"Very well; now do you take off that apron and come to me immediately; before you do, however, tell Alfred I want him." Charlie quickly divested himself of the tow apron, and after having informed the gardener that Mrs.Bird desired his presence in the parlour, he ran up there himself.

Alfred came lumbering up stairs, after giving his boots an unusual scraping and cleansing preparatory to entering upon that part of the premises which to him was generally forbidden ground.
"By whose direction did you set the child at that dirty work ?" asked Mrs.
Bird, after he had entered the room.
"I hadn't anybody's direction to set him to work, but I thought you brought him here to do odd jobs.

You know, ma'am, I asked you some time ago to get a boy, and I thought this was the one." "And if he had been, you would have taken a great liberty in assigning him any duties without first consulting me.

But he is not a servant here, nor do I intend him to be such; and let me inform you, that instead of his cleaning your boots, it will be your duty henceforth to clean his.

Now," continued she, "you know his position here, let me see that you remember yours.