ve with her. He
is a rattle-pated young fool--one of those noisy, rosy, light-haired,
good-tempered men whom I particularly detest. I had a whole hour alone
with him in a boat, the first day I came here, and I have made good use
of my time, I can tell you, from that day to this. The only difficulty
with him is the difficulty of concealing my own feelings, especially
when he turns my dislike of him into downright hatred by sometimes
reminding me of his mother. I really never saw a man whom I could use
so ill, if I had the opportunity. He will give me the opportunity, I
believe, if no accident happens, sooner than we calculated on. I have
just returned from a party at the great house, in celebration of the
rent-day dinner, and the squire's attentions to me, and my modest
reluctance to receive them, have already excited general remark.

"My pupil, Miss Milroy, comes next. She, too, is rosy and foolish;
and, what is more, awkward and squat and freckled, and ill-tempered and
ill-dressed. No fear of _her_, though she hates me like poison, which
is a great comfort, for I get rid of her out of lesson time and walking
time. It is perfectly easy to see that she has made the most of her
opportunities with young Armadale (opportunities, by-the-by, which we
never calculated on), and that she has been stupid enough to let him
slip through her fingers. When I tell you that she is obliged, for
the sake of appearances, to go with her father and me to the little
entertainments at Thorpe Ambrose, and to see how young Armadale admires
me, you will understand the kind of place I hold in her affections. She
would try me past all endurance if I didn't see that I aggravate her by
keeping my temper, so, of course, I keep it. If I do break out, it will
be over our lessons--not over our French, our grammar, history, and
globes--but over our music. No words can say how I feel for her poor
piano. Half the musical girls in England ought to have their fingers
chopped off in the interests of society, and, if I had my way, Miss
Milroy's fingers should be executed first.

"As for the major, I can hardly stand higher in his estimation than I
stand already. I am always ready to make his breakfast, and his daughter
is not. I can always find things for him when he loses them, and his
daughter can't. I never yawn when he proses, and his daughter does. I
like the poor dear harmless old gentleman, so I won't say a word more
about him.

"Well, here is a fair