attempts, that sometimes won the admiration, sometimes the laughter, of the domestic hearth; at which she was, in the one case, innocently elated, in the other, rather sore. But her mortification always found an outlet in some funny speech; for Marian could not be pettish or ill-tempered. As for music, she would really improvise grandly, when she thought nobody within hearing, which my mother and I have sometimes wickedly contrived to be. But, if asked or desired to improvise in our presence, she would say, "Oh, very well," and after a grand crash on the keys, sing off an extempore travestie of the most amusing description, of one of Jacintha's fine Italian bravuras,-" Ombra adorata," for instance,till my mother and I were in fits of laughter, and Jacintha would start up and give her a good shaking. Before company Marian's acquirements were shut up as closely as a rose bud unblown. She would not launch out in this way even to John, though both he and my father appreciated musical genius. These little snatches of country life revived us, even after my dear grandfather and grandmother were dead, and poor Aunt Christy was very glad of a companion. She did not depend on one, however, but bustled on manfully by herself, coming up to town once or twice a year. Suddenly she sickened, and was carried off by a malady that must have been of long standing, though the sturdy little woman had never succumbed, nor made mention of it. Poor Aunt Christy! Then the Poplar House came to my mother, and after her death, to her daughters. My father was glad to send us all down to it; change of air for my mother was the plea; and certainly, if any air or any place could have restored her this would. But she languished, and at length died; of water on the chest it was professionally said. My father was very kind to us after that. And then we lost sight of him again, always on plea of "business, business." Sometimes he answered our letters; often not. began to be shy of inquiring after him of us, and to think it best to ignore his existence. People John But they could not at last; because it was publicly known that he had suddenly left the kingdom in a disgraceful manner. was now junior partner in a respectable mercantile house, and led a respectable but somewhat selfish bachelor life, paying our allowances regularly, generally coupled with a letter of rather unnecessary advice. John, at this momentous crisis, was in the Channel Islands, and detained by contrary winds. We could not even get a letter to him. It was very well, therefore, for Marian to say,-"What will John think, I wonder?" and quite impossible for any one to answer her by saying what he would think: though we had our apprehensions that he would think differently from ourselves. John had good and generous qualities, though they were somewhat smothered by his business life. For my part, I thought it just as likely he would befriend us as not; and say we must not think of a school, or anything of the sort - he would represent my father, and make provision for us all if we would but be economical, and keep together, and preserve, as far as in us lay, the respectability of "the family." I confess that this consoled me when I went to bed that night; and that, the more I lay awake and thought it over, the more likely it appeared. I did not in the least know what John's actual moneyworth was; but estimated it, in a general way, at "something considerable." CHAPTER III. When gathering clouds around we view, He sees our griefs, allays our fears, And counts and treasures up our tears. GRANT. HE next morning, my little wheel-chair was brought to the door. I have forgotten to say, that I was crippled in the hip-joint. It was owing to an accident. One day, I was walking beside this very chair, with my dear mother in it, when an overdriven ox came racing down the street, and so frightened the boy who was drawing the chair, that he hauled it against a door-step, and overturned |