the door at the end of the
room opened, and a maid-servant came stepping down with a dish in her
hand. Susan could now see that the door led straight into a kitchen,
which she thought odd but rather interesting. Almost immediately Aunt
Hannah, the two girls she had seen the night before, and a little girl
of about her own age came in, and they all sat down to breakfast. In
spite of great shyness, Susan was able to take many furtive glances at
her companions, and was relieved to find that at any rate Aunt Hannah
was not a bit like what Freddie had said. She was a tall, straight old
lady with a high cap, black curls, and a velvet band across her
forehead. She did not look either witch-like or cross, and Susan felt
that she should not be afraid of her when she knew her better. She soon
found that the names of the two "grown-up" girls, as she called them in
her mind, were Nanna and Margaretta; Nanna was fair and freckled, and
Margaretta very swarthy, with a quantity of black curls. They chattered
and laughed incessantly, and tried to pet Susan and make her talk, but
did not succeed very well. She thought she did not like either of them
much, and wished they would leave her alone, for she was interested in
watching the movements of the little girl and wondering who she was.
She was a very thin little thing with high shoulders and skinny arms,
dressed in a dingy-green plaid frock. Everything about her looked
sharp--her chin was sharp, her elbows were sharp; the glances she cast
at Susan over her bread and milk were sharp, and when she spoke her
voice sounded sharp also. Her features were not ugly, but her
expression was unchildlike and old. No one seemed to notice her much,
but if Nanna or Margaretta said anything to her, it was not in the
coaxing tones they used to Susan, but had a reproving sound.

After breakfast came prayers, in which Buskin the maid-servant joined,
sitting a little apart at the end of the room with a severe look on her
face. Then Aunt Hannah sat down in the arm-chair near the fire. "And
now, my little Susan," she said, "come here and talk to me."

Susan stood submissively at her side, and answered all the questions put
to her about Mother and Freddie and herself; but she did not do much of
the talking, for she was shy, and everything seemed forlorn and strange
to her. What a comfort Maria's well-known face would have been! As it
was, the only familiar object was her doll Grace, which she