Disclaimer: "The Secret Garden" belongs to Frances Hodgson-Burnett and was published in 1910.
Vignette 3/4
.
1914
When Martha left Mrs Medlock's service to become a servant of Misselthwaite proper, she was quite happy to see her pay increased and her duties barely changed, for very few servants were prepared to spend time with both Master Colin and Miss Mary. Martha could not understand this attitude though, because, while she vividly remembered what horrible little creatures they had still been not three years before, she could also admire how far they had come since then. So she cheerfully went on lighting the fires and bringing breakfast and generally caring for the both of them, and imagined herself doing the same every day for another four years at last.
Change came much more quickly than she had thought, however, because her having a new position meant that the old one had to be filled. And so came a new servant to Misselthwaite, a small slip of a girl who Martha vaguely remembered from church. Hardworking, or Mrs Medlock would not have chosen her. But Martha also thought she remembered her gossiping with her friends and batting her lashes at the lads every time her mother took her eyes off her.
It was a good thing, Martha decided, that the new servant was not in charge of waking the young master. She smiled and went to put Miss Mary's new dresses away.
Martha found herself torn between amusement and irritation when, the very next day, she heard a loud giggle echo in the staircase and saw athletic, proud, handsome Master Colin looking most unsettled in the face of this heretofore unknown specimen of the female race, who was gazing at him with rather hungry eyes.