blunt, outspoken woman, who called a spade a spade, and whose rule of
action was, as she expressed it, the naked truth and nothing but the
naked truth. Had she worn false teeth and supposed any one thought them
natural, she would at once have taken them out to show that they were
not; and as to false hair, and frizzes, and powder, and all the many
devices used, as she said, "to build a woman," she abominated them, and
preferred to be just what the Lord had made her, without any attempt to
improve upon his work. Once Lucy Grey had asked her why she did not call
herself Elizabeth, or Lizzie, instead of Betsey, which was so
old-fashioned, and she had retorted, sharply, that though of all names
upon earth she thought Betsey the worst, it was given to her by her
sponsors in baptism, and Betsey she would remain to the day of her
death.

She was tall and angular, with large features, sharp nose, and little
bright, black, bead-like eyes, which seemed to look you through, and
read your most secret thoughts. As her name indicated, she was of Scotch
descent; indeed, her grandfather was Scotch by birth, but he had moved
into England, where her father and mother, and herself were born, so
that she called herself English, though she gloried in her Scotch blood
and her Scotch face, which was unmistakable.

After her birth, her father had bought a place in Bangor, Wales, which
he called Stoneleigh, and there her two brothers, Hugh and John, were
born, and her parents had died.

She had come alone to Allington, when comparatively young, and, settling
down quietly, had for a time watched closely the habits of the people
around her, and posted herself thoroughly with regard to the workings
and institutions of a Republic, and then she adopted them heartily, and