"Why, 'squire, she is all that; but, though modest and not proud, as you
may see, yet she's a little above my mark. She is book-learned, and I am
not; and she paints, and is a musician too and has all the
accomplishments. She was an only child, and her father was quite another
sort of person from his brother who now has her in management."

"She is an orphan, then?"

"Yes, poor girl, and she feels pretty clearly that this isn't the sort
of country in which she has a right to live. I like her very well, but,
as I say, she's a little above me; and, besides, you must know, 'squire,
I'm rather fixed in another quarter."

They had now reached the chamber of our hero, and the servant having
placed the light and retired, the parties took seats, and the
conversation recommenced.

"I know not how it is, Forrester," said the youth, "but there are few
men whose looks I so little like, and whom I would more willingly avoid,
than that man Rivers. What he is I know not--but I suspect him of
mischief. I may be doing wrong to the man, and injustice to his
character; but, really, his eye strikes me as singularly malicious,
almost murderous; and though not apt to shrink from men at any time, it
provoked something of a shudder to-day when it met my own. He may be,
and perhaps you may be able to say, whether he is a worthy person or
not; for my part, I should only regard him as one to be watched
jealously and carefully avoided. There is something creepingly malignant
in the look which shoots out from his glance, like that of the
rattlesnake, when coiled and partially concealed in the brake. When I