I must not let him sit there in the place
he ain't got no rights to, after the way he has served me," said Mrs.
Peck.

"I believe it is more a piece of spite than anything else," said
Brandon. "Well, here is the agreement for the payment of a thousand
pounds. Will you accept of that, or shall I go?"

"You are too sharp for with me, a great deal too sharp on a poor old
woman like me, but I'll take your offer in the meantime. Miss Melville
said I was to trust to her honour to pay me as much as it is worth, and
if she finds out as it's worth more, I expect she'll keep that saying
of hers in mind, and act accordingly."

Mrs. Peck signed the paper, and Brandon signed it also, as agent for
Jane and Alice Melville.

"Now for your part of the bargain, Mrs. Peck, and stick to the truth if
you can. I know that your imagination is apt to run away with you; but
here it will be a disadvantage to have any flights of fancy," said
Brandon.

Mrs. Peck had for more than a week thought of nothing but this
disclosure of her past life, and now that the opportunity had arrived,
she really enjoyed telling it as much as if it had been wholly
fictitious. It was quite as romantic as any of her fabrications, and it
was a subject on which her lips had been sealed for thirty-four years,
except to give vent to some occasional allusions, to Peck. It was
interesting in itself, it was damaging to Francis, and it was likely to
be lucrative to herself, for she hoped for a further reward from the
grateful nieces, in addition to the thousand pounds which their agent
offered on their behalf. She had thought a good deal over the story she
had to tell, and gave a more consecutive and consistent narrative than
was usual with her, for she felt the importance of making it appear to
be a perfectly true story.

"Well," said she, "it's an old story and a queer one, but I do keep it
in mind, and I will tell you the truth; for as you say, it is what will
answer us both best. My name, as you know, was Elizabeth Ormistown, and
I was born in the next county to ----shire, where Cross Hall is. I have
never seen Cross Hall myself, but I have heard of it. We had seen
better days, for my father was a small shopkeeper, and my mother was a
schoolmaster's daughter; but my father was the simple man, who is the
beggar's brother, and he was caution or security (as they call it here)
for a brother of his own, for two hundred pounds, and lost it, and then
we went all down h