Doctor Bryerly arrived according to promise. He was in a whirl of business
all the time. He and Mr. Danvers conferred about the management of the
estate. It was agreed that the grounds and gardens should be let, but not
the house, of which Mrs. Rusk was to take the care. The gamekeeper remained
in office, and some out-door servants. But the rest were to go, except Mary
Quince, who was to accompany me to Bartram-Haugh as my maid.
'Don't part with Quince,' said Lady Knollys, peremptorily 'they'll want
you, but _don't_.'
She kept harping on this point, and recurred to it half a dozen times every
day.
'They'll say, you know, that she is not fit for a lady's maid, as she
certainly is _not_, if it in the least signified in such a wilderness as
Bartram-Haugh; but she is attached, trustworthy, and honest; and those are
qualities valuable everywhere, especially in a solitude. Don't allow them
to get you a wicked young French milliner in her stead.'
Sometimes she said things that jarred unpleasantly on my nerves, and left
an undefined sense of danger. Such as:--
'I know she's true to you, and a good creature; but is she shrewd enough?'
Or, with an anxious look:--
'I hope Mary Quince is not easily frightened.
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