Sarah Smith

p with a feeling as if I had had a fri

on, uncertainty, and an all-predominating sense of terror confused my faculties. Ere long, I became aware that someone was handling me; lifting me and suppor

d that the red glare was the nursery fire. It was night: a candle burnt on the table; Bessie stood at

dividual not belonging to Gateshead., and not related to Mrs. Reed. Turning from Bessie (though her presence was far less obnoxious to me

he servants were ailing: for herself an

o am I?'

and saying, 'We shall do very well by and by.' Then he laid me down, and addressing

my grief: I felt so sheltered and befriended while he sat in the chair near my pillow; and as he closed

u should sleep, Miss?

ft

for I feared the next sentenc

or could you eat anything?

it is past noon; but you may call m

his! It emboldened m

s the matter wi

the red room with crying; yo

housemaid's apartment

d he

with that poor child to-night: she might die; it's such a strange thing she sh

for half an hour before they fell asleep. I caught scraps of their conversation

great black dog behind him'-'Three loud raps on the chamber

, the watches of that long night passed in the ghastly wakefu

gave my nerves a shock of which I feel the reverberation to this day. Yes, Mrs. Reed

ng my heartstrings, you thought you we

felt physically weak and broken down: but my worse ailment was an unutterable wretchedness of

another room, and Bessie, as she moved hither and thither, putting away toys and arranging drawers, addressed to me now and then a word of unwonted kindness. This state of things should have been to me a

se bird of paradise, nestling in a wreath of convolvuli and rosebuds, had been wont to stir in me the most enthusiastic

long deferred and often wished for, too late! I could not eat the tart; and the plumage of the bird, the tints of the flowers, seemed strangely faded: I put both plate and tart away. Bessie asked if I would have a book: the word BOO

of England to some savage country where the woods were wilder and thicker, and the population scanter; whereas, Lilliput and Brobdig- nag being, in my creed, solid parts of the earth's surface, I doubted not that I might one day, by taking a long voyage, see with

to find-all was eerie and dreary; the giants were gaunt goblins, the pigmies malevolent and fearful imps, Gulliver a most desolate wanderer

nished dusting an

full of splendid shreds of silk and satin, and began making a n

we went gipsying

always with lively delight; for Bessi

s, preoccupied with her work, she sang the refrain very low, very lingeringly; 'A long time ago' came o

e, and my limbs they

e mountain

moonless and dreary Over the

end me so far

rey rocks are piled? Men are ha

steps of a po

e are none, and clear stars beam mild, God, in His mercy, pro

the marshes, by false lights beguiled, Still will my Father, wi

gth should avail me, Though both

will not fail me; God is a fr

have said to the fire, 'Don't burn!' but how could she divine the morbid suffe

, as he entered the nursery

d that I was d

eerful. Come here, Miss Sarah:

r, Sarah

ss Sarah Smith; can you tell me

, s

s crying because she

carriage,' int

she is too old for

nd my self-esteem b

ed for such a thing in my life: I hate going ou

Miss!' sa

led. I was standing before him; he fixed h

ould think them shrewd now: he had a hard-featured y

re, h

you ill y

Bessie, again putting i

baby again! Can

he must be eight o

e by another pang of mortified pride; 'but that did not make me

the servants' dinner; he knew what it was. 'That's for you, nurse,' said

as obliged to go because punctuality at me

you ill; what did, th

ssie wa

oom where there is a

and frown at the sam

after all! Yo

os

sie nor anyone else will go into it at night if they can help it, and it was cruel t

it that makes yo

d now in

ore long: and besides,- I am unhap

gs? Can you tell

if the analysis is partially affected by thought, they do know not how to express the result of the process in words. Fearful, however, of losing this first

or mother, brothers or sisters.'

d; then bungl

cked me down, and m

ed- r

ond time produc

tiful house?' asked he. 'Are you not very t

d Abbot says I have less rig

y enough to wish to leav

be glad to leave it; but I can never get

o knows? Have you a

. R

nk not

nging to y

aid possibly I might have some poor, low relatio

, would you like

ustrious, working, respectable poverty; they think of the word only as connected with ragged clothes, scan

e to belong to poor p

they were k

heir manners, to be uneducated, to grow up like one of the poor women I saw sometimes nursing their children or washing their

es so very poor? Are

. Reed says if I hav

like to go a begging.' 'Wou

f it as a place where young ladies sat in the stocks, wore backboards, and wer

certain accomplishments attained by these same young ladies were, I thought, equally attractive. She boasted of beautiful paintings of landscapes and flowers by them executed; of songs they could sing and pieces they could play, of purses they

to school,' was the audibl

e got up. 'The child ought to have a change of air and scene,

me moment, the carriage was he

, nurse?' asked Mr. Ll

her bef

breakfast room and led the way out.

said, in discussing the subject with Bessie when both sat sewing in the nursery one night after I was in bed, and, as they thought, asleep, 'Missis was, she dared say, glad enough to get rid of

d the match beneath her; that my grandfather Reed was so irritated at her disobedience, he cut her off without a shilling; that after my mother and father had been married a year, the latter caught the typhus fever whi

eard this narrativ

h is to be piti

hild, one might compassionate her forlornness; but on

o be sure,' agreed B

orgiana would be mo

dit

th her long curls and her blue eyes, and such a sweet color as she has; jus

ast onion. Come, we'l