 finest goose Mrs. Goddard had ever seen. Mrs.
Goddard had dressed it on a Sunday, and asked all the three teachers, Miss Nash,
and Miss Prince, and Miss Richardson, to sup with her.«
    »Mr. Martin, I suppose, is not a man of information beyond the line of his
own business. He does not read?«
    »Oh, yes! - that is, no - I do not know - but I believe he has read a good
deal - but not what you would think any thing of. He reads the Agricultural
Reports and some other books, that lay in one of the window seats - but he reads
all them to himself. But sometimes of an evening, before we went to cards, he
would read something aloud out of the Elegant Extracts - very entertaining. And
I know he has read the Vicar of Wakefield. He never read the Romance of the
Forest, nor the Children of the Abbey. He had never heard of such books before I
mentioned them, but he is determined to get them now as soon as ever he can.«
    The next question was:
    »What sort of looking man is Mr. Martin?«
    »Oh! not handsome - not at all handsome. I thought him very plain at first,
but I do not think him so plain now. One does not, you know, after a time. But,
did you never see him? He is in Highbury every now and then, and he is sure to
ride through every week in his way to Kingston. He has passed you very often.«
    »That may be - and I may have seen him fifty times, but without having any
idea of his name. A young farmer, whether on horseback or on foot, is the very
last sort of person to raise my curiosity. The yeomanry are precisely the order
of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do. A degree or two lower, and
a creditable appearance might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their
families in some way or other. But a farmer can need none of my help, and is
therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below
it.«
    »To be sure. Oh! yes, it is not likely you should ever have observed him -
but he knows you very well indeed - I mean by sight.«
    »I have no doubt of his being a very respectable young man. I know indeed
that he is so; and as such wish him well.
