ith whom it has to do as
well as with their bodies. Hence she gave her waif a daily lesson in
religious and secular knowledge; she reduced work on the Sabbath-days to
the lowest possible point in the establishment, and induced her husband,
who was a little shy as well as bluff and off-hand, to institute family
worship, besides hanging on her walls here and there sweet and striking
texts from the Word of God.

Old Mrs Merryboy, the mother, must have been a merry girl in her youth;
for, even though at the age of eighty and partially deaf, she was
extremely fond of a joke, practical or otherwise, and had her face so
seamed with the lines of appreciative humour, and her nutcracker mouth
so set in a smile of amiable fun, and her coal-black eyes so lit up with
the fires of unutterable wit, that a mere glance at her stirred up your
sources of comicality to their depths, while a steady gaze usually
resulted in a laugh, in which she was sure to join with an apparent
belief that, whatever the joke might be, it was uncommonly good. She
did not speak much. Her looks and smiles rendered speech almost
unnecessary. Her figure was unusually diminutive.

Little Martha, the waif, was one of those mild, reticent, tiny things
that one feels a desire to fondle without knowing why. Her very small
face was always, and, as Bobby remarked, awfully grave, yet a ready
smile must have lurked close at hand somewhere, for it could be evoked
by the smallest provocation at any time, but fled the instant the
provoking cause ceased. She seldom laughed, but when she did the burst
was a hearty one, and over immediately. Her brown hair was smooth, her
brown eyes were gentle, her red mouth was small and round. Obedience
was ingrained in her nature. Original action seemed never to have
entered her imagination. She appeared to have been born with the idea
that her sphere in life was to do as she was directed. To resist and
fight were to her impossibilities. To be defended and kissed seemed to
be her natural perquisites. Yet her early life had been calculated to
foster other and far different qualities, as we shall learn ere long.

Tim Lumpy took to this little creature amazingly. She was so little
that by contrast he became quite big, and felt so! When in Martha's
presence he absolutely felt big and like a lion, a roaring lion capable
of defending her against all comers! Bobby was also attracted by her,
but in a comparatively mild degree.