ber wept bitterly at the idea
of parting with those who had been so kind to her, and passing into the
hands of one who was a stranger. Having exacted a promise from William
Aveleyn that he would call as he passed through on his way to Cambridge,
she bade her kind friends farewell, entered the chaise in company with
Mr Scratton, and was hurried off to London.

Mr Scratton was one of those personages who never spoke except on
business; and, having no business to transact with a girl of twelve
years old, he never spoke at all except when necessity rendered it
imperative. Amber was therefore left to her own reflections. What they
all were I cannot tell; but one certainly was, that travelling in a
chaise for two days with Mr Scratton was not very agreeable. Most
happy was she when they drove up to the door of Mr John Forster's new
habitation. The old gentleman, who had calculated the hour of her
arrival after the receipt of a letter from her companion, was there to
receive her. Amber, who had been prepossessed in his favour by Edward
Forster, who had told her that in his brother she would find a protector
and indulgent parent, ran up to him when she entered the room, and burst
into tears as the injunctions of Edward Forster returned to her memory.
John Forster took her in his arms, and kissed her. "My little girl,"
said he, "what my brother was, such will I be to you. Consider me as
your father; for his memory, and I hope soon, for your own sake, I shall
rejoice to be so."

After an hour, by which time Amber had recovered her serenity, and
become almost cheerful, she was consigned to the charge of Mrs Smith
the housekeeper, and John Forster hastened back to his chambers and his
clients, to make up for so much lost time.

It was not long before the old gentleman discovered that the trouble and
expense which he had incurred to please his brother was the occasion of
pleasure and gratification. He no longer felt isolated in the world: in
short, he had a _home_, where a beaming eye met his return, and an
affectionate heart ministered to his wishes; where his well-known rap at
the door was a source of delight, and his departure one of regret.

In a few months Amber had entwined herself round the old man's heart;
the best masters were procured for her, and all the affection of a
doting parent upon an only child was bestowed by him who, when the
proposition was made, had declared that "it was bad enough to maintain
chil