THE DOLL AND HER FRIENDS. 71

CHAPTER III.

AND now began a third stage of my existence, and
a fresh variety of life.

I at first feared that I should have great diffi-
culty in reconciling myself to the change; and my
reflections in Sarah’s dark pocket were of the most
gloomy cast. I dreaded poverty and neglect. How
should I, accustomed to the refinements of polished
life and the pleasures of cultivated society, endure
to be tossed about with no home of my own, and
perhaps no one who really cared forme? I knew
that I was not in my first bloom, and it seemed un-
likely that a new acquaintance should feel towards
me like my old friend Rose, who had so long known
my value. Perhaps I might be despised ; perhaps
allowed to go ragged, perhaps even dirty! My
spirits sunk, and had I been human, I should have
wept.

But cheerful voices aroused me from this melan-
choly reverie, and I found myself restored to the
pleasant light in the hands of a goodhumoured-look-
ing little girl, whose reception of me soon banished
my fears. For, although altered since the days of