“Her head, my dear,” replied the husband. “I must ascertain what her propensities are.”
“I think you had better leave her alone, Mr Easy. She comes this evening, and I shall question her pretty severely. Dr Middleton, what do you know of this young person?”
“I know, madam, that she is very healthy and strong, or I should not have selected her.”
“But is her character good?”
“Really, madam, I know little about her character; but you can make any inquiries you please. But at the same time I ought to observe, that if you are too particular in that point, you will have some difficulty in providing yourself.”
“Well, I shall see,” replied Mrs Easy.
“And I shall feel,” rejoined the husband.
This parleying was interrupted by the arrival of the very person in question, who was announced by the housemaid, and was ushered in. She was a handsome, florid, healthy-looking girl, awkward and naïve in her manner, and apparently not overwise; there was more of the dove than of the serpent in her composition.
Mr Easy, who was very anxious to make his own discoveries, was the first who spoke. “Young woman, come this way, I wish to examine your head.”
“Oh! dear me, sir, it’s quite clean, I assure you,” cried the girl, dropping a curtsey.