ha.

A very strange sort of philanthropist both Esther and Ada thought Mrs.
Jellyby. Perhaps, however, Mr. Jarndyce sent them there for a useful
lesson, for he afterward asked them what they thought of her, and he
seemed well pleased to learn that they considered her ideas of doing
good in the world extremely odd.

Next day they drove to Bleak House. Not one of them had ever seen Mr.
Jarndyce, but they found him all they had imagined and more--the
kindest, pleasantest and most thoughtful person in the world. Before
they had been there two days they felt as if they had known him all
their lives.

Bleak House was a building where one went up and down steps from one
room to another, and where there were always more rooms when one thought
he had seen them all. In the daytime there was horseback riding or
walking to amuse them, and in the evenings Ada often sang and played to
the rest. Altogether the time flew by most pleasantly, and, judging by
Mr. Jarndyce's jollity, the wind seldom showed any signs of coming from
the east.

It was soon clear to everybody that Richard was in love with Ada and
that Ada was beginning to love him in return. This pleased Mr. Jarndyce,
for he was fond of both.

But he was fondest of Esther. He made her his housekeeper and she
carried a big bunch of keys and kept the house as clean as a new pin. He
used to say she reminded him of:

"Little old woman and whither so high?
To sweep the cobwebs out of the sky."

She was so cheerful, he said, she would sweep the cobwebs out of
anybody's sky. And from this they took to calling her "Little Old
Woman," and "Cobweb," and "Mother Hubbard," till none of them thought of
her real name at all.

Bleak House had a number of visitors who came more or less often. One of
these was an old school friend of Mr. Jarndyce's, named Boythorn. He was
a big, blustering man with a laugh as big as himself. Wherever he went
he carried a tiny tame canary, that used to sit at meal-time perched on
the top of his great shaggy head. It was odd to see this wee bird
sitting there unafraid, even at one of his "ha-ha-ha's" that shook the
whole house.

Mr. Boythorn was exceedingly tender-hearted, but took delight in
pretending to be the stubbornest, most cross-grained, worst-tempered
individual possible. His neighbor was Sir Leicester Dedlock, a dignified
and proud old baronet, and him Mr. Boythorn loved to keep in perpetual
anger by bringing against him all manner