'Oh. But nothing really useful.'
Nora gave an angry laugh. 'It's clear that some people consider a companion's work useful, since they employ them.'
'You take pay for it; after all, it's much the same as being a servant.'
'It's not at all the same.'
'Ed tells me that sometimes when Miss Wickers, Wickham--whatever her name was----'
'Miss Wickham.'
'That when Miss Wickham had company for dinner, you had to have your dinner alone.'
'That is true.'
'Then she considered you sort of a servant,' said Gertie triumphantly. Nora was silent. Gertie having cut her dough into small round pieces with a tin cutter and put them into her pans, went toward the oven.
'And yet you object to eating at the same table with the hired men.'
Having satisfied herself that the oven was at the proper heat, she shut the door with a bang.
'I've said nothing about it.'
'You didn't need to.'
'But I most certainly do object to it and I can't for the life of me see the necessity of it.'
'I was what you call a servant for years; I suppose you object to eating at the table with me.'
'What perfect nonsense! It's not at all the same thing. You're my brother's wife and the mistress of his house.'
'Yes, I'm the mistress of the house all right,' said Gertie grimly.
'Frank Taylor's an uncommonly handsome man, isn't he?'
'I really haven't noticed.'
'What perfect nonsense!' mimicked Gertie. 'Of course you've noticed. Any woman would notice him.'
'Then I must be different from other women.'
'Oh, no, you're not; you only think you are. At bottom women are all alike, take it from me, and I've known a few.'
'If I can be of no help to you here, I think I'll go and unpack my box,' said Nora. She felt as if she had borne all she possibly could.
'As you like.'
Once in her own room, Nora found it hard to keep back her angry tears. Only the thought that her reddened eyes would betray her to Gertie at dinner kept her from having a good cry.
CHAPTER VII
That one morning was a fair sample of all the other days. Each suspected the other, neither would make allowances or concessions. As a consequence, day by day the breach widened. Even Eddie, who was more unobserving than most men, felt vaguely uncomfortable in the surcharged atmosphere. From the first Nora realized that it was an unequal contest; Gertie was too strongly intrenched in her position. But it was not in her nature to refrain from administering those little thrusts, which women know so well how to deal one another, from any motive of policy. The question of what she should do once her brother's house became intolerable she never permitted herself to ask.
In the needle-pricking mode of warfare she was, of course, far more expert than her rival. But if Gertie's hand was clumsy it was also heavy. And always in the back of her mind was the consciousness that she, so to speak, had at least one piece of heavy artillery which she could bring up once the enemy's fire became unendurable.
During the day, the men being out of the house except at meal time, there was to a certain degree, a cessation of hostilities. Nora gradually acquired some knowledge of housework. She learned to cook fairly well and always helped with the washing, rarely complaining of her aching arms and back. The only indication she
