Nobody in Rosville lived at so fast a rate as the Morgesons.  The oldest families there were not the richest—­the Ryders, in particular.  Judge Ryder had four unmarried daughters; they were the only girls in our set who never invited us to visit them.  They could not help saying, with a fork of the neck, “Who are the Morgesons?” But all the others welcomed Cousin Alice, and were friendly with me.  She was too pretty and kind-hearted not to be liked, if she was rich; and Cousin Charles was respected, because he made no acquaintance beyond bows, and “How-de-do’s.”  It was rather a stirring thing to have such a citizen, especially when he met with an accident, and he broke many carriages in the course of time; and now and then there was a row at the mills, which made talk.  His being considered a hard man did not detract from the interest he inspired.

My advent in Rosville might be considered a fortunate one; appearances indicated it; I am sure I thought so, and was very well satisfied with my position.  I conformed to the ways of the family with ease, even in the matter of small breakfasts and light suppers.  I found that I was more elastic than before, and more susceptible to sudden impressions; I was conscious of the ebb and flow of blood through my heart, felt it when it eddied up into my face, and touched my brain with its flame-colored wave.  I loved life again.  The stuff of which each day was woven was covered with an arabesque which suited my fancy.  I missed nothing that the present unrolled for me, but looked neither to the past nor to the future.  In truth there was little that was elevated in me.  Could I have perceived it if there had been?  Whichever way the circumstances of my life vacillated, I was not yet reached to the quick; whether spiritual or material influences made sinuous the current of being, it still flowed toward an undiscovered ocean.

Half the girls at the Academy, like myself, came from distant towns.  Some had been there three years.  They were all younger than myself.  There never had been a boarding-house attached to the school, and it was not considered a derogatory thing for the best families to receive these girls as boarders.  We were therefore on the same footing, in a social sense.  I was also on good terms with Miss Prior.  She was a cold and kindly woman, faithful as a teacher, gifted with an insight into the capacity of a pupil.  She gave me a course of History first, and after that Physical Philosophy; but never recommended me to Moral Science.  When I had been with her a few months, she proposed that I should study the common branches; my standing in the school was such that I went down into the primary classes without shame, and I must say that I was the dullest scholar in them.  We also had a drawing master and a music-teacher.  The latter was an amiable woman, with theatrical manners.  She was a Mrs. Lane; but no Mr. Lane had ever been seen in Rosville.  We girls supposed he had deserted