d
begged hard to see Mrs. Gaunt. "And, dame," said she, "if I were you,
I'd let her come in; 'tis the honestest face, and the tears in her soft
eyes, at you denying her: 'O dear, dear!' said she, 'I cannot tell my
errand to any but her.'"

"Well, well," said Mrs. Gaunt; "but what is her business?"

"If you ask me, I think her business is your business. Come, dame, do
see the poor thing; she is civil spoken, and she tells me she has come
all the way out of Lancashire o' purpose."

Mrs. Gaunt recoiled, as if she had been stung.

"From Lancashire?" said she, faintly.

"Ay, madam," said Mrs. Menteith, "and that is a long road; and a child
upon her arm all the way, poor thing!"

"Her name?" said Mrs. Gaunt, sternly.

"O, she is not ashamed of it. She gave it me directly."

"What, has she the effrontery to take my name?"

Mrs. Menteith stared at her with utter amazement. "_Your_ name?" said
she. "'T is a simple, country body, and her name is Vint,--Mercy Vint."

Mrs. Gaunt was very much agitated, and said she felt quite unequal to
see a stranger.

"Well, I'm sure I don't know what to do," said Mrs. Menteith. "She says
she will lie at your door all night, but she will see you. 'T is the
face of a friend. She may know something. It seems hard to thrust her
and her child out into the street, after their coming all the way from
Lancashire."

Mrs. Gaunt stood silent awhile, and her intelligence had a severe combat
with her deep repugnance to be in the same room with Griffith Gaunt's
mistress (so she considered her). But a certain curiosity came to the
aid of her good sense; and, after all, she was a brave and haughty
woman, and her natural courage began to rise. She thought to herself,
"What, dares she come to me all this way, and shall I shrink from
_her_?"

She turned to Mrs. Menteith with a bitter smile, and she said, very
slowly, and clenching her white teeth: "Since you desire it, and she
_insists_ on it, I will receive Mistress Mercy Vint."

Mrs. Menteith went off, and in about five minutes returned, ushering in
Mercy Vint, in a hood and travelling-cloak.

Mrs. Gaunt received her standing, and with a very formal courtesy; to
which Mercy made a quiet obeisance, and both women looked one another
all over in a moment.

Mrs. Menteith lingered, to know what on earth this was all about; but as
neither spoke a word, and their eyes were fixed on each other, she
divined that her absence was necessary, and so reti