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FRANCES BEAUMONT.
253

with a skill which many a London drawing-room might have envied.

"What a handy child it is, but we must help all we can, and without seeming to do it."

But a letter from Edith to her sister will give exact description of how they passed their time.

"It is but a week, for I have counted every day, since I saw the coach take you away, my dearest Fanny, but it has been a very long week. Everything makes us miss you—yesterday we walked past old Sarah's shop. It is shut up, and the sight made Mamma cry so, that she went to bed quite ill. I shall take care not to walk that way again except by myself.

"I will tell you just how a day passes. I get up at seven, go as usual to see the cows milked, and drink my own little cup-ful. I then go home, get the breakfast ready for Mamma, and read till she comes, and then we sit down together; after the breakfast things are washed and put away we go and walk for an hour before the sun is on the lane. Then Mamma and I work in the