And well had he fulfilled his trust; no Eastern despot had even established a stricter guard over a young Georgian maid than did this guardian over the heiress. At the early age of twelve he had placed her at a strict convent school, where she avowed that she had to eat, drink, and sleep; pray, sing, and learn lessons; sit, stand, and walk by exact rule. We may fancy the effect of such a discipline upon our wild child. The fleet deer of the mountain penned, the free bird of the air caged, was nothing to this wild child of sea and land confined! At first she was anxious to go; for all children like change; but at the first visit of her guardian, whom with her confiding nature she already loved, she sprang upon his lap, threw her arms around his neck, entreated, prayed, wept to be taken away; and when she found her vehement solicitations vain, she passionately dashed her hand into his face, called him an evil spirit, sprang from his arms, and threw herself face downward flat upon the floor; called the good sisterhood a pack of witches, with Hecate at their head, and threatened to starve herself to death, as the partridge did she tried to tame once; and so, by this conduct, got herself into disgrace for a week. There is great adaptativeness in childhood, and in time our little girl became reconciled to her convent, especially as the gentle nuns took an affectionate interest in civilizing the little barbarian, who, notwithstanding her faults, drew all hearts to herself. The effect of this conventual education was altogether good. It cultivated and directed the powers of her intellect and moral sense, and taught her to control the almost savage strength and daring of her passionate and energetic nature. But she left the convent distinguished by the same inflexibility of will with which she had entered its walls. By the will of her adopted father she was not to marry until she had attained the age of twenty-one, and though then her choice was not absolutely controlled, it was directed to her guardian. It was upon this account, and to seclude her from society and the chance of forming another attachment, that, despite the conscientious expostulations of the Mother Superior, he left her boarding at the convent until she had nearly reached her twentieth birthday. About that time Miss Seabright became inspired with a desire to see the world—not society, but the earth and all thereon; so, without asking any favors, she expressed her will to leave the convent and travel for a year. This proposition well suited the views of her guardian, as it obviated the awkward necessity of leaving her in the convent, or the impolitic alternative of introducing her into society, and gave him an admirable opportunity of pressing his suit, and even imposing upon her the inevitable propriety of accepting him.