第402章 MR. LEPEL AND THE HOUSEKEEPER(16)

"Send your exercises to me once a week," I suggested; "and I will return them corrected "She thanked me in low tones, with a shyness of manner which I had never noticed in her before. I had done my best to cheer her--and I was conscious, as we shook hands at parting, that I had failed.

A feeling of disappointment overcomes me when I see young people out of spirits. I was sorry for Susan.

THIRD EPOCH.

ONE of my faults (which has not been included in the list set forth by my valet) is a disinclination to occupy myself with my own domestic affairs. The proceedings of my footman, while I had been away from home, left me no alternative but to dismiss him on my return. With this exertion of authority my interference as chief of the household came to an end. I left it to my excellent housekeeper, Mrs. Mozeen, to find a sober successor to the drunken vagabond who had been sent away. She discovered a respectable young man--tall, plump, and rosy--whose name was Joseph, and whose character was beyond reproach. I have but one excuse for noticing such a trifling event as this. It took its place, at a later period, in the chain which was slowly winding itself round me.