28 THE WORLD'S WORKERS. 



should see something," was the reply. Brought up in 

 this atmosphere, it is not astonishing that superstition 

 possessed a certain fascination even over a girl so far 

 in advance of her time as was the then Mary Fairfax. 

 That the ghost stories produced their effect, however, 

 is very evident. Even when quite an old lady, after 

 she had entered her eighty-ninth year, Mrs. Somer- 

 ville confessed that " she was afraid to sleep alone on 

 a stormy night, and could not sleep comfortably any 

 night unless some one was near." 



Mary was twice married. Her first husband Mr. 

 Samuel Greig had little sympathy with his young 

 wife's love of science, and the three years during 

 which she lived with him must have been rather 

 dreary and uninteresting. Before his marriage, Mr. 

 Greig had been in the employ of the Russian Govern- 

 ment, but as Russia was at that period by no means a 

 desirable residence for foreigners, Mary's father would 

 not entertain the idea of her living there, and only 

 consented to the marriage when the intended bride- 

 groom obtained the appointment of Russian Consul 

 in England, and had to settle in London. 



To London, therefore, Mary went. Of course she 

 had no fortune, and on account of the poverty of her 

 family her wedding trousseau was a very modest one. 

 When she left home, however, her mother managed 

 to put twenty pounds into her hands, telling her that 

 with this sum she was to buy a shawl or something 

 warm for winter. 



