e unhappy while I held my place in her establishment,
and she eventually deprived me of it by a masked and hypocritical
manoeuvre, pretending that she was acting for my good, but really
snatching from me my chief means of subsistence, at a crisis when not
only my own life, but that of another, depended on my exertions: of her
I will never more ask a favour."

"How, then, do you propose to get on? How do you live now?"

"I have still my lace-mending trade; with care it will keep me from
starvation, and I doubt not by dint of exertion to get better employment
yet; it is only a fortnight since I began to try; my courage or hopes
are by no means worn out yet."

"And if you get what you wish, what then? what are your ultimate views?"

"To save enough to cross the Channel: I always look to England as my
Canaan."

"Well, well--ere long I shall pay you another visit; good evening now,"
and I left her rather abruptly; I had much ado to resist a strong inward
impulse, urging me to take a warmer, more expressive leave: what so
natural as to fold her for a moment in a close embrace, to imprint one
kiss on her cheek or forehead? I was not unreasonable--that was all I
wanted; satisfied in that point, I could go away content; and Reason
denied me even this; she ordered me to turn my eyes from her face, and
my steps from her apartment--to quit her as dryly and coldly as I would
have quitted old Madame Pelet. I obeyed, but I swore rancorously to be
avenged one day. "I'll earn a right to do as I please in this matter,
or I'll die in the contest. I have one object before me now--to get that
Genevese girl for my wife; and my wife she shall be--that is, provided
she has as much, or half as much regard for her master as he has
for her. And would she be so docile, so smiling, so happy under my
instructions if she had not? would she sit at my side when I dictate
or correct, with such a still, contented, halcyon mien?" for I had ever
remarked, that however sad or harassed her countenance might be when
I entered a room, yet after I had been near her, spoken to her a few
words, given her some directions, uttered perhaps some reproofs, she
would, all at once, nestle into a nook of happiness, and look up serene
and revived. The reproofs suited her best of all: while I scolded she
would chip away with her pen-knife at a pencil or a pen; fidgetting a
little, pouting a little, defending herself by monosyllables, and when I
deprived her of the pen