168 MADEMOISELLE ANGELA.

my subjects and sitters, I might have done; but a
young lady, at least a poor one, cannot in London
attempt this mode of gaining her living without being
subjected to the most annoying insults. People,” said
she, blushing deeply, “thought me pretty, and in
every way, in every situation, this was against me,
Oh,” said the poor girl, with tears in her eyes, “ how
often have I thought it would have been a blessing if
I had had the small-pox!”

“ And have you no friends at all?” asked Made-
moiselle Angela.

“ Friends!” repeated she, blushing deeply and
sighing ; “friends! yes, perhaps so. We ought to
receive an annuity, which would make us inde-
pendent, but he who should pay it is abroad. Oh, it
is a sad thing,” said she, bursting into tears.

The actress was deeply interested, “ And why does
he not pay it ?” she asked.

“I have written to him,” replied she, “since my
father’s memory has failed him, and have told him all
our distress ; but he takes no notice.”

“ But have you not other friends?” she asked,
“no connections, nobody that knows your family ?”

Again the girl blushed: “ Yes,” she said, “ there
are two ladies, very good and kind, who showed me
great kindness, who knew my mother—but circum-
stances forbid my applying to them—yet I do believe
that if they only knew what I have suffered they
would befriend me.”

** Do they live in London?” asked the actress.

“No,” she returned, “ they live in the country, in
Staffordshire.”

. “Could no one interfere for you—write to them
for you?”