as the one she had left, but she gave perfect satisfaction. Here she met with Mr. Hammond, who was going out to Australia, with what was a small capital in England, but which in the infant days of Adelaide was a very handsome sum to begin upon. He had not very much idea of colonial life, and had a notion that there were few women and no ladies there. He admired Miss Hope's beauty, her style, and her accomplishments; and he thought her a very clever, clear-headed sensible woman, who would make a good wife for a colonist; so he proposed and was accepted. He had at first fancied that he had demeaned himself a little by offering his hand to a governess, and expected she should feel very grateful and a little surprised; but no sooner was he engaged than she made him feel her superiority, though not uncomfortably, and after his marriage he rested in the conviction that Mrs. Hammond was the cleverest woman in the world, and was capable of taking any place in society that she chose. She talked of aristocratic circles in which she had mixed with confidence and fluency, and in the remote regions of South Australia her really well-acquired accomplishments, her excellent style of dress, her accurate language, her clever well-written notes, and her perfect self-possession fixed her at once as la crème de la
