To gratify Sir Murdock, who by no means relished my preference of the second floor for my domain, I have placed my books and the piano-forte in one of the parlours, which has wonderfully domesticated us to that room. He is too well bred to intrude on my private hours; but he often induces me to shorten them, for there is a pleasure which belongs to sympathy; and when I see the poor baronet’s eyes brighten at my approach, I feel the gaiety which I often assume, settling into contentment. Have I said enough to satisfy your curiosity? Will it not be my own fault if I am dissatisfied with a prison regulated by order and neatness, and inhabited by people who wish to make it pleasant? I promise you, Lucy, that I will be all you wish me to be; but I must have intelligence of our dear wanderer. Neither Tarefield-hall, nor _Heathcot_ itself, would content me, without this indulgence; and, to say the truth, I would rather be the “Wet sea-boy” in Lord William’s yacht, “even when the visitation of the winds takes the billows by the top,” than dwell in a terrestrial paradise. But this is the romance of a girl! and as Solomon, from the next room, is glaring his large eyes on me, I will profit from the admonition they give me, and close this letter and my own eyes for the night. Heaven will, in its mercy, receive the petition I offer for all that is dear to Rachel Cowley, for in that confidence do I live. P. S. Mrs. Allen bids me tell you that she finds Tarefield has a worse report than it deserves. It is haunted only by _one_ unquiet spirit, and that may be said of nine hundred and ninety-nine houses out of a thousand. She has, by her usual address, found the means of quieting this nuisance as it approaches her; for Miss Flint affects to have a great veneration for Mrs. Allen’s judgment, particularly in physic, in which she is or seems to be an adept. I heartily wish she may be converted to Mrs. Allen’s creed, of being “good to all,” it would do more for her weak _nerves_—could you but see this woman!—than a course of valerian and bark. LETTER VII. _From the same to the same._