“Why Amy!” exclaimed Charles as he grasped my arm, “What is the matter? you look quite black in the face!” They all gathered around me, but unable to speak, I sank back into Charles Tracy’s arms, and lost all consciousness.

When I recovered, I found myself lying on my own little bed, with my mother bending fondly over me—­the cause of all this trouble on a chair at my side—­and Mammy, dear, good Mammy! regarding me with a puzzled look of surprise.

“Why, she actually fainted!” whispered Jane, “just dead away, like any grown person!”

“No,” replied Mammy, “the child was dreadfully squeezed, and that took away her breath.  She’ll kill herself next, with some of her capers!”

Mamma now made a sign for them to be quiet, and stooping down close to my face, asked me how I felt.  I tried to answer, “better;” but the words almost choked me, and I still experienced a difficulty in breathing.  The evil consequences of this attempt at the graceful were but temporary, however; and the next morning, as I sat up quite recovered, a discussion took place between mamma and the old nurse on the propriety of equipping me at once in corsets to improve my figure.  I soon experienced the delight of possessing a pair of my own; on which memorable occasion, I resolved that, like the old woman, I would “neither borrow nor lend;” but the present was conditional—­on the first instance of my lacing too tight it was to be taken from me.  I took care that this should never happen—­that is, to such a degree as to expose myself to punishment; but in many a scene of enjoyment did I suffer the consequences of my foolish vanity.  Often while music, and dancing, and everything contributed to render a children’s party delightful, I sat apart in a corner, or else went languidly through the figures of the dance, while every nerve throbbed with acute pain.

Ellen and I had for sometime noticed that Charles and Henry were more together than ever.  They seldom associated with us now, or asked us to join them; Henry proved faithless with respect to a table he had promised my doll, and Charles refused, for the present, to dig his sister’s garden spot; therefore we put our two wise heads together and concluded that this must mean something.  The moment school was out, the cap was hastily snatched from its nail in the entry, and they both sallied forth together—­where, or for what purpose, we tried in vain to discover.  On Saturdays they were constantly at work in the barn, hammering, and cutting, and shaving; and one day we detected them making, over a fire which they had built on bricks in the open air, something which smelt very much like molasses candy.  But upon Ellen’s venturing to communicate this to Charles, he answered contemptuously that “it was just like girls!—­always fancying that everything was something eatable!”