vided for, married unnoticed folk of whom
no bad or good is said, and about whom no one troubles himself to
enquire. But as for me, no sooner was I out of my swaddling-clothes
than I was pronounced a little wonder of the world, and all the aunts
and cousins lifted their hands in amazement at the sight of me, and
told my mother no princess need be ashamed of having brought such a
child into the world. And there was something wonderful in it, too. My
father was a poor schoolmaster, my mother a sexton's daughter, neither
of them particularly handsome; only through my maternal grandmother,
pretty hands and feet, and beautiful long hair, had come into the
family. But as it happened, while I was coming into the world, Count
F----, the patron of our church, put up a magnificent new window
in St. Catharine's, representing the Saint kneeling by the wheel, a
palm-branch between her folded hands, and painted in such beautiful
vivid colours, people were never tired of looking at it. Our whole
village, Catholics and Protestants, crowded to see it, and for weeks
nothing else was spoken of, at least in our house. My eldest brother,
who already drew very well, copied it at once, but my good mother
especially saw the picture--as she afterwards told us--constantly
before her day and night, whether her eyes were open or shut; and when
I was born, she insisted upon it that I must be baptised by the name of
Katharine. It was not long before they all took to calling me "the fair
Kate," and all agreed that I had stolen my face from the picture on the
window.

"'You may suppose that when I first came to understand this, trotting
about as a little child, I had no cause to regret it. Everybody coaxed
and praised me, and if the kissing and stroking was at times rather too
much of a good thing, yet on the whole it had its advantages. As the
last of the batch, too, I was better treated in every way than my
brothers and sisters, nor had I anything to endure from their jealousy,
for they really, as well as my parents, did consider me a thing apart,
a special gift and grace of God to the family, reflecting some glory on
its other members. It was a thing, of course, that I--so far as our
poverty permitted it--should be well dressed, have the best food kept
for me, and receive more instruction than the rest. My father used to
devote his two hours of leisure to me; I must needs learn French and
pianoforte playing, and it was evident to all that not only