But though she lived very simply, she never seemed to be in difficulties.

Five hundred pounds a year go a long way in the village of Billingsfield.

It was certainly not want of money which made her unhappy.

The interest of the sum represented by the pictures hung in her little sitting-room, not to mention the other objects of value she possessed, would have been alone sufficient to afford her a living.

The squire himself would have given her a high price for these things, but in six months she never in the most distant manner suggested that she wished to part with them.