St. Crux is the housekeeper. But there is a
master—Admiral Bartram. He appears to be a
strange old man, whose whims and fancies amuse
his servants as well as his friends. One of his
fancies (the only one we need trouble ourselves
to notice) is, that he had men enough about him,
when he was living at sea, and that now he is
living on shore, he will be waited on by
women-servants alone. The one man in the house, is an
old sailor, who has been all his life with his
master—he is a kind of pensioner at St. Crux,
and has little or nothing to do with the housework.
The other servants, in-doors, are all
women; and, instead of a footman to wait on
him at dinner, the admiral has a parlour-maid.
The parlour-maid now at St. Crux is engaged to
be married; and, as soon as her master can suit
himself, she is going away. These discoveries I
made some days since. But when I saw Mrs.
Attwood to-night, she had received another letter
from her daughter, in the interval; and that
letter has helped me to find out something more.
The housekeeper is at her wits' end to find a
new servant. Her master insists on youth and
good looks—he leaves everything else to his
housekeeper—but he will have that. All the
inquiries made in the neighbourhood, have failed
to produce the sort of parlour-maid whom the
admiral wants. If nothing can be done in the
next fortnight or three weeks, the housekeeper
will advertise in the Times; and will come to
London herself to see the applicants, and to
make strict personal inquiry into their cha-
racters."

Louisa looked at her mistress, more
attentively than ever. The expression of perplexity
left her face, and a shade of disappointment
appeared there in its stead.

"Bear in mind what I have said," pursued
Magdalen; "and wait a minute more, while I
ask you some questions. Don't think you
understand me yet—I can assure you, you don't
understand me. Have you always lived in service,
as lady's-maid?"

"No, ma'am."

"Have you ever lived as parlour-maid?"

"Only in one place, ma'am—and not for long
there."

"I suppose you lived long enough to learn
your duties?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"What were your duties, besides waiting at
table?"

"I had to show visitors in."

"Yes—and what else?"

"I had the plate, and the glass to look after
—and the table-linen was all under my care. I
had to answer all the bells, except in the
bedrooms. There were other little odds and ends
sometimes to do——"

"But your regular duties were the duties you
have just mentioned?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"How long ago is it, since you lived in service
as parlour-maid?"

"A little better than two years, ma'am."

"I suppose you have not forgotten how to
wait at table, and clean plate, and the rest of it,
in that time?"

At this question, Louisa's attention, which
had been wandering more and more during the
progress of Magdalen's inquiries, wandered
away altogether. Her gathering anxieties got
the better of her discretion and even of her
timidity. Instead of answering her mistress, she
suddenly and confusedly ventured on a question
of her own.

"I beg your pardon, ma'am," she said. "Did
you mean me to offer for the parlour-maid's place
at St. Crux?"

"You?" replied Magdalen. "Certainly not!
Have you forgotten what I said to you in this
room, before I went out? I mean you to be
married, and to go to Australia with your husband
and your child. You have not waited as I told
you, to hear me explain myself. You have drawn
your own conclusions; and you have drawn them
wrong. I asked a question just now, which you
have not answered—I asked if you had forgotten
your parlour-maid's duties?"

"Oh no, ma'am!" Louisa had replied rather
unwillingly, thus far. She answered readily and
confidently, now.

"Could you teach the duties to another
servant?" asked Magdalen.

"Yes, ma'am—easily, if she was quick and
attentive."

"Could you teach the duties to Me?"

"Louisa started and changed colour. "You,
ma'am!" she exclaimed, half in incredulity, half
in alarm.

"Yes," said Magdalen. "Could you qualify
me to take the parlour-maid's place at St
Crux?"

Plain as those words were, the bewilderment
which they produced in Louisa's mind, seemed to
render her incapable of comprehending her
mistress's proposal. "You, ma'am!" she repeated,
vacantly.

"I shall perhaps help you to understand this
extraordinary project of mine," said Magdalen
"if I tell you plainly what the object of it is.
Do you remember what I said to you about Mr.
Vanstone's will, when you came here from
Scotland to join me?"

"Yes, ma'am. You told me you had been left
out of the will altogether. I'm sure my
fellow-servant would never have been one of the
witnesses, if she had known——"

"Never mind that, now. I don't blame your
fellow-servant—I blame nobody but Mrs.
Lecount. Let me go on with what I was saying.
It is not at all certain that Mrs. Lecount can do
me the mischief which Mrs. Lecount intended.
There is a chance that my lawyer, Mr. Loscombe
may be able to gain me what is fairly my due,
in spite of the will. The chance turns on my
discovering a letter, which Mr. Loscombe believes
and which I believe, to be kept privately in
Admiral Bartram's possession. I have not the