He looked round in wonder. The sound of her voice was so completely altered that he almost fancied there must have been another woman in the room. “Ring the bell!” she repeated. “I have left my work upstairs. If you want me to be in good spirits, I must have my work.” Still looking at her, Horace put his hand mechanically to the bell and rang. One of the men-servants came in. “Go upstairs and ask my maid for my work,” she said, sharply. Even the man was taken by surprise: it was her habit to speak to the servants with a gentleness and consideration which had long since won all their hearts. “Do you hear me?” she asked, impatiently. The servant bowed, and went out on his errand. She turned to Horace with flashing eyes and fevered cheeks. “What a comfort it is,” she said, “to belong to the upper classes! A poor woman has no maid to dress her, and no footman to send upstairs. Is life worth having, Horace, on less than five thousand a year?” The servant returned with a strip of embroidery. She took it with an insolent grace, and told him to bring her a footstool. The man obeyed. She tossed the embroidery away from her on the sofa. “On second thoughts, I don’t care about my work,” she said. “Take it upstairs again.” The perfectly trained servant, marveling privately, obeyed once more. Horace, in silent astonishment, advanced to the sofa to observe her more nearly. “How grave you look!” she exclaimed, with an air of flippant unconcern. “You don’t approve of my sitting idle, perhaps? Anything to please you! _I_ haven’t got to go up and downstairs. Ring the bell again.” “My dear Grace,” Horace remonstrated, gravely, “you are quite mistaken. I never even thought of your work.” “Never mind; it’s inconsistent to send for my work, and then send it away again. Ring the bell.” Horace looked at her without moving. “Grace,” he said, “what has come to you?” “How should I know?” she retorted, carelessly. “Didn’t you tell me to rally my spirits? Will you ring the bell, or must I?” Horace submitted. He frowned as he walked back to the bell. He was one of the many people who instinctively resent anything that is new to them. This strange outbreak was quite new to him. For the first time in his life he felt sympathy for a servant, when the much-enduring man appeared once more.