Shall I ever forget those lessons! They were presided over nominally by my mother, but really by Mr.Murdstone and his sister, who were always present, and found them a favourable occasion for giving my mother lessons in that miscalled firmness, which was the bane of both our lives.

I believe I was kept at home for that purpose.

I had been apt enough to learn, and willing enough, when my mother and I had lived alone together.

I can faintly remember learning the alphabet at her knee.

To this day, when I look upon the fat black letters in the primer, the puzzling novelty of their shapes, and the easy good-nature of O and Q and S, seem to present themselves again before me as they used to do.