e was only six years old, it was easy to
perceive that she had been several times in love. She once said to
me:--

"Miss Mix, did you ever have the grande passion? Did you ever feel a
fluttering here?" and she placed her hand upon her small chest, and
sighed quaintly, "a kind of distaste for bonbons and caromels, when the
world seemed as tasteless and hollow as a broken cordial drop."

"Then you have felt it, Nina?" I said quietly. "O dear, yes. There was
Buttons,--that was our page, you know,--I loved him dearly, but papa
sent him away. Then there was Dick, the groom, but he laughed at me,
and I suffered misery!" and she struck a tragic French attitude.
"There is to be company here to-morrow," she added, rattling on with
childish naivete, "and papa's sweetheart--Blanche Marabout--is to be
here. You know they say she is to be my mamma."

What thrill was this shot through me? But I rose calmly, and,
administering a slight correction to the child, left the apartment.

Blunderbore House, for the next week, was the scene of gayety and
merriment. That portion of the mansion closed with a grating was
walled up, and the midnight shrieks no longer troubled me.

But I felt more keenly the degradation of my situation. I was obliged
to help Lady Blanche at her toilet and help her to look beautiful. For
what? To captivate him? O--no, no,--but why this sudden thrill and
faintness? Did he really love her? I had seen him pinch and swear at
her. But I reflected that he had thrown a candlestick at my head, and
my foolish heart was reassured.

It was a night of festivity, when a sudden message obliged Mr.
Rawjester to leave his guests for a few hours. "Make yourselves merry,
idiots," he added, under his breath, as he passed me. The door closed
and he was gone.

An half-hour passed. In the midst of the dancing a shriek was heard,
and out of the swaying crowd of fainting women and excited men a wild
figure strode into the room. One glance showed it to be a highwayman,
heavily armed, holding a pistol in each hand.

"Let no one pass out of this room!" he said, in a voice of thunder.
"The house is surrounded and you cannot escape. The first one who
crosses yonder threshold will be shot like a dog. Gentlemen, I'll
trouble you to approach in single file, and hand me your purses and
watches."

Finding resistance useless, the order was ungraciously obeyed.

"Now, ladies, please to pass up your jewelry and trinkets.