BESIDES the old lady, there was another relative of the family,whose visits were a great annoyance to me - this was 'UncleRobson,' Mrs. Bloomfield's brother; a tall, self-sufficient fellow,with dark hair and sallow complexion like his sister, a nose thatseemed to disdain the earth, and little grey eyes, frequently half-closed, with a mixture of real stupidity and affected contempt ofall surrounding objects. He was a thick-set, strongly-built man,but he had found some means of compressing his waist into aremarkably small compass; and that, together with the unnaturalstillness of his form, showed that the lofty-minded, manly Mr.Robson, the scorner of the female sex, was not above the foppery ofstays. He seldom deigned to notice me; and, when he did, it waswith a certain supercilious insolence of tone and manner thatconvinced me he was no gentleman: though it was intended to have acontrary effect. But it was not for that I disliked his coming, somuch as for the harm he did the children - encouraging all theirevil propensities, and undoing in a few minutes the little good ithad taken me months of labour to achieve.

Fanny and little Harriet he seldom condescended to notice; but MaryAnn was something of a favourite. He was continually encouragingher tendency to affectation (which I had done my utmost to crush),talking about her pretty face, and filling her head with all mannerof conceited notions concerning her personal appearance (which Ihad instructed her to regard as dust in the balance compared withthe cultivation of her mind and manners); and I never saw a childso susceptible of flattery as she was. Whatever was wrong, ineither her or her brother, he would encourage by laughing at, ifnot by actually praising: people little know the injury they do tochildren by laughing at their faults, and making a pleasant jest ofwhat their true friends have endeavoured to teach them to hold ingrave abhorrence.

Though not a positive drunkard, Mr. Robson habitually swallowedgreat quantities of wine, and took with relish an occasional glassof brandy and water. He taught his nephew to imitate him in thisto the utmost of his ability, and to believe that the more wine andspirits he could take, and the better he liked them, the more hemanifested his bold, and manly spirit, and rose superior to hissisters. Mr. Bloomfield had not much to say against it, for hisfavourite beverage was gin and water; of which he took aconsiderable portion every day, by dint of constant sipping - andto that I chiefly attributed his dingy complexion and waspishtemper.

Mr. Robson likewise encouraged Tom's propensity to persecute thelower creation, both by precept and example. As he frequently cameto course or shoot over his brother-in-law's grounds, he wouldbring his favourite dogs with him; and he treated them so brutallythat, poor as I was, I would have given a sovereign any day to seeone of them bite him, provided the animal could have done it withimpunity. Sometimes, when in a very complacent mood, he would goa-birds'-nesting with the children, a thing that irritated andannoyed me exceedingly; as, by frequent and persevering attempts, Iflattered myself I had partly shown them the evil of this pastime,and hoped, in time, to bring them to some general sense of justiceand humanity; but ten minutes' birds'-nesting with uncle Robson, oreven a laugh from him at some relation of their former barbarities,was sufficient at once to destroy the effect of my whole elaboratecourse of reasoning and persuasion. Happily, however, during thatspring, they never, but once, got anything but empty nests, or eggs- being too impatient to leave them till the birds were hatched;that once, Tom, who had been with his uncle into the neighbouringplantation, came running in high glee into the garden, with a broodof little callow nestlings in his hands. Mary Ann and Fanny, whomI was just bringing out, ran to admire his spoils, and to beg eacha bird for themselves. 'No, not one!' cried Tom. 'They're allmine; uncle Robson gave them to me - one, two, three, four, five -you shan't touch one of them! no, not one, for your lives!'continued he, exultingly; laying the nest on the ground, andstanding over it with his legs wide apart, his hands thrust intohis breeches-pockets, his body bent forward, and his face twistedinto all manner of contortions in the ecstasy of his delight.

'But you shall see me fettle 'em off. My word, but I WILL wallop'em? See if I don't now. By gum! but there's rare sport for me inthat nest.'

'But, Tom,' said I, 'I shall not allow you to torture those birds.They must either be killed at once or carried back to the place youtook them from, that the old birds may continue to feed them.'

'But you don't know where that is, Madam: it's only me and uncleRobson that knows that.'

'But if you don't tell me, I shall kill them myself - much as Ihate it.'

'You daren't. You daren't touch them for your life! because youknow papa and mamma, and uncle Robson, would be angry. Ha, ha!I've caught you there, Miss!'

'I shall do what I think right in a case of this sort withoutconsulting any one. If your papa and mamma don't happen to approveof it, I shall be sorry to offend them; but your uncle Robson'sopinions, of course, are nothing to me.'

So saying - urged by a sense of duty - at the risk of both makingmyself sick and incurring the wrath of my employers - I got a largeflat stone, that had been reared up for a mouse-trap by thegardener; then, having once more vainly endeavoured to persuade thelittle tyrant to let the birds be carried back, I asked what heintended to do with them. With fiendish glee he commenced a listof torments; and while he was busied in the relation, I dropped thestone upon his intended victims and crushed them flat beneath it.Loud were the outcries, terrible the execrations, consequent uponthis daring outrage; uncle Robson had been coming up the walk withhis gun, and was just then pausing to kick his dog. Tom flewtowards him, vowing he would make him kick me instead of Juno. Mr.Robson leant upon his gun, and laughed excessively at the violenceof his nephew's passion, and the bitter maledictions andopprobrious epithets he heaped upon me. 'Well, you ARE a good'un!' exclaimed he, at length, taking up his weapon and proceedingtowards the house. 'Damme, but the lad has some spunk in him, too.Curse me, if ever I saw a nobler little scoundrel than that. He'sbeyond petticoat government already: by God! he defies mother,granny, governess, and all! Ha, ha, ha! Never mind, Tom, I'll getyou another brood to-morrow.'

'If you do, Mr. Robson, I shall kill them too,' said I.

'Humph!' replied he, and having honoured me with a broad stare -which, contrary to his expectations, I sustained without flinching- he turned away with an air of supreme contempt, and stalked intothe house. Tom next went to tell his mamma. It was not her way tosay much on any subject; but, when she next saw me, her aspect anddemeanour were doubly dark and chilled. After some casual remarkabout the weather, she observed - 'I am sorry, Miss Grey, youshould think it necessary to interfere with Master Bloomfield'samusements; he was very much distressed about your destroying thebirds.'

'When Master Bloomfield's amusements consist in injuring sentientcreatures,' I answered, 'I think it my duty to interfere.'

'You seemed to have forgotten,' said she, calmly, 'that thecreatures were all created for our convenience.'

I thought that doctrine admitted some doubt, but merely replied -'If they were, we have no right to torment them for our amusement.'

'I think,' said she, 'a child's amusement is scarcely to be weighedagainst the welfare of a soulless brute.'

'But, for the child's own sake, it ought not to be encouraged tohave such amusements,' answered I, as meekly as I could, to make upfor such unusual pertinacity. '"Blessed are the merciful, for theyshall obtain mercy."'

'Oh! of course; but that refers to our conduct towards each other.'

'"The merciful man shows mercy to his beast,"' I ventured to add.

'I think YOU have not shown much mercy,' replied she, with a short,bitter laugh; 'killing the poor birds by wholesale in that shockingmanner, and putting the dear boy to such misery for a mere whim.'

I judged it prudent to say no more. This was the nearest approachto a quarrel I ever had with Mrs. Bloomfield; as well as thegreatest number of words I ever exchanged with her at one time,since the day of my first arrival.

But Mr. Robson and old Mrs. Bloomfield were not the only guestswhose coming to Wellwood House annoyed me; every visitor disturbedme more or less; not so much because they neglected me (though Idid feel their conduct strange and disagreeable in that respect),as because I found it impossible to keep my pupils away from them,as I was repeatedly desired to do: Tom must talk to them, and MaryAnn must be noticed by them. Neither the one nor the other knewwhat it was to feel any degree of shamefacedness, or even commonmodesty. They would indecently and clamorously interrupt theconversation of their elders, tease them with the most impertinentquestions, roughly collar the gentlemen, climb their kneesuninvited, hang about their shoulders or rifle their pockets, pullthe ladies' gowns, disorder their hair, tumble their collars, andimportunately beg for their trinkets.

Mrs. Bloomfield had the sense to be shocked and annoyed at allthis, but she had not sense to prevent it: she expected me toprevent it. But how could I - when the guests, with their fineclothes and new faces, continually flattered and indulged them, outof complaisance to their parents - how could I, with my homelygarments, every-day face, and honest words, draw them away? Istrained every nerve to do so: by striving to amuse them, Iendeavoured to attract them to my side; by the exertion of suchauthority as I possessed, and by such severity as I dared to use, Itried to deter them from tormenting the guests; and by reproachingtheir unmannerly conduct, to make them ashamed to repeat it. Butthey knew no shame; they scorned authority which had no terrors toback it; and as for kindness and affection, either they had nohearts, or such as they had were so strongly guarded, and so wellconcealed, that I, with all my efforts, had not yet discovered howto reach them.

But soon my trials in this quarter came to a close - sooner than Ieither expected or desired; for one sweet evening towards the closeof May, as I was rejoicing in the near approach of the holidays,and congratulating myself upon having made some progress with mypupils (as far as their learning went, at least, for I HADinstilled SOMETHING into their heads, and I had, at length, broughtthem to be a little - a very little - more rational about gettingtheir lessons done in time to leave some space for recreation,instead of tormenting themselves and me all day long to nopurpose), Mrs. Bloomfield sent for me, and calmly told me thatafter Midsummer my services would be no longer required. Sheassured me that my character and general conduct wereunexceptionable; but the children had made so little improvementsince my arrival that Mr. Bloomfield and she felt it their duty toseek some other mode of instruction. Though superior to mostchildren of their years in abilities, they were decidedly behindthem in attainments; their manners were uncultivated, and theirtempers unruly. And this she attributed to a want of sufficientfirmness, and diligent, persevering care on my part.

Unshaken firmness, devoted diligence, unwearied perseverance,unceasing care, were the very qualifications on which I hadsecretly prided myself; and by which I had hoped in time toovercome all difficulties, and obtain success at last. I wished tosay something in my own justification; but in attempting to speak,I felt my voice falter; and rather than testify any emotion, orsuffer the tears to overflow that were already gathering in myeyes, I chose to keep silence, and bear all like a self-convictedculprit.

Thus was I dismissed, and thus I sought my home. Alas! what wouldthey think of me? unable, after all my boasting, to keep my place,even for a single year, as governess to three small children, whosemother was asserted by my own aunt to be a 'very nice woman.'Having been thus weighed in the balance and found wanting, I neednot hope they would be willing to try me again. And this was anunwelcome thought; for vexed, harassed, disappointed as I had been,and greatly as I had learned to love and value my home, I was notyet weary of adventure, nor willing to relax my efforts. I knewthat all parents were not like Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield, and I wascertain all children were not like theirs. The next family must bedifferent, and any change must be for the better. I had beenseasoned by adversity, and tutored by experience, and I longed toredeem my lost honour in the eyes of those whose opinion was morethan that of all the world to me.