"But, my dear, I don't see your trunks. Will you ring the bell for them? The general must not be kept waiting for his dinner, and he can not endure those who sit down at his table, either to be too late, or not to be in an evening dress. Military men, you know, are so used to this sort of precision, that they expect it from all around them. You will remember another day, my dear, and--" then the under housemaid opened the door. "Tell them to bring up Miss Arnold's trunks directly." _Them._ She did not at that moment exactly know which was the proper servant whose office it ought to be to carry Miss Arnold's trunks. Miss Arnold was an anomaly. There was no precedent. Not a servant in this family would stir without a precedent. The trunk was probably too heavy for the under-housemaid to carry up--that under-housemaid, one of the fags of an establishment like this, kept merely to do what the upper-servants are too fine to do. In households like the one before us, you must have two in every department--there is a chance, then, if you want any thing done, you may get it done. The under-servant is always, as I said, a sort of fag or slave in the eyes of the upper ones. They will _allow_ her to make herself useful, though it should not be exactly _her place_. Mrs. Melwyn had provided for the attendance upon Miss Arnold by having recourse to this said under-housemaid, and adding a couple of sovereigns to her wages unknown to Randall, but she had forgotten the carrying up of her trunk. Had it been Catherine, this would have been done as a matter of course by the two footmen, and she had a sort of faint hope they would do it of course now. But, she did not like to ask such a thing, so she said "_them_;" hoping somebody would answer to it some way or other, but-- "Who?" asked Bridget bringing the matter to a point. "Why, I am sure I don't exactly know. Who is there below? I suppose you could not carry them up yourself, Bridget?" "I am afraid not, ma'am; there's only one trunk, and it looks heavy." "Oh!" cried Lettice, "I can come and help you. We can carry it up together, for Myra and I carried it down together." And she was quitting the room. But Mrs. Melwyn laid her hand upon her shoulder. "No, my dear, upon no account; Bridget, fetch up the gardener's boy, he'll help you to carry the trunk up." Mrs. Melwyn looked excessively annoyed and distressed: Lettice could not imagine what could be the matter.