"  Oh,  come,  come,"  said  St.  Clare,  getting  up  quickly  ;  "  what
do  you  know  about  us  ?  "  And  he  sat  down  to  the  piano,  and
rattled  a  lively  piece  of  music.  St.  Clare  had  a  decided  genius
for  music.  His  touch  was  brilliant  and  firm,  and  his  flngerj
flew  over  the  keys  with  a  rapid  and  bird-like  motion,  airy,  and
yet  decided.    He  played  piece  after  piece,  like  a  man  who  i|


LIFE  AMONG  THE  LOWLT.  Idl

bying  to  plaj  himself  into  a  good  humor.  After  pushing  the
music  aside,  he  rose  up,  and  said,  gayly,  "  Well,  now,  cousin,
you  've  given  us  a  good  talk,  and  done  your  duiy ;  on  the  whole,
I  think  the  better  of  you  for  it.  I  make  no  manner  of  doubt
that  you  threw  a  very  diamond  of  truth  at  me,  though  you  see
it  hit  me  so  directly  in  the  face  that  it  was  n't  exactly  appre-
ciated, at  first."

"  For  my  part,  I  don't  see  any  use  in  such  sort  of  talk,"  said
Marie.  "  I  'm  sure,  if  anybody  does  more  for  servants  than
we  do,  I  'd  like  to  know  who  ;  and  it  don't  do  'em  a  bit  good,
—  not  a  particle,  —  they  get  worse  and  worse.  As  to  talking
to  them,  or  anything  like  that,  I  'm  sure  I  have  talked  till  I  was
tired  and  hoarse,  telling  them  their  duty,  and  all  that ;  and  I  'm
sure  they  can  go  to  church  when  they  like,  though  they  don't
understand  a  word  of  the  sermon,  more  than  so  many  pigs,  —
so  it  is  n't  of  any  great  use  for  them  to  go,  as  I  see  ;  but  they
do  go,  and  so  they  have  every  chance  ;  but,  as  I  said  before,
they  are  a  degraded  race,  and  always  will  be,  and  there  is  n't
any  help  for  them  ;  you  can't  make  anything  of  them,  if  you
try.  You  see,  Cousin  Ophelia,  I  've  tried,  and  you  have  n't ;  I
was  bom  and  bred  among  them,  and  I  know."

Miss  Ophelia  thought  she  had  said  enough,  and  therefore  sat
silent.     St.  Clare  whistled  a  tune.
