‘Bless me, Miss,’ said the loquacious girl, ‘what a pretty song that was, and how prettily you sang it. Where might you have learnt it, Miss, if I might make so bold?’ ‘Where I learnt other lessons I ought never have forgotten,’ replied I, with a deep sigh; ‘it is the song of my native village—the hymn of the lowly heart which dwells upon every lip there, and, like a spell-word, brings back to its name affection which e’er has been betrayed to wander from it. It is the first music heard by infancy in its cradle; and the villagers blending it with their earliest and tenderest recollections, never cease to feel its magic power, till they cease to live.’ ‘How natural that is,’ returned Celia; ‘just like my nurse used to nurse me to sleep with a song, which I have never heard since without nodding.’ ‘Has the earl been inquiring for me, Celia?’ I asked. ‘He has been here this morning, and has only just gone,’ replied the maid; ‘but only see what lovely things he has left you, Miss!’ ‘And Celia displayed a costly dress, and several articles of jewellery, of which I expressed my admiration. But suddenly, gloomy thoughts again came over me, and while tears trembled in my eyes, I ejaculated:— ‘But can these baubles make me happy? Ah! never! The heart that’s ill at ease is made more wretched by the splendor which laughs in awful mockery, around its dreariness.’ ‘The presence of Celia embarrassed me; I wished to indulge in melancholy thought alone, but she seemed determined not to take my hints for her to leave me, and at last I only got rid of her by requesting that she would fetch me a book that I had been reading the day previously. When she had left the room, with much agitation, I unlocked my cabinet, and took out the plain village dress, I had worn when I quitted my home. The sight of this tortured my brain, and while deep sobs of anguish almost choked my voice, I thus soliloquized:— ‘And shall I remain here, dazzled and betrayed by the splendor with which I am surrounded? Shall I still rack my parent’s hearts, and—I—will escape! Escape! no, no—I can brave the shocks of fate, but not a father’s eye: to expose myself to his wrath—no, no! my heart’s not strong enough for that.’ ‘I was interrupted by the return of Celia with the book, who, on seeing the village dress in the chaise, expressed the utmost astonishment.’ ‘Lor’ bless me, Miss!’ ejaculated the girl, ‘what’s this dress doing here?—Whoever could have put such trumpery in the way?’ As she spoke, she snatched it up, and was going to throw it aside when I sprang forward emphatically, and hastily took it from her. ‘Give it back!’ I cried, ‘that humble dress was mine;—I cast it off—the splendor that has replaced it, is the source of the most bitter misery!—Oh, my forsaken parents;—Come hither, Celia;—I have no one here of my own sex to talk to—no one to listen to my sorrows. I—’ ‘Pray speak freely to me, Miss,’ observed Celia; ‘though humble, you’ll not find me insincere.’