son tells me that you first became acquainted said mrs as she and i were talking at one table while they played at another indeed i recollect his speaking at that time of a pupil younger than himself who had taken his fancy there but name as you may suppose has not lived in my memory he was very generous and noble to me in those days i assure you ma am said i and i stood in need of such a friend i should have been quite crushed without him he is always generous and noble said mrs proudly i to this with all my heart god knows she knew i did for the of her manner already towards me except when she spoke in praise of him and then her air was always lofty it was not a fit school generally for my son said she far from it but there were particular circumstances to be considered at the time of more importance even than that selection my son s high spirit made it desirable that he should be placed with some man who felt its superiority and would be content to bow himself before it and we found such a man there the personal history and experience i knew that knowing the fellow and yet i did not despise him the more for it but thought it a quality in him � if he could be allowed any grace for not resisting one so irresistible as my son s great capacity was tempted on there by a feeling of voluntary and conscious pride the fond lady went on to say he would have risen against all but he found himself the monarch of the place and he determined to be worthy of his station it was like himself i echoed with all my heart and soul that it was like himself so my son took of his own will and on no to the course in which he can always when it is his pleasure every she pursued my son me mr that you were quite devoted to him and that when you met yesterday you made yourself known to him with tears of joy i should be an affected woman if i made any pretence of being surprised by my son s inspiring such emotions but i cannot be indifferent to any one who is so sensible of his merit and i am very glad to see you here and can assure you that he feels an unusual friendship for you and that you may rely on his protection miss as eagerly as she did everything else if i had seen her first at the board i have fancied that her figure had got thin and her eyes had got large over that pursuit and no other in the world but i am very much mistaken if she missed a word of this or lost a look of mine as i received it with the utmost pleasure and honored by mrs s confidence felt older than i had done since i left when the evening was pretty far spent and a tray of glasses and came in promised over the fire that he would seriously think of going down into the country with me there was no hurry he said a week hence would do and his mother said the same while we were talking he more than once called me which brought miss out but really mr she asked is it a nick name and why does he give it you is it � eh � because he thinks you young and innocent i am so stupid in these things i colored in replying that i believed it was oil said miss now i am glad to know that i ask for information and i am glad to know it he thinks you young and innocent and so you are his friend well that s quite delightful she went to bed soon after this and mrs retired too and i after lingering for half an hour over the fire talking about and all the rest of them at old house went up stairs together s room was next to mine and i went in to look at it it was a picture of comfort full of easy chairs cushions and worked by his mother s hand and with no sort of thing omitted that could help to render it complete finally her handsome looked down on her darling from a portrait on the wall as if it were even something to her that her likeness should watch him while he slept i found the fire burning clear enough in my room by this time and the curtains drawn before the windows and round the l ed giving it a very snug appearance i sat down in a great chair upon the hearth to on my happiness and had enjoyed the of it for of david some time when i found a likeness of miss looking eagerly at me from above the chimney piece it was a startling likeness and necessarily had a startling look the painter hadn t made the but made it and there it was coming and going now confined to the upper lip as i had seen it at dinner and now showing the whole extent of the wound inflicted by the hammer as i had seen it when she was passionate i wondered why they couldn t put her anywhere else instead of her on me to get rid of her i quickly extinguished my light and went to bed but as i fell asleep i could not forget that she was still there looking is it really though i want to know and when i awoke in the night i found that i was uneasily asking all sorts of people in my dreams v it really was or not � without knowing what i meant xxi little em ly there 