rily mean to be
over-indulged. I am sure my father spent many anxious hours over my
upbringing, and with him I was accustomed to prompt obedience, though I
fear I ruled Juanita, my mulatto nurse, and Tasso, the black bearer,
with a rod of iron. Friends of my own age and station I had none; my
father was all in all to me, and in his constant companionship I had
grown up a somewhat old-fashioned child, learning a few desultory
lessons, reading every story-book upon which I could lay my hands, and
living in a make-believe world of my own, as different from the actual
realities of life as could well be imagined.

It was indeed time for a change, though the transplanting process might
be hard to bear. I think many urgent letters from relations in England
had helped to form my father's decision, and, his mind once made up, he
hurried on the preparations for my journey, in a kind of nervous anxiety
lest he should repent, and refuse to part with me after all.

"I suppose your aunt will find your clothes all right," he said, as he
watched Juanita pack my cabin trunk. "I've told her to rig you out
afresh if she doesn't. We don't go in for Paris modes at San Carlos, so
I'm afraid you will hardly be in the latest fashion! You must be a good
girl, and do as you're told. You'll find everything rather different
over there, but you'll soon get used to it, and be happy, I hope; though
what I'm to do without you here I don't know," he added wistfully.
"You're all I've got now!"

And he looked out over the blue waters of the bay to that little plot
under the shade of the campanile where my pretty mother lay sleeping so
quietly.

I understood him, and it added a fresh pang to my sorrow. Child as I
was, I felt I had in some measure helped to fill that vacant place, and
the thought that I must leave him so lonely, so very lonely, seemed
sometimes to make the parting almost harder than I could bear. I tried
my best, however, to be bright and brave for his sake, and I made up my
mind that I would do my very utmost to learn all he wished, so that
perhaps I might get through the work in quicker time than he expected,
and be able to return to him the sooner.

The grief of the coloured portion of our household at the news of my
departure was both noisy and vehement. Juanita dropped copious tears
into my boxes; Jose, the garden-boy, assured me that England was
situated in the midst of a frozen sea, where your fingers fell off with
the cold, a