Familiar, however, as her master was with the mean-looking things in
which lay almost all his dealings, he did not at first recognize the
object she offered him; while what connection with his wife's
parlor-maid it could represent was naturally inconceivable to him. He
stood for a moment staring at the note, and then dropped a pair of dull,
questioning eyes on the face of the kneeling girl. He was not a man of
quick apprehension, and the situation was appallingly void of helpful
suggestion. To make things yet more perplexing, Annie sobbed as if her
heart would break, and was unable to utter a word. "What must a stranger
imagine," the poor man thought, "to come upon such a tableau?" Her
irrepressible emotion lasted so long that he lost his patience and
turned upon her, saying:
"I must call your mistress; she will know what to do with you!"
Instantly she sprang to her feet, and broke into passionate entreaty.
"Oh, please, _please_, sir, have a minute's patience with me," she
cried; "you never saw me behave so badly before!"
"Certainly not, Annie; I never did. And I hope you will never do so
again," answered her master, with reviving good-nature, and was back in
his first notion, that Hector had said something to her which she
thought rude and did not like to repeat. He had never had a daughter,
and perhaps all the more felt pitiful over the troubled woman-child at
his feet.
But, having once spoken out and conquered the spell upon her, Annie was
able to go on.
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