danced down into the parlour, becoming suddenly
sober as she crossed the threshold.

Phoebe followed, and unless her face much belied her thoughts, she was a
good deal puzzled by her new cousin.

CHAPTER TWO.

MAKING ACQUAINTANCES.

"Ah, be not sad, although thy lot be cast Far from the flock, and in a
distant waste: No shepherds' tents within thy view appear, Yet the Chief
Shepherd is for ever near."

_Cowper_.

The Abbey Church of White-Ladies, to which allusion has already been
made, was not in any condition for Divine Service, being only a
beautiful ruin. When Madam went to church, therefore, she drove two
miles to Tewkesbury.

At nine o'clock punctually, the great lumbering coach was drawn to the
door by the two heavy Flanders mares, with long black tails which almost
touched the ground. Madam, in a superb costume of black satin, trimmed
with dark fur and white lace, took her seat in the place of honour.
Rhoda, in a satin gown and hood, with a silk petticoat, all black, as
became the day, sat on the small seat at one side of the door. But
Rhoda sat with her face to the horses, while the yet lower place
opposite was reserved for Phoebe, in her unpretending mourning. The
great coach rumbled off, out of the grand gates, always opened when
Madam was present, past the ruins of the Abbey Church, and drew up
before a row of six little houses, fronted by six little gardens. They
were built on a very minute scale, exactly alike, each containing four
small rooms--kitchen, parlour, and two bedrooms over, with a little
lean-to scullery at the back. On the mid-most coping-stone appeared a
lofty inscription to the effect that--

"The Maidens' Lodge was built to the Praise and Glory of God, by the
pious care of Mistress Perpetua Furnival, Widow, for the lodging of six
decayed gentlewomen, Spinsters, of Good Birth and Quality,--A.D. 1702."

It occurred to Phoebe, as she sat reading the inscription, that it might
have been pleasanter to the decayed gentlewomen in question not to have
their indigence quite so openly proclaimed to the world, even though
coupled with good birth and quality, and redounding to the fame of
Mistress Perpetua Furnival. But Phoebe had not much time to meditate;
for the door of the first little house opened, and down the gravel walk,
towards the carriage, came the neatest and nicest of little old ladies,
attired, like everybody that day, in black, and carrying a silver-headed
cane, on