commanding view of
the Thames and the vessels passing and repassing--in the summer-time,
with all the windows open, and enjoying the fresh air and the fresh
smoke from their pipes--in winter-time surrounding the fire and telling
their yarns. It was an admirable arrangement, and Virginia and I always
knew where to find him.

I have said but little of my sister Virginia. I may be considered
partial to her--perhaps I was; but to me she was, if not the handsomest,
certainly one of the most captivating persons I ever saw: to prove that
I thought so, I can only say that, deeply as I was smitten with Miss
Janet Wilson, I often thought that I wished she was a facsimile of my
sister. Virginia was now seventeen years old, slender and very
graceful: she reminded me more of an antelope in her figure than
anything I can compare her to; her head was so beautifully placed on her
shoulders that it was the first thing which attracted your notice when
you saw her. Her eyes were of a deep hazel, fringed by long black
eyelashes, and her arching and delicate eyebrows nearly met; her nose
was perfectly straight, but rather small; and her face ended in a sharp
oval, which added to the brilliancy and animation of her countenance;
her mouth was small and beautifully formed, and her little teeth like
seed pearl. Every one declared that she was the handsomest creature that
ever they had seen; and what every one says must be true. She was so;
but she was not always lively--she was only so at times: she appeared to
be of a serious, reflective turn of mind, and she read a great deal; but
at times she was mirth personified. To my mother she was always dutiful
and attentive, and was very useful to her.

I could not at first imagine what made my mother so anxious to have
lodgers in the house, as they must have proved a great nuisance to her,
and her circumstances were above such an infliction. It was not long
before I discovered the cause of this: it was no other but to make up
some good match for my sister, whose beauty she considered would effect
her purpose. Many were the applications for her lodgings, made by highly
respectable gentlemen; but when she discovered, either that they were
married, or that in other points they did not suit, she invariably
refused, and for months her apartments continued vacant; but if anybody
at all aristocratical, who was single, wished to inspect them, my mother
was all smiles and eagerness. It may be supposed that s