e was religious. She probably objected to George Roden because
he was anti-religious, or at any rate anti-church, meeting, or
chapel-going. It had become quite decided at Holloway that Mrs.
Vincent would not put up with the young clerk's infidelity. And it
was believed that there had been "words" between the two ladies
themselves on the subject of religion,--as to which probably there
was no valid foundation, it being an ascertained fact that the two
maids who were employed by Mrs. Roden were never known to tell
anything of their mistress.

It was decided at Holloway that Mrs. Roden and Mrs. Vincent were
cousins. They were like enough in face and near enough in age to
have been sisters; but old Mrs. Demijohn, of No. 10, Paradise Row,
had declared that had George been a nephew his aunt would not have
wearied in her endeavour to convert him. In such a case there would
have been intimacy in spite of disapproval. But a first cousin once
removed might be allowed to go to the Mischief in his own way. Mrs.
Vincent was supposed to be the elder cousin,--perhaps three or four
years the elder,--and to have therefore something of an authority,
but not much. She was stouter, too, less careful to hide what grey
hairs years might have produced, and showing manifestly by the
nature of her bonnets and shawls that she despised the vanities of
the world. Not but that she was always handsomely dressed, as Mrs.
Demijohn was very well aware. Less than a hundred a year could not
have clothed Mrs. Vincent, whereas Mrs. Roden, as all the world
perceived, did not spend half the money. But who does not know that
a lady may repudiate vanity in rich silks and cultivate the world in
woollen stuffs, or even in calico? Nothing was more certain to Mrs.
Demijohn than that Mrs. Vincent was severe, and that Mrs. Roden was
soft and gentle. It was assumed also that the two ladies were widows,
as no husband or sign of a husband had appeared on the scene. Mrs.
Vincent showed manifestly from her deportment, as well as from her
title, that she had been a married woman. As to Mrs. Roden, of
course, there was no doubt.

In regard to all this the reader may take the settled opinions of
Mrs. Demijohn and of Holloway as being nearly true. Riddles may be
read very accurately by those who will give sufficient attention
and ample time to the reading of them. They who will devote twelve
hours a day to the unravelling of acrostics, may discover nearly all
the enigmas