on that had remained vacant for
many years. He had despaired of ever selling it, when one day an elderly
lady, very richly dressed, drove up to the office and made inquiries
about it. She said she had come across it accidentally while travelling
through that part of the country the previous autumn, and had been much
struck by its beauty and picturesqueness. She added she was looking out
for some quiet spot where she could settle down and peacefully pass the
remainder of her days, and thought this place might possibly prove to be
the very thing for her.

"My cousin, delighted with the chance of a purchaser, at once drove her
across to the estate, which was about eight miles distant from the town,
and they went over it together. My cousin waxed eloquent upon the
subject of its advantages. He dwelt upon its quiet and seclusion, its
proximity--but not too close proximity--to the church, its convenient
distance from the village.

"Everything pointed to a satisfactory conclusion of the business. The
lady was charmed with the situation and the surroundings, and delighted
with the house and grounds. She considered the price moderate.

"'And now, Mr. Brown,' said she, as they stood by the lodge gate, 'tell
me, what class of poor have you got round about?'

"'Poor?' answered my cousin; 'there are no poor.'

"'No poor!' exclaimed the lady. 'No poor people in the village, or
anywhere near?'

"'You won't find a poor person within five miles of the estate,' he
replied proudly. 'You see, my dear madam, this is a thinly populated and
exceedingly prosperous county: this particular district especially so.
There is not a family in it that is not, comparatively speaking, well-to-
do.'

"'I'm sorry to hear that,' said the lady, in a tone of disappointment.
'The place would have suited me so admirably but for that.'

"'But surely, madam,' cried my cousin, to whom a demand for poor persons
was an entirely new idea, 'you don't mean to say that you _want_ poor
people! Why, we've always considered it one of the chief attractions of
the property--nothing to shock the eye or wound the susceptibilities of
the most tender-hearted occupant.'

"'My dear Mr. Brown,' replied the lady, 'I will be perfectly frank with
you. I am becoming an old woman, and my past life has not, perhaps, been
altogether too well spent. It is my desire to atone for the--er--follies
of my youth by an old age of well-doing, and to that end it is essential