"Hush! hush!" broke in Mrs Carbonel; "we don't want to hear all this. I hope no one will tell us unkind things of our new neighbours, for we want to be friends with all of you, especially with that bright-eyed baby. How old is it?" She made it smile by nodding to it, and Tirzah was mollified enough to say, "Four months, ma'am; but she have a tooth coming." "What's her name?" Tirzah showed her pretty white teeth in a smile. "Well, ma'am, my husband he doth want to call her Jane, arter his mother, 'cause 'tis a good short name, but I calls her Hoglah, arter my sister as died." "Then she hasn't been christened?" "No. You see we couldn't agree, nor get gossips; and that there parson, he be always in such a mighty hurry, or I'd a had her half-baptized Hoglah, and then Reuben he couldn't hinder it." Tirzah was getting quite confidential to Mrs Carbonel, and Dora meantime was talking to Molly Hewlett, but here it occurred to the former that they must not waste the women's time, and they wished them good-bye, Dora fearing, however, that there would be a quarrel between Tirzah and Molly. "Oh dear! oh dear!" she sighed, "couldn't you make peace between those two," she said; "they will fight it out." "No, I think the fear of the farmer and the need of finishing their work will avert the storm for the present at least," said Mary, "and I thought the more I said, the worse accusations I should hear." "But what people they are! I do begin to believe that attorney man, that they are a bad lot." "Don't be disheartened, Dora, no one has tried yet, apparently, to do anything for them. We must try to see them in their own homes." "Beginning with Mrs Seddon. She was quiet and civil, and did not beg." "Neither did that thin little woman. I should like to give her a flannel petticoat. There is a look of want about her." "But I'm most taken with the wild woman, with the teeth and the eyes, and the merry smile. I am sure there is fun in her." "Little enough fun, poor things!" sighed Mrs Carbonel. She was more used to poor people. She had more resolution, though less enthusiasm than her sister. CHAPTER FOUR. NOBODY'S BUSINESS. "For the rector don't live on his living like other Christian sort of folks."--_T. Hood_. The sisters found on coming home that a very handsome chestnut horse was being walked up and down before the front door, and their man-servant, William, informed them that it belonged to the clergyman. As they advanced to the verandah, Captain Carbonel and his visitor came out to meet them, and Mr Ashley Selby was introduced. He looked more like a sportsman than a clergyman, except for his black coat; he had a happy, healthy, sunburnt face, top boots, and a riding-whip in his hand, and informed Mrs Carbonel that his father and mother would have the honour of calling on her in a day or two. They had an impression that he had come to reconnoitre and decide whether they were farmers or gentry.