12 MY LIFE 



It was here, however, that our elder sister died of consump- 

 tion in the year 1832, a little before she attained her twenty- 

 second year. This was a severe loss to my father and mother, 

 though I was not of an age to feel it much. I think it was 

 soon afterwards that my remaining sister went to live at 

 Hoddesdon, four miles away, as governess to two girls in a 

 gentleman's family there. These girls were somewhere near 

 my age, or a little older, and occasionally in the summer my 

 brother and I were invited to dine and spend the afternoon 

 with them, which we greatly enjoyed, as there was a large 

 garden, and beyond it a large grass orchard full of apple 

 and other fruit trees. We also enjoyed the walk there, and 

 back in the evening, through the picturesque country I have 

 already described. My sister lived in this family for two or 

 three years, and was on terms of affection with the two girls 

 till they were married. 



In the year 1834, I think, my sister went to a French 

 school in Lille in order to perfect herself in conversation, in 

 view of becoming a governess or keeping a school. But the 

 following year the misfortune occurred that still further re- 

 duced the family income. Mr. Wilson, who had married 

 my mother's only sister, was one of the executors of her 

 father's will, and as he was a lawyer (the other executor 

 being a clergyman), and his own wife and her sister were the 

 only legatees, he naturally had the sole management of the 

 property. Owing to a series of events which we were only 

 very imperfectly acquainted with, he became bankrupt in this 

 year, and his own wife and large family were at once reduced 

 from a condition of comfort and even affluence to poverty, 

 almost as great as our own. But we children also suffered, for 

 legacies of £100 each to my father's family, to be paid to us 

 as we came of age, together with a considerable sum that had 

 reverted to my mother on the death of her stepmother in 

 1828, had remained in Mr. Wilson's hands as trustee, and 

 was all involved in the bankruptcy. He did all he possibly 

 could for us, and ultimately, I believe, repaid a considerable 

 part of the money, but while the legal proceedings were in 



