r, but bounced up from his chair and rushed
out of the room, exclaiming, "By Jove, it's too bad!"

From the scene of merriment he rushed forth and out of the house into the
dark, wet streets, fired with one impulse, inspired by one purpose:--to
resist the tyranny of Mrs. Gann towards poor Caroline; to protect the
gentle girl from the injustice of which she was the victim. All his
sympathies from that moment were awakened in Caroline's favour.

As for Mr. Brandon, whom Caroline in the depths of her little silly heart
had set down for the wondrous fairy prince who was to deliver her from
her present miserable condition, he was a man to whom opposition acted
ever as a spur. Up to this time he had given little or no thought to the
young girl with the pale face and quiet manner, but now he was amused,
and his interest was awakened by the indignation of Mr. Fitch. He was
piqued also by the system of indifference to his charms indulged in by
Caroline's older sisters, and determined to revenge himself upon them for
their hardness of heart by devotion to Caroline. As he wrote in a letter
that very day: "I am determined through a third daughter, a family
Cinderella, to make her sisters _quiver_ with envy. I merely mean fun,
for Cinderella is but a little child.... I wish I had paper enough to
write you an account of a Gann dinner at which I have just assisted, and
of a scene which there took place; and how Cinderella was dressed out,
not by a fairy, but by a charitable kitchen maid, and was turned out of
the room by her indignant mamma for appearing in the maid's finery...."

This, and much more, Mr. Brandon, who at once turned his attention to
being excessively kind and polite to our humble Cinderella. Caroline,
being a most romantic little girl, and having read many novels, depicted
Brandon in a fancy costume such as her favourite hero wore, or fancied
herself as the heroine, watching her knight go forth to battle. Silly
fancies, no doubt; but consider the poor girl's age and education; the
only instruction she had ever received was from these tender,
kind-hearted, silly books; the only happiness which fate had allowed her
was in this little silent world of fancy. It would be hard to grudge the
poor thing her dreams; and many such did she have, and tell blushingly to
honest Becky as they sat by the kitchen fire, while indignation was
growing apace in the breasts of her mother and sisters at the sight of so
much interest centre