This is far from being the case; on the contrary, I know my place is a favourable one, for a governess.

What dismays and haunts me sometimes, is a conviction that I have no natural knack for my vocation.

If teaching only were requisite, it would be smooth and easy; but it is the living in other people's houses--the estrangement from one's real character--the adoption of a cold, rigid, apathetic exterior, that is painful.

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