lf had no
particular relish for any of the books mentioned, she fixed upon the
Bible as being the easiest, and moreover being divided into shorter
sections than the other three.

"So Evelyn was to have everything that a child could wish for that
could be got with money; and though Harris minded to the letter every
order that was given her, yet she thought only of serving herself in
all she did. In private with the child she laid praises and flattery
upon her as thick as honey in a full honeycomb; she never checked her
in anything she desired, so long as she did nothing which might
displease her aunts, should it come to their knowledge; she scarcely
ever dressed her without praising her beauty, or gave her a lesson
without telling her how quick and clever she was. She talked to her of
the fine fortune she would come into when she was of age; of her
mamma's jewels, in which she was to shine; of the fine family houses;
and, in short, of everything which could raise her pride; and there was
not a servant about the house who did not address the little girl as if
she had not been made of the same flesh and blood as other people."

"Poor little girl!" said Lucy.

"I am sorry for her," remarked Emily; "she must have been quite spoiled
by all these things."

"We shall see," continued the old lady. "It was in a very curious way
that I, many years afterwards, learned many particulars of the ways and
character of this little girl in her very early years, before I was
personally acquainted with her. After my eldest son was born, being in
want of a nursemaid, Fanny, the very servant who had waited on Miss
Evelyn and Mrs. Harris, offered herself; and as I had known her well
and loved her much, though I had lost sight of her for some years, I
most gladly engaged her. She told me many things of Mrs. Harris and her
little lady, which I never could have known otherwise. She said that
Mrs. Harris was so much puzzled at the ways of the little girl, that
she used often to speak of it to Fanny.

"'Miss Evelyn,' she said one day, 'is the queerest little thing I ever
met with; I don't know where her thoughts are. When I am dressing her
to go down to tea in the saloon, and putting on her nice smart dresses,
and telling her to look in the glass and see how pretty she is--and to
be sure she is as pretty as any waxwork--she either does not answer at
all, as if she did not hear me, or has some out-of-the-way question to
ask about her lamb, or