gency, and they were very nice, and told me to write to the Principal,
and I did--told her all about myself, my experience tutoring, and all
that, and this morning came the letter saying she'd engage me. I can
tell you all about Schoharie, Martha. It's 'up-state' and--"

"Miss Claire, child, no! It won't do. I can't consent. I can't have you
throwin' away golden opportoonities to work like a toojan for them as'll
stint you in the wash, an' prob'ly give you oleo-margerine instead of
butter, an' cold-storage eggs that had forgot there was such a thing as
a hen, long before they ever was laid away. I wasn't born yesterday,
myself, an' I know how they treat the teachers in some o' them schools.
The young-lady scholars, so stylish an' rich, as full of airs as a
music-box, snubbin' the teacher because they're too ignorant to know how
smart _she_ has to be, to get any knowledge into their stupid heads,
an' the Principal always eyein' you like a minx, 'less you might be
wastin' her precious time an' not earnin' the elegant sal'ry she gives
you, includin' your home an' laundry. O my! I know a thing or two about
them schools, an' a few other places. No, Miss Claire, dear, it won't
do. An' besides, I have you bespoke for Mrs. Sherman. The last thing
before I come away from the house this night, she sent for me upstairs,
an' ast me didn't I know some one could engage with her for
Radcliffe--to learn him his lessons, an' how to be a little lady, an'
suchlike. She wants, as you might say, a trained mother for'm, while his
own untrained one is out gallivantin' the streets, shoppin', an' playin'
bridge, an' attendin' the horse-show.

"I hemmed an' hawed an' scratched my head to see if, happen, I did know
anybody suitable, an' after a while (not to seem to make you too cheap,
or not to look like I was jumpin' down her throat) I told her: 'Curious
enough, I do know just the one I think will please you--_if_ you can get
her.'

"Then she ast me a lot about you, an' I told her what I know, an' for
the rest I trusted to Providence, an' in the end we made a sorter
deal--so's it's all fixed you're to go there day after to-morrer, to
talk to her, an' let her look you over. An' if you're the kind o' stuff
she wants, she'll take a half-a-dozen yards o' you, which is the kind o'
way those folks has with people they pay money to. I promised Mrs.
Sherman you'd come, an' I couldn't break my word to her, now could I?
I'd be like to lose my own job i