And though I had rather be a saint, yet I
think I do good in my way."

"No doubt you do, dear Miss Galindo,"
said Lady Ludlow. " But I am sorry to hear
that there is so much that is bad going on in
the village,—very sorry."

"O, your ladyship! then I am sorry I
brought it out. It was only by way of
saying, that when I have no particular work
to do at home, I take a turn abroad, and set
my neighbours to rights, just by way of
steering clear of Satan.

          "For Satan finds some mischief still
           For idle hands to do,
you know, my lady."

There was no leading into the subject by
delicate degrees, for Miss Galindo was
evidently so fond of talking, that, if asked a
question, she made her answer so long, that
before she came to an end of it, she had
wandered far away from the original starting
point. So Lady Ludlow plunged at once into
what she had to say.

"Miss Galindo, I have a great favour to
ask of you."

"My lady, I wish I could tell you what a
pleasure it is to hear you say so," replied
Miss Galindo, almost with tears in her eyes;
so glad were we all to do anything for her
ladyship, which could be called a free service
and not merely a duty.

"It is this. Mr. Horner tells me that the
business-letters, relating to the estate, are
multiplying so much that he finds it impossible
to copy them all himself, and I therefore
require the services of some confidential
and discreet person to copy these letters,
and occasionally to go through certain
accounts. Now, there is a very pleasant little
sitting-room very near to Mr. Horner's office
(you know Mr. Horner's office? on the other
side of the stone hall?) and if I could prevail
upon you to come here to breakfast and
afterwards sit there for three hours every
morning, Mr. Horner should bring or send you the
papers——"

Lady Ludlow stopped. Miss Galindo's
countenance had fallen. There was some
great obstacle in her mind to her wish for
obliging Lady Ludlow.

"What would Sally do?" she asked at
length. Lady Ludlow had not a notion who
Sally was. Nor if she had had a notion,
would she have had any conception of the
perplexities that poured into Miss Galindo's
mind, at the idea of leaving her rough
forgetful dwarf without the perpetual monitorship
of her mistress. Lady Ludlow, accustomed
to a household where everything went
on noiselessly, perfectly and by clock-work,
conducted by a number of highly-paid
well-chosen and accomplished servants, had not a
conception of the nature of the rough material
from which her servants came. Besides, in
her establishment, so that the result was
good, no one inquired if the small
economies had been observed in the production.
Whereas every penny—every half-penny—
was of consequence to Miss Galindo;
and visions of squandered drops of milk and
wasted crusts of bread filled her mind with
dismay. But she swallowed all her
apprehensions down out of her regard for Lady
Ludlow, and desire to be of service to her.
No one knows how great a trial it was to her
when she thought of Sally, unchecked and
unscolded for three hours every morning. But
all she said was,—

"Sally go to the Deuce. I beg your pardon,
my lady, if I was talking to myself; it's a
habit I have got into of keeping my tongue
in practice, and I am not quite aware when I
do it. Three hours every morning! I shall
be only too proud to do what I can for your
ladyship; and I hope Mr. Horner will not be
too impatient with me at first. You know,
perhaps, that I was nearly being an authoress,
once, and that seems as if I was destined to
'employ my time in writing.'"

"No, indeed; we must return to the subject
of the clerkship, afterwards, if you please.
An authoress, Miss Galindo! You surprise
me!"

"But, indeed, I was. All was quite ready.
Doctor Burney used to teach me music; not
that I ever could learn, but it was a fancy of
my poor father's. And his daughter wrote a
book, and they said she was but a very young
lady, and nothing but a music-master's
daughter; so why should not I try?"

"Well?"

"Well! I got paper and half a hundred
good pens, a bottle of ink, all ready——"

"And then——"

"O, it ended in my having nothing to say,
when I sate down to write. But sometimes,
when I get hold of a book, I wonder why I
let such a poor reason stop me. It does not
others."

"But I think it was very well it did, Miss
Galindo," said her ladyship. "I am
extremely against women's usurping men's
employments, as they are very apt to do.
But perhaps, after all, the notion of writing
a book improved your hand. It is one of the
most legible I ever saw."

"I despise z's without tails," said Miss
Galindo, with a good deal of gratified pride
at my lady's praise.

Presently, my lady took her to look at a
curious old cabinet, which Lord Ludlow had
picked up at the Hague; and while they
were out of the room on this errand, I
suppose the question of remuneration was
settled, for I heard no more of it.

When they came back, they were talking
of Mr. Gray. Miss Galindo was unsparing
in her expressions of opinion about him:
going much farther than my lady in her
language, at least.

"A little blushing man like him, who can't
say bo to a goose without hesitating and
colouring, to come to this village—which is