church,' said Belle; 'and to prevent any more
guessing on your part, it will be as well for me to tell you, friend,
that I am nothing to the young man, and he, of course, nothing to me. I
am a poor travelling girl, born in a workhouse: journeying on my
occasions with certain companions, I came to this hollow, where my
company quarrelled with the young man, who had settled down here, as he
had a right to do if he pleased; and not being able to drive him out,
they went away after quarrelling with me, too, for not choosing to side
with them; so I stayed here along with the young man, there being room
for us both, and the place being as free to me as to him.'

'And in order that you may be no longer puzzled with respect to myself,'
said I; 'I will give you a brief outline of my history. I am the son of
honourable parents, who gave me a first-rate education, as far as
literature and languages went, with which education I endeavoured, on the
death of my father, to advance myself to wealth and reputation in the big
city; but failing in the attempt, I conceived a disgust for the busy
world, and determined to retire from it. After wandering about for some
time, and meeting with various adventures, in one of which I contrived to
obtain a pony, cart, and certain tools used by smiths and tinkers, I came
to this place, where I amused myself with making horse-shoes, or rather
pony-shoes, having acquired the art of wielding the hammer and tongs from
a strange kind of smith--not him of Gretna Green--whom I knew in my
childhood. And here I lived, doing harm to no one, quite lonely and
solitary, till one fine morning the premises were visited by this young
gentlewoman and her companions. She did herself anything but justice
when she said that her companions quarrelled with her because she would
not side with them against me; they quarrelled with her because she came
most heroically to my assistance as I was on the point of being murdered;
and she forgot to tell you that, after they had abandoned her, she stood
by me in the--dark hour, comforting and cheering me, when unspeakable
dread, to which I am occasionally subject, took possession of my mind.
She says she is nothing to me, even as I am nothing to her. I am of
course nothing to her, but she is mistaken in thinking she is nothing to
me. I entertain the highest regard and admiration for her, being
convinced that I might search the whole world in vain for a nature more
heroic an