hear any tidings of
her husband, or should discover that he was no more, she would return to
the situation.

Mrs Forster directed her course to London; why, or wherefore, she hardly
knew; but she had imbibed the idea that the metropolis was the most likely
place to meet with him. Her first inquiries were about any families of the
name of Forster; but the Directory gave such an enormous list of Forsters,
of all trades and callings, and in every situation in life, that she closed
it with despair. She had a faint recollection that her husband (who was
never very communicative, and least of all to her) had stated that he had a
brother alive somewhere; but this was all that she knew. Nevertheless, she
set about her task in good earnest, and called upon every one of the name
in the middling classes of life, to ascertain if they were relations of her
husband. There were many in high life whose names and addresses she had
obtained from the Red-book; but to them she dared not apply. All she could
do was to question the servants; but every answer was unsatisfactory; and
Mrs Forster, whose money was nearly expended, had serious thoughts of
returning to the lunatic establishment, when the advertisement in the
newspapers, of Mr Scratton, for a housekeeper, which Mr John Forster had
desired him to procure, met her eye. Unwilling to leave London, she applied
for, and obtained the situation, having received an excellent character
from Doctor Beddington, to whom she had written and explained her views.

Her heart leapt when she discovered that her master's name was Forster: and
when she first saw him she could not but persuade herself that there was a
family likeness. The germs of hope were, however, soon withered, when
Amber, in answer to her inquiries, stated that Mr Forster had a brother
lately dead, who had never been married, and that she never heard of his
having another. Her fellow-servants were all as strange as herself, and Mrs
Forster (who had assumed the name of Smith) was obliged to have recourse to
that patience and resignation which had been so severely inculcated. The
charge of Amber soon proved a source of delight; the control which she had
over the household a source of gratification (not, as before, for the
pleasure of domineering, but for the sake of exercising kindness and
forbearance), and Mrs Forster was happy and resigned.

It may be surmised as strange, that during the period which she remained in
this capacity,