"Oh, Miss! But I'm reely—reely not the kind of girl that——" "So you'll have to set to and make yourself into the kind of girl that the kind of 'gentleman' you'd like would be wild to marry. You'll have to——Well, to begin with," I said impressively, "you'll have to get a very good maid." "Do you mean a girl to do the work about the house, Miss?" "No, I don't. You'll have a whole staff of people to do that for you," I explained patiently. "I mean a personal maid, a lady's-maid. A person to do your hair and to marcel-wave, and to manicure, and to massage you! A person to take care of your beautiful clo——" "Haven't got any beautiful clothes, Miss." "You will have. Your maid will take care of that," I assured her. "She'll go with you to all the best shops and tell you what to buy. She'll see that you choose [Pg 51] the right colours," I said, with a baleful glance at the crimson floppy hat disfiguring Million's little dark head. "She'll tell you how your things are to be made. She'll take care that you look like any other young lady with a good deal of money to spend, and some taste to spend it with. You don't want to look odd, Million, do you, or to make ridiculous mistakes when you go about to places where you'd meet——" [Pg 51] "Oh, Miss," said Million, blenching, "you know that if there is one thing I can't stick it's havin' to think people may be making game of me!" "Well, the good maid would save you from that." "I'd be afraid of her, then," protested Million. I said: "No, you wouldn't. You've never been afraid of me." "Ah," said Million, "but that's different. You aren't a lady's-maid——" I said firmly a thing that made Million's jaw drop and her eyes nearly pop out of her head. I said: "I want to be a lady's-maid. I want to come to you as your maid—Miss Million's maid." "Miss Bee—atrice! You're laughing." "I'm perfectly serious," I said. "Here I am; I've left home, and I want to earn my own living. This is the only way I can do it. I can pack. I can mend. I
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