person here?" exclaimed Mrs Easy. "Not a married woman, and she has a
child!"

"If you please, ma'am," interrupted the young woman, dropping a
curtsey, "it was a very little one."

"A very little one!" exclaimed Mrs Easy.

"Yes, ma'am, very small, indeed, and died soon after it was born."

"Oh, Dr Middleton!--what could you mean, Dr Middleton?"

"My dear madam," exclaimed the Doctor, rising from his chair, "this is
the only person that I could find suited to the wants of your child,
and if you do not take her I cannot answer for its life. It is true,
that a married woman might be procured; but married women, who have a
proper feeling, will not desert their own children; and as Mr Easy
asserts, and you appear to imagine, the temper and disposition of your
child may be affected by the nourishment it receives, I think it more
likely to be injured by the milk of a married woman who will desert
her own child for the sake of gain. The misfortune which has happened
to this young woman is not always a proof of a bad heart, but of
strong attachment, and the overweening confidence of simplicity."

"You are correct, Doctor," replied Mr Easy, "and her head proves that
she is a modest young woman, with strong religious feeling, kindness
of disposition, and every other requisite."

"The head may prove it all for what I know, Mr Easy, but her conduct
tells another tale."