So few things happened at Knowl out of the accustomed routine, that a very trifling occurrence was enough to set people wondering and conjecturing in that serene household.

My father lived in remarkable seclusion; except for a ride, he hardly ever left the grounds of Knowl; and I don't think it happened twice in the year that a visitor sojourned among us.
There was not even that mild religious bustle which sometimes besets the wealthy and moral recluse.

My father had left the Church of England for some odd sect, I forget its name, and ultimately became, I was told, a Swedenborgian.

But he did not care to trouble me upon the subject.

So the old carriage brought my governess, when I had one, the old housekeeper, Mrs.Rusk, and myself to the parish church every Sunday.