Indeed it was from this famous family, as it appears, that Miss Sharp,

by the mother's side, was descended. Of course she did not say that her

mother had been on the stage; it would have shocked Mr. Crawley's

religious scruples. How many noble emigres had this horrid revolution

plunged in poverty! She had several stories about her ancestors ere

she had been many months in the house; some of which Mr. Crawley

happened to find in D'Hozier's dictionary, which was in the library,

and which strengthened his belief in their truth, and in the

high-breeding of Rebecca. Are we to suppose from this curiosity and

prying into dictionaries, could our heroine suppose that Mr. Crawley

was interested in her?--no, only in a friendly way. Have we not stated

that he was attached to Lady Jane Sheepshanks?

He took Rebecca to task once or twice about the propriety of playing at

backgammon with Sir Pitt, saying that it was a godless amusement, and

that she would be much better engaged in reading "Thrump's Legacy," or

"The Blind Washerwoman of Moorfields," or any work of a more serious

nature; but Miss Sharp said her dear mother used often to play the same

game with the old Count de Trictrac and the venerable Abbe du Cornet,

and so found an excuse for this and other worldly amusements.

But it was not only by playing at backgammon with the Baronet, that the

little governess rendered herself agreeable to her employer. She found

many different ways of being useful to him. She read over, with

indefatigable patience, all those law papers, with which, before she

came to Queen's Crawley, he had promised to entertain her. She

volunteered to copy many of his letters, and adroitly altered the

spelling of them so as to suit the usages of the present day. She

became interested in everything appertaining to the estate, to the

farm, the park, the garden, and the stables; and so delightful a

companion was she, that the Baronet would seldom take his

after-breakfast walk without her (and the children of course), when she

would give her advice as to the trees which were to be lopped in the

shrubberies, the garden-beds to be dug, the crops which were to be cut,

the horses which were to go to cart or plough. Before she had been a

year at Queen's Crawley she had quite won the Baronet's confidence; and

the conversation at the dinner-table, which before used to be held

between him and Mr. Horrocks the butler, was now almost exclusively

between Sir Pitt and Miss Sharp. She was almost mistress of the house

when Mr. Crawley was absent, but conducted herself in her new and

exalted situation with such circumspection and modesty as not to offend

the authorities of the kitchen and stable, among whom her behaviour was

always exceedingly modest and affable. She was quite a different

person from the haughty, shy, dissatisfied little girl whom we have

known previously, and this change of temper proved great prudence, a

sincere desire of amendment, or at any rate great moral courage on her

part. Whether it was the heart which dictated this new system of

complaisance and humility adopted by our Rebecca, is to be proved by

her after-history. A system of hypocrisy, which lasts through whole

years, is one seldom satisfactorily practised by a person of

one-and-twenty; however, our readers will recollect, that, though young

in years, our heroine was old in life and experience, and we have

written to no purpose if they have not discovered that she was a very

clever woman.




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