erved, "if I may
venture to remind your lordship, provides a suitable companion for----"

"For Mr. Richard Carstone!" I thought I heard his lordship say in a low
voice.

"For Miss Ada Clare. This is the young lady, Miss Esther Summerson."

"Miss Summerson is not related to any party in the cause, I think."

"No, my lord."

"Very well," said his lordship, after taking Miss Ada aside and asking
her if she thought she would be happy at Bleak House. "I shall make the
order. Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House has chosen, so far as I may judge, a
very good companion for the young lady, and the arrangement seems the
best of which the circumstances admit."

He dismissed us pleasantly and we all went out. As we stood for a
minute, waiting for Mr. Kenge, a curious little old woman, Miss Flite,
in a squeezed bonnet, and carrying a reticule, came curtsying and
smiling up to us, with an air of great ceremony.

"Oh!" said she, "The wards in Jarndyce. Very happy, I am sure, to have
the honour. It is a good omen for youth, and hope, and beauty when they
find themselves in this place, and don't know what's to come of it."

"Mad!" whispered Richard, not thinking she could hear him.

"Right! Mad, young gentleman," she returned quickly. "I was a ward
myself. I was not mad at that time. I had youth and hope; I believe
beauty. It matters very little now. Neither of the three served, or
saved me. I have the honour to attend court regularly. I expect a
judgment. On the Day of Judgment. I have discovered that the sixth seal
mentioned in the Revelations is the great seal. Pray accept my
blessing."

Mr. Kenge coming up, the poor old lady went on. "I shall confer estates
on both. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. This is a good omen for you.
Accept my blessing."

We left her at the bottom of the stairs. She was still saying, with a
curtsy, and a smile between every little sentence, "Youth. And hope. And
beauty. And Chancery."

The morning after, walking out early, we met the old lady again, smiling
and saying in her air of patronage, "The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy,
I am sure! Pray come and see my lodgings. It will be a good omen for me.
Youth, and hope, and beauty, are very seldom there."

She took my hand and beckoned Richard and Ada to come too, and in a few
moments she was at home.

She had stopped at a shop over which was written, "Krook, Rag and Bottle
Warehouse." Inside was an old man in spectacles and a hair cap, and
entering