Agnes Grey

nd I turned, with pleasure, to the contemplati

one o'clock before we reached the place of our destination. Yet, after all, when we entered the lofty iron gateway, when we drove softly up the smooth, well-rolled carriage-road, with the green lawn on each side, studded with young trees, and approached the new but stately mansion of Wellwood, rising above its mushroom poplar-groves, my heart failed me, and I wished it were a mile or two farther off. For the first time in my life I must stand alone: there was no retreating now. I must enter that house, and introduce mys

dmitted into the hall and ushered into the presence of Mrs. Bloomfield, I almost forgot to answer her polite salutation; and it afterwards struck me, that the little I did say was spoken in the tone of one half-dead o

angled my hair, and dyed my face of a pale purple; add to this my collar was horridly crumpled, my frock splashed with mud, my feet clad in stout new boots, and as the trunks were not brought up, there was no remedy; so having smoothed

tention was almost wholly absorbed in my dinner: not from ravenous appetite, but from distress at the toughness of the beefsteaks, and the numbness of my hands, almost palsied by their five-hours' exposure to the bitter wind. I would gladly have eaten the potatoes and let the meat alone, but having got a large piece of the latter on to my plate, I could not be so impolite as to leave it; so, after many awkward and unsuccessful attempts to cut it wi

eplied she with a cool, immutable gra

ed me into the sitting-room again, whe

of the flock-a generous, noble-spirited boy, one to be led, but not driven, and remarkable for always speaking the truth. He seems to scorn deception' (this was good news). 'His sister Mary Ann will require watching,' continued she, 'but she is a very good girl upon the whole; though I wish her to be kept out of the n

tall girl too, somewhat dark like her mother, but with a round full face and a high colour in her cheeks. The second sister was Fanny, a very pretty little girl; Mrs. Bloomfield assured me she was a remarkably gentle child, and required encouragement: she had not learned anything yet; but in

ildren, and I hoped I should soon be on friendly terms with them-the little boy especially, of whom I had heard such a favourable character from his mamma. In Mary Ann there was a certain affected simper, and a craving for notice, that I was sorry to observe. But

er. 'Come and kiss dear mamma; and then won't you sho

t I will show Miss Grey my s

new books, Tom,' said Mar

decisively. 'Come along,

ces; but Tom told her to hold her clamour, that Miss Grey might see his rocking-horse, which, with a most important bustle, he dragged forth from its corner into the middle of the room, loudly calling on me to attend to it. Then, ordering his sister to hold the reins, he mounted, and m

edoubled ardour. 'I'll cut into him like smo

ut I hoped in time to be

and shawl,' said the little her

e,' said

she uttered a loud, shrill scream, ran to t

strike your sister! I hope I

obliged to do it now and

ness to keep her in orde

o and put on

nd cold, it seems likely to rain;-an

was the first day of our acquaintance, I thought I might as well indulge him. It was too cold for Mary Ann to

ot give me time to examine them: I must go with him, across the wet grass, to a remote sequestered corner, the most important place in the grounds, because it con

ontemptuously. 'That's only Mary

ut first, with great pomp, he plucked a polyanthus and presented it to me, as one conferring a prodigious favo

for b

you catc

ys they

do with them when

e cat; sometimes I cut them in pieces with my

mean to do such

how long it will live-and then,

uch things? Remember, the birds can feel as well a

not a bird, and I can't

go to when they die; and if you don't leave off torturing innocent birds, remem

summer, he gave me a nest full of young sparrows, and he saw me pulling off their legs and wings, and heads, and never said anything; except th

would your

nging birds, but the naughty sparrows, and mice, and rats, I may

hought much about it. However,' I internally added, 'they may say what they please, but

formed me had been bred on purpose for him, and he was to ride it as soon as it was properly trained. I tried to amuse the little fellow, and listened to all his chatter as complacently as I could; for I thought if he had any affections at all, I would endeavour to

ned me on the subject of her children's dispositions and acquirements, and on what they were to learn, and how they were to be managed, and cautioned me to mention their defects to no one but herself. My mother had warned me before to mention them as little as possible to her, for people did not like to be told of their children's faults, and so I concluded I was to keep silence on them altogether. About half-pas