ur. From these to a mahogany chest of drawers
with brass handles was a sad drop, and we never regained the high
romance of those first few minutes; but the furniture was undeniably
handsome, and when Miss Bracy stepped out and offered us sixpence apiece
to go and annoy somebody else, we came away convinced that our visitors
were persons of exceptionally high rank. It puzzled us afterwards that,
though a bargain is a bargain, not one of us had stayed to claim his
sixpence.

The newcomers brought no servants; but after a week there arrived (also
out of nowhere) an elderly and taciturn cook. Also, Miss Bracy on the
third morning walked up to the farm at the head of the valley and hired
down the hind's second daughter for a "help." We knew this girl, Lizzie
Truscott, and waylaid her on her homeward road that evening for
information. She told us that Miss Bracy's cats had a cradle apiece
lined with muslin over pink calico; that the window curtains inside
reached from the ceilings to the floors; that the number of knives and
forks was something cruel--one kind for fish, another for meat, and a
third for fruit; that in one of the looking-glasses a body could see
herself at one time from head to feet, though why you should want a
looking-glass to see your feet in when you could see them without was
more than she knew; and, finally, that Miss Bracy had strictly forbidden
her to carry tales--a behest which, convinced that Miss Bracy had
dealings with the Evil One, she meant to observe. The elderly cook when
she arrived warned us away from the door with a dialect we did not
recognise. Her name (Lizzie reported) was Deborah, and in our haste we
set her down for a Jewess; but I seem to have detected her accent since,
and a few of her pet phrases, in the pages of Scottish fiction.

This is all I can tell--so fitful are childish memories--of the coming
of Miss Bracy and Mr. Frank. I cannot say, for instance, what gossip it
bred, or how soon they wore down the edge of it and became, with their
eccentricities, an accepted feature of the spot they had made their
home. They made no friends, no acquaintances: everyone knew of Miss
Bracy's cats, but few had seen them. Miss Bracy herself was on view in
church every Sunday morning, when Mr. Frank walked with her as far as
the porch. He never entered the building, but took a country walk
during service, returning in time to meet her at the porch and escort
her home. His other walks