Poor Mrs. Spruce grew warmer and redder in the face than ever. What was the 'juste milieu'? Often and often afterwards did she puzzle over that remarkable phrase.
"I think," continued Maryllia, with a dimpling smile, "if you put one lump of sugar in the cup and two brimming tea-spoonfuls of cream, it will be exactly right!"
Gladly, and with relief, Mrs. Spruce obeyed these explicit instructions, and handed her new mistress the desired refreshment with assiduous and respectful care.
"You are a dear!" said Maryllia, lazily taking the cup from her hand; "Just the kindest and nicest of persons! And good-tempered? I am sure you are good-tempered, aren't you?"
"Pretty well so, Miss," responded Mrs. Spruce, now gaining courage to look at the fair smiling face opposite her own, more squarely and openly; "Leastways, I've been told I keeps my 'ead under any amount of kitchen jawin'. For, as you may believe me, in a kitchen where there's men as well as women, an' a servants' 'All leadin' straight through from the kitchen, jawin' there is and jawin' there must be, and such bein' the Lord's will, we must put up with it. But it wants a 'ead to keep things straight, and I generally arranges pretty well, though I'll not deny but I'm a bit flustered to-day,-- howsomever, it will soon be all right, and any think that's wrong, Miss, if you will be so good as to tell me--"
"I will!" said Maryllia, sweetly; and she leaned back in her chair, whimsically surveying the garrulous old dame with eyes which Mrs. Spruce then and there discovered to be 'the most beautiful blue eyes ever seen,'--"I will tell you all I do like, and all I don't like. I'm sure we shall get on well together. The tea is perfect,--and this room is exquisite. In fact, everything is delightful, and I'm so happy to be in my own home once more! I wish I had never left it!"
Her eyes darkened suddenly, and she sighed. Mrs. Spruce watched her in submissive silence, realising as she gazed that Miss Maryllia was 'a real beauty and no mistake.' Why and how she came to that conclusion, she could not very well have explained. Her ideas of feminine loveliness were somewhat hazy and restricted. She privately considered her own girl, Kitty, 'the handsomest lass in all the country-side' and she had been known to bitterly depreciate what she called 'the pink and white dolly-face' of Susie Prescott, the acknowledged young belle of the village. But there was an indefinable air of charm about her new lady which was quite foreign to all her experience,--a bewildering grace and ease of manner arising from high education and social cultivation, that confused her and robbed her of all her usual self-sufficiency; and for once in her life she checked her customary volubility and decided that it was perhaps best to say as little as possible till she saw exactly how things were going to turn out. Miss Maryllia was very kind,--but who could tell whether she was not also capricious? There was something slightly quizzical as well as sweet in her smile,-- something subtle--something almost mysterious. She had greeted her father's old servant as affectionately as a child,--but her enthusiasm might be only temporary. So Mrs. Spruce vaguely reflected as she stood with her hands folded on her apron, waiting for the next word. That next word came with a startling suddenness.