ular one; and I have often thought it
must have been a corruption of _Touchy_, as a constitutional tendency to
the infirmity thereby signified was continually apparent in their
conduct toward all who came in contact with them. The whole family,
comprising the parents, two daughters, and a son, were a jealous,
envious set, rarely saying a kind word to any one, and never, as my
mother often remarked, doing a kind thing even to us, who were more
sociable with them than any other of the neighbors. Of course they had
abundance of ridiculous pride, though having nothing to be proud of; and
one of the daughters, Miss Belinda, was remarkable for holding up her
head as if she had been the finest lady in the land, besides having a
curt, snappish way of speaking, that made me habitually afraid of her.

These people had a piece of ground of the same size as ours, which the
father worked as a garden. He was very skilful at gardening, and kept
everything in such complete order that I would many times have gone in
to admire his fruits and flowers, had it not been for the crisp
reception that one was sure to get from Miss Belinda Tetchy and her
mother. They never invited us inside the gate, and seemed jealous of our
learning any particulars of what they were doing. The father had some
grains of good-nature in his disposition, and would have been glad to
have me come in occasionally: I am sure of this, as he often came into
our garden and gave me very useful advice and instruction about what I
was cultivating. But his wife's temper was a bar to all hospitality, and
our intercourse with the family was accordingly as limited as possible,
except with the son, Arthur, who made himself quite intimate at our
house, and was disposed to set up for a beau to my sister, though I
never could discover that she had any particular liking for him. Even
he, however, was habitually taciturn about what was done in their
garden, as if he had been well drilled in the art of concealment.

We never could tell with certainty how this family contrived to live as
well as they did. The father had no other employment than that afforded
by his garden, at least that we ever knew. There was a sort of mystery
about what he did with his most valuable fruit. We saw him taking it
away in a wheelbarrow, but it was always carefully covered, and none but
his family knew whether he took it to market, or disposed of it to the
fruit stores in the city. The family never boaste