g Shirley towards her, and
making her sit down, "chance what may."

"Come, then; we will talk of something else than the Troubler." But at
this moment the rector came in, and the "something else" of which Miss
Keeldar was about to talk was not again alluded to till the moment of
her departure. She then delayed a few minutes in the passage to say,
"Caroline, I wish to tell you that I have a great weight on my mind; my
conscience is quite uneasy as if I had committed, or was going to
commit, a crime. It is not my _private_ conscience, you must understand,
but my landed-proprietor and lord-of-the-manor conscience. I have got
into the clutch of an eagle with iron talons. I have fallen under a
stern influence, which I scarcely approve, but cannot resist. Something
will be done ere long, I fear, which it by no means pleases me to think
of. To ease my mind, and to prevent harm as far as I can, I mean to
enter on a series of good works. Don't be surprised, therefore, if you
see me all at once turn outrageously charitable. I have no idea how to
begin, but you must give me some advice. We will talk more on the
subject to-morrow; and just ask that excellent person, Miss Ainley, to
step up to Fieldhead. I have some notion of putting myself under her
tuition. Won't she have a precious pupil? Drop a hint to her, Lina,
that, though a well-meaning, I am rather a neglected character, and then
she will feel less scandalized at my ignorance about clothing societies
and such things."

On the morrow Caroline found Shirley sitting gravely at her desk, with
an account-book, a bundle of banknotes, and a well-filled purse before
her. She was looking mighty serious, but a little puzzled. She said she
had been "casting an eye" over the weekly expenditure in housekeeping at
the hall, trying to find out where she could retrench; that she had also
just given audience to Mrs. Gill, the cook, and had sent that person
away with a notion that her (Shirley's) brain was certainly crazed. "I
have lectured her on the duty of being careful," said she, "in a way
quite new to her. So eloquent was I on the text of economy that I
surprised myself; for, you see, it is altogether a fresh idea. I never
thought, much less spoke, on the subject till lately. But it is all
theory; for when I came to the practical part I could retrench nothing.
I had not firmness to take off a single pound of butter, or to prosecute
to any clear result an inquest into the destiny of ei