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CHAPTER XVII . “ The clerkly person smiled and said Promise was a pretty maid , But being poor she died unwed . ” The Rev . Camden Farebrother , whom Lydgate went to see the next evening , lived in an old parsonage , built of stone , venerable enough to match the church which it looked out upon . All the furniture too in the house was old , but with another grade of age — that of Mr . Farebrother’s father and grandfather . There were painted white chairs , with gilding and wreaths on them , and some lingering red silk damask with slits in it . There were engraved portraits of Lord Chancellors and other celebrated lawyers of the last century ; and there were old pier - glasses to reflect them , as well as the little satin - wood tables and the sofas resembling a prolongation of uneasy chairs , all standing in relief against the dark wainscot . This was the physiognomy of the drawing - room into which Lydgate was shown ; and there were three ladies to receive him , who were also old - fashioned , and of a faded but genuine respectability : Mrs . Farebrother , the Vicar’s white - haired mother , befrilled and kerchiefed with dainty cleanliness , upright , quick - eyed , and still under seventy ; Miss Noble , her sister , a tiny old lady of meeker aspect , with frills and kerchief decidedly more worn and mended ; and Miss Winifred Farebrother , the Vicar’s elder sister , well - looking like himself , but nipped and subdued as single women are apt to be who spend their lives in uninterrupted subjection to their elders . Lydgate had not expected to see so quaint a group : knowing simply that Mr . Farebrother was a bachelor , he had thought of being ushered into a snuggery where the chief furniture would probably be books and collections of natural objects . The Vicar himself seemed to wear rather a changed aspect , as most men do when acquaintances made elsewhere see them for the first time in their own homes ; some indeed showing like an actor of genial parts disadvantageously cast for the curmudgeon in a new piece . This was not the case with Mr . Farebrother : he seemed a trifle milder and more silent , the chief talker being his mother , while he only put in a good - humored moderating remark here and there . The old lady was evidently accustomed to tell her company what they ought to think , and to regard no subject as quite safe without her steering . She was afforded leisure for this function by having all her little wants attended to by Miss Winifred . Meanwhile tiny Miss Noble carried on her arm a small basket , into which she diverted a bit of sugar , which she had first dropped in her saucer as if by mistake ; looking round furtively afterwards , and reverting to her teacup with a small innocent noise as of a tiny timid quadruped . Pray think no ill of Miss Noble . That basket held small savings from her more portable food , destined for the children of her poor friends among whom she trotted on fine mornings ; fostering and petting all needy creatures being so spontaneous a delight to her , that she regarded it much as if it had been a pleasant vice that she was addicted to . Perhaps she was conscious of being tempted to steal from those who had much that she might give to those who had nothing , and carried in her conscience the guilt of that repressed desire . One must be poor to know the luxury of giving !
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