Bessie was long enough at Abbotsmead after her grandfather's death to
realize how that event affected her own position there. The old servants
had been provided for by their old master, and they left--Jonquil,
Macky, Mrs. Betts, and others their contemporaries. Bessie missed their
friendly faces, and dispensed with the services of a maid. Then Mrs.
Fairfax objected to Joss in the house, lest he should bite the children,
and Janey and Ranby were not entirely at her beck and call as formerly.
The incompetent Sally, who sang a sweet cradle-song, became quite a
personage and sovereign in the nursery, and was jealous of Miss
Fairfax's intrusion into her domain. It was inevitable and natural, but
Bessie appreciated better now the forethought of her grandfather in
wishing to provide her with a roof of her own. Abbotsmead under its new
squire, all his learning and philosophy notwithstanding, promised to
become quite a house of the world again, for his beautiful young wife
was proving of a most popular character, and attracted friends about her
with no effort. Instead of old Lady Angleby, the Hartwell people and the
Chivertons, came the Tindals, Edens, Raymonds, Lefevres, and Wynards;
and Miss Fairfax felt herself an object of curiosity amongst them as the
young lady who had been all but disinherited for her obstinate refusal
to marry the man of her grandfather's choice. She was generally liked,
but she was not just then in the humor to cultivate anybody's intimacy.
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