"What does the child mean? Willing indeed! You ought to be thankful on your knees for such an honor, and you talk about being willing, as though you had asked leave to go to the fair! I am only afraid you will not know how to behave properly with such grand ladies, having lived in the country all your life. Yes, of course I am willing, only be careful of your manners, and be sure you say 'my lady' every time you speak to her." Winifred smiled rather sadly. She had not many fears upon the score of manners. She had been used to intercourse with a much greater lady than Lady Corbet, the wife of a Bristol sugar-refiner, but she was glad of the employment, as well as of the prospect of some change in her monotonous and dreary life. She had entertained serious thoughts of setting up a little school of her own, and here was the work ready provided for her. The last two years had brought many sad reverses to Winifred Evans. The removal of Lady Peckham to London had been the first of a series of changes which had ended by bringing her into the little brick-paved kitchen in Fish Lane where we now find her. But a few months after Gilbert Evans sailed taking with him his son, came news of the total loss of the ship and crew. Master Evans, who had been for some time in declining health, had a paralytic stroke upon hearing the news, and lingered on a helpless and apparently senseless invalid till the next year. Then came one of the devastating epidemics of that period, sweeping over Bridgewater and all the towns in the neighborhood. The feeble old man and Dame Magdalen, worn out with care and sorrow, were among the first victims, and Winifred was left with nobody to depend upon but her uncle and aunt in Bristol, whom she had seldom seen. And Lady Peckham, who was far-away in London—and London, so far as communication was concerned, was as far from Bristol in that day as it is now from New Zealand. She wrote at once to my lady, sending the letter by one of the grooms at the Hall who was going up to town, and waited anxiously for an answer, but none came. And at last the news arrived at the Hall that Sir Edward had gone abroad, taking his family with him! Here was a death-blow to all Winifred's hopes! She had nothing left to do but to return to Bristol with her uncle and aunt and share their home, at least till some prospect appeared of independent occupation.