l you, friend,
that I am nothing to the young man, and he, of course, nothing to me. I
am a poor travelling girl, born in a workhouse: journeying on my
occasions with certain companions, I came to this hollow, where my
company quarrelled with the young man, who had settled down here, as he
had a right to do if he pleased; and not being able to drive him out,
they went away after quarrelling with me too, for not choosing to side
with them; so I stayed here along with the young man, there being room
for us both, and the place being as free to me as to him."

"And in order that you may be no longer puzzled with respect to myself,"
said I, "I will give you a brief outline of my history. I am the son of
honourable parents, who gave me a first-rate education, as far as
literature and languages went, with which education I endeavoured, on the
death of my father, to advance myself to wealth and reputation in the Big
City; but failing in the attempt, I conceived a disgust for the busy
world, and determined to retire from it. After wandering about for some
time, and meeting with various adventures, in one of which I contrived to
obtain a pony, cart, and certain tools, used by smiths and tinkers, I
came to this place, where I amused myself with making horse-shoes, or
rather pony-shoes, having acquired the art of wielding the hammer and
tongs from a strange kind of smith--not him of Gretna Green--whom I knew
in my childhood. And here I lived, doing harm to no one, quite lonely
and solitary, till one fine morning the premises were visited by this
young gentlewoman and her companions. She did herself anything but
justice when she said that her companions quarrelled with her because she
would not side with them against me; they quarrelled with her because she
came most heroically to my assistance as I was on the point of being
murdered; and she forgot to tell you that, after they had abandoned her,
she stood by me in the dark hour, comforting and cheering me, when
unspeakable dread, to which I am occasionally subject, took possession of
my mind. She says she is nothing to me, even as I am nothing to her. I
am of course nothing to her, but she is mistaken in thinking she is
nothing to me. I entertain the highest regard and admiration for her,
being convinced that I might search the whole world in vain for a nature
more heroic and devoted."

"And for my part," said Belle, with a sob, "a more quiet agreeable
partner in a place l