ings were ever a
serious drawback to her in after-life. Besides such opportunities of
improvement, she enjoyed the privilege of association with thirty girls
of the upper middle-classes, and ate of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, the fruits of which had hitherto escaped her notice. At the
end of her second term, however, she was forced to forego these
advantages, for Martin had left Cullerne without making any permanent
provision for his daughter's schooling; and there was in Mrs Howard's
prospectus a law, inexorable as that of gravity, that no pupil shall be
permitted to return to the academy whose account for the previous term
remains unsettled.

Thus Anastasia's schooling came to an end. There was some excuse put
forward that the air of Carisbury did not agree with her; and she never
knew the real reason till nearly two years later, by which time Miss
Joliffe's industry and self-denial had discharged the greater part of
Martin's obligation to Mrs Howard. The girl was glad to remain at
Cullerne, for she was deeply attached to Miss Joliffe; but she came back
much older in experience; her horizon had widened, and she was beginning
to take a more perspective view of life. These enlarged ideas bore
fruit both pleasant and unpleasant, for she was led to form a juster
estimate of her father's character, and when he next returned she found
it difficult to tolerate his selfishness and abuse of his sister's
devotion.

That this should be so was a cause of great grief to Miss Joliffe.
Though she herself felt for her niece a love which had in it something
of adoration, she was at the same time conscientious enough to remember
that a child's first duty should be towards its parents. Thus she
forced herself to lament that Anastasia should be more closely attached
to her than to Martin, and if there were times when she could not feel
properly dissatisfied that she possessed the first place in her niece's
affections, she tried to atone for this frailty by sacrificing
opportunities of being with the girl herself, and using every
opportunity of bringing her into her father's company. It was a
fruitless endeavour, as every endeavour to cultivate affection where no
real basis for it exists, must eternally remain fruitless. Martin was
wearied by his daughter's society, for he preferred to be alone, and set
no store by her except as a cooking, house-cleaning, and clothes-mending
machine; and Anastasia resented this attit