Ch. 10 - Beginning Again - Page 2

if
I am not mistaken this sweet little lady is the best and dearest of
all. I do hope she will like me."

"It is quite right, my dear, and I am most glad to see thee; for we
need help at this season of the year, and have had none for several
weeks. Step up to the room at the head of the stairs, and lay off
thy things. Then, if thee is not tired, I will give thee a little
job with me in the kitchen," said the old lady with a kindly
directness which left no room for awkwardness on the new-comer's
part.

Up went Christie, and after a hasty look round a room as plain and
white and still as a nun's cell, she whisked on a working-apron and
ran down again, feeling, as she fancied the children did in the
fairy tale, when they first arrived at the house of the little old
woman who lived in the wood.

Mrs. Wilkins's kitchen was as neat as a room could be, wherein six
children came and went, but this kitchen was tidy with the
immaculate order of which Shakers and Quakers alone seem to possess
the secret,--a fragrant, shining cleanliness, that made even black
kettles ornamental and dish-pans objects of interest. Nothing burned
or boiled over, though the stove was full of dinner-pots and
skillets. There was no litter or hurry, though the baking of cake
and pies was going on, and when Mrs. Sterling put a pan of apples,
and a knife into her new assistant's hands, saying in a tone that
made the request a favor, "Will thee kindly pare these for me?"
Christie wondered what would happen if she dropped a seed upon the
floor, or did not cut the apples into four exact quarters.

"I never shall suit this dear prim soul," she thought, as her eye
went from Puss, sedately perched on one small mat, to the dog dozing
upon another, and neither offering to stir from their own dominions.

This dainty nicety amused her at first, but she liked it, and very
soon her thoughts went back to the old times when she worked with
Aunt Betsey, and learned the good old-fashioned arts which now were
to prove her fitness for this pleasant place.

Mrs. Sterling saw the shadow that crept into Christie's face, and
led the chat to cheerful things, not saying much herself, but
beguiling the other to talk, and listening with an interest that
made it easy to go on.

Mr. Power and the Wilkinses made them friends very soon; and in an
hour or two Christie was moving about the kitchen as if she had
already taken possession of her new kingdom.

"Thee likes housework I think," said Mrs. Sterling, as she watched
her hang up a towel to dry, and rinse her dish-cloth when the
cleaning up was done.

"Oh, yes! if I need not do it with a shiftless Irish girl to