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Page 73
simply do not wish to go into service any more."
"And quite right of them, too," General Barthemeles boomed. "Nasty, restricted life they used to have, poor things. They're better off in the offices and factories."
"Oh, do you really think so?" Mrs. Sotheby twittered. "Surely those jobs are so noisy and dirty andand unprotected. And the employers. . . I read such things in the papersshocking! They were so much safer in a real home."
"Were they?" The general laughed. "Some employers were pretty nasty in those homes too." He cocked an eye at Linda. "But I must say, I can't help bein' surprised at a bright young gel like you takin' on this kind of work.''
"But Mrs. Bates is so kind to me," Linda protested, widening her eyes. "How can you think of her as a nasty employer."
"Didn't think any such thing," the general sputtered, then began to laugh as he realized that Linda was teasing him. "Naughty, saucy thing to take me up like that. I was just thinkin' that most gels like you don't even look at advertisements for companions. Ministers' daughtersdowdy, mousey thingslook at 'em."
Before Linda could answer quite truthfully that she had noticed the ad purely by accident, Mrs. Bates said, "Now, Harriet, you can see why I was so happy to find Linda. She's young enough to laugh and to make me laugh, too. And she doesn't sigh lugubriously when I ask her to do an errand that means running up and down stairs."

 
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