n a sort of grave, old-fashioned, motherly way that had no
childishness in it. Her books were kept on a small bookshelf hung up on
purpose, and her toys were put away in orderly fashion in a drawer.

"How happy I was! for I was used carefully and well, never flung
violently about or used roughly, and my little mistress had a dainty way
of spinning me that would have won the affection of the hardest and
sternest of Humming Tops. During all the years I lived with her, I never
saw her look untidy, or with a spot or soil on frock or pinafore, nor
did I ever know her to be anything but placid and gentle, very happy but
very grave. So it was no wonder her father and mother loved her so
dearly, and lavished on her every comfort and pleasure that money could
purchase. And she grew up to be a very sweet, quiet girl, the comfort of
her old parents, and beloved more in her own home than anywhere else.
She did not care for gaiety much, nor wish to go to many parties or
plays, and even when she did, she was so modest and retiring in her
manner that she was often passed over without much notice, and very few
would have known her for the rich heiress that she was. And this of
course, you know, was long after we had parted company. For, strange to
say, she seemed to grow younger in some things, as she grew older in
years, and when she was fifteen or sixteen, she looked more of a child
than she did when she was really little. She had a simple, earnest way
with her that was very pleasant, and she was fond of her old toys till
she grew up. I don't mean to say she played with us then, but she valued
us as the treasures of her childhood, her happy childhood, and put us
carefully away as old friends. Indeed, as far as I am concerned, I may
even date our intimate fellowship far later than this, for when she was
a woman grown, she would often take me out in a sort of musing way, and
say, 'Come, old Busy Bee, and give me a little of your humming?' She
called me 'old Busy Bee,' you must know, as a sort of pet nickname. And
you may be sure I put on my best waltzing powers, and hummed like twenty
Dumbledores in a churn! And as she grew up she had plenty of suitors,
and her parents wished her to go out sometimes to grand balls and
parties, so that she was much admired and followed. I have often known
her come home from one of these, and come into her room, and, throwing
off her rich dress and ornaments, she would sit down by a little table
and take