CHAPTER XXIX 432
She put her floury and horny hand into mine ; another and heartier smile illumined her rough face , and from that moment we were friends .
Hannah was evidently fond of talking . While I picked the fruit , and she made the paste for the pies , she proceeded to give me sundry details about her deceased master and mistress , and " the childer ," as she called the young people .
Old Mr . Rivers , she said , was a plain man enough , but a gentleman , and of as ancient a family as could be found . Marsh End had belonged to the Rivers ever since it was a house : and it was , she affirmed , " aboon two hundred year old -- for all it looked but a small , humble place , naught to compare wi ' Mr . Oliver ' s grand hall down i ' Morton Vale . But she could remember Bill Oliver ' s father a journeyman needlemaker ; and th ' Rivers wor gentry i ' th ' owd days o ' th ' Henrys , as onybody might see by looking into th ' registers i ' Morton Church vestry ." Still , she allowed , " the owd maister was like other folk -- naught mich out o ' t ' common way : stark mad o ' shooting , and farming , and sich like ." The mistress was different . She was a great reader , and studied a deal ; and the " bairns " had taken after her . There was nothing like them in these parts , nor ever had been ; they had liked learning , all three , almost from the time they could speak ; and they had always been " of a mak ' of their own ." Mr . St . John , when he grew up , would go to college and be a parson ; and the girls , as soon as they left school , would seek places as governesses : for they had told her their father had some years ago lost a great deal of money by a man he had trusted turning bankrupt ; and as he was now not rich enough to give them fortunes , they must provide for themselves . They had lived very little at home for a long while , and were only come now to stay a few weeks on account of their father ' s death ; but they did so like Marsh End and Morton , and all these moors and hills about . They had been in London , and many other grand towns ; but they always said there was no place like home ; and then they were so agreeable with each other -- never fell out nor " threaped ." She did not know where there was such a family for being united .
Having finished my task of gooseberry picking , I asked where the two ladies and their brother were now .