e long fronds
of lustrous hartstongue; wherever the eye falls, profusion of summer's
glory. Here, in many a nook carpeted with softest turf, canopied with
tangle of leaf and bloom, solitude is safe from all intrusion--unless it
be that of flitting bird, or of some timid wild thing that rustles for a
moment and is gone. From dawn to midnight, as from midnight to dawn, one
who would be alone with nature might count upon the security of these
bosks and dells.

By Nancy Lord and her companions such pleasures were unregarded. For the
first few days after their arrival at Teignmouth, they sat or walked on
the promenade, walked or sat on the pier, sat or walked on the Den--a
long, wide lawn, decked about with shrubs and flower-beds, between
sea-fronting houses and the beach. Nancy had no wish to exert herself,
for the weather was hot; after her morning bathe with Jessica, she found
amusement enough in watching the people--most of whom were here simply
to look at each other, or in listening to the band, which played
selections from Sullivan varied with dance music, or in reading a novel
from the book-lender's,--that is to say, gazing idly at the page, and
letting such significance as it possessed float upon her thoughts.

She was pleasantly conscious that the loungers who passed by, male and
female, gave something of attention to her face and costume. Without
attempting to rival the masterpieces of fashion which invited envy or
wonder from all observers, she thought herself nicely dressed, and had
in fact, as always, made good use of her father's liberality. Her taste
in garments had a certain timidity that served her well; by avoiding the
extremes of mode, and in virtue of her admirable figure, she took the
eye of those who looked for refinement rather than for extravagance. The
unconsidered grace of her bearing might be recognised by all whom such
things concerned; it by no means suggested that she came from a small
house in Camberwell. In her companions, to be sure, she was unfortunate;
but the over-modest attire and unimpressive persons of Mrs. Morgan and
Jessica at least did her the office of relief by contrast.

Nancy had made this reflection; she was not above it. Yet her actual
goodness of heart saved her from ever feeling ashamed of the Morgans. It
gratified her to think that she was doing them a substantial kindness;
but for her, they would have dragged through a wretched summer in their
unwholesome, jimcrack house,