."

Nelly was accordingly di