ved Mrs. Verstage.

"I daresay that in practice you will be able to condense it. As
for that boy of yours, ma'am, I should like a word with him, by
himself."

"So, the creetur must bide Mehetabel?"

"Mehetabel it must be."

CHAPTER VII.

FALSE PERSPECTIVE.

As this story concerns that child which received the name of
Mehetabel, it has been necessary to begin _de novo_ with her as
a babe, and to relate how she came by her name--that is her
Christian name--and how it was that she had no surname at all.
Also, how it was that she came to be an inmate of the Ship, and
how that her fortunes were linked at the very outset of her career,
on the one hand with Iver, who baptized her, and on the other
hand with the Broom-Squire, whose roof--that at least of his
shed--had sheltered her when every door of the squatter settlement
in the Punch-Bowl, was resolutely closed against her.

But although this story begins with Mehetabel before she could
speak, before she could assimilate anything more substantial than
milk, yet the author has no intention of inflicting on the reader
the record of her early days, of her acquisition of the power of
speech, and capacity for consuming solid food. Neither is it his
purpose to develop at large the growth of her mental powers, and
to describe the evolution of her features. Suffice it then to say
that Mehetabel grew up in the Ship Inn, almost as a child of the
hostess and of her husband, with Iver as her playmate, and somewhat
consequential patron.

By the parish at large, whether that of Witley or of its subdivision
Thursley, she was coldly regarded. She was but a charity girl, and
kind as Mrs. Verstage was, the hostess never forgot that.

Iver was fourteen years older than Mehetabel, and, above all, was
a boy, whereas Mehetabel was a waif, and only a girl.

Iver, moreover, regarded the child with gracious condescension. Had
he not baptized her? Did she not owe her name to him? Had he not
manufactured her first feeding-bottle?

As Mehetabel grew up, it is not surprising that she should regard
Iver with admiration and affection, that she cherished every
kindness he showed her, and in every way sought to deserve his
notice.

The child had an affectionate, a clinging nature, and she threw
the tendrils of her heart around the handsome boy, who was both
patron and playmate.

It is a matter wholly immaterial whether Mehetabel underwent the
ordeal of the customary childish mala