From this, a veranda ran across the front of the
cottage, its rustic posts supporting rose-trees and ivy. On
the cottage side appeared an old garden, but the new wing was
surrounded by lawns and decorated with carpet bedding. A
gravel walk divided the old from the new, and intersected the
garden. At the back, Susan noted again the high brick wall
surrounding the half-completed mansion. Above this rose tall
trees, and the wall itself was overgrown with ivy. It
apparently was old and concealed an unfinished palace of the
sleeping beauty, so ragged and wild appeared the growth which
peeped over the guardian wall.
With a quickness of perception unusual in her class, Susan
took all this in, then rang the bell. There was no back door,
so far as she could see, and she thought it best to enter as
she had done in the morning. But the large fat woman who
opened the door gave her to understand that she had taken a
liberty.
"Of course this morning and before engaging, you were a lady,"
said the cook, hustling the girl into the hall, "but now being
the housemaid, Miss Loach won't be pleased at your touching
the front bell."
"I did not see any other entrance," protested Susan.
"Ah," said the cook, leading the way down a few steps into the
thatched cottage, which, it appeared was the servants' quarters,
"you looked down the area as is natural-like. But there ain't
none, it being a conservitery!"
"Why does Miss Loach live in the basement?" asked Susan, on
being shown into a comfortable room which answered the purpose
of a servants' hall.
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