“Not till after breakfast, my dear.  Let us have that in comfort I beg, for upon my soul we shall need it,” panted Mr. Stuart, sinking into a chair exhausted with the vigorous measures which had quenched the conflagration.

Christie checked her untimely mirth, explained the probable cause of the mischief, and penitently promised to be more careful for the future.

Mr. Stuart would have pardoned her on the spot, but Madame was inexorable, for she had so completely forgotten her dignity that she felt it would be impossible ever to recover it in the eyes of this disrespectful menial.  Therefore she dismissed her with a lecture that made both mistress and maid glad to part.

She did not appear at breakfast, and after that meal Mr. Stuart paid Christie her wages with a solemnity which proved that he had taken a curtain lecture to heart.  There was a twinkle in his eye, however, as he kindly added a recommendation, and after the door closed behind him Christie was sure that he exploded into a laugh at the recollection of his last night’s performance.

This lightened her sense of disgrace very much, so, leaving a part of her money to repair damages, she packed up her dilapidated wardrobe, and, making Hepsey promise to report progress from time to time, Christie went back to Mrs. Flint’s to compose her mind and be ready à la Micawber “for something to turn up.”

CHAPTER III.

Actress.

Feeling that she had all the world before her where to choose, and that her next step ought to take her up at least one round higher on the ladder she was climbing, Christie decided not to try going out to service again.  She knew very well that she would never live with Irish mates, and could not expect to find another Hepsey.  So she tried to get a place as companion to an invalid, but failed to secure the only situation of the sort that was offered her, because she mildly objected to waiting on a nervous cripple all day, and reading aloud half the night.  The old lady called har an “impertinent baggage,” and Christie retired in great disgust, resolving not to be a slave to anybody.

Things seldom turn out as we plan them, and after much waiting and hoping for other work Christie at last accepted about the only employment which had not entered her mind.

Among the boarders at Mrs. Flint’s were an old lady and her pretty daughter, both actresses at a respectable theatre.  Not stars by any means, but good second-rate players, doing their work creditably and earning an honest living.  The mother had been kind to Christie in offering advice, and sympathizing with her disappointments.  The daughter, a gay little lass, had taken Christie to the theatre several times, there to behold her in all the gauzy glories that surround the nymphs of spectacular romance.

To Christie this was a great delight, for, though she had pored over her father’s Shakespeare till she knew many scenes by heart, she had never seen a play till Lucy led her into what seemed an enchanted world.  Her interest and admiration pleased the little actress, and sundry lifts when she was hurried with her dresses made her grateful to Christie.