Which one should have audience first was a delicate question to decide.  The man, on being appealed to, said he would prefer to leave it to them.  They accordingly discussed the matter among themselves.  At the end of a quarter of an hour, the victor, having borrowed a packet of pins and a looking-glass from our charwoman, who had slept in the house, went upstairs, while the remaining fourteen sat down in the hall, and fanned themselves with their bonnets.

“A.  B.” was a good deal astonished when the first applicant presented herself.  She was a tall, genteel-looking, well-dressed girl.  Up to yesterday she had been head housemaid at Lady Stanton’s, and before that she had been under-cook for two years to the Duchess of York.

“And why did you leave Lady Stanton?” asked “A.  B.”

“To come here, mum,” replied the girl.

The lady was puzzled.

“And you’ll be satisfied with six pounds a year?” she asked.

“Certainly, mum, I think it ample.”

“And you don’t mind hard work?”

“I love it, mum.”

“And you’re an early riser?”

“Oh yes, mum, it upsets me stopping in bed after half-past five.”

“You know we do the washing at home?”

“Yes, mum.  I think it so much better to do it at home.  Those laundries ruin good clothes.  They’re so careless.”

“Are you a Unitarian?” continued the lady.

“Not yet, mum,” replied the girl, “but I should like to be one.”

The lady took her reference, and said she would write her.

“I do hope you will give me a trial, mum,” pleaded the girl, as she rose to go; “I would try so hard to give you satisfaction.”

The next applicant offered to come for three pounds—­thought six pounds too much.  She also expressed her willingness to sleep in the back kitchen:  a shakedown under the sink was all she wanted.  She likewise had yearnings towards Unitarianism.

The third girl did not require any wages at all—­could not understand what servants wanted with wages—­thought wages only encouraged a love of foolish finery—­thought a comfortable home in a Unitarian family ought to be sufficient wages for any girl.

This girl said there was one stipulation she should like to make, and that was that she should be allowed to pay for all breakages caused by her own carelessness or neglect.  She objected to holidays and evenings out on principle; she held that they distracted a girl from her work.

[Illustration:  “MET THE NEXT DOOR LADY ON THE DOOR-STEP.”]

The fourth candidate offered a premium of five pounds for the place; and then “A.B.” began to get frightened, and refused to see any more of the girls, convinced that they must be lunatics from some neighbouring asylum out for a walk.

Later in the day, meeting the next door lady on the door-step, she related her morning’s experiences.

“Oh, that’s nothing extraordinary,” said the next door lady; “none of us on this side of the street pay wages; and we get the pick of all the best servants in London.  Why, girls will come from the other end of the kingdom to get into one of these houses.  It’s the dream of their lives.  They save up for years, so as to be able to come here for nothing.”