were in fault.

Some parleying was audible in the hall, and soon the newcomer

entered. He bowed to Lady Ingram, as deeming her the eldest lady

present.

'It appears I come at an inopportune time, madam,' said he, 'when

my friend, Mr. Rochester, is from home; but I arrive from a very

long journey, and I think I may presume so far on old and intimate

acquaintance as to instal myself here till he returns.'

His manner was polite; his accent, in speaking, struck me as

being somewhat unusual,- not precisely foreign, but still not

altogether English: his age might be about Mr. Rochester's,- between

thirty and forty; his complexion was singularly sallow: otherwise he

was a fine-looking man, at first sight especially. On closer

examination, you detected something in his face that displeased, or

rather that failed to please. His features were regular, but too

relaxed: his eye was large and well cut, but the life looking out of

it was a tame, vacant life- at least so I thought.

The sound of the dressing-bell dispersed the party. It was not till

after dinner that I saw him again: he then seemed quite at his ease.

But I liked his physiognomy even less than before: it struck me as

being at the same time unsettled and inanimate. His eye wandered,

and had no meaning in its wandering: this gave him an odd look, such

as I never remembered to have seen. For a handsome and not an

unamiable-looking man, he repelled me exceedingly: there was no

power in that smooth-skinned face of a full oval shape: no firmness in

that aquiline nose and small cherry mouth; there was no thought on the

low, even forehead; no command in that blank, brown eye.

As I sat in my usual nook, and looked at him with the light of

the girandoles on the mantelpiece beaming full over him- for he

occupied an arm-chair drawn close to the fire and kept shrinking still

nearer, as if he were cold- I compared him with Mr. Rochester. I think

(with deference be it spoken) the contrast could not be much greater

between a sleek gander and a fierce falcon: between a meek sheep and

the rough-coated keen-eyed dog, its guardian.

He had spoken of Mr. Rochester as an old friend. A curious

friendship theirs must have been: a pointed illustration, indeed, of

the old adage that 'extremes meet.'

Two or three of the gentlemen sat near him, and I caught at times

scraps of their conversation across the room. At first I could not

make much sense of what I heard; for the discourse of Louisa Eshton

and Mary Ingram, who sat nearer to me, confused the fragmentary

sentences that reached me at intervals. These last were discussing the

stranger; they both called him 'a beautiful man.' Louisa said he was

'a love of a creature,' and she 'adored him'; and Mary instanced his

'pretty little mouth, and nice nose,' as her ideal of the charming.

'And what a sweet-tempered forehead he hast' cried Louisa,- 'so

smooth- none of those frowning irregularities I dislike so much; and

such a placid eye and smile!'

And then, to my great relief, Mr. Henry Lynn summoned them to the

other side of the room, to settle some point about the deferred

excursion to Hay Common.

I was now able to concentrate my attention on the group by the

fire, and I presently gathered that the newcomer was called Mr. Mason;

then I learned that he was but just arrived in England, and that he

came from some hot country: which was the reason, doubtless, his

face was so sallow, and that he sat so near the hearth, and wore a

surtout in the house. Presently the words Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish

Town, indicated the West Indies as his residence; and it was with no

little surprise I gathered, ere long, that he had there first seen and

become acquainted with Mr. Rochester. He spoke of his friend's dislike

of the burning heats, the hurricanes, and rainy seasons of that

region. I knew Mr. Rochester had been a traveller: Mrs. Fairfax had

said so; but I thought the continent of Europe had bounded his

wanderings; till now I had never heard a hint given of visits to

more distant shores.

I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhat

unexpected one, broke the thread of my musings. Mr. Mason, shivering

as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on

the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder

still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going

out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a

low voice, of which I heard only the words, 'old woman,'- 'quite

troublesome.'

'Tell her she shall be put in the stocks if she does not take

herself off,' replied the magistrate.

'No- stop!' interrupted Colonel Dent. 'Don't send her away, Eshton;

we might turn the thing to account; better consult the ladies.' And

speaking aloud, he continued- 'Ladies, you talked of going to Hay

Common to visit the gipsy camp; Sam here says that one of the old

Mother Bunches is in the servants' hall at this moment, and insists

upon being brought in before "the quality," to tell them their

fortunes. Would you like to see her?'

'Surely, colonel,' cried Lady Ingram, 'you would not encourage such

a low impostor? Dismiss her, by all means, at once!'

'But I cannot persuade her to go away, my lady,' said the

footman; 'nor can any of the servants: Mrs. Fairfax is with her just

now, entreating her to be gone; but she has taken a chair in the

chimney-corner, and says nothing shall stir her from it till she

gets leave to come in here.'

'What does she want?' asked Mrs. Eshton.

'"To tell the gentry their fortunes," she says, ma'am; and she

swears she must and will do it.'

'What is she like?' inquired the Misses Eshton, in a breath.

'A shockingly ugly old creature, miss; almost as black as a crock.'

'Why, she's a real sorceress!' cried Frederick Lynn. 'Let us have

her in, of course.'

'To be sure,' rejoined his brother; 'it would be a thousand

pities to throw away such a chance of fun.'

'My dear boys, what are you thinking about?' exclaimed Mrs. Lynn.

'I cannot possibly countenance any such inconsistentproceeding,'

chimed in the Dowager Ingram.

'Indeed, mama, but you can- and will,' pronounced the haughty voice

of Blanche, as she turned round on the piano-stool; where till now she

had sat silent, apparently examining sundry sheets of music. 'I have a

curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame

forward.'

'My darling Blanche! recollect-'

'I do- I recollect all you can suggest; and I must have my will-

quick, Sam!'

'Yes- yes- yes!' cried all the juveniles, both ladies and

gentlemen. 'Let her come- it will be excellent sport!'

The footman still lingered. 'She looks such a rough one,' said he.

'Go!' ejaculated Miss Ingram, and the man went.

Excitement instantly seized the whole party: a running fire of

raillery and jests was proceeding when Sam returned.

'She won't come now,' said he. 'She says it's not her mission to

appear before the "vulgar herd" (them's her words). I must show her

into a room by herself, and then those who wish to consult her must go

to her one by one.'

'You see now, my queenly Blanche,' began Lady Ingram, 'she

encroaches. Be advised, my angel girl- and-'

'Show her into the library, of course,' cut in the 'angel girl,'

'It is not my mission to listen to her before the vulgar herd

either: I mean to have her all to myself. Is there a fire in the

library?'

'Yes, ma'am- but she looks such a tinkler.'

'Cease that chatter, blockhead! and do my bidding.'

Again Sam vanished; and mystery, animation, expectation rose to

full flow once more.

'She's ready now,' said the footman, as he reappeared. 'She

wishes to know who will be her first visitor.'

'I think I had better just look in upon her before any of the

ladies go,' said Colonel Dent.

'Tell her, Sam, a gentleman is coming.'

Sam went and returned.

'She says, sir, that she'll have no gentlemen; they need not

trouble themselves to come near her; nor,' he added, with difficulty

suppressing a titter, 'any ladies either, except the young and

single.'

'By Jove, she has taste!' exclaimed Henry Lynn.

Miss Ingram rose solemnly: 'I go first,' she said, in a tone

which might have befitted the leader of a forlorn hope, mounting a

breach in the van of his men.

'Oh, my best! oh, my dearest! pause- reflect!' was her mama's

cry; but she swept past her in stately silence, passed through the

door which Colonel Dent held open, and we heard her enter the library.

A comparative silence ensued. Lady Ingram thought it 'le cas' to

wring her hands: which she did accordingly. Miss Mary declared she

felt, for her part, she never dared venture. Amy and Louisa Eshton

tittered under their breath, and looked a little frightened.

The minutes passed very slowly: fifteen were counted before the

library-door again opened. Miss Ingram returned to us through the

arch.

Would she laugh? Would she take it as a joke? All eyes met her with

a glance of eager curiosity, and she met all eyes with one of rebuff

and coldness; she looked neither flurried nor merry: she walked

stiffly to her seat, and took it in silence.

'Well, Blanche?' said Lord Ingram.

'What did she say, sister?' asked Mary.

'What did you think? How do you feel? Is she a real

fortune-teller?' demanded the Misses Eshton.

'Now, now, good people,' returned Miss Ingram, 'don't press upon

me. Really your organs of wonder and credulity are easily excited: you

seem, by the importance you all- my good mama included- ascribe to

this matter, absolutely to believe we have a genuine witch in the

house, who is in close alliance with the old gentleman. I have seen

a gipsy vagabond; she has practised in hackneyed fashion the science

of palmistry and told me what such people usually tell. My whim is

gratified; and now I think Mr. Eshton will do well to put the hag in

the stocks to-morrow morning, as he threatened.'

Miss Ingram took a book, leant back in her chair, and so declined

further conversation. I watched her for nearly half an hour: during

all that time she never turned a page, and her face grew momently

darker, more dissatisfied, and more sourlyexpressive of

disappointment. She had obviously not heard anything to her advantage:

and it seemed to me, from her prolonged fit of gloom and

taciturnity, that she herself, notwithstanding her professed

indifference, attached undue importance to whatever revelations had

been made her.

Meantime, Mary Ingram, Amy and Louisa Eshton, declared they dared

not go alone; and yet they all wished to go. A negotiation was

opened through the medium of the ambassador, Sam; and after much

pacing to and fro, till, I think, the said Sam's calves must have

ached with the exercise, permission was at last, with great

difficulty, extorted from the rigorous Sibyl, for the three to wait

upon her in a body.

Their visit was not so still as Miss Ingram's had been: we heard

hysterical giggling and little shrieks proceeding from the library;

and at the end of about twenty minutes they burst the door open, and

came running across the hall, as if they were half-scared out of their

wits.

'I am sure she is something not right!' they cried, one and all.

'She told us such things! She knows all about us!' and they sank

breathless into the various seats the gentlemen hastened to bring

them.

Pressed for further explanation, they declared she had told them of

things they had said and done when they were mere children;

described books and ornaments they had in their boudoirs at home:

keepsakes that different relations had presented to them. They

affirmed that she had even divined their thoughts, and had whispered

in the ear of each the name of the person she liked best in the world,

and informed them of what they most wished for.

Here the gentlemen interposed with earnest petitions to be

further enlightened on these two last-named points; but they got

only blushes, ejaculations, tremors, and titters, in return for

their importunity. The matrons, meantime, offered vinaigrettes and

wielded fans; and again and again reiterated the expression of their

concern that their warning had not been taken in time; and the elder

gentlemen laughed, and the younger urged their services on the

agitated fair ones.

In the midst of the tumult, and while my eyes and ears were fully

engaged in the scene before me, I heard a hem close at my elbow: I

turned, and saw Sam.

'If you please, miss, the gipsy declares that there is another

young single lady in the room who has not been to her yet, and she

swears she will not go till she has seen all. I thought it must be

you: there is no one else for it. What shall I tell her?'

'Oh, I will go by all means,' I answered: and I was glad of the

unexpected opportunity to gratify my much-excited curiosity. I slipped

out of the room, unobserved by any eye- for the company were

gathered in one mass about the trembling trio just returned- and I

closed the door quietly behind me.

'If you like, miss,' said Sam, 'I'll wait in the hall for you;

and if she frightens you, just call and I'll come in.'

'No, Sam, return to the kitchen: I am not in the least afraid.' Nor

was I; but I was a good deal interested and excited.