I stood still, gazed, and considered.
"Of what are these things the signs and tokens ?" I asked.

The answer was obvious.

"A second guest is coming: Mrs.Bretton expects other visitors." On descending to dinner, explanations ensued.

A little girl, I was told, would shortly be my companion: the daughter of a friend and distant relation of the late Dr.Bretton's.

This little girl, it was added, had recently lost her mother; though, indeed, Mrs.Bretton ere long subjoined, the loss was not so great as might at first appear.
Mrs.Home (Home it seems was the name) had been a very pretty, but a giddy, careless woman, who had neglected her child, and disappointed and disheartened her husband.