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or the harp played below, to the passing to and fro of the butler

and footlass and china as refreshments were

handed, to the broken hu-room door

opened and closed When tired of this occupation, I would retire

from the stairhead to the solitary and silent nursery: there,

though somewhat sad, I was not o into company, for in company I was very rarely

noticed; and if Bessie had but been kind and companionable, I should

have dees quietly with her,

instead of passing them under the forentle ladies, used to take herself off to the lively

regions of the kitchen and housekeeper's roo with her I then sat withround occasionally to

worse than myself haunted the shadowy room; and when the e at knots and strings as

I best ht shelter from cold and darkness in s , and, in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I

contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven

ie, shabby as a miniature scarecrow It puzzles me now to

remember hat absurd sincerity I doated on this little toy,

half fancying it alive and capable of sensation I could not sleep

unless it was folded in own; and when it lay there safe

and war it to be happy

likewise