astonish the public by a dramatic entertainment which depends from
first to last on that young lady's own sole exertions; commit the entire
management of the t hing to my care--and what follows as a necessary
con sequence? Fame for my fair relative, and a fortune for myself.

I put these considerations, as frankly as usual, to Miss Vanstone;
offering to write the Entertainment, to manage all the business, and to
share the profits. I did not forget to strengthen my case by informing
her of the jealousies she would encounter, and the obstacles she would
meet, if she went on the stage. And I wound up by a neat reference to
the private inquiries which she is interested in making, and to the
personal independence which she is desirous of securing before she acts
on her information. "If you go on the stage," I said, "your services
will be bought by a manager, and he may insist on his claims just at the
time when you want to get free from him. If, on the contrary, you adopt
my views, you will be your own mistress and your own manager, and
you can settle your course just as you like." This last consideration
appeared to strike her. She took a day to consider it; and, when the day
was over, gave her consent.

I had the whole transaction down in black and white immediately. Our
arrangement is eminently satisfactory, except in one particular.
She shows a morbid distrust of writing her name at the bottom of any
document which I present to her, and roundly declares she will sign
nothing. As long as it is her interest to provide herself with pecuniary
resources for the future, she verbally engages to go on. When it ceases
to be her interest, she plainly threatens to leave off at a week's
notice. A difficult girl to deal with; she has found out her own value
to me already. One comfort is, I have the cooking of the accounts; and
my fair relative shall not fill her pockets too suddenly if I can help
it.

My exertions in training Miss Vanstone for the coming experiment have
been varied by the writing of two anonymous letters in that young lady's
interests. Finding her too fidgety about arranging matters with her
friends to pay proper attention to my instructions, I wrote anonymously
to the lawyer who is conducting the inquiry after her, recommending him,
in a friendly way, to give it up. The letter was inclosed to a friend
of mine in London, with instructions to post it at Charing Cross. A week
later I sent a second letter, through th