Her own people

by B. M. Croker

"I'm sure you are not fit to do law business at present; do wait a little."

"No, I can not; that Middlemass has been scolding me to-day, and says I ought to settle my affairs, for if I—" she hesitated, and went on—"I were to die, every pice I possess goes to my husband's relations. And then what would become of you, my dearie?"

"Do not let us talk of such things, auntie. At present I have you, and you are much better."

"I tell him a rich girl has always friends!" mused Madame, as if talking to herself. "You have numbers of friends, Verona, but most of them are abroad. So are your admirers. I am sorry now I've stayed out of England these five years. One is soon forgotten, and loses touch with people. At this time of year, too, our acquaintances are in the country, or on the Riviera. When I feel arl-right, I shall take a big house in town, and give dances, and bridge parties, and entertain—and then my old set will soon remember me."

There was a silence, during which the two women sat staring at the fire. At last the girl spoke, with the abruptness of one who has made up her mind to broach a strange topic.

"Auntie! I wish you would tell me something about myself. Do, dear auntie! I am two-and-twenty years of age, and I know nothing of what is called, my forbears. If anyone were to say to me, 'Who are you?' I should be obliged to reply, 'I don't know!'"

"If you say, 'I am the adopted daughter and heiress of Fernanda de Godez,' you will find they are perfectly satisfied," rejoined her companion, in a sharp emphatic key.

"But I am not.—Oh, do forgive me, dearest, I feel sure that no kith or kin could have done more for me than you, and I am a truly fortunate girl; for it is not money only that you have given me, but love. It does seem so extraordinary, that I have no belongings, and that all I know of my past is that when I was a tiny child, and a year old, you adopted me and brought me home from India."

"That is true," granted her listener.

"I must have been over a year old, for I can dimly recall the steamer, and the black faces of the Lascars."