hen properly kept down by a
judicious system of snubbing. I had already begun to count the months to
the happy time, two years hence, when, my education being finished, I
should at last rejoin my parents in India; and I was fond of describing
all the beautiful things I would send as presents to the friends who had
been kind to me in England. And then one fearful day came the black
letter bearing the terrible news which bowed my head in the dust,
scattered my girlish vanities, and altered my fate for life. Every one
in the house learned the news before me. I saw blank faces all around,
and could only guess the cause, so careful were they to break it to me
gradually. For two dreadful days they kept me on the rack of suspense,
while I did not know whether it was my father or mother who was dead, or
whether both were ill, or only one. But I learned all soon enough. There
had been a fever, and both were dead. I was an orphan, quite alone in
the world.

For three years after this I remained with the Miss Sweetmans, during
which time I had regained much of my old cheerfulness, and also some
degree of my natural pride and impertinence. My father and mother had
been to me a memory and a hope; now they were a memory only. After my
first grief and sense of desolation had passed, I went on with the
routine of my days much as before. I did not miss my father and mother
every hour as though I had lived under their roof and been familiar with
their faces and caresses. But the bright expectation of my youth was
extinguished, and I suffered secretly a great yearning for the love
which I had now no right to claim from anyone. The time was fast
approaching when I must take my school-books down from Miss Sweetmans'
shelves, pack up my trunks, and go forth among strangers. I had some
property, more than enough for my needs, and I was to dwell under the
roof of my guardian, Mrs. Hollingford. In the mean time, I paid several
visits to the home of a wealthy school-fellow, who had entered upon
fashionable life, and who was eager to give me a taste of its delights
before I yielded myself to the fate that was in store for me. I learned
to dress with taste, to wear my hair in the newest style, and to waltz
to perfection. But I could not go on paying visits for ever, and the
time arrived when I found it necessary to turn my back on lively scenes
and prepare for the obscurity of Hillsbro'. This was a remote place in
the north country, from whence we