"No more she did," replied Syphax; "but unless their masters and mistresses were something like herself, I am sure she could not like them; and if they had been, I conclude they would not have kept such a set of unruly servants; and, therefore, I suppose, my lady did not like those she met there, any more than I did."
Mrs. Meridith told him, "you are right, good Syphax, there was nothing at L— to compensate for leaving Rosewood at this time of the year."
Anna now rejoined her kind friend, and they returned to the house, resolving to visit the other part of the grounds after dinner.
In the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell came to express their pleasure at Mrs. Meridith's return; and while they sat with her, Anna went to see her cousins, and give them an account of John. Her absence from them had made no difference in her behaviour; on the contrary, her regard for them was increased, when she contrasted the plain simplicity of their manners, to those of the gay ladies with whom she had lately associated.
"We shall now have an opportunity of observing," said Mrs. Meridith to Mr. Campbell, "whether Anna really prefers my quiet life to the pleasures of the town. Before this visit she knew no other, but now if she does not recur to the scenes she has left with a wish to return to them, she will gain still more of my confidence and esteem."
Mr. Campbell said he thought she would not; and he was not mistaken, for though Anna often talked of the balls and routs, it was only to say how far preferable the woods and walks about Rosewood were; and which were every day improving. Those of her acquaintance in the town, who could properly estimate her character, though she was so meanly born, and "the beggar's brat," which was the appellation she was now generally known by, amongst the opposite party, were happy to accept Mrs. Meridith's invitation to visit them during the summer; and Anna had often one or two young friends to stay with her: though she could never be persuaded to leave Mrs. Meridith, to return their visits. In the course of the next three or four years, Mrs. Meridith and her usual retinue visited the great metropolis, and almost made the tour of England, in order to shew Anna every thing worth noticing in her native country, and teach her duly to appreciate the comforts and advantages which are attached to it, as well as its numberless beauties, and variety of scenery. William Campbell, and sometimes John, when he could be spared from the office, accompanied them in several of these excursions; they visited the Dock-yards at Portsmouth, and the different manufactories in the towns they passed through, as, in whatever Mrs. Meridith proposed, improvement was blended with amusement.
Little Betty now began to be a great girl, and could read, write, and work as well as any child of her age; and she promised fair to be what Mrs. Meridith wished to make her (after the model of Bella), a faithful and affectionate servant; but she was not allowed to forget her father (whose health still continued very poorly), and his family. Every present she received from the young ladies who visited Anna, she carried the largest part to them, and when, at ten years old, Mrs. Meridith, wishing to reward her dutiful behaviour to him, allowed her to receive a yearly recompence for her services; he had his share of what she called her wages. Her eldest sister continued in Mrs. Campbell's family till she married, and the rest of the family were all put in a way to get their living.