nteen, and an orphan, living in the house of an uncle, an unmarried
man of nearly seventy, wholly absorbed in business, and not much more
interested in me than in his clerks and servants.

I had come under his protection, a little girl of two years old, and had
been in his house ever since. I had had as good care as a very ordinary
class of servants could give me, and was supplied with some one to teach
me, and had as much money to spend as was good for me--perhaps more; and
I do not feel inclined to say my uncle did not do his duty, for I do not
think he knew of anything further to do; and strictly speaking, I had no
claim on him, for I was only a great-niece, and there were those living
who were more nearly related to me, and who were abundantly able to
provide for me, if they had been willing to do it.

When I came in to the household, its wants were attended to by a cook
and a man-servant, who had lived many years with my uncle. A third
person was employed as my nurse, and a great deal of quarrelling was the
result of her coming. I quite wonder my uncle did not put me away at
board somewhere, rather than be disturbed. But in truth, I do not
believe that the quarrelling disturbed him much, or that he paid much
attention to the matter, and so the matter settled itself. My nurses
were changed very often, by will of the cook and old Peter, and I never
was happy enough to have one who had very high principle, or was more
than ordinarily good-tempered.

I don't know who selected my teachers; probably they applied for
employment and were received. They were very business-like and
unsuggestive people. I was of no more interest to them than a bale of
goods, I believe. Indeed, I seemed likely to go a bale of goods through
life; everything that was done for me was done for money, and with a
view to the benefit of the person serving me. I was not sent to school,
which was a very great pity; it was owing to the fact, no doubt, that
somebody applied to my uncle to teach me at home, and so the system was
inaugurated, and never received a second thought, and I went on being
taught at home till I was seventeen.

The "home" was as follows; a large dark house on the unsunny side of a
dull street; furniture that had not been changed for forty years, walls
that were seldom repainted, windows that were rarely opened. The
neighborhood had been for many years unfashionable and undesirable, and,
by the time I was grown up, nobody would h