 how charming she looked in it; and yet I don't think it became
her as much as it does you.«
    »Mrs. Denbigh is very beautiful,« said Jemima, taking off the bonnet, and
not much inclined to try on any other.
    »Very, ma'am. Quite a peculiar style of beauty. If I might be allowed, I
should say that hers was a Grecian style of loveliness, while yours was
Oriental. She reminded me of a young person I once knew in Fordham.« Mrs.
Pearson sighed an audible sigh.
    »In Fordham!« said Jemima, remembering that Ruth had once spoken of the
place as one in which she had spent some time, while the county in which it was
situated was the same in which Ruth was born. »In Fordham! Why, I think Mrs.
Denbigh comes from that neighbourhood.«
    »Oh, ma'am! she cannot be the young person I mean - I am sure, ma'am -
holding the position she does in your establishment. I should hardly say I knew
her myself; for I only saw her two or three times at my sister's house; but she
was so remarked for her beauty, that I remember her face quite well - the more
so, on account of her vicious conduct afterwards.«
    »Her vicious conduct!« repeated Jemima, convinced by these words that there
could be no identity between Ruth and young person alluded to. »Then it could
not have been our Mrs. Denbigh.«
    »Oh no, ma'am! I am sure I should be sorry to be understood to have
suggested anything of the kind. I beg your pardon if I did so. All I meant to
say - and perhaps that was a liberty I ought not to have taken, considering what
Ruth Hilton was -«
    »Ruth Hilton!« said Jemima, turning suddenly round, and facing Mrs. Pearson.
    »Yes, ma'am, that was the name of the young person I allude to.«
    »Tell me about her - what did she do?« asked Jemima, subduing her eagerness
of tone and look as best she might, but trembling as on the verge of some
strange discovery.
    »I don't know whether I ought to tell you, ma'am - it is hardly a fit story
for a young lady; but this Ruth Hilton was an apprentice to my sister-in-law,
who had a first-rate business in Fordham, which brought her a good deal of
patronage from the
