a year and a half. To be sure, there was young Towers always coming to
the house; but Penny felt convinced he only came to see her brother, for
he never had anything to say to her, and never offered her his arm, and
was as awkward and silent as possible.

It is not unlikely that Mr. Freely had early been smitten by Penny's
charms, as brought under his observation at church, but he had to make
his way in society a little before he could come into nearer contact with
them; and even after he was well received in Grimworth families, it was a
long while before he could converse with Penny otherwise than in an
incidental meeting at Mr. Luff's. It was not so easy to get invited to
Long Meadows, the residence of the Palfreys; for though Mr. Palfrey had
been losing money of late years, not being able quite to recover his feet
after the terrible murrain which forced him to borrow, his family were
far from considering themselves on the same level even as the
old-established tradespeople with whom they visited. The greatest
people, even kings and queens, must visit with somebody, and the equals
of the great are scarce. They were especially scarce at Grimworth,
which, as I have before observed, was a low parish, mentioned with the
most scornful brevity in gazetteers. Even the great people there were
far behind those of their own standing in other parts of this realm. Mr.
Palfrey's farmyard doors had the paint all worn off them, and the front
garden walks had long been merged in a general weediness. Still, his
father had been called Squire Palfrey, and had been respected by the last
Grimworth generation as a man who could afford to drink too much in his
own house.

Pretty Penny was not blind to the fact that Mr. Freely admired her, and
she felt sure that it was he who had sent her a beautiful valentine; but
her sister seemed to think so lightly of him (all young ladies think