--- walked out with his
children, and I had orders to follow a little behind. As he strolled on
through his fields, with his magnificent Newfoundland dog at his side, he
looked very like what a frank, wealthy, Conservative gentleman ought to
be. He spoke freely and unaffectedly to the people he met, and, though
he indulged his children and allowed them to tease himself far too much,
he would not suffer them grossly to insult others."
(WRITTEN IN PENCIL TO A FRIEND.)
"July, 1839.
"I cannot procure ink, without going into the drawing-room, where I do
not wish to go . . . I should have written to you long since, and told
you every detail of the utterly new scene into which I have lately been
cast, had I not been daily expecting a letter from yourself, and
wondering and lamenting that you did not write; for you will remember it
was your turn. I must not bother you too much with my sorrows, of which,
I fear, you have heard an exaggerated account. If you were near me,
perhaps I might be tempted to tell you all, to grow egotistical, and pour
out the long history of a private governess's trials and crosses in her
first situation. As it is, I will only ask you to imagine the miseries
of a reserved wretch like me, thrown at once into the midst of a large
family, at a time when they were particularly gay--when the house was
filled with company--all strangers--people whose faces I had never seen
before.
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