devoted, from the ready money which had accrued from the rents during his
minority, as much as made her fortune (with her own accumulated at
compound interest) no less than L4000, the ordinary marriage portion of
the daughters of Hazeldean. On her coming of age, he transferred this
sum to her absolute disposal, in order that she might feel herself
independent, see a little more of the world than she could at Hazeldean,
have candidates to choose from if she deigned to marry; or enough to live
upon, if she chose to remain single. Miss Jemima had somewhat availed
herself of this liberty, by occasional visits to Cheltenham and other
watering-places. But her grateful affection to the squire was such that
she could never bear to be long away from the Hall. And this was the
more praise to her heart, inasmuch as she was far from taking kindly to
the prospect of being an old maid; and there were so few bachelors in the
neighbourhood of Hazeldean, that she could not but have that prospect
before her eyes whenever she looked out of the Hall windows. Miss Jemima
was indeed one of the most kindly and affectionate of beings feminine;
and if she disliked the thought of single blessedness, it really was from
those innocent and womanly instincts towards the tender charities of
hearth and home, without which a lady, however otherwise estimable, is
little better than a Minerva in bronze. But, whether or not, despite her
fortune and her face, which last, though not strictly handsome, was
pleasing, and would have been positively pretty if she had laughed more
often (for when she laughed, there appeared three charming dimples,
invisible when she was grave),--whether or not, I say, it was the fault
of our insensibility or her own fastidiousness, Miss Jemima approached
her thirtieth year, and was still Miss Jemima. Now, therefore, that
beautifying laugh of hers was very rarely heard, and she had of late
become confirmed in two opinions, not at all conducive to laughter. One
was a conviction of the general and progressive wickedness of the male
sex, and the other was a decided and lugubrious belief that the world was