 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 erelong, 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 bank-notes, 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
