May the saints be praised, if it's not the happiest day
since I left Ireland," and bending over Bessie the impulsive Irish girl
kissed her again and again, talking, and laughing, and crying, until
Bessie said to her:
"There, Jennie, please; I am very tired, and your sudden coming has
taken my strength away."
She did look very white and faint, and Jennie saw it, and tried to be
calm, though she kept whispering to herself as she gathered up the
_debris_ on the floor, and with a most rueful expression took it down
stairs, saying to her mistress:
"An' faith it's a bad beginnin' I've made, mum, but sure an' I'll pay
you every farthing with me first wages, and now, if you plase, I'll do
up my fut, for it's blistered, that it is, with the bilin' tay."
The foot was cared for, and another tray of toast and tea prepared.
This, Miss Betsey took herself to Bessie, explaining that Jennie was the
cousin who had come to take her former housemaid's place.
"But I had no idea," she said, "that she was such a behemoth.
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