"Indeed, my lord, I do not know if I should like what I have never tried. 'Tis the first time I have seen card-playing." "Then you must have been brought up in a nunnery." "Not quite that, but in a village, where, as I have already told you, my father was vicar. I do not know any games of cards." "How did you amuse yourself in your village?" "I read, made puddings, worked samplers, cut out and sewed my dresses, and learned lessons with Nancy Levett." "The pretty little girl who is always laughing? She should always remain young--never grow old and grave. What else did you do?" "We had a choir for the Sunday psalms--many people came every Sunday to hear us sing. That was another occupation. Then I used to ride with the boys, or sometimes we would go fishing, or nutting, or black-berrying--oh! there was plenty to do, and the days were never too long." "A better education than most ladies can show," he replied, with his quiet air of authority. "And you, my lord. Do you never play cards?" "No," he replied. "Pray do not question me further on my favourite vices, Miss Kitty. I would not confess all my sins even to so charming and so kind a confessor as yourself." "I forgive you, my lord," I said, "beforehand. Especially if you promise to abandon them all." "There are sins," he said slowly, "which sometimes leave behind them consequences which can never be forgotten or undone." Alas! I knew what he meant. His sin had left him burdened with a wife--a creature who had been so wicked as to take advantage of his wickedness; a woman whom he feared to hear of and already loathed. Poor wife! poor sinner! poor Kitty! CHAPTER VI. HOW THE DOCTOR WROTE TO KITTY. The next morning at dinner, we heard the summons of the post-boy's horn, and Cicely presently ran in with a letter in her hand. It was addressed to me, in a large bold handwriting, and was sealed with red wax. I opened it and found a smaller letter inside it, marked "Private. For my niece's eye alone." So that both letters were from my uncle, the Doctor. "Your private letter," said Mrs. Esther, "doubtless contains some admonition or advice designed for you alone. Put it in your pocket, child, and read it in your own room. As for the other letter, as it is not marked private, it would be well for you to read it aloud, after dinner, and while we are eating one of my Lord Chudleigh's delicious peaches." To this I willingly complied, because I greatly feared the private letter would contain some instructions concerning the secret which the Doctor and I possessed between us. Accordingly, the dinner over, I began the perusal of my uncle's letter. "MY DEAR NIECE,--You will first of all, and before reading any further, convey my dutiful respects to the lady by whose goodness you have been placed in a position as much above what you could have wished, as her benevolence is above the ordinary experience of mortals." "Oh, the excellent man!" cried Mrs. Esther.