cy one of those ladies scrubbing a floor or
making a bed. The butcher called for orders, and took in the meat, which
was nearly always mutton-chops; the baker left his bread at the door,
and the laundress was admitted inside the passage once a week.

The only other person admitted inside was Dr. West. He had been called
in, on their first arrival, to the invalid daughter--a delicate-looking
lady, who, when she did walk out, leaned on her sister's arm. Dr.
West's visits became frequent; they had continued frequent up to within
a short period of the present time. Once or twice a week he called in
professionally; he would also occasionally drop in for an hour in the
evening. Some people passing Chalk Cottage (that was what it was named)
had contrived to stretch their necks over the high privet hedge which
hid the lower part of the dwelling from the road, and were immensely
gratified by the fact of seeing Dr. West in the parlour, seated at tea
with the family. How the doctor was questioned, especially in the
earlier period of their residence, he alone could tell. Who were they?
Were they well connected, or ill connected, or not connected at all?
Were they known to fashion? How much was really their income? What was
the matter with the one whom he attended, the sickly daughter, and what
was her name? The questions would have gone on until now, but that the
doctor stopped them. He had not made impertinent inquiries himself, he
said, and had nothing at all to tell. The younger lady's complaint arose
from disordered liver; he had no objection to tell them that; she had
been so long a sufferer from it that the malady had become chronic; and
her name was Kitty.

Now, it was touching this very family that the scandal had arisen. _How_
it arose was the puzzle; since the ladies themselves never spoke to
anybody, and Dr. West would not be likely to invent or to spread stories
affecting himself. Its precise nature was buried in uncertainty, also
its precise object. Some said one thing, some another. The scandal, on
the whole, tended to the point that Dr. West had misbehaved himself. In
what way? What had he done? Had he personally ill-treated them--sworn at
them--done anything else unbecoming a gentleman? And which had been the
sufferer? The old lady in her widow's cap? or the sickly daughter? or
the other one? Could he have carelessly supplied wrong medicine; sent to
them some arsenic instead of Epsom Salts, and so thrown them into