“Well,” I said, with some tenderness, "there is one comfort, our dear, dear governess is now clad even in finer raiment than any which your hymn describes."

She looked at me as if desiring to ascertain if I thoroughly understood what I had asserted.

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"Yes," I said, “she is ; for is she not arrayed in the righteousness of our Saviour himself, which is brighter and more beautiful even than the knowledge, virtue, truth, and grace of the greatest saints now on earth?" The reappearance of the ayah put an end to this discussion, and here I close my chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

Anna and Ermina dress to be introduced to the company on board the Indiaman-They differ respecting dancing-Mr. Townley commends Anna's prudence-They arrive at Calcutta-Land --Delighted with the country.

ABOUT a quarter before two, Mrs. Palmerston entered our cabin again, and finding us dressed to her satisfaction, she led us out through the cuddy, or dining-room, on deck, where she introduced us to our fellow-passengers, among whom we found several ladies, and numbers of gentlemen; chairs being brought us, we sat under an awning to amuse ourselves with the novelty of the scene. The deck was more than 150 feet long, computing it from the stern to the bowsprit. At our end were all the persons of our own rank, including those who dined at the captain's table; and at the other end sat all the passengers of lower rank, among which were some private soldiers and their wives, who in such situations are exposed to hardship such as no cottager in England ever knows.

Immediately on our appearing, my uncle took Anna under his arm, and walked up and down the deck with her, but I was left with Mrs. Palmerston; and as there was no other child on board, every one began to joke, laugh, and romp with me. One asked me where I had got my coral lips, and another where I had stolen my bright eyes; another remarked the pretty curls on my head, and a fourth asked me if I would be his partner in

the next dance, for it had been proposed that they should dance every night on board, now that we had left the more stormy seas.

I was at first confounded with all this, but I presently began to feel myself more at ease, and then my natural character, which as I before hinted, was that of a little pert, mocking girl, presently began to appear, and we raised such an uproar among us, that my uncle was presently obliged to call me to order. At length a drum and fife called us to dinner, and as all the ladies were handed to table, as if they had suddenly lost the use of their limbs or senses, I must also be led into the dining-room in great state, and no doubt thinking myself as good as the very best of them.

My reader will perhaps say, can this be the little simple, humble Minny, who sat but a few years past on her governess's lap, to hear the story of the little chuckoor, and the same little modest girl who shortly since spent her whole time in hemming and stitching shirts for sale, and committing portions of Scripture to memory? Yes, it is the same; and if you, my young readers, have never known yourselves but under the tuition of careful parents, and in scenes of trial and adversity, learn, from my example, what high prosperity and flattery is most likely to make of you, and join with me in this prayer:-Oh! Lord, restrain me as with bit and bridle.

At dinner I found myself seated near Mrs. Palmerston, and at a considerable distance from my uncle, to whom my beloved Anna had attached herself.

I remember little of what passed at dinner, where I was all amazement at every thing I saw; but I know this, that Mrs. Palmerston suffered me to drink wine with one or two gentlemen, who asked me, and that before I rose from table I felt it in my head.

The same scene which had been acted upon deck in the morning was repeated after dinner, and when we had taken tea and coffee, as it was a remarkably fine night, we began to think of dancing, and Mrs. Palmerston insisted that I should dance, which I was very willing to do. While they were settling their partners, I ran into my cabin to get a pair of gloves, and there I found Anna seated at the table, reading by the light of a lamp which hung from the roof of the ship, while the ayah was placed on the floor at work by her side.

"Where are my gloves, Ayah ?" I said, calling about me as if I had been born a princess. The ayah rose and handed them to me, and I was running out again, when Anna said, "Minny, what are you doing? I wish you would not think of dancing."- -"And why?" I asked. Because, if my poor aunt were living, she would not have approved it."

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"Why, what's the harm of dancing?" I asked, stopping short.

"There is no harm in dancing itself," she replied, "you may recollect that we used often to dance on the grassplat to our dear governess's guitar, but then you know that she always explained to us that what might be very innocent among brothers and sisters and school-fellows, was not so among strangers. You know that there is no harm in puss-in-the-corner and blindman's-buff among little children, but such games would be very silly among grown people, and people who are strangers to each other; and dancing is like these plays, innocent in itself, but not proper at all times and in all companies; and I do wish, Minny, you would take my advice for once, and come to bed instead of dancing."

"I can't see the harm of dancing now," I replied pertly. "Very well," she replied, "and it is possible you may not; but this you do understand, Minny, that it is always right to take the advice of your friends, particularly those who are older than yourself."

"Older!" I said, "dear me! you are suddenly grown very ancient indeed, Anna, and yet you are not four years older than I am."

"There is one thing to be considered, Minny," she replied," and that is, that both you and I are suddenly deprived of all our former guides and counsellors, and therefore it behooves us to be directors to each other; and therefore, in want of a better, it becomes your duty to attend to me, and if I give you bad advice, I am answerable for it."

"Oh, as to that," I said, "I don't suppose you will give me any bad advice."

"Well, then," said she, " that settles the matter, and I will send the ayah for your uncle, and we will be guided by him."

Accordingly my uncle was sent for, and Anna having informed him that she thought we were both better in our rooms at this hour, he commended her prudence,

said he entirely agreed with her, and promised her to make some excuse to Mrs. Palmerston for my absence, and from that time we were not asked again to dance, though, I confess that I was sometimes mortified when I heard the tabor and fife upon deck.

As soon as my uncle was gone, we opened our boxes, and found an immense assortment of all kinds of trinkets, with scissors, needles, pins, thimbles, knives, ribands, necklaces, &c. &c.; and in arranging and rearranging these, I presently forgot my disappointment.

The rest of our days at sea during the fine weather passed much as this which I have described, but in weathering the Cape we had some severe storms, which put all vanities out of my head, and that no doubt of many others in the ship; and in the Bay of Bengal we were also much tossed about, so that I became heartily tired of the ship, and saw, with no small pleasure, the Island of Sauger, after a six months' passage.

When the vessel came to anchor in Diamond Harbour, which is at the mouth of the Hoogley, my uncle immediately forwarded a messenger to Calcutta, and in as short a time as possible afterward, a pinnace arrived to convey us to Garden Reach, where Mrs. Townley then was.

Into this pinnace we were shortly afterward conveyed with our baggage, and proceeding with one tide, arrived at Fulta, where was an inn by the water-side. I have little recollection of this inn, though it was the first Indian dwelling I had ever visited: it stood, as well as I remember, in a dry sandy plain, though in its immediate vicinity was a garden, which being well watered, produced all the plants of the climate, though the heat was such, and the glare of the atmosphere so great, that we could hardly amuse ourselves even with looking from the doors. We had a handsome dinner at Fulta, served up in a great hall, where at least half a score of my uncle's servants attended us, affording me much amusement by their turbaned heads, thick mustachios, and muslin habits.

The tide did not serve us again till near midnight, at which time we re-embarked, and lying down on our couches, enjoyed repose till morning, when waking we found all still around us-the pinnace fastened to the shore, and our windows opening on a beautiful garden, the trees of which feathered down to the water's side,

and filled our small apartment with a fragrance which equalled that of the most aromatic spice, at the same time the warblings of small birds, together with the distant note of the dove, met our ears-and oh! how delightful, how inexpressibly delightful, were these sounds and odours to us, who had been so long pent up in an East-Indiaman.

I started up immediately, and not having been undressed, put my head as far as I could out of the window; there I beheld a variety of the most charming trees and flowers, growing in groups and singly, on a lawn of the richest verdure. I knew not the name of a single tree, for all were equally new and strange to me, some being laden with thick foliage of a dark and brilliant green, and embellished with large spikes of flowers whiter than snow-others having leaves so fine and delicate that they seemed as if they would almost shrink from the touch-some being decorated with golden balls-and some with crimson, and star-like bells-while others raised their verdant coronets high above all the rest, as if they would assert a regal dignity above all the forest.

"Oh! Anna, Anna," I exclaimed, "how beautiful, how very, very beautiful! and is this India? it is surely more like Paradise!" Anna was equally delighted with myself, and understanding that our long, long voyage was at an end, we hastened to change our dresses, in order that we might be ready to go on shore whenever we might be summoned.

We were no sooner ready than my uncle appeared on the bank with two servants, carrying immense umbrellas; for as it was not more than seven in the morning, and the garden considerably shaded by the trees, he wished us to walk up to the house, and we were perhaps more impatient to accompany him thither than he to conduct us, for, as I afterward found, he had more domestic difficulties than he wished to have supposed.