to be suspected of it mrs general gravely inclined her head i cannot therefore put a price upon services which it is a pleasure to me to render if i can render them but which i could not render in mere return for any consideration neither do i know how or where to find a case parallel to my own it is peculiar no doubt but how then mr not hinted could the subject be approached i cannot object said mrs general � though even that is disagreeable to me � to mr s in confidence of my friends here what amount they may have been accustomed at intervals to pay to my credit at my mr bowed his permit me to add said mrs general that beyond this i can never resume the topic also that i can accept no second or inferior position if the honor were proposed to me of becoming known to mr s family � i think two daughters were mentioned two daughters i could only accept it on terms of perfect equality as a companion protector and friend mr in spite of his sense of his importance felt as if it would be quite a kindness in her to accept it on any conditions he almost said as much i think repeated mrs general two daughters were mentioned two daughters said mr again it would therefore said mrs general be necessary to add a third more to the payment whatever its amount may prove to be which my friends here have been accustomed to make to my mr lost no time in referring the delicate question to the county and finding that he had been accustomed to pay three hundred pounds a year to the credit of mrs general arrived without any severe strain on his at the conclusion that he himself must pay four mrs general being an article of that surface which suggests that it is worth any money he made a formal proposal to be allowed to have the honor and pleasure of regarding her as a member of his family mrs general that high privilege and here she was in person mrs general including her skirts which had much to do with it was of a dignified and imposing appearance ample rustling gravely always upright behind the she might have been taken � had been taken � to the top of the and the bottom of without a fold in her dress os little a pin if her and hair had rather a appearance as though from living in some genteel mill it was rather because she was a creation altogether than because she mended her complexion with violet powder or had turned grey if her eyes had no expression it was probably because they had nothing to express if she had few wrinkles it was because her mind had never traced its name or any other inscription on her face a cool blown out woman who had never lighted well mrs general had no opinions her way of forming a mind was to prevent it from forming opinions she had a little circular set of mental or rails on which she started little trains of other people s opinions which never overtook one another and never got anywhere even her propriety could not dispute that there was in the world but mrs general s way of getting rid of it was to put it out of sight and make believe that there was no such thing this was another of her ways of forming a mind � to all articles of difficulty into lock them up and say they had no existence it was the easiest way and beyond all comparison the mrs general was not to be told of anything shocking accidents miseries and were never to be mentioned before her passion was to go to sleep in the presence of mrs general and blood was to change to milk and water the little that was left in the world when all these were made it was mrs general s province to in that formation process of hers she dipped the smallest of into the largest of pots and the surface of every object that came under consideration the more cracked it was the more mrs general it there was in mrs general s voice in mrs general s touch an atmosphere of round mrs general s figure mrs general s dreams ought to have been � if she had any � lying asleep in the arms of the good saint with the snow falling on his house top chapter iii on the road the bright morning sun dazzled the eyes the snow had ceased the mists had vanished the mountain air was so clear and light that the new sensation of breathing it was like the having entered on a new existence to help the delusion the solid ground itself seemed gone and the mountain a shining waste of immense white heaps and masses to be a region of cloud floating between the blue sky above and the earth far below some dark in the snow like knots upon a little thread beginning at the door and winding away down the descent in broken which were not yet together where the little brethren were at work in several places clearing the track already the snow had begun to be foot again about the door were busily brought out tied to the rings in the wall and laden strings of bells were on burdens were adjusted the voices of drivers and sounded some of the earliest had even already resumed their journey and both on the level summit by the dark water near the and on the downward way of yesterday s ascent little moving figures of men and reduced to by the around went with a clear of bells and a pleasant harmony of tongues in the supper room of last night a new fire piled upon 