"That she did, ma'am. The place was in a mess, with half-done collars and cuffs on the chairs, and the rector's shirts piled on the table; some of the linen in the baskets, and more on the stool over there. Well, not a word did she say about that, though I knew she saw the untidy way the place was in well enough. Says she, 'The first thing, Hannah, is to get the ironing finished, and then you and I will have a talk. Suppose you send the children out, all but Annie and Matty, who can bring us the hot irons. I am a good ironer, and I'll help you all I can,' says she; and tucked up her sleeves and went to work as if she'd done nothing else all her life. So pleasant with the two girls too, with a word when they brought the irons, that they worked as willing as possible. And of course I wasn't idle; so, before I thought it could be done, the clothes were in the basket. Annie and Matty carried them off; and your dear mother sat down and talked to me." "'It's all method, Hannah,' she says. 'People sometimes ask me how I get through so much work, and am never in a hurry; now it is just method,' says she. And before she left me she wrote out that paper that you see on the wall there. See, ma'am. 'Monday, collect the wash, put the things in soak, and boil such articles as must be boiled. Tuesday—' You see, ma'am? it's all laid out. 'And make your girls help you when they come home from school; it will be much better for them than running about idle; be pleasant with them, and they will like it well.' Ah, she was a great help to me that day, the dear lady." "I think she had a willing hearer, Mrs. Hardy." "Yes, ma'am, because she had a pleasant, kindly, friendly way. It wasn't, 'My good woman, your house is little better than a pigsty,' or, 'Hannah Hardy, why don't you manage a little better about your work?'—not she. Ah, a real lady she was, and a real friend to me." "But people may often mean very kindly who have not my dear mother's pleasant ways. That kind of manner is a great gift, but some people have not got it, and that they cannot help. They must do the best they can." "The best they could do, Mrs. Eyre, meaning no offence, would be to stay at home. Folks are only human after all, if they are washerwomen; and they have their feelings." "Miss Posnett was very kind that time I had a bad whitlow," put in Martha. "Who's named Miss Posnett?" inquired her mother. "Mind your manners, Matty, and name no names."