ted, and the young lady entered the summer-house with a blushing
face.

"Here is a young lady," said Jane, "who is a stranger; and I may add,
that she is in a strange land. In introducing her to you, Miss Damer, I
hope I am securing a friend for her: one who will not behold her
insulted."

Tears now rushed from Miss Arden's eyes. "O! ma'am, I cannot thank you
as I feel! Hitherto, I have only known rudeness and unkindness! When I
lost my father, I thought, in coming to England--England, so famed for
every thing great and noble--that I should be a stranger to all sorrow
but that of remembrance."

Miss Damer was too much moved to express herself as she wished. "Come,"
said Jane, in a cheerful voice, "we must not have sorrow at this our
first meeting. I perceive that Miss Damer and you will be friends, so
come with me; you shall be my guests this evening, and we will leave the
other young ladies to my sister."

With a countenance expressive of kindness, Jane took an arm of each of
the young ladies, and walked with them up the garden. As she passed Miss
Vincent and her companion, she said very quietly, "Young ladies, I hope
you will conduct yourselves better to-morrow."

CHAPTER IV.

When Miss Vincent entered the music-room to receive her first lesson,
with haughty indifference she seated herself at the piano, and in a
careless manner began a voluntary. Elizabeth, who was reading a letter,
now closed it, leisurely opened a book, and desired her to play the
lesson to which she pointed.

"This piece, ma'am! Gravana thinks English music despicable."

"And English manners, I presume?"

"Manners, ma'am! Madame La Blond's was a fashionable seminary."

"And what is fashion, my dear?"

"Oh, nothing--nothing, ma'am, but doing as we please: we seldom saw
Madame except in evening parties."

"Then to whom were you indebted for instruction?"

"To our masters, ma'am," said Miss Vincent, in a tone of surprise. "At
Madame La Blond's we were instructed in all the sciences; in the nature
of valves; the specific gravity of bodies; the astonishing properties of
magnetic steel; and how many thousand miles the sun was from the earth."

"And perhaps you were told, by what means Archimedes burned the ships of
Marcellus, at the siege of Syracuse?"

"O no, ma'am; but we learned the art of memorizing by hieroglyphics.
This formed a part of our morning exercises."

"Pray, my dear," said Elizabeth very gravely, "can you repea