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                            ROUND THE SOFA.

                           BY THE AUTHOR OF

      “Mary Barton,” “Life of Charlotte Bronte,” &c. &c.


                             TWO VOLUMES.

                                VOL. I.

                                LONDON:

             SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO., 47 LUDGATE HILL.

                                 1859.


     LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.




PREFACE.


Most of these Stories have already appeared in <i>Household Words</i>: one,
however, has never been published in England, and another has obtained
only a limited circulation.




ROUND THE SOFA.


Long ago I was placed by my parents under the medical treatment of a
certain Mr. Dawson, a surgeon in Edinburgh, who had obtained a
reputation for the cure of a particular class of diseases. I was sent
with my governess into lodgings near his house, in the Old Town. I was
to combine lessons from the excellent Edinburgh masters, with the
medicines and exercises needed for my indisposition. It was at first
rather dreary to leave my brothers and sisters, and to give up our merry
out-of-doors life with our country home, for dull lodgings, with only
poor grave Miss Duncan for a companion; and to exchange our romps in the
garden and rambles through the fields for stiff walks in the streets,
the decorum of which obliged me to tie my bonnet-strings neatly, and put
on my shawl with some regard to straightness.

The evenings were the worst. It was autumn, and of course they daily
grew longer: they were long enough, I am sure, when we first settled
down in those gray and drab lodgings. For, you must know, my father and
mother were not rich, and there were a great many of us, and the medical
expenses to be incurred by my being placed under Mr. Dawson’s care were
expected to be considerable; therefore, one great point in our search
after lodgings was economy. My father, who was too true a gentleman to
feel false shame, had named this necessity for cheapness to Mr. Dawson;
and in return, Mr. Dawson had told him of those at No. 6 Cromer Street,
in which we were finally settled. The house belonged to an old man