AGAIN, OLD AND NEW ACQUAINTANCE, 181

which would pay much better interest. Williams
was just the purchaser they wanted, one who had
plenty of money, and wanted to lay some of it out,
They were charmed with the thought, and nothing
could exceed the lawyer’s friendliness. The next
time Williams talked of investing some of his money
in the purchase of a small estate, Bassett suddenly
recollected that his sister might be induced to sell.
Nothing in the world could be more desirable than
her place, it was just what he wanted—in excellent
condition, neither too large nor too small, with just
the right quantity of land—a thorough gentleman’s
place. Williams's wishes were excited; and then he
was informed that the sister was willing to sell ; he
might see the place; he should take a note to her the
next day.

“He'll bite!” said Tom Bassett, chuckling to
himself, and thinking that he had managed it famous-
ly. A word, now, respecting the lady herself. She
was older than her brother, was in fact two-and-
thirty, a really good, excellent creature, who, if she
looked as old as she was, made you forget everything
but how good she was. She was spoken of in her
own neighbourhood as something quite uncommon.
She had a school for the poor children, which she
superintended herself every day; she visited the poor,
lent them good books, and befriended them in a
hundred ways ; she was just the person calculated
for a country clergyman’s wife. Her brother had a
husband in view for her, and desired nothing more
than to get her away from her cottage in Needwood
Forest, where, he said, she buried herself alive. He
wanted her to marry a man who was willing to marry.
her, and who would have the means of putting busi-