CHAPTER XVII
THE HIRED GIRL
Mr. Conant had just put on a comfortable smoking-jacket and slippersand seated himself in the den, pipe in mouth, when the old-fashionedknocker on the front door of the Lodge began to bang. It banged threetimes, so Mr. Conant rose and made for the door.
Mrs. Conant and Mary Louise were in the kitchen and Irene was in herown room. The lawyer reflected, with a deprecating glance at hisunconventional costume, that their evening caller could be none otherthan their neighbor, the beautiful Miss Lord, so as he opened the doorhe regretted that his appearance was not more presentable.
But it was not Miss Lord who stood upon the porch awaiting admittance.It was a strange girl, who asked in a meek voice:
"Is this Hillcrest Lodge?"
"It is," replied the lawyer.
The girl came in without an invitation, bringing a carpet-bag in onehand and a bundle tied in a newspaper tucked under the other arm. Asshe stood in the lighted room she looked around inquiringly and said:
"I am Sarah Judd. Where is Mrs. Morrison, please?"
Mr. Conant stood and stared at her, his hands clasped behind his backin characteristic attitude. He could not remember ever having heard ofSarah Judd.
"Mrs. Morrison," he said in his choppy voice, "is in Europe."
The girl stared at him in return, as if stupified. Then she sat down inthe nearest chair and continued to stare. Finding her determined onsilence, Mr. Conant spoke again.
"The Morrisons are spending the summer abroad. I and my family areoccupying the Lodge in their absence. I--eh--eh--I am Mr. Conant, ofDorfield."
The girl sighed drearily. She was quite small, about seventeen years ofage and dressed in a faded gingham over which she wore a black clothcoat that was rusty and frayed. A black straw hat, fearfully decoratedwith red velvet and mussed artificial flowers, was tipped over herforehead. Her features were not bad, but her nose was blotched, herface strongly freckled and her red hair very untidy. Only the mild blueeyes redeemed the unattractive face--eyes very like those of MaryLouise in expression, mused Mr. Conant, as he critically eyed the girl.
"I have come here to work," she said after a long pause, during whichshe seemed trying to collect her thoughts. "I am Sarah Judd. Mrs.Morrison said I must come here on Saturday, the tenth day of July, togo to work. This is the tenth day of July."
"H-m--h-m; I see. When did Mrs. Morrison tell you that?"
"It was last September."
"Oh; so she hired you a year in advance and didn't tell you, afterward,that she was going abroad?"
"I didn't see her since, sir."
Mr. Conant was perplexed. He went into the kitchen and told Aunt Hannahabout it and the good woman came at once to interview Sarah Judd,followed by Mary Louise, who had just finished wiping the dishes.
"This seems very unfortunate for you," began Mrs. Conant, regarding thestrange girl with mild interest. "I suppose, when Mrs. Morrison engagedyou, she expected to pass the summer at the Lodge, and afterward sheforgot to notify you."
Sarah Judd considered this soberly; then nodded her head.
"I've walked all the way from Millbank," she said with another sigh.
"Then you've had nothing to eat!" exclaimed Mary Louise, with readysympathy. "May I get her something, Aunt Hannah?"
"Of course, my dear."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Conant felt rather embarrassed.
"I regret," said the latter, "that we do not need a maid at present. Wedo our own housework, you see."
"I have left a good place in Albany to come here," said Sarah,plaintively.
"You should have written to Mrs. Morrison," declared the lawyer,"asking if she still required your services. Many unforeseen things mayhappen during a period of ten months."
"Mrs. Morrison, she have paid me a month in advance," asserted thegirl, in justification. "And she paid me my expenses to come here, too.She said I must not fail her; I should come to the Lodge on the tenthof July and do the work at the Lodge. She did not say she would behere. She did not say you would be here. She told me to come and work,and she paid me a month in advance, so I could give the money to mysister, who needed it then. And I must do as Mrs. Morrison says. I ampaid to work at the Lodge and so I must work at the Lodge. I cannothelp that, can I?"
The lawyer was a man of experience, but this queer complicationastonished him. He exchanged a questioning glance with his wife.
"In any event," said Mrs. Conant, "the girl must stay here to-night,for it would be cruel to ask her to find her way down the mountain inthe dark. We will put her in the maid's room, Peter, and to-morrow wecan decide what to do with her."
"Very well," agreed Mr. Conant and retreated to the den to have hissmoke.
Mary Louise arranged some food on the kitchen table for Sarah Judd andafter the girl had eaten, Mrs. Conant took her to the maid's room,which was a very pleasant and well furnished apartment quite in keepingwith all the comfortable appointments at Hillcrest Lodge, although itwas built behind the kitchen and formed a little wing of its own.
Sarah Judd accepted these favors with meek resignation. Since her onelong speech of explanation she had maintained silence. Leaving her inher room, the family congregated in the den, where Mr. Conant wastelling Irene about the queer arrival and the unfortunatemisunderstanding that had occasioned it.
"The girl is not to blame," said Mary Louise. "She seems an honestlittle thing, resolved to do her duty. It is all Mrs. Morrison's fault."
"Doesn't look like a very competent servant, either," observed Mr.Conant, comfortably puffing his pipe.
"You can't tell that from appearances, Peter," replied Mrs. Conant."She can at least wash dishes and sweep and do the drudgery. Why notkeep her?"
"Oh, my dear!"
"Mrs. Morrison has paid her a month's wages, and Molly Morrisonwouldn't have done that had not the girl been competent. It won't costus anything to keep her--except her food--and it seems a shame to casther adrift just because the Morrisons forgot to notify her they hadchanged their plans."
"Also," added Mary Louise, "Sarah Judd will be useful to us. This isAunt Hannah's vacation, as well as a vacation for the rest of us, and arest from cooking and housework would do her a heap of good."
"Looking at it from that viewpoint," said Peter, after puffing his pipereflectively, "I approve of our keeping Sarah Judd. I believe it willplease the Morrisons better than for us to send her away, and--itsurely won't hurt Hannah to be a lady of leisure for a month or so."