''I saw them do this for your mother, when I was parlourmaid here,'' she says, pulling me about. ''She was a deal gratefuller than you are. Didn''t they teach you manners, in that house of yours?''
I long for my little wooden wand: I would show her all I''d learned of manners, then! But I have observed lunatics, too, and know how to struggle while only seeming to stand limp. At length she steps from me and wipes her hands.
''Lord, what a child! I hope your uncle knows his business, bringing you here. He seems to think he''ll make a lady of you.''∮思∮兔∮網∮
''I don''t want to be a lady!'' I say. ''My uncle cannot make me.''
''I should say he can do what he likes, in his own house,'' she answers. ''There now! How late you''ve made us.''
There has come the stifled ringing of a bell, three times. It is a clock; I understand it, however, as a signal to the house, for I have been raised to the sound of similar bells, that told the lunatics to rise, to dress, to say their prayers, to take their dinners. I think,
Now I shall see them!, but when we go from the room the house is still and quiet as before. Even the watchful servants have retired. Again my boots catch on the carpets. ''Walk softly!'' says the woman in a whisper, pinching my arm. ''Here''s your uncle