res in the
intervals when I wanted rest.

For seven sad months our dear sufferer lingered. I have only one
remembrance to comfort me; my mother's last kiss was mine--she died
peacefully with her head on my bosom.

I was nearly nineteen years old before I had sufficiently rallied my
courage to be able to think seriously of myself and my prospects.

At that age one does not willingly submit one's self for the first time
to the authority of a governess. Having my aunt for a companion and
protectress, I proposed to engage my own masters and to superintend my
own education.

My plans failed to meet with the approval of the head of the family. He
declared (most unjustly, as the event proved) that my aunt was not a
fit person to take care of me. She had passed all the later years of her
life in retirement. A good creature, he admitted, in her own way, but
she had no knowledge of the world, and no firmness of character. The
right person to act as my chaperon, and to superintend my education, was
the high-minded and accomplished woman who had taught his own daughters.

I declined, with all needful gratitude and respect, to take his advice.
The bare idea of living with a stranger so soon after my mother's death
revolted me. Besides, I liked my aunt, and my aunt liked me. Being made
acquainted with my decision, the head of the family cast me off, exactly
as he had cast off my mother before me.

So I lived in retirement with my good aunt, and studied industriously
to improve my mind until my twenty-first birthday came. I was now an
heiress, privileged to think and act for myself. My aunt kissed me
tenderly. We talked of my poor mother, and we cried in each other's arms
on the memorable day that made a wealthy woman of me. In a little time
more, other troubles than vain regrets for the dead were to try me, and
other tears were to fill my eyes than the tears which I had given to the
memory of my mother.

II.

I MAY now return to my visit, in June, 1817, to the healing springs at
Maplesworth.

This famous inland watering-place was only between nine and ten miles
from my new home called Nettlegrove Hall. I had been feeling weak and
out of spirits for some months, and our medical adviser recommended
change of scene and a trial of the waters at Maplesworth. My aunt and
I established ourselves in comfortable apartments, with a letter of
introduction to the chief doctor in the place. This otherwise harmless
and worthy man prove