usually designated.

Miss Rachel was not much like her brother, for while the latter was
a good-hearted, cheerful easy man, who was inclined to view the
world in its sunniest aspect, Rachel was cynical, and given to
misanthropy. Poor Rachel, let us not be too hard upon thy
infirmities. Could we lift the veil that hides the secrets of that
virgin heart, it might be, perchance, that we should find a hidden
cause, far back in the days when thy cheeks were rounder and thine
eyes brighter, and thine aspect not quite so frosty. Ah, faithless
Harry Fletcher! thou hadst some hand in that peevishness and
repining which make Rachel Crump, and all about her, uncomfortable.
Lured away by a prettier face, you left her to pass through life,
unblessed by that love which every female heart craves, and for
which no kindred love will compensate. It was your faithlessness
that left her to walk, with repining spirit, the flinty path of the
old maid.

Yes; it must be said--Rachel Crump was an old maid; not from choice,
but hard necessity. And so, one by one, she closed up the avenues of
her heart, and clothed herself with complaining, as with a garment.
Being unblessed with earthly means, she had accepted the hearty
invitation of her brother, and become an inmate of his family, where
she paid her board by little services about the house, and obtained
sufficient needle-work to replenish her wardrobe as often as there
was occasion. Forty-five years had now rolled over her head, leaving
clearer traces of their presence, doubtless, than if her spirit had
been more cheerful; so that Rachel, whose strongly marked features
never could have been handsome, was now undeniably homely.