t they did not often tap
the vessels. The earl himself valued his library, but he was not a
reading man either. In short, they were in the unhappy position of
living in Birns Castle and having nothing to be astonished at.

II.

At one end of the Birns village stood a house, small, not comparatively,
but positively--a house out of which you could emerge and be
astonished--if you were young or had anything of the genius which is
always young--at Birns Castle, which is greatly to be preferred to
living in Birns Castle and having nothing to be astonished at, as has
been remarked by a high authority in connection with another castle.
There was no dullness in this house, although only four people lived in
it, but they were all busy always. It was surrounded by a wall which
enclosed not only the house, but a garden, a miniature courtyard and a
stable: the premises were small, but complete and compact, and the
owners were very well pleased with them. On the gate leading to the
house was a brass plate with the name "Dr. Brunton" on it. He was the
doctor of the place, and had only recently settled in it: he was young
and enthusiastic. If a man wants to spend and to be spent in doing good,
he has every opportunity as a country doctor, but if he wants to make
money, he has no opportunity at all. However, people who are young and
enthusiastic don't think much about money, and Dr. Brunton did not, nor
did his sister, who lived with him and attended to affairs in-doors.
They had one female servant and a man for the stable and garden.

They were very happy, this brother and sister--happy to be together, for
they had no very near relations, and they suited each other well; and
happy because they had not been accustomed to great things, and were not
ambitious. Of matrimony neither of them had ever thought, at least on
their own account, or if they had it was as a possible thing in the far
distance. Happy, busy, satisfied people don't readily think of change,
and certainly they don't seek for it; but it may come to them from very
unexpected quarters.

Mary Brunton had a young lady friend who visited her now and then, but
it never occurred to her as at all likely that this friend of hers and
her brother would draw together. If the idea had struck her, it is
difficult to say whether she would have been pleased or displeased--a
little of both, perhaps: she would have known that she ought to be
pleased, but she would not have enjoyed be