alone, because they had no companions with whom
they could converse on equal terms, or from whom they could expect the
endearments of affection, they grew melancholy, and the sound of joy
made them sad; and the youngest, having a more delicate frame, fell into
a decline. It was with great difficulty that I, who now almost supported
the house by loans from my uncle, could prevail on the _master_ of it,
to allow her a room to die in. I watched her sick bed for some months,
and then closed her eyes, gentle spirit! for ever. She was pretty, with
very engaging manners; yet had never an opportunity to marry, excepting
to a very old man. She had abilities sufficient to have shone in any
profession, had there been any professions for women, though she shrunk
at the name of milliner or mantua-maker as degrading to a gentlewoman.
I would not term this feeling false pride to any one but you, my child,
whom I fondly hope to see (yes; I will indulge the hope for a moment!)
possessed of that energy of character which gives dignity to any
station; and with that clear, firm spirit that will enable you to choose
a situation for yourself, or submit to be classed in the lowest, if it
be the only one in which you can be the mistress of your own actions.

"Soon after the death of my sister, an incident occurred, to prove to
me that the heart of a libertine is dead to natural affection; and to
convince me, that the being who has appeared all tenderness, to gratify
a selfish passion, is as regardless of the innocent fruit of it, as
of the object, when the fit is over. I had casually observed an old,
meanlooking woman, who called on my husband every two or three months
to receive some money. One day entering the passage of his little
counting-house, as she was going out, I heard her say, 'The child is
very weak; she cannot live long, she will soon die out of your way, so
you need not grudge her a little physic.'

"'So much the better,' he replied,' and pray mind your own business,
good woman.'

"I was struck by his unfeeling, inhuman tone of voice, and drew back,
determined when the woman came again, to try to speak to her, not out
of curiosity, I had heard enough, but with the hope of being useful to a
poor, outcast girl.

"A month or two elapsed before I saw this woman again; and then she had
a child in her hand that tottered along, scarcely able to sustain her
own weight. They were going away, to return at the hour Mr. Venables
was exp