54 THE COUSINS.

ever ready to flatter her: by. saying “How pretty,”
or “ How graceful,” or ‘‘How sensible a child
Tucy Lovett is!” I said these people were
thoughtless; I should: have said they were cruel,
for a moment’s amusement to themselves, to
cherish a great: evil in a child. “When they had
laughed a while over Lucy’s vanity and credulity,
they forgot her, but she did not forget them or
their praises. ‘She returned home with her health
restored, and, perhaps, many persons: would have
said, with her manners improved. Lucy had for-
merly been rather careless about her dress; she
was now very attentive to it, and, but for her
mother’s good taste and firmness, she would often
have adorned herself ina way that would have
been quite ridiculous. She now entered-a room
casily, and conversed quite as readily as her father
and mother. In truth, Lucy was no-longer. a
little girl; she was a little lady, but:a vain and
sclfish lady, expecting all to be occupied with-her,
and hurt and offended when she'saw others obtain
more notice than herself. Never had Mr. and
Mrs. Lovett grieved over their daughter’s illness
as they now gricved over her faults. We have