, which I profess I am still at some loss to
understand, jumped naturally with the inclination of my mind. Call it,
if you will, impudence; I am here, at least, prepared for any
proposition you can find it in your heart to make, and resolutely
determined to accept."

"You express yourself very well," replied the old lady, "and are
certainly a droll and curious young man. I should not care to affirm
that you were sane, for I have never found any one entirely so besides
myself; but at least the nature of your madness entertains me, and I
will reward you with some description of my character and life."

Thereupon the old lady, still fondling the cat upon her lap, proceeded
to narrate the following particulars.

NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY

I was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Bernard Fanshawe, who held a
valuable living in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Our family, a very
large one, was noted for a sprightly and incisive wit, and came of a
good old stock where beauty was an heirloom. In Christian grace of
character we were unhappily deficient. From my earliest years I saw and
deplored the defects of those relatives whose age and position should
have enabled them to conquer my esteem; and while I was yet a child, my
father married a second wife, in whom (strange to say) the Fanshawe
failings were exaggerated to a monstrous and almost laughable degree.
Whatever may be said against me, it cannot be denied I was a pattern
daughter; but it was in vain that, with the most touching patience, I
submitted to my stepmother's demands; and from the hour she entered my
father's house, I may say that I met with nothing but injustice and
ingratitude.

I stood not alone, however, in the sweetness of my disposition; for one
other of the family besides myself was free from any violence of
character. Before I had reached the age of sixteen, this cousin, John by
name, had conceived for me a sincere but silent passion; and although
the poor lad was too timid to hint at the nature of his feelings, I had
soon divined and begun to share them. For some days I pondered on the
odd situation created for me by the bashfulness of my admirer; and at
length, perceiving that he begun, in his distress, rather to avoid than
seek my company, I determined to take the matter into my own hands.
Finding him alone in a retired part of the rectory garden, I told him
that I had divined his amiable secret; that I knew with what disfavour
ou