or intended any positive injury; but she was harsh, selfish, delighted in a system of punishment and restraint, while she considered the luckless orphans as intruders on her rights, and, as such, to be regarded with an unkindly and perpetual jealousy; she interfered with all their childish enjoyments; they were forbidden two thirds of their old accustomed walks, indeed any where there was a chance of their meeting their father. The little poney carriage, in which they used to drive, was pronounced an unnecessary expense, and, though the children required air, they were not equal to much exercise. Their dinners, on the pretence of regimen, were reduced to the coarsest material, and they were possessed of that delicate appetite very different from the healthy hunger which usually belongs to their age.
But the worst was the perpetual fear in which they lived; they would start and turn pale at the opening of a door, lest they should see Mrs. Dalton, and some slight fault be followed by punishment far beyond the offence. Hours of solitary
