"The first is that my mistress will never love you."
It is my mistress you love; you told me so just now."
"And that discovery," remarked my
mistress, "implies, I presume, the discovery of the thief?"
Then he seemed to rally "What did the Maid say to the Mistress?" he muttered.
"The Maid said to the Mistress. No--the Mistress said to the Maid.
Her rest was troubled at night--at least so I heard from my mistress, who sat up alone with her.
They asked my mistress many questions, at the other end of the room, about what the lady's health had been in past times, and who had attended her, and whether she had ever suffered much and long together under distress of mind.
I will only remember that you have been an honest and faithful and competent servant while I have employed you; and I will say as much in your favor to any new mistress you like to send to me."
She was honestly attached to her mistress; and she spoke with a courage which Magdalen had not expected from her.
'Oh Jeremiah,' said Mistress Affery, 'I have been a-dreaming!'
'Don't you know it's her tea-time?' he demanded with a vicious grin, and giving one of the legs of Mistress Affery's chair a kick.
“Altered!” exclaimed the major-domo, eyeing the bottle, that was assuming the clear aspect of cut glass with astonishing rapidity; “it don’t matter much,
Mistress Remarkable, so long as I keep the keys of the lockers in my pocket.”