EYE-SERVICE OrE








 CHAPTER II.

 MRS. PALMER was the widow of a surgeon in the army.
 He died in Jamaica when their youngest son was only
 five years old. There was very little provision for the
 family, and Mrs. Palmer's first step on reaching Eng-
 land was to seek out a good house in a desirable
 neighbourhood, and commence a school for young
 ladies. She was a truly good woman, well educated
 and accomplished, in fact, thoroughly fitted for her
 post; as, above other requisite powers, she possessed
 in an extraordinary degree the rare gift of managing
 young people without punishment, so that the girls at
 St. Mary's Lodge bore marvellous characters for good
 manners and behaviour generally. Mrs. Palmer was a
 little woman, slight and elegant, with a pale gentle
 face, and soft hair only a few shades darker than the
 widow's cap she always wore. She was thoroughly in
 earnest in what she did, and exerted her utmost efforts
 to instil right principles into the minds of her pupils;
 and as she never saw anything but the most correct
 behaviour on their part, felt comforted, thinking their
 conduct regulated by conscientiousness. Mademoiselle
 thought differently. The girls when not under Mrs.
 Palmer's immediate supervision, went as far as they
 could in making teaching very hard work to those
 above them, and often tried the bright little French-
woman; but on their first symptoms of determined