Kezia had entered Mrs. Drake's service at a very early age, and was
determined upon remaining with the family until the end. She knew
nothing about herself, except that she was a respectable person and
belonged to the Church of England. She did not know her age, but
believed she had been born in Exeter since the building of the
cathedral; for she recalled, as her earliest experience, falling upon
her face beside the west front of that building on a cold winter's day,
and being picked up by no less a person than the Dean, who had made a
joke about the ungodly and slippery places, which was published in a
local paper, quoted in the Press of the country as a witticism of the
Duke of Wellington, and translated into most of the European languages
in consequence. At all events, Kezia had belonged to the Church of
England ever since. She was not sure of her Christian name, but felt
certain it was Biblical, and rather fancied, "'twur one of Job's young
ladies;" and she did not oppose Mrs. Drake's preference for Kezia. Nor
did she know her surname, but had an idea her father had been called Tom
by his wives, of whom he had two; and, as she could remember two Mrs.
Toms, it seemed probable that the first had been her mother. She had
always got along very nicely without a surname, which was not nearly so
necessary to a woman as to a man: she really did not want one, unless
the man who belonged to it had a voice and figure like her dear admiral.
She had looked with enthusiasm upon that massive form, and had listened
in admiration to that mighty voice, until she felt that an ordinary man
with a normal voice would quickly make her dull and peevish.
Bessie had not yet become a person of importance. She was quite young,
fairly good looking, and still growing, which was alarming since she was
already out of proportion with the doors of Windward House. Neither she
nor her master made a dignified entry into the parlour; for Bessie had
to stoop, while the Captain was forced to turn sideways. Mrs. Drake just
fitted when nobody flustered her. Bessie knew the whole history of
herself and family; and was proud of the fact that her father owned a
fishing smack, while both her brothers would have entered the Navy had
they not suffered from an incurable tendency to reject rations at the
first rolling of the ship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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