Reader, if you were ever detained in a strange house by the
non-arrival of your carriage, you will easily understand the excessive
annoyance of finding that you are keeping a family out of their beds
beyond their usual hour. And in this case, there was a double
grievance; the guests being all impatience to get off to a better
place. The children, all crying when wakened from their sleep, were
finally taken to bed by two servant maids, and Jane Watkinson, who
never came back again. None were left but Hester, the great French
scholar, who, being one of those young imps that seem to have the
faculty of living without sleep, sat bolt upright with her eyes wide
open, watching the uncomfortable visitors.
The Morlands felt as if they could bear it no longer, and Edward
proposed sending for another carriage to the nearest livery stable.
"We don't keep a man now," said Mrs. Watkinson, who sat nodding in the
rocking-chair, attempting now and then a snatch of conversation, and
saying "ma'am" still more frequently than usual. "Men servants are
dreadful trials, ma'am, and we gave them up three years ago.
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