It was now about a year and a half since old Margaret Gray had sold off all her effects, to pay the debts of Rosamund's father--just after the mother had died of a broken heart; for her husband had fled his country to hide his shame in a foreign land. At that period the old lady retired to a small cottage in the village of Widford in Hertfordshire. Rosamund, in her thirteenth year, was left destitute, without fortune or friends: she went with her grandmother. In all this time she had served her faithfully and lovingly. Old Margaret Gray, when she first came into these parts, had eyes, and could see. The neighbors said, they had been dimmed by weeping: be that as it may, she was latterly grown quite blind. "God is very good to us, child; I can _feel_ you yet." This she would sometimes say; and we need not wonder to hear, that Rosamund clave unto her grandmother. Margaret retained a spirit unbroken by calamity. There was a principle _within_, which it seemed as if no outward circumstances could reach. It was a _religious_ principle, and she had taught it to Rosamund; for the girl had mostly resided with her grandmother from her earliest years. Indeed she had taught her all that she knew herself; and the old lady's knowledge did not extend a vast way. Margaret had drawn her maxims from observation; and a pretty long experience in life had contributed to make her, at times, a little _positive:_ but Rosamund never argued with her grandmother. Their library consisted chiefly in a large family Bible, with notes and expositions by various learned expositors, from Bishop Jewell downwards. This might never be suffered to lie about like other books, but was kept constantly wrapt up in a handsome case of green velvet, with gold tassels--the only relic of departed grandeur they had brought with them to the cottage--everything else of value had been sold off for the purpose above mentioned. This Bible Rosamund, when a child, had never dared to open without permission; and even yet, from habit, continued the custom. Margaret had parted with none of her _authority_; indeed it was never exerted with much harshness; and happy was Rosamund, though a girl grown, when she could obtain leave to read her Bible. It was a treasure too valuable for an indiscriminate use; and Margaret still pointed out to her grand-daughter _where to read._ Besides this, they had the "Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation," with cuts--"Pilgrim's Progress," the first part--a Cookery Book, with a few dry sprigs of rosemary and lavender stuck here and there between the leaves, (I suppose to point to some of the old lady's most favorite receipts,) and there was "Wither's Emblems," an old book, and quaint. The old-fashioned pictures in this last book were among the first exciters of the infant Rosamund's curiosity. Her contemplation had fed upon them in rather older years.