The house-servants and the labourers in Mr. Hogarth’s immediate employment were very sad at parting with the young ladies, who had always been so kind and so considerate.  If the neighbours had thought the girls proud, none of the servants did.  If Francis had not tried hard to please them all, and to make them feel that he regarded them for the sake of those who had been before him, it would not have been likely that he would have gained their good opinion; but he succeeded in doing so.

Peggy Walker thought she had got into a very snug and comfortable
dwelling in a flat in ----- Street, and when she gave what she
considered the most cheerful-looking apartment to the young ladies as
their sleeping-room, she certainly did all she could for their
accommodation.  The old man, Thomas Lowrie, was particularly
pleased with the look-out to the street.  He could sit in his own chair
and see all the bustle of life going on below, and made little
complaint of the noise at first.  The five children thought there was
nothing so charming as running up and down the common stair, and were
quite proud of their elevated position in the world; but the Misses
Melville could not but feel an immense difference between their own
ideas of comfort and those of the humble family with whom they lived. 
The floors were clean, and the stairs, too, after a fashion; but the
coarse dark-coloured boards could not be made to look white.  The walls
which Peggy’s own hands had sized of a dark-brown colour looked rough,
and cracked, and gloomy.  They were aware that their scanty means did
not allow them to indulge in any separate meals or attendance, and Jane
and Elsie began as they meant to go on, and shared the homely meals in
the homely home.  They had never thought that they had any luxurious
tastes; but the very plain fare and the inelegant service
seemed to take away even the natural healthy appetite of youth.  The
noise of the children, and the querulous voice of their grandfather,
with Peggy’s sharp, decisive remarks, were all different from the
respectful silence with which they had been attended at Cross Hall. 
Peggy was anxious to make the girls as happy as she could, and feared
that they must feel this a downcome; but her hands were full of work,
and her head of cares.  She had made her venture in the world, too, and,
with so many dependent on her, it was a considerable risk.  They could
not help admiring the wonderful patience which she had with the old
man, who was not her own father, but merely the father-in-law of her
dead sister.  She allowed him a weekly modicum of snuff, and was
particular that Tom, or one of the others, should read the Bible or the
news to him in a clear, distinct voice, that the old man might be able
to hear all of it.  In all little things she gave way to him, but in all
great and grave matters she judged and acted for herself, whatever
grumbling might follow.  Over the children she kept a very
careful watch; and even when she was absent on necessary business, her
influence was felt in the household.

After the first day was over, and the girls had gone to their own room for the evening, Elsie broke out with——­