urtsey, and waving her hand
as she darted suddenly away, leaving Lucy in much doubt and perplexity.
Was she really called? Lucy heard nothing but a faint sound in the
distance, as of a low whistle. Was this a signal between the strange
pair who were not mother and daughter, nor mistress and servant, and yet
were so linked together. It seemed to Lucy, with all her honest English
prejudices, that to train so young a girl (and a girl so fond of
children, and, therefore, a good girl at bottom, whatever her little
faults might be) to such a wandering life, and to put her up as it were
to auction for whoever would bid highest, was too terrible to be thought
of. Better a thousand times to be a governess, or a sempstress, or any
honest occupation by which she could earn her own bread. But then to
Bice any such expedient was out of the question. Her incredulous look of
wonder and mirth came back to Lucy with a sensation of dumb
astonishment. She had no right feelings, no sense of the advantages of
independence, no horror of being sold in marriage. Lady Randolph did not
know what to think of a creature so utterly beyond all rules known to
her. She was in such a condition of mind, unsettled, unhinged, feeling
all her old landmarks breaking up, that a new interest was of great
importance to her. It withdrew her thoughts from the Contessa, and the
irksomeness of her sway, when she thought of Bice and what could be
done for her. The strange thing was that the girl wanted nothing done
for her. She was happy enough so far as could be seen. In her close
confinement and subjection she was so fearless and free that she might
have been thought the mistress of the situation. It was incomprehensible
altogether. To state the circumstances from one side was to represent a
victim of oppression. A poor girl stealing into a strange house and room
in the shadow of her patroness; unnamed, unnoticed, made no more account
of than the chair upon which she sat, held in a bondage which was almost
slavery, and intended to be disposed of when the moment came without a
reference to her own will and affections. Lucy felt her blood boil when
she thought of all this, and determined that she would leave no
expedient untried to free this white slave, this unfortunate thrall. But
the other side was one which could not pass without consideration. The
girl was careless and fearless and free, without an appearance of
bondage about her. She scoffed at the thought of e