; Miss Noble, her sister, a tiny old
lady of meeker aspect, with frills and kerchief decidedly more worn and mended;
and Miss Winifred Farebrother, the Vicar's elder sister, well-looking like
himself, but nipped and subdued as single women are apt to be who spend their
lives in uninterrupted subjection to their elders. Lydgate had not expected to
see so quaint a group: knowing simply that Mr. Farebrother was a bachelor, he
had thought of being ushered into a snuggery where the chief furniture would
probably be books and collections of natural objects. The Vicar himself seemed
to wear rather a changed aspect, as most men do when acquaintances made
elsewhere see them for the first time in their own homes; some indeed showing
like an actor of genial parts disadvantageously cast for the curmudgeon in a new
piece. This was not the case with Mr. Farebrother: he seemed a trifle milder and
more silent, the chief talker being his mother, while he only put in a
good-humoured moderating remark here and there. The old lady was evidently
accustomed to tell her company what they ought to think, and to regard no
subject as quite safe without her steering. She was afforded leisure for this
function by having all her little wants attended to by Miss Winifred. Meanwhile
tiny Miss Noble carried on her arm a small basket, into which she diverted a bit
of sugar, which she had first dropped in her saucer as if by mistake; looking
round furtively afterwards, and reverting to her tea-cup with a small innocent
noise as of a tiny timid quadruped. Pray think no ill of Miss Noble. That basket
held small savings from her more portable food, destined for the children of her
poor friends among whom she trotted on fine mornings; fostering and petting all
needy creatures being so spontaneous a delight to her, that she regarded it much
as if it had been a pleasant vice that she was addicted to. Perhaps she was
conscious of being tempted to steal from those who had much that she might give
to those who had nothing, and carried in her conscience the guilt of that
repressed desire. One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!
    Mrs. Farebrother welcomed the guest with a lively formality and precision.
She presently informed him that they were not often in want of medical aid in
that house. She had brought up her children to wear flannel and not to over-eat
themselves, which last habit she considered the chief reason why people needed
doctors. Lydgate pleaded for those whose fathers and mothers had over-eaten
themselves, but Mrs. Farebrother held that
