"How is Miss Hale?" she asked.
"About as broken down by this last stroke as she can be."
"I am sure it is very well for her that she has such a friend as you."
"I wish I were her only friend, madam. I daresay it sounds very brutal; but here have I been displaced, and turned out of my post of comforter and adviser by a fine lady aunt; and there are cousins and what not claiming her in London, as if she were a lap-dog belonging to them. And she is too weak and miserable to have a will of her own."

'How is Miss Hale?' she asked.
'About as broken down by this last stroke as she can be.'
'I am sure it is very well for her that she has such a friend as you.'
'I wish I were her only friend, madam. I daresay it sounds very brutal; but I have been displaced by a fine lady aunt; and there are cousins and what not claiming her in London, as if she were a lap-dog belonging to them. And she is too weak and miserable to have a will of her own.'
