Sukie 



parents for forty years and then she gave 

 notice. 



Ours was a very different household 

 then to what it had been when I was a 

 Httle lad. Esther was long since dead ; 

 Fred was working in France ; William 

 and his wife were both dead, and his two 

 young boys had come to live with us. 

 Mischievous lads they were, and kept the 

 house in a racket from morn till bedtime; 

 they literally brimmed over with an energy 

 which seemed unable to expend itself out 

 of doors, even with all the beach and the 

 sea as a playground, and were ever on the 

 grin over some plotting of practical jokes. 

 Of all the household I think Sukie suffered 

 most at their hands, and albeit I punished 

 them as often as their tender-hearted elders 

 would allow, there was no end to their dare- 

 devilries and carelessness below stairs, till 

 even that faithful heart could bear it no 

 longer. Sukie, with all her goodness, had 

 a peppery temper, and then, too, she had 

 from the first resented their coming into 

 the house, feeling, very rightly, that the 

 responsibility of such wild young lives 

 was too great for the old people, and for 

 Mary already overburdened with work 

 and care. 



My father was up in London ; mother, 

 199 



