She could not tell that fine lady in the white muslin dress, with seas of lace and embroidery, that Martha had called her _second classy_, and _stingy_ and _strooping_, and _mean_, because she objected to the amount of coal burned, and bread thrown away, and time consumed at the table, besides turning down the gas in the kitchen when she thought it too light, to say nothing of turning it off at the meter at ten o'clock, just when the servants were beginning to enjoy themselves.

All this she felt would scarcely interest a person like Mrs.Atherton, who might sympathize with Martha more than with herself, so she finally said: 'Martha was saucy to me, and on the whole it was better for them all to go; and so I am doing my own work.' 'Doing your own work!' and Grace gave a little cry of surprise, while her shoulders shrugged meaningly, and made Mrs.Tracy almost as angry as she had been with Martha when she called her mean and second-class.

'It cannot be possible that you cook, and wash, and iron, and do everything,' Mrs.Atherton continued.

'My dear Mrs.Tracy, you can never stand it in a house like this, and Mr.Arthur would not like it if he knew.

Why he kept as many as six servants, and sometimes more.