Hartley, whose father was a clerk in my father's
counting-house, and therefore I concluded she would regard the
fine show I made with more envy and admiration than any other of
my companions. In the days of my humiliation, which I too soon
experienced, I was thrown on the bounty of her father for support.
To be a dependent on the charity of her family, seemed the heaviest
evil that could have befallen me; for I remembered how often I had
displayed my finery and my expensive ornaments, on purpose to enjoy
the triumph of my superior advantages; and with shame I now speak it,
I have often glanced at her plain linen frock, when I shewed her my
beautiful ball-dresses. Nay, I once gave her a hint, which she so well
understood that she burst into tears, that I could not invite her to
some of my parties, because her mamma once sent her on my birthday in
a coloured frock. I cannot now think of my want of feeling without
excessive pain; but one day I saw her highly amused with some curious
toys, and on her expressing the pleasure the sight of them gave her,
I said "Yes, they are very well for those who are not accustomed to
these things; but for my part, I have so many, I am tired of them, and
I am quite delighted to pass an hour in the empty closet your mamma
allows you to receive your visitors in, because there is nothing there
to interrupt the conversation."

Once, as I have said, Maria was betrayed into tears: now that I
insulted her by calling her own small apartment an empty closet, she
turned quick upon me, but not in anger, saying, "O, my dear miss
Wilmot, how very sorry I am--" here she stopped; and though I knew
not the meaning of her words, I felt it as a reproof. I hung down my
head abashed; yet, perceiving that she was all that day more kind and
obliging than ever, and being conscious of not having merited this
kindness, I thought she was mean-spirited, and therefore I consoled
myself with having discovered this fault in her, for I thought my
arrogance was full as excusable as her meanness.

In a few days I knew my error; I learned why Maria had been so kind,
and why she had said she was sorry. It was for me, proud disdainful
girl that I was, that she was sorry; she knew, though I did not, that
my father was on the brink of ruin; and it came to pass, as she had
feared it would, that in a few days my play-room was as empty as
Maria's closet, and all my grandeur was at an end.

My father had what is called an execut