"Now," she said to herself, "why should not I just go and pay a visit to my old friend and neighbor, Matty Bell. I want a woman that is a gossip just now, and if there is a gossip in the whole of Madersley, it's Matty Bell. As a rule, I can't abear her, but there are times when a gossiping woman comes in handy; and Matty's neither very low nor very high up in the world, so she's acquainted with all that goes on in both circles, the high and the low. Yes, I'll go to Matty this very moment; and as there's not any time to lose, I'll take a fly and drive there."
Fortune hailed the first fly she came across, and was quickly borne to the abode of her old neighbor, Matty Bell.
Matty Bell was a woman of about sixty years of age. At one time she had been a servant at Delaney Manor, but having married, and then lost her husband, she had set up in the laundry line. In that interesting trade she had done a thriving business, and kept a comfortable roof over her head. She had never had children, and consequently had plenty of time to attend to her neighbors' affairs.
"Well, to be sure, Fortune, and what brings you here?" she said, when Fortune alighted from the fly. "Dear heart! I didn't know that you would care to leave Delaney Manor with all the troubles about."
"And what troubles do you mean now, Matty Bell?" said Fortune, as she paid a shilling to the driver, and then tripped lightly into Matty's little front parlor.
"Why, the death of the poor missus, Heaven bless her memory! and then the master going off to the other end of nobody knows where, and all them blessed little children took from their home and carried—oh, we needn't go into that, Fortune—it's been a trouble to you, and I see it writ on your face."
"You are right there, Matty," said Fortune; "it has been a bitter trouble to me, and there's more behind, for the lady who took the children had no right to interfere, not having a mother's heart in her breast, for all that Providence granted her five babes of her own to manage. What do you think she went and did, Matty? Why, lost two of our children."
"Lost two of 'em? Sakes alive! you don't say so!" replied Matty. "Have a cup of tea, Fortune, do; I have it brewing lovely on the hob."
"No, thank you," replied Fortune. "I'm in no mood for tea."
"Well, then, do go on with your story, for it's mighty interesting."