Her mother died when she was small, and the child grew up alone.

Her father, however, seems to have been a good sort of man, and to have looked after her.
Presently she drew the attention of an uncle, a shopkeeper in Kingston, and a shrewd, hard, money-making fellow, who saw there was something to be made out of her.

She had already shown a turn for reciting, and had performed at various places--in the schoolroom belonging to the estate, and so on.

The father didn't encourage her fancy for it, naturally, being Scotch and Presbyterian.

However, he died of fever, and then the child at sixteen fell into her uncle's charge.