Blanche's parents were worthy people, whose first consideration was to secure, at any sacrifice, the future well-being of their child.

Anne's parents were heartless and depraved.

Their one idea, in connection with their daughter, was to speculate on her beauty, and to turn her abilities to profitable account.
The girls were starting in life under widely different conditions.
Blanche was going to India, to be governess in the household of a Judge, under care of the Judge's wife.

Anne was to wait at home until the first opportunity offered of sending her cheaply to Milan.

There, among strangers, she was to be perfected in the actress's and the singer's art; then to return to England, and make the fortune of her family on the lyric stage.
Such were the prospects of the two as they sat together in the cabin of the Indiaman locked fast in each other's arms, and crying bitterly.
The whispered farewell talk exchanged between them--exaggerated and impulsive as girls' talk is apt to be--came honestly, in each case, straight from the heart.
"Blanche! you may be married in India.