accustomed to her own way, and she has gone through much trouble lately. No doubt she is a little unhinged; but let us hope that in a day or two, when she has settled down in her new home, she will see things in a different light. There, leave off crying, and be reasonable. Let us finish

our conversation, and then it will not have to be renewed."

Thus exhorted, I made a mighty effort, and succeeded in wiping away my tears, and presenting an air of composure which was very far from genuine. I could not help sobbing hysterically, and my hands trembled visibly; but I wept no more, and prepared myself to listen attentively. Mrs. Crofton then addressed me :-" Perhaps, after all, this little outburst may do you good. I am quite ready to make every allowance for you; your training has evidently been not of the best kind, and you are naturally excitable and impulsive, and you have not been taught the duty of deferential respect towards your elders and superiors. If you wish to succeed in life, you must know your own place and keep it. You may be very comfortable here if you like; you will have a place in the school-room, and you will have the same advantages as your cousins, who are under Miss Hollingsworth's care. I am sure I hope you will profit to the utmost by her instructions. In return, I only wish you to devote yourself to your little cousin Gussie. She has a peculiar temper, and servants have not patience with her; she unfortunately dislikes Miss Hollingsworth, and cannot endure the school-room. You, therefore, will take care of her; it will be very good for you, and you will gain some experience in teaching and taking charge of children. Gussie will sleep in your room, and you will give her such assistance in dressing as she requires. You will also give her two or three hours in the morning, hearing her read and practise, &c., and one hour in the afternoon you will spend with her, giving her such lessons as Sibyl or I shall arrange. All the rest of your time will be at your own disposal, and I trust you will make diligent use of your opportunities, and improve yourself to the best of your ability. If you choose, you may make yourself very useful

in this house.

I should like you to read to me sometimes, and, if you have a voice, you can practise Sibyl's duets with her; only I must have you patient and conciliatory with Gussie."

66

'Aunt," I said sorrowfully, "I am sure I shall never manage Gussie; I lost all patience with her this morning."

"So I heard, and I was very much shocked to hear of it I cannot have Gussie excited; her nervous system is so peculiar that I have known her to scream till she was perfectly exhausted, when some one has been injudicious enough to oppose her."

"But she uses her nails and her teeth."

"You must not believe all you hear in the nursery. Nurse and Rebecca make the worst of her; she is a very interesting child when properly managed; you must try to understand her, to win her affections. When she gets into her little tantrums, you must try the soothing system; she will not bear opposition or coercion."

I did not say it, but I thought that to win Gussie's affections would be a very difficult, not to say impossible task; but I did ask what I was to do if she would bite and scratch, or, as Cuddie phrased it, "nip pieces out of one."

"She will do nothing of the kind," returned Mrs. Crofton, "if you are gentle and forbearing; you must have exasperated her this morning. I hear that she pinched you."

I replied by drawing up my sleeve, and showed the discoloured and still raw flesh where the nipping process had been effected. My uncle looked really shocked, but my aunt said calmly-" It is precisely as I said; you must have made her very angry. Now probably she will take a dislike to you, and it will be some time before you gain any influence over her."

Accordingly I narrated my morning's experience: how I had been awaked by something sitting on my chest, how I had desired Gussie to go to her own bed, and all the rest of the story; but Mrs. Crofton only shook her head, and reiterated her opinion that I had not been sufficiently patient. "However," she continued, "I have business now

M

to attend to, and I must go away, and in conclusion I can only beg you for your own sake to be humble, good-tempered, and industrious. You understand that Gussie is under your care, and I shall hold you responsible for her general improvement, also for all defects in her appearance and behaviour. To-morrow, under Sibyl's direction, you will arrange about her lessons, and I should be very much pleased if you could get her hair to curl."

I felt very much as if a tiger's cub had been committed to my fostering care; if I had been appointed nurserygoverness to a young pantheress, my task could scarcely have been more hopelessly trying. I knew that there would be everlasting casus belli between Miss Augusta and myself. As Mrs. Crofton was leaving the room I said "I will do my best, aunt, and I will endeavour to be patient, but I cannot promise you to take unresistingly such treatment as I experienced this morning. I will always try persuasion, but if that fail what can I do but use force?"

I felt that I had better say so much, since I knew that there had been turbulent seasons when, according to the nursery chronicles, the young lady had cleared the table of the tea things, tossed baby's basket into the fire, and thrown Rebecca's work-box out of the window; and surely, then, vigorous measures were essential! Mrs. Crofton replied vaguely "that physical force was always injurious to a child, and that she hoped we should get on comfortably without collisions, and that I should see the necessity of controlling my own temper." Still I had made my protest, and in some measure I felt relieved. Sibyl now desired that I would follow her to the school-room, and tremblingly I obeyed, wondering sadly whether Miss Hollingsworth would be my friend, or whether she would render my position at Crofton Lawn more unendurable than it promised to be already. I admired her for her firmness in refusing to admit the refractory Gussie into her own especial precincts, and yearningly I hoped that she might be kind, and wise, and altogether good, and that she might take poor me under her wing, and, so far as in her lay, shelter me

from the adverse gales that threatened to blow so roughly about my undefended head, or at least strengthen me to meet with courage and composure all coming shocks of the rising tempest.

Was this being launched on the voyage of life? If so, it was rough enough, and cold, and dark, and dreary. Oh! to be in the haven again, if it were only for one little hour!

CHAPTER XVIII.

NORA.

SILENTLY I followed Sibyl to the school-room, being conscious all the while that I should cut but a very indifferent figure before the governess and the cousins to whom I was about to be introduced; for the traces of tears were still upon my face, and the hurry, and travel, and annoyances of the last few days, not to speak of the real misery I had endured, had banished all my roses, and dimmed my eyes, and given to my countenance a heavy, hopeless, not to say stupid expression. I should have liked to retire to my attic, in order to make a little toilet before any further presentations took place, but I felt afraid of Sibyl, who walked on before me without uttering a single word or deigning a backward glance; and the courage which had sustained me in the beginning of that morning's conversation had very nearly deserted me, and was still sinking, as with aching heart I contemplated the unpromising future of my life at Crofton Lawn.

I began to feel like a wild bird whose wings have been clipped: I had never been accustomed to much control, and the restraints which would certainly be imposed upon me here I regarded as unendurable. I hated the very name of Cotswoldbury, and I longed to fly away, that is, in plain parlance, run away;" only I had not the remotest notion where to run to; I could not get back to St. Eldred's without begging my way, which might be romantic, but would certainly be unpleasant; and I could not hope that

receive me, howAh! discipline is

Happy they who bear the patiently, and even thank

Cecilia Churchman would be allowed to ever earnestly she might have wished it. very hard to bear-and yet there comes to every one a season when it must be borne. yoke in their youth, and bear it fully, knowing at last, that "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

We traversed several passages, and at last stopped before a baize-covered door, at the end of a broad gallery. Sibyl turned round then, and, with the air of a young princess, signified by an imperious gesture of her hand that I was to enter with her. In another moment I found myself standing behind her, in a large, pleasant room, that seemed to be a compound of library, boudoir, and study. There were maps and drawings upon the wall, and there were several book-cases, and some hanging shelves, amply furnished. Two handsome globes occupied two opposite corners, a square piano filled a snug recess, and the usual furniture of an ordinary sitting-room completed the picture upon which I gazed. But just then, though I took in at a glance the whole aspect of the place, my attention my concentred in the people who occupied the room. At the head of a table near the fire, her open desk before her, and pen in hand, sat a lady, decidedly not handsome, not distinguished-looking, and no longer young. I thought her then quite an elderly person, well stricken in years; she was really about forty years of age, which seems old indeed to juveniles of fifteen and thereabouts. Now, having myself reached that venerable term of years, I feel myself not old at all, and, I am ashamed to say, scarcely elderly.

Miss Hollingsworth looked up brightly as we entered-I had never seen a sweeter face than that which questioningly, and yet kindly, sought mine; it was beautiful to me, infinitely more so than the delicately-tinted, classically-featured face of the beautiful Sibyl; and yet my cousin's countenance was faultless in symmetry, outline, and complexion; it only