The days went on, and the hour of her deliverance drew nigh. But, long
before it came, two other processes had been slowly arriving at
maturity. She had been gaining the confidence of her mistress, so that,
ere three months were over, the arrangement of all minor matters of
housekeeping was entirely in her hands. It may be that Mrs. Macintosh
was not a little lazy, nor sorry to leave aside whatever did not
positively demand her personal attention; one thing I am sure of, that
Annie never made the smallest attempt to gain this favor, if such it
was. Her mistress would, for instance, keep losing the keys of the
cellaret, until in despair she at last yielded them entirely to the care
of Annie, who thereafter carried them in her pocket, where they were
always at hand when wanted.
The other result was equally natural, but of greater importance; Hector,
the only child of the house, was gradually and, for a long time,
unconsciously falling in love with Annie. Those friends of the family
who liked Annie, and felt the charm of her manners and simplicity, said
only that his mother had herself to blame, for what else could she
expect? Others of them, regarding her from the same point of view as her
mistress, repudiated the notion as absurd, saying Hector was not the man
to degrade himself! He was incapable of such a misalliance.
But, as I have said already, Hector, although he had never yet been in
love, was yet more than usually ready to fall in love, as belongs to the
poetic temperament, when the fit person should appear.
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