and was to
find her own table, engaging Mrs. Turner to cook and wait upon her.

Some days after her arrival, two large travelling trunks, and several
well-filled hampers full of wine of the best quality, were forwarded to
her direction, and Miss Carr became one of the lions of the little
watering-place.

Who she was, or from what quarter of the world she emanated, nobody
could find out. She had evidently plenty of money at her command, lived
as she liked and did what she pleased, and seemed perfectly indifferent
as to what others thought of her.

Her eccentric appearance attracted general attention, for she was no
recluse, and spent most of her time in the open air. If your walk lay
along the beach, the common, or the dusty high-road, you were sure to
meet Miss Carr and her dog at every turn.

The excitement regarding her was so great, that most of the ladies
called upon her in the hope of gratifying their curiosity, and learning
something about her from her own lips. In this they were quite
disappointed, for Miss Wilhelmina Carr, though she was sitting at the
window nursing her dog, did not choose to be at home to any one, and
never had the courtesy to return these ceremonious visits. An old
practised propagator of news waylaid Mrs. Turner in the street, and
cross-questioned her in the most dexterous manner concerning her
mysterious lodger; but the good woman was either seized with a fit of
unusual prudence, or, like Horace Smith's mummy--

"Was sworn to secrecy."

There was no getting anything out of her beyond the astounding
facts, that Miss Carr smoked out of a long pipe, drank brandy-punch, and
had her table served with all the dainties of the season. "Besides all
this," whispered the cautious Mrs. Turner, "she swears like a man." This
last piece of information might be a scandal, the ladies hoped that it
was, but believed and talked about it as a shocking thing, if true, to
all their acquaintance, and congratulated themselves that the dreadful
woman had shown her wisdom in not returning the visits of respectable
people.

The person about whom all this fuss was made, was a tall, and very stout
woman of fifty years of age; but active and energetic looking for her
time of life. Her appearance was eccentric enough to afford ample scope
for all the odd sayings and doings in circulation respecting her. She
had a satirical, laughing, jolly red face, with very obtuse features;
and, in order to conceal hair of