ther was very fond of her. These passive women are always
great favourites with men. They have no decided character of their own,
and become the mere echoes of superior minds. A vain man loves to see
his own reflection in one of these domestic magnifying glasses: it is so
gratifying to be the Alpha and Omega in his own house. His former wives
were both handsome, conceited women, who thought so much of themselves
that they could reflect no perfections but their own. In this respect I
resembled my mother--from a baby I thought fit to have a will and
opinions of my own.

"My step-mother always yielded to my masterly disposition when a child,
generally ending the brief contest with the remark, 'What a pity Willie
was not a boy! What a fine spirited boy she would have made!' When I
grew a tall girl, I became more independent still, and virtually was
mistress of the house. My father sent me to school. I learnt quickly
enough; but I was expelled from half a dozen for striking my teacher
whenever she dared to raise her hand to correct me. At length my
education was finished, and I returned home for good, as wild and as
fierce as an untamed colt.

"My step-mother had a nephew--a lad whom my father had befriended very
much. He had paid for his education, had bound him to an eminent
surgeon, and, when his term expired, had enabled him, from the same
source, to walk the hospitals and attend the necessary lectures. Henry
was attending the last course which was to fit him for entering upon his
profession; and during that period he made our house his home.

"He was not handsome, but a well-grown, high-spirited, clever young
fellow. Not at all a sentimental person, but abounding in frolic and
fun, full of quaint, witty sayings, and the very incarnation of
mischief. We took amazingly to each other; and he enjoyed all my odd
freaks and fancies, and encouraged me in all my masculine propensities.

"I grew very fond of him: he was the only creature of his sex I ever
loved;--but I did love him, and I thought that he loved me. I considered
myself handsome and fascinating. All young people think so, if they are
ever so ordinary. It belongs to the vanity of the age, which believes
all things--hopes for all things, and entertains no fears for the
result.

"The girls at school had told me, that 'I was a perfect fright;' but I
did not believe them. They laughed at my snub nose and carrotty locks,
and said 'that it would take all my money to