iar,' said Ursula, 'a
person may be a liar and a thief, and yet a very honest woman, but--'

'Well, Ursula.'

'I tell you what, brother, if you ever sinivate again that I could be the
third thing, so help me duvel! {67} I'll do you a mischief. By my God I
will!'

'Well, Ursula, I assure you that I shall sinivate, as you call it,
nothing of the kind about you. I have no doubt, from what you have said,
that you are a very paragon of virtue--a perfect Lucretia; but--'

'My name is Ursula, brother, and not Lucretia: Lucretia is not of our
family, but one of the Bucklands; she travels about Oxfordshire; yet I am
as good as she any day.'

'Lucretia! how odd! Where could she have got that name? Well, I make no
doubt, Ursula, that you are quite as good as she, and she as her namesake
of ancient Rome; but there is a mystery in this same virtue, Ursula,
which I cannot fathom; how a thief and a liar should be able, or indeed
willing, to preserve her virtue is what I don't understand. You confess
that you are very fond of gold. Now, how is it that you don't barter
your virtue for gold sometimes? I am a philosopher, Ursula, and like to
know everything. You must be every now and then exposed to great
temptation, Ursula; for you are of a beauty calculated to captivate all
hearts. Come, sit down and tell me how you are enabled to resist such a
temptation as gold and fine clothes?'

'Well, brother,' said Ursula, 'as you say you mean no harm, I will sit
down beside you, and enter into discourse with you; but I will uphold
that you are the coolest hand that I ever came nigh, and say the coolest
things.'

And thereupon Ursula sat down by my side.

'Well, Ursula, we will, if you please, discourse on the subject of your
temptations. I suppose that you travel very much about, and show
yourself in all kinds of places?'

'In all kinds, brother; I travels, as you say, very much about, attends
fairs and races, and enters booths and public-houses, where I tells
fortunes, and sometimes dances and sings.'

'And do not people often address you in a very free manner?'

'Frequently, brother; and I give them tolerably free answers.'

'Do people ever offer to make you presents? I mean presents of value,
such as--'

'Silk handkerchiefs, shawls, and trinkets; very frequently, brother.'

'And what do you do, Ursula?'

'I take what people offers me, brother, and stows it away as soon as I
can.'

'Well, but don't people expect