I will endeavour to make my house pleasant to her and useful, and will make her an allowance of L25 per annum for her clothes as long as she may remain with me.

I shall expect her to be regular at meals, to be constant in going to church, and not to read modern novels.
I intend the arrangement to be permanent, but of course I must retain the power of closing it if, and when, I shall see fit.

Its permanence must be contingent on my life.

I have no power of providing for any one _after my death_.
Yours truly, JEMIMA STANBURY.
I hope the young lady does not have any false hair about her.
When this note was received at Nuncombe Putney the amazement which it occasioned was extreme.

Mrs.Stanbury, the widow of the late vicar, lived in a little morsel of a cottage on the outskirts of the village, with her two daughters, Priscilla and Dorothy.