iries, and
found out a very respectable school, kept by a widow lady. I asked for
references, which were given, and I was satisfied. The terms were
low--twenty pounds per annum. I paid the first half year in advance, and
lodged fifty guineas more in the hands of a banker, taking a receipt for
it, and giving directions that it was to be paid to the schoolmistress
as it became due. I took this precaution, that should I be in poverty
myself, at all events Fleta might be provided in clothes and schooling
for three years at least. The poor child wept bitterly at the
separation, and I could with difficulty detach her little arms from my
neck, and I felt when I left her as if I had parted with the only
valuable object to me on earth.

All was now ready; but Timothy did not, as yet, assume his new clothes.
It would have appeared strange that one who sat at my table should
afterwards put on my livery; and as, in a small town there is always
plenty of scandal, for Fleta's sake, if for no other reason, it was
deferred until our arrival in London. Wishing the landlady good-bye, who
I really believed would have given up her bill to have known who we
could possibly be, we got on the outside of the stage-coach, and in the
evening arrived in the metropolis. I have been particular in describing
all these little circumstances, as it proves how very awkward it is to
jump, without observation, from one station in society to another.

Chapter XVIII

I receive a letter from my uncle by which I naturally expect to
find out who is my father--Like other outcasts, I am warned by a
dream.

But I have omitted to mention a circumstance of great importance, which
occurred at the inn the night before I placed Fleta at the
boarding-school. In looking over my portmanteau, I perceived the present
of Nattee to Fleta, which I had quite forgotten. I took it to Fleta, and
told her from whom it came. On opening the paper, it proved to contain a
long chain of round coral and gold beads, strung alternately; the gold
beads were not so large as the coral, but still the number of them, and
the purity of the metal, made them of considerable value. Fleta passed
the beads through her fingers, and then threw it round her neck, and sat
in deep thought for some minutes. "Japhet," said she at last, "I have
seen this--I have worn this before--I recollect that I have; it rushes
into my memory as an old friend, and I think that before morning it