 our young friend has
no doubt heard of - the - a - Jarndyce and Jarndyce.«
    »Never,« said Mrs. Rachael.
    »Is it possible,« pursued Mr. Kenge, putting up his eye-glasses, »that our
young friend - I beg you won't distress yourself! - never heard of Jarndyce and
Jarndyce!«
    I shook my head, wondering even what it was.
    »Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?« said Mr. Kenge, looking over his glasses at
me, and softly turning the case about and about, as if he were petting
something. »Not of one of the greatest Chancery suits known? Not of Jarndyce and
Jarndyce - the - a - in itself a monument of Chancery practice. In which (I
would say) every difficulty, every contingency, every masterly notion, every
form of procedure known in that court, is represented over and over again? It is
a cause that could not exist, out of this free and great country. I should say
that the aggregate of costs in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mrs. Rachael;« I was
afraid he addressed himself to her, because I appeared inattentive; »amounts at
the present hour to from SIX-ty to SEVEN-ty THOUSAND POUNDS!« said Mr. Kenge,
leaning back in his chair.
    I felt very ignorant, but what could I do? I was so entirely unacquainted
with the subject, that I understood nothing about it even then.
    »And she really never heard of the cause!« said Mr. Kenge. »Surprising!«
    »Miss Barbary, sir,« returned Mrs. Rachael, »who is now among the Seraphim
-«
    (»I hope so, I am sure,« said Mr. Kenge politely.)
    »- Wished Esther only to know what would be serviceable to her. And she
knows, from any teaching she has had here, nothing more.«
    »Well!« said Mr. Kenge. »Upon the whole, very proper. Now to the point,«
addressing me. »Miss Barbary, your sole relation (in fact, that is; for I am
bound to observe that in law you had none), being deceased, and it naturally not
being to be expected that Mrs. Rachael -«
    »O dear no!« said Mrs. Rachael, quickly.
    »Quite so,« assented Mr. Kenge; - »that Mrs. Rachael should charge herself
with your maintenance and support (I beg you won't distress yourself), you are
in a position to
