oms,
if I have anything to put in them; and they are very useful for my little
boy to run about in on rainy days when he can't go out; and then there is
the garden for him to play in, and for me to work in. You see I have
effected some little improvement already,' continued she, turning to the
window. 'There is a bed of young vegetables in that corner, and here are
some snowdrops and primroses already in bloom--and there, too, is a
yellow crocus just opening in the sunshine.'

'But then how can you bear such a situation--your nearest neighbours two
miles distant, and nobody looking in or passing by? Rose would go stark
mad in such a place. She can't put on life unless she sees half a dozen
fresh gowns and bonnets a day--not to speak of the faces within; but you
might sit watching at these windows all day long, and never see so much
as an old woman carrying her eggs to market.'

'I am not sure the loneliness of the place was not one of its chief
recommendations. I take no pleasure in watching people pass the windows;
and I like to be quiet.'

'Oh! as good as to say you wish we would all of us mind our own business,
and let you alone.'

'No, I dislike an extensive acquaintance; but if I have a few friends, of
course I am glad to see them occasionally. No one can be happy in
eternal solitude. Therefore, Mr. Fergus, if you choose to enter my house
as a friend, I will make you welcome; if not, I must confess, I would
rather you kept away.' She then turned and addressed some observation to
Rose or Eliza.

'And, Mrs. Graham,' said he again, five minutes after, 'we were
disputing, as we came along, a question that you can readily decide for
us, as it mainly regarded yourself--and, indeed, we often hold
discussions about you; for some of us have nothing better to do than to
talk about our neighbours' concerns, and we, the indigenous plants of the
soil, have known each other so long, and talked each other over so often,
that we are quite sick of that game; so that a stranger coming amongst us
makes an invaluable addition to our exhausted sources of amusement.
Well, the question, or questions, you are requested to solve--'

'Hold your tongue, Fergus!' cried Rose, in a fever of apprehension and
wrath.

'I won't, I tell you. The questions you are requested to solve are
these:--First, concerning your birth, extraction, and previous residence.
Some will have it that you are a foreigner, and some an Englishwoman;
some