s and glorious woods, green
meadows and golden corn lands, must pass to his nephew and not to his
child, because he had not gained one. Being a good man, he did his
best to see this thing in its proper light. Children, after all, are a
plague, a risk, and a deep anxiety. His nephew was a very worthy boy,
and his rights should be respected. Nevertheless, the baron often longed
to supersede them. Of this there was every prospect now. The lady of the
house had intrusted her case to a highly celebrated simple-woman, who
lived among rocks and scanty vegetation at Heddon's Mouth, gathering
wisdom from the earth and from the sea tranquillity. De Wichehalse was
naturally vexed a little when all this accumulated wisdom culminated
in nothing grander than a somewhat undersized, and unhappily female
child--one, moreover, whose presence cost him that of his faithful and
loving wife. So that the heiress of Ley Manor was greeted, after all,
with a very brief and sorry welcome. "Jennyfried," for so they named
her, soon began to grow into a fair esteem and good liking. Her father,
after a year or two, plucked up his courage and played with her; and the
more he played the more pleased he was, both with her and his own kind
self. Unhappily, there were at that time no shops in the neighbourhood;
unhappily, now there are too many. Nevertheless, upon the whole, she had
all the toys that were good for her; and her teeth had a fair chance of
fitting themselves for life's chief operation in the absence of sugared
allurements.

A brief and meagre account is this of the birth, and growth, and
condition of a maiden whose beauty and goodness still linger in the
winter tales of many a simple homestead. For, sharing her father's
genial nature, she went about among the people in her soft and playful
way; knowing all their cares, and gifted with a kindly wonder at them,
which is very soothing. All the simple folk expected condescension from
her; and she would have let them have it, if she had possessed it.

At last she was come to a time of life when maidens really must begin
to consider their responsibilities--a time when it does matter how the
dress sits and what it is made of, and whether the hair is well arranged
for dancing in the sunshine and for fluttering in the moonlight; also
that the eyes convey not from that roguish nook the heart any betrayal
of "hide and seek"; neither must the risk of blushing tremble on
perpetual brinks; neither must--