10 THE HISTORY OF

“Truly, Madam,” said the woman, “I would
not wish to harbour any bad person in my
house; but I really think that this poor friend-
less girl is one whom no one can say any thing
ill against. She is extremely neat and plain in
her dress, and most civil and obliging in her
carriage; while she was tolerably well, which
she was during the first week of her being with
me, she did some little work for Farmer Flem-
ming, who, as-she told me, knew her father and
mother; and then she paid me every night her
two-pence for her lodging. But since she has
been ill, she has scarcely been able to raise
enough to keep her from starving, by selling,
one by one, the few clothes which she brought
with her. She has a handsome Bible and
Prayer-Book, which are constantly in her
hands: these, she says, she would not sell, if
she could possibly help it, for she calls them
her only comforters.”

“Did you not say,” asked my wife, “ that
Farmer Flemming knew this poor girl’s father
and mother?”

“Yes, Madam,” replied the woman; “ they
lived many years ago in this parish; their
names were Gray.”

“‘Gray!” exclaimed my wife; “is it pos-
sible!” And she looked at me.

1 immediately put on my hat, and, following
the woman, hastened down into the village,
thinking, as I walked along, of the wonderful
ways of God: how sometimes for a season the
good seem to be chastened and the wicked to
flourish. But we know that all things work