recollect one day when I had fallen from the top to the bottom of some stairs and hurt myself very much; but no one comforted me; I was thrust out of the drawing-room, because I cried. I then went to the top of the stairs, where I sat weeping bitterly for some time.
At length, an old servant came out of one of the attics, and said, 'Oh! Miss Mary, what has happened to you, that you sit crying so bitterly on the stair-head? Come in here!'
I arose and went into the attic with her, when she set me on a chair, and busied herself with my bruises, and said to me, 'Now, tell me what you are crying about, and why did they turn you out of the drawing-room, tell me now?'
'Ay,' said I, 'they turned me out because I cried when I was hurt. I fell all the way down stairs, but they don't mind.'
'No, they do not, and yet in many families they would have taken more care of you than they do here!'
'And why do you think they would have done so?' I enquired.
'Don't you know what good fortune has lately fallen into your lap? I thought you knew all about it.'
'I don't know anything, save they are very unkind to me lately.'
'They have been very unkind to you, child, and I am sure I don't know why, nor can I tell you why they have not told you of your fortune.'
'My fortune,' said I; 'what fortune?'
'Why, don't you know that when your poor aunt died you were her favourite?'
'I know my aunt loved me,' I said; 'she loved me, and was kind to me; but since she has been dead, nobody cares for me.'
'Well, my child, she has left a will behind her which says that all her fortune shall be yours: when you are old enough you shall have all her fine things; you shall have all her money and her house.'
'Indeed!' said I; 'who told you so?'
'Oh, I have heard of it from those who were present at the reading of the will that you were, when you are old enough, to have all. Think what a great lady you will be then! You will have servants of your own.
'I don't think I shall live till then.'
'Oh yes, you will - or, at least, I hope so.'
'And if I should not, what will become of all those fine things that you have told me of? Who'll have them?'
'Why, if you do not live till you are of age, your fortune will go to your father and mother, who take all.'
'Then they would sooner I die than live.'
'What makes you think so?' she enquired.
'Why,' said I, 'they don't care anything for me now, and they would have my fortune if I were dead - so they don't want me.'
'Ah, my child,' said the old woman, 'I have thought of that more than once; and now you can see it. I believe that it will be so. There has many a word been spoken truly enough by a child before now, and I am sure you are right - but do you be a good child, and be careful of yourself, and you will always find that Providence will keep you out of any trouble.'
'I hope so,' I said.
'And be sure you don't say who told you about this.'
'Why not?' I enquired; 'why may I not tell who told me about it?'
'Because,' she replied, 'if it were known that I told you anything about it, as you have not been told by them they might discharge me, and I should be turned out.'
'I will not do that,' I replied; 'they shall not learn who told me, though I should like to hear them say the same thing.'
'You may hear them do so one of these days,' she replied, 'if you are not impatient: it will come out one of these days - two may know of it.'
'More than my father and mother?'
'Yes, more - several.'
No more was said then about the matter; but I treasured it up in my mind. I resolved that I would act differently, and not have anything to do with them - that is, I would not be more in their sight than I could help - I would not be in their sight at all, save at meal times - and when there was any company there I always appeared.
I cannot tell why; but I think it was because I sometimes attracted the attention of others, and I hoped to be able to hear something respecting my fortune; and in the end I succeeded in doing so, and
then I was satisfied - not that it made any alteration in my conduct, but I felt I was entitled to a fortune.
How such an impression became imprinted upon a girl of eight years old, I know not; but it took hold of me, and I had some kind of notion that I was entitled to more consideration than I was treated to.
'Mother,' said I one day to her.
'Well, Mary, what do you want to tease me about now?'
'Didn't Mrs Carter the other day say my aunt left me a fortune?'
'What is the child dreaming about?' said my mother. 'Do you know what you are talking about, child? - you can't comprehend.'
'I don't know, mother, but you said it was so to Mrs Carter.'
'Well, then, what if I did, child?'
'Why, you must have told the truth or a falsehood.'
'Well, Miss Impudence! - I told the truth, what then?'
'Why, then, I am to have a fortune when I grow up, that's all I mean, mother, and then people will take care of me. I shall not be forgotten, but everything will be done for me, and I shall be thought of first.'
My mother looked at me very hard for a moment or two, and then, as if she was actuated by remorse, she made an attempt to speak, but checked herself, and then anger came to her aid, and she said, 'Upon my word, miss! what thoughts have you taken into your fancy now? I suppose we shall be compelled to be so many servants to you! I am sure you ought to be ashamed of yourself- you ought, indeed!'
'I didn't know I had done wrong,' I said.
'Hold your tongue, will you, or I shall be obliged to flog you!' said my mother, giving me a sound box on the ears that threw me down. 'Now hold your tongue and go upstairs, and give me no more insolence.'
I arose and went upstairs, sobbing as if my heart would break. I can recollect how many bitter hours I spent there, crying by myself- how many tears I shed upon this matter, and how I compared myself to other children, and how much my situation was worse than theirs by a great deal.
They, I thought, had their companions - they had their hours of play. But what companions had I - and what had I in the way of relaxation? What had I to do save to pine over the past, and present, and the future?
My infantile thoughts and hours were alike occupied by the sad reflections that belonged to a more mature age than mine; and yet I was so.
Days, weeks, and months passed on - there was no change, and I grew apace; but I was always regarded by my family with dislike, and always neglected. I could not account
