"She ought--yes--she ought possibly to have married,--" he said, in his slow, reflective way--"She would have made a good wife, and a still better mother. But an all-wise Providence has a remarkable habit--yes, I think we may call it quite a remarkable habit!--of persuading men generally to choose thriftless and flighty women for their wives, and to leave the capable ones single. That is so. Or in Miss Deane's case it may be an illustration of the statement that 'Mary hath chosen the better part.' Certainly when either men or women are happy in a state of single blessedness, a reference to the Seventh Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, will strengthen their minds and considerably assist them to remain in that condition." Thus Bunce would express himself, with a weighty air as of having given some vastly important and legal pronouncement. And when Helmsley suggested that it was possible Mary might yet marry, he shook his head in a strongly expressed negative. "No, David--no!" he said--"She is what we call--yes, I think we call it--an old maid. This is not a kind term, perhaps, but it is a true one. She is, I believe, in her thirty-fifth year,--a settled and mature woman. No man would take her unless she had a little money--enough, let us say, to help him set up a farm. For if a man takes youth to his bosom, he does not always mind poverty,--but if he cannot have youth he always wants money. Always! There is no middle course. Now our good Miss Deane will never have any money. And, even if she had, we may take it--yes, I certainly _think_ we may take it--that she would not care to _buy_ a husband. No--no! Her marrying days are past." "She is a beautiful woman!" said Helmsley, quietly. "You think so? Well, well, David! We have got used to her in Weircombe,--she seems to be a part of the village. When one is familiar with a person, one often fails to perceive the beauty that is apparent to a stranger. I believe this to be so--I believe, in general, we may take it to be so."