see me hap- 
py ? Had she not desired to see me happy ? And as I 
descended from the carriage in front of my grandfa- 
ther's house at Eoyal Crescent, I really believe I was 
one of the happiest girls in the world. 

The house stands there yet. I passed it the other 
day : a group of children were on the steps ; a modem 
carriage, very unlike my grandfather's, waited at the door. 
New people lived in it, to whom, as to the rest of the 
world, it seemed just like any other house. But it never 
will seem so to me. To the end of my days, I could 
never pass it without turning back to look at it  and 
remember. 



MY MOTHER AND I. 113 

I did not enter it without a welcome. My grandfather 
was^stiU in his room; but my cousin, Major Picardy, 
stood at the door, and behind him was an elderly lady, 
Mrs. Eix, whom I may as well describe, as I did that 
night in my letter home, as " nothing particular." 

Major Picardy I have never described, and I doubt if 
I can do it now. Other people I see clearly enough ; 
but to me he never seemed like other people. Perhaps, 
were