“I believe he cheated me, but I could not help it.  My spirits were not depressed at this news; I sold all the furniture; paid the little debts to the tradespeople, and, with nine pounds in my pocket, took my place in the diligence, and set off for London, where I arrived without accident.  I read in the newspaper, at the inn, that a provincial company was in want of a young actress for genteel comedy.  My mother’s original passion for the stage had never left her; and, during our stay in France, we often amused ourselves with la petite comedie, in which I always took a part.

“Without resources, I thought a precarious mode of obtaining a livelihood was better than a vicious one, and determined to try my fortune on the stage:  so I ordered a hack, and drove to the office indicated.  I felt a degree of comfort, when I discovered that my father was the advertising manager, although I was certain he would never recognise me.  I was engaged by the agent, the bargain was approved of, and in a day or two after, was ordered to a country town, some miles from the metropolis.

“I arrived; my father did not know me, nor did I wish that he should, as I did not intend to remain long in the company.  I short, I aspired to the London boards; but aware that I wanted practice, without which it would have been useless to have offered myself, I accepted this situation without delay, and applied with great assiduity to the study of my profession.  My father, I found, had married again; and my joining the company added nothing to his domestic harmony, my stepmother becoming immoderately jealous of me; but I took good care to keep my own secret, and never exposed myself for one moment to any suspicion of my character, which hitherto, thank Heaven, has been pure, though I am exposed to a thousand temptations, and beset by the actors to become the wife of one, or the mistress of another.

“Among those who proposed the latter, was my honoured father, to whom, on that account, I was one day on the point of revealing the secret of my birth, as the only means of saving myself from his importunities.  He was, at last, taken ill, and died, only three months ago, not before I had completed my engagements, and obtained an increased salary of one guinea and a half per week.  It is my intention to quit the company at the expiration of my present term, which will take place in two months, for I am miserable here, although I am quite at a loss to know what will be my future destination.”

In return for her confidence, I imparted as much of my history as I thought it necessary for her to know.  I became deeply fascinated—­I forgot Miss Somerville, and answered my father’s letter respectfully and kindly.  He informed me that he had procured my name to be entered on the books of the guard-ship, at Spithead:  but, that I might gain time to loiter by the side of Eugenia, I begged his permission to join my ship without returning home, alleging as a reason, that delay would soften down any asperity of feeling occasioned by the late fracas.  This in his answer he agreed to, enclosing a handsome remittance; and the same post brought a pressing invitation from Mr Somerville to come to ——­ Hall.