r, she to my mother, and my
mother brought them with her from England to Switzerland, and left them
to me; and, ever since I was a little girl, I have thought I should like
to carry them back to England, whence they came."

She put some pistolets on the table; she made the tea, as foreigners do
make tea--i.e., at the rate of a teaspoonful to half-a-dozen cups;
she placed me a chair, and, as I took it, she asked, with a sort of
exaltation--

"Will it make you think yourself at home for a moment?"

"If I had a home in England, I believe it would recall it," I
answered; and, in truth, there was a sort of illusion in seeing the
fair-complexioned English-looking girl presiding at the English meal,
and speaking in the English language.

"You have then no home?" was her remark.

"None, nor ever have had. If ever I possess a home, it must be of my own
making, and the task is yet to begin." And, as I spoke, a pang, new to
me, shot across my heart: it was a pang of mortification at the humility
of my position, and the inadequacy of my means; while with that pang was
born a strong desire to do more, earn more, be more, possess more;
and in the increased possessions, my roused and eager spirit panted to
include the home I had never had, the wife I inwardly vowed to win.

Frances' tea was little better than hot water, sugar, and milk; and her
pistolets, with which she could not offer me butter, were sweet to my
palate as manna.

The repast over, and the treasured plate and porcelain being washed and
put by, the bright table rubbed still brighter, "le chat de ma tante
Julienne" also being fed with provisions brought forth on a plate for
its special use, a few stray cinders, and a scattering of ashes too,
being swept from the hearth, Frances at last sat down; and then, as she
took a chair opposite to me, she betrayed, for the first time, a little
embarrassment; and no wonder, for indeed I had unconsciously watched
her rather too closely, followed all her steps and all her movements
a little too perseveringly with my eyes, for she mesmerized me by
the grace and alertness of her action--by the deft, cleanly, and even
decorative effect resulting from each touch of her slight and fine
fingers; and when, at last, she subsided to stillness, the intelligence
of her face seemed beauty to me, and I dwelt on it accordingly. Her
colour, however, rising, rather than settling with repose, and her eyes
remaining downcast, though I kept wait