e was anxious that any sacrifice should be made rather than the affair
should be exposed; and the terms were consented to, and Lionel came into
possession of further property, to the amount of 900 pounds per annum.
As we became more intimate, Mr Selwyn asked me many particulars
relative to myself, and, by his habit of cross-examining, soon gained
the best portion of my history; only one point I did not mention to
him,--that my family supposed that I was dead.

CHAPTER TEN.

One day he came, accompanied by Mrs Selwyn, who joined him very
earnestly in requesting me to pass a day or two with them at their
country house at Kew. I accepted the invitation, and they called for me
in their carriage on their way down. It was summer time, and I was very
glad to be out of London for a day or two. I found a charming family of
two sons and three daughters, grown up, and who appeared very
accomplished. Mr Selwyn then, for the first time, asked me whether I
was settled or not.

I told him no,--that I was giving lessons in music--that I sang at the
chapel, and that I was laying by money.

He said I was right, and that he hoped to be able to procure me pupils;
"But now," said he, "as I did not know that you had a voice, I must be
permitted to hear it, as otherwise I shall not be able to make my
report."

I sat down immediately and sang, and he and Mrs Selwyn, as well as the
daughters, were highly pleased with my performance. During my stay, Mr
Selwyn treated me in, I may say, almost a parental manner, and extracted
something more from me relative to my previous life, and he told me that
he thought I had done wisely in remaining independent, and not again
trusting to Lady M--or Madame d'Albret. I went afterwards several times
to their town house, being invited to evening parties, and people who
were there and heard my singing, sent for me to teach their daughters.

In six months after I had taken up my residence with the Gironacs, I was
in flourishing circumstances. I had twenty-eight pupils, ten at five
shillings per lesson, and eight at seven shillings, and they took
lessons twice a week. I had also a school for which I received about
five guineas per week, and the singing at the chapel, for which I
received three. In fact, I was receiving about eighteen pounds a week
during the winter season; but it must be confessed that I worked hard
for it, and expended two or three pounds a week in coach hire.
Nevertheless, alt