I had some property, more than enough for my needs, and I was to dwell under the roof of my guardian, Mrs.Hollingford.In the mean time, I paid several visits to the home of a wealthy school-fellow, who had entered upon fashionable life, and who was eager to give me a taste of its delights before I yielded myself to the fate that was in store for me.

I learned to dress with taste, to wear my hair in the newest style, and to waltz to perfection.

But I could not go on paying visits for ever, and the time arrived when I found it necessary to turn my back on lively scenes and prepare for the obscurity of Hillsbro'.

This was a remote place in the north country, from whence were dated all the letters addressed by Mrs.Hollingford to me since the time when she had become my guardian.
I did not go to Hillsbro' Farm in any unfair state of ignorance as to the present worldly position of its owners.

Grace Tyrrell (my school-fellow) was careful to let me know the depth of the degradation to which these friends of an old time had fallen from their once high estate; also to make me aware of the estimation in which they were held by the people of her world.