"Why, Jack Everett--what in the world!" exclaimed an unfamiliar voice from the doorway.
All three participants in the late tragedy raised their eyes to the pretty and--to Jane's notion--somewhat too smartly dressed young woman, who was surveying the scene in an attitude of extreme surprise.
The man rose rather shamefacedly to his feet; the small boy, breaking away from Jane, dashed forward with a loud, ecstatic whoop to precipitate himself and his milky pinafore upon the lady; while Jane hastily turned down her cuffs, a deep flush of vexation mounting to her forehead.
"I 'pilled all 'e milk, muzzer!" shouted the infant. "Zen I bumped my head, an' I _cwied_ an' I _cwied_!"
"Mary has just 'shtipped out for a minut'," explained the young man mildly. "She announced her intention of doing so shortly after you left the house. Buster and I have been keeping house as well as we knew how; and then--this--er--young lady----"
"I am the maid from the Streeter agency," said Jane distinctly. She felt sure now that the man was not a gentleman; she also decided that she disliked him exceedingly.
"Oh!" murmured the lady, turning a keenly penetrating and speculative gaze upon Jane. "Well, I am glad you've come. What is your name?"
"My name is--Jane," replied that individual, drawing a deep breath. The "Aubrey-Blythe" refused to be uttered.
"And I am Mrs. Belknap," graciously returned the young woman, apparently paying no heed to the omission. "I do hope," she added plaintively, "that Mary's sister hasn't been taken suddenly ill again. Mary has so many relatives, and they are nearly always ill--or dead."
"Mary is perfectly devoted to her family," Mrs. Belknap went on, "and that is really why I am hiring another girl. Mr. Belknap says I _must_ have somebody to fall back upon when Mary is away. Can you cook?"
"Why, no, madam," said Jane stiffly. "I understood that I was to be a nursery governess, or parlor maid. Mrs. Streeter didn't seem to understand exactly."
"Why, of course, I shall want you to help me look after Buster," chimed in Mrs. Belknap, with a somewhat offended air, "and wait at table, and answer the bell, and do the sweeping and dusting, and the cooking and dish washing on Mondays and Tuesdays--regular second work, you know. Mary is really an excellent servant--when she's here. But now that she's out she may not come back for three or four days. If it wasn't so nearly impossible to get a good cook out here I should have changed long ago. But we're so near New York. I dare say, though, I shall get along very well now that I've got you."