When I arrived at this part of my speech, and not before, the countenance of Mrs. Summers evidently brightened up; and she concluded the business with much good humour, by politely acceding to my proposition of seeking for myself, in some other family, the accommodations which she perceived it would not be in her power to afford me: at the same time assuring me, that her house, such as it was, should be at my service as long as it might be agreeable to myself to remain in it.

I met this unexpected reply better than I had been accustomed to encounter things of that nature, from the circumstance of my having lately been revolving in my mind the plan of commencing housekeeping; for I began to be weary of having so much to do with people; and I wondered how I could have failed to perceive that the best means of maintaining my dignity and independence, was to have an establish

ment of my own, correspondent to my fortune and rank. I wished now that I had not quitted the house in which I was born-in which my parents had lived and died and in which, although it had been the scene of some sorrows, I had enjoyed, or might have enjoyed, many comforts and pleasures, and indulgencies certainly, since I had quitted it, I had found none so well disposed towards me as some of its old inhabitants. Now I thought that, could I recall the time, such a contemptible being as Peter Patterson should not mar all my comfort, or deprive me of the happiness of my choicest days. I questioned too, whether I might not, in some degree, at least, have conciliated my step-mother, and have disarmed her of some of her malignant feelings by a milder carriage; indeed, her dying appeal to my conscience, in reference to my behaviour towards her, forced upon me the conviction, that I had provoked much of the ill

treatment I had received. In such moments of self-reproach, methought I heard her dying voice sounding in my ears "You know, Lucy, you were always so disrespectful to me." Well, but those days were past and gone;-my friends and connexions were gone; - my own youth and beauty were gone; and even the house, the scene of my joys and sorrows, was now gone, for it was disposed of, and inhabited by strangers: but the wide world was before me; was there no spot on its surface on which I might pitch my tent- and find happiness?—I resolved to try.

CHAPTER VII.

JUST at this period there happened to be a house to let in the neighbourhood: as its situation was congenial to my taste, and it promised in all other respects to suit my wishes, I was soon busily occupied in fitting it up-in laying out the garden, and in purchasing furniture. I now again wished that I had been less precipitate in parting with my father's; for, beside its intrinsic value, or as I fancied, the particular adaptation of many articles to my new abode, this old furniture seemed in my recollection, all in the wide world with which my feelings were nearly allied: and if I could now have looked round upon the old chairs, and tables, the bureaus and cabinets, I should have thought myself less solitary

- less desolate. But now these mementos were irrecoverably gone, and

dispersed among families who knew not us, nor valued them beyond their marketable value. It were well if this precipitancy of conduct were confined exclusively to the young and inexperienced; but I fear that what I now record of myself is not a solitary instance of that want of deliberation in mature years, which too strongly indicates immature judgment, and is usually succeeded by unpropitious results.

But during this busy period, I think, on the whole, that I was happier than I had been for many a day; with an object to interest my feelings and occupy my thoughts, I found less leisure for brooding over misfortunes, real or imaginary. I hired three female servants and a footman; and, when all was completed and ready for my reception, entered my new abode in tolerably good humour as to present circumstances, and somewhat sanguine as to the future.

The summer passed over pleasantly;