that simple sight imparted to her. All the riches and honors which
this world can afford, would not have added to her existence a tithe of
that pleasure which Valentine easily conferred on her, by teaching
her to draw; he might almost be said to have given her a new sense in
exchange for the senses that she had lost. She used to dance about the
room with the reckless ecstasy of a child, in her ungovernable delight
at the prospect of a sketching expedition with Mr. Blyth in the
Hampstead fields.

At a very early date of her sojourn with Valentine, it was discovered
that her total deafness did not entirely exclude her from every effect
of sound. She was acutely sensitive to the influence of percussion--that
is to say (if so vague and contradictory an expression may be allowed),
she could, under certain conditions, _feel_ the sounds that she could
not hear. For example, if Mr. Blyth wished to bring her to his side when
they were together in the painting-room, and when she happened neither
to be looking at him nor to be within reach of a touch he used to rub
his foot, or the end of his mahl-stick gently against the floor. The
slight concussion so produced, reached her nerves instantly; provided
always that some part of her body touched the floor on which such
experiments were tried.

As a means of extending her facilities of social communication, she was
instructed in the deaf and dumb alphabet by Valentine's direction; he
and his wife, of course, learning it also; and many of their intimate
friends, who were often in the house, following their example for
Madonna's sake. Oddly enough, however, she frequently preferred to
express herself, or to be addressed by others, according to the clumsier
and slower system of signs and writing, to which she had been accustomed
from childhood. She carefully preserved her little slate, with its
ornamented frame, and kept it hanging at her side, just as she wore it
on the morning of her visit to the Rectory-house at Rubbleford.

In one exceptional case, and one only, did her misfortune appear to
have the power of affecting her tranquillity seriously. Whenever, by any
accident, she happened to be left in the dark, she was overcome by the
most violent terror. It was found, even when others were with her, that
she still lost her self-possession at such times. Her own explanation
of her feelings on these occasions, suggested the simplest of reasons to
account for this weakness in her chara