hair neat and smooth under her modest white cap; her eyes, set deep in
their orbits, looking straight at any person who spoke to her--here,
at a first view, was a steady, trust-worthy woman. Here also on closer
inspection, was a woman with the seal of some terrible past suffering
set on her for the rest of her life. You felt it, rather than saw it, in
the look of immovable endurance which underlain her expression--in the
deathlike tranquillity which never disappeared from her manner. Her
story was a sad one--so far as it was known. She had entered Lady
Lundie's service at the period of Lady Lundie's marriage to Sir Thomas.
Her character (given by the clergyman of her parish) described her as
having been married to an inveterate drunkard, and as having suffered
unutterably during her husband's lifetime. There were drawbacks to
engaging her, now that she was a widow. On one of the many occasions on
which her husband had personally ill-treated her, he had struck her a
blow which had produced very remarkable nervous results. She had lain
insensible many days together, and had recovered with the total loss of
her speech. In addition to this objection, she was odd, at times, in her
manner; and she made it a condition of accepting any situation, that she
should be privileged to sleep in a room by herself As a set-off against
all this, it was to be said, on the other side of the question, that she
was sober; rigidly honest in all her dealings; and one of the best cooks
in England. In consideration of this last merit, the late Sir Thomas
had decided on giving her a trial, and had discovered that he had never
dined in his life as he dined when Hester Dethridge was at the head of
his kitchen. She remained after his death in his widow's service. Lady
Lundie was far from liking her. An unpleasant suspicion attached to the
cook, which Sir Thomas had over-looked, but which persons less sensible
of the immense importance of dining well could not fail to regard as
a serious objection to her. Medical men, consulted about her case
discovered certain physiological anomalies in it which led them to