have thought
she'd have left her a trifle; but not she! All she had went to her
sister, Miss Maria, who'd got quite enough already. Miss Anne was as
sweet and gentle a lady as you'd wish to see; but her will was as hard
as the nether millstone."

"There's nothing like a death for showing up what a family is made of."

"There isn't. Now Mr. William Farringdon's will was a very cruel one,
according to my ideas, leaving everything to his niece and nothing to
his son. True, Mr. George was but a barber's block with no work in him,
and I'm the last to defend that; and then he didn't want to marry his
cousin, Miss Maria, for which I shouldn't blame him so much; if a man
can't choose his own wife and his own newspaper, what can he
choose?--certainly not his own victuals, for he isn't fit. But if folks
only leave their money to them that have followed their advice in
everything, most wills would be nothing but a blank sheet of paper."

"And if they were, it wouldn't be a bad thing, Mrs. Bateson; there would
be less sorrow on some sides, and less crape on others, and far less
unpleasantness all round. For my part, I doubt if Miss Farringdon will
leave her fortune to Miss Elisabeth, and her only a cousin's child; for
when all is said and done, cousins are but elastic relations, as you may
say. The well-to-do ones are like sisters and brothers, and the poor
ones don't seem to be no connection at all."

"Well, let's hope that Miss Elisabeth will marry, and have a husband to
work for her when Miss Farringdon is dead and gone."

"Husbands are as uncertain as wills, Mrs. Bateson, and more sure to give
offence to them that trust in them; besides, I doubt if Miss Elisabeth
is handsome enough to get a husband. The gentry think a powerful lot of
looks in choosing a wife."

Mrs. Bateson took up the cudgels on Elisabeth's behalf. "She mayn't be
exactly handsome--I don't pretend as she is; but she has a wonderful way
of dressing herself, and looking for all the world like a fashion-plate;
and some men have a keen eye for clothes."

"I think nothing of fine clothes myself. Saint Peter warns us against
braiding of hair and putting on of apparel; and when all's said and done
it don't go as far as a good complexion, and we don't need any apostle
to tell us that--we can see it for ourselves."

"And as for cleverness, there ain't her like in all Mershire," continued
Mrs. Bateson.

"Bless you! cleverness never yet helped a woman in getting