I know he suffered,
poor old man. I was very, very sorry for him. Indeed I was, Julia, for I'm
not selfish, and when I think now that he died without forgiving me, I
feel, I feel--oh, I feel as if I should like to die myself. Why do such
things happen to me? I feel just as miserable now as I used to when I lived
with father and mother, who could not agree. I have often told you how
miserable I was then, but I don't think you ever quite understood. I feel
just the same now, just as if I never wanted to see any one or anything
again. I was so unhappy when I was a child, they thought I would die, and I
should have died if I had remained listening to father and mother any
longer. ... Every one thought I was so lucky when Mr. Burnett decided to
adopt me and leave me all his money, and he has done that, poor old man, so
I suppose I should be happy; but I'm not.'
The girl's eyes turned instinctively towards the window and rested for a
moment on the fair, green prospects of the park.
'I hated to listen to father and mother quarrelling, but I loved them, and
I had not been here a year before father died, and darling mother was not
long following him--only six months. Then I had no one: a few distant
relatives, whom I knew nothing of, whom I did not care for, so I gave all
my love to Mr.
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