into the kitchen to see a new servant girl—yet not so, either, for my mother would have seen her immediately after her arrival, and not waited till the next day; and moreover, she would have addressed her in a more kind and friendly manner, and given her some words of comfort as well as a plain exposition of her duties; but Mrs. Murray did neither the one nor the other. She just stepped into the schoolroom, on her return from ordering dinner in the house-keeper's room, bid me good morning, stood for two minutes by the fire, said a few words about the weather and the "rather rough" journey I must have had yesterday, petted her youngest child—a boy of ten, who had just been wiping his mouth and hands on her gown, after indulging in some savoury morsel from the housekeeper's stores—told me what a sweet, good boy he was, and then sailed out, with a self-complacent smile upon her face, thinking, no doubt, that she had done quite enough for the present, and had been delightfully condescending into the bargain. Her children evidently held the same opinion, and I alone, thought otherwise.
After this she looked in upon me once or twice, during the absence of my pupils, to en-
