ack of her malady, induced her father to offer me a position
in his household which, as a young, friendless man, I was very willing
to accept.

"Collingham-Westmore was a very ancient house of great extent, and but
indifferently kept in repair. The country surrounding it is of great
natural beauty, thinly inhabited, and, especially at the time I speak
of, before railways had penetrated so far north, somewhat lonely and
inaccessible. A group of small houses clustered round the village church
of Westmorton, distant about three miles from the mansion of the
Collingham family; and a solitary posting-house, on what was then the
great north road, could be reached by a horseman in about an hour,
though the only practicable road for carriages was at least fifteen
miles from the highway to Collingham-Westmore. Wild and lovely in the
eyes of an admirer of nature were the hills and 'cloughs' among which I
pursued my botanical studies for many a long, silent summer day. My
occupations at the mansion--everybody called it the mansion, and I must
do so from force of habit, though it sounds rather like a house-agent's
advertisement--were few and light; the society was not particularly to
my taste, and the fine old library only attracted me on rainy days, of
which, truth to say, we had our full share.

"The Collingham family circle comprised a maiden aunt of Sir James, Miss
Patricia, a stern and awful specimen of the female sex in its fossil
state; her ward, Miss Henderson, who, having long passed her pupilage,
remained at Collingham-Westmore in the capacity of gouvernante and
companion to the young heiress; the heiress aforesaid, and myself. A
priest--did I say that the Collinghams still professed the old
religion?--came on Sundays and holydays to celebrate mass in the gloomy
old chapel; but neighbors there were none, and only about half-a-dozen
times during the four years I was an inmate of the mansion were
strangers introduced into the family party."

"How dreadfully dull it must have been!" exclaimed Amy sympathetically.

"It _was_ dull," answered the Doctor. "Even with my naturally cheerful
disposition, and the course of study with which I methodically filled up
all my leisure hours except those devoted to out-of-door exercise, the
gloom of the old mansion weighed upon me till I sometimes felt that I
must give up my situation at all risks, and return to the world, though
it were to struggle with poverty and friendlessness.

"T