e charity or credulity of the respective interrogators, that
one would certainly have thought them questions of vital importance to
their own immediate interests. Strange to say, however, with all this
unwonted zeal and perseverance, at the end of the nine days, (the
legitimate time for wonderment,) all that the very wisest of the group
of gossips could bring forward as the fruits of her patient and
untiring investigation, was the simple fact that the lady's name was
Layton--the nurse's Jeffries--and that the child, who soon became the
pet of the whole household, was always addressed by the servants at
the inn as "Miss Fanny," and, moreover, that Mrs. L. was certainly in
mourning for her husband, as she had been seen one morning by the
chambermaid weeping over the miniature of a "very fine-looking man,
dressed in uniform," and had, in all probability, come to take up her
residence in our quiet Aberdeen, as she had been heard inquiring about
the small cottage beneath the hill, (the self-same, dear reader, the
neglect and desertion of which were but now lamented.)

Truth to tell, it _was_ shrewdly surmised that the landlady at the
"Golden Eagle" had gleaned more particular information than this,
although whenever she was questioned concerning the matter, she did
only reply by a very grave shake of the head, each vibration of which
(particularly when accompanied by a pursing of the mouth, and a
mysterious looking round) more and more convinced her simple-minded
auditors (i.e. some of them, for it is not to be denied that there
were a few incredulous ones who, either from former experiences, or
natural sagacity, or some cause unknown, hesitated not to declare it
to be their fixed and unalterable opinion that these seeming
indications of superior knowledge on the part of good Mrs. Gordon,
were but "a deceitful show," "for their '_delusion_' given,") that
she, Mrs. G., had been entrusted either by Mistress Jeffries, the
nurse, or perhaps by the lady herself, with a weighty and important
secret, which it would be very dreadful, indeed, to disclose. And yet,
when such a possibility was vaguely hinted to her, she did not, (as
one would be disposed to do who was really striving to deceive the
eager questioners around her, by giving them an erroneous impression
as to the amount of her knowledge on the subject,) seize the idea with
avidity, and seem manifestly anxious to encourage such a supposition.
On the contrary, it was evident