But--" "But what ?" demanded Edith, with surprise, yet with kindness, for she observed the agitation of the speaker.
"Lady," said Telie, mustering resolution, and stepping to the bed-side, "if you will not be angry with me, I would, I would--" "You would ask a favour, perhaps," said Edith, encouraging her with a smile.
"Yes, that is it," replied the girl, dropping on her knees, not so much, however, as it appeared, from abasement of spirit, as to bring her lips nearer to Edith's ear, that she might speak in a lower voice.

"I know, from what they say, you are a great lady, and that you once had many people to wait upon you; and now you are in the wild woods, among strangers, and none about you but men." Edith replied with a sigh, and Telie, timorously grasping at the hand lying nearest her own, murmured eagerly, "If you would but take _me_ with you, I am used to the woods, and I would be your servant." "_You_!" exclaimed Edith, her surprise getting the better of her sadness.
"Your mother would surely never consent to your being a servant ?" "My mother ?" muttered Telie,--"I have no mother,--no relations." "What! Mr.Bruce is not then your father ?" "No,--I have no father.

Yes,--that is, I have a father; but he has,--he has turned Indian." These words were whispered rather than spoken, yet whispered with a tone of grief and shame that touched Edith's feelings.

Her pity was expressed in her countenance, and Telie, reading the gentle sympathy infused into every lovely feature, bent over the hand she had clasped, and touched it with her lips.
"I have told you the truth," she said, mournfully: "one like me should not be ashamed to be a servant.

And so, lady, if you will take me, I will go with you and serve you; and poor and ignorant as I am, I _can_ serve you,--yes, ma'am," she added, eagerly, "I can serve you more and better than you think,--indeed, indeed I can." "Alas, poor child," said Edith, "I am one who must learn to do without attendance and service.