sworn
she was not born at Witt-ham;59 for Gaffer Gibbs looked at her all the time of
service, and he says, she could not turn up a single lesson like a Christian,
even though she had Madge Murdockson to help her - but then, as to fending for
hersell, why, she's a bit of a Scotchwoman, your Reverence, and they say the
worst donnot of them can look out for their own turn - and she is decently put
on enow, and not bechounched like t'other.«
    »Send her in here, then, and do you remain below, Mr. Stubbs.«
    This colloquy had engaged Jeanie's attention so deeply, that it was not
until it was over that she observed that the sashed door, which, we have said,
led from the anteroom into the garden, was opened, and that there entered, or
rather was borne in by two assistants, a young man, of a very pale and sickly
appearance, whom they lifted to the nearest couch, and placed there, as if to
recover from the fatigue of an unusual exertion. Just as they were making this
arrangement, Stubbs came out of the library, and summoned Jeanie to enter it.
She obeyed him, not without tremor; for, besides the novelty of the situation,
to a girl of her secluded habits, she felt also as if the successful prosecution
of her journey was to depend upon the impression she should be able to make on
Mr. Staunton.
    It is true, it was difficult to suppose on what pretext a person travelling
on her own business, and at her own charge, could be interrupted upon her route.
But the violent detention she had already undergone, was sufficient to show that
there existed persons at no great distance who had the interest, the
inclination, and the audacity, forcibly to stop her journey, and she felt the
necessity of having some countenance and protection, at least till she should
get beyond their reach. While these things passed through her mind, much faster
than our pen and ink can record, or even the reader's eye collect the meaning of
its traces, Jeanie found herself in a handsome library, and in presence of the
Rector of Willingham. The well-furnished presses and shelves which surrounded
the large and handsome apartment, contained more books than Jeanie imagined
existed in the world, being accustomed to consider as an extensive collection
two fir shelves, each about three feet long, which contained her father's
treasured volumes, the whole pith and marrow, as he used sometimes to