The pompous vanity of the old schoolmistress, the foolish good-humour of her sister, the silly chat and scandal of the elder girls, and the frigid correctness of the governesses equally annoyed her; and she had no soft maternal heart, this unlucky girl, otherwise the prattle and talk of the younger children, with whose care she was chiefly intrusted, might have soothed and interested her; but she lived among them two years, and not one was sorry that she went away.

The gentle tender-hearted Amelia Sedley was the only person to whom she could attach herself in the least; and who could help attaching herself to Amelia?
The happiness the superior advantages of the young women round about her, gave Rebecca inexpressible pangs of envy.

"What airs that girl gives herself, because she is an Earl's grand-daughter," she said of one.

"How they cringe and bow to that Creole, because of her hundred thousand pounds! I am a thousand times cleverer and more charming than that creature, for all her wealth.

I am as well bred as the Earl's grand-daughter, for all her fine pedigree; and yet every one passes me by here.