Perhaps,
of all miserable positions for a well-educated and refined young person
to be placed in, that of "little girls' teacher" in a lady's school is
the worst.
Her subsequent history I learnt as we walked together to my present
abode.
Her mother had had a cousin in Sydney, who being old and unmarried,
wrote to her, promising to settle all his property, which was
considered large, upon her daughter and herself, his only living
relatives, provided they came out to the colonies to live with him
until his death. A sum of money to defray the expenses of the voyage
was enclosed. This piece of unexpected good news was received with
pleasure, and the invitation gladly accepted. They sailed for Sydney.
On arriving there, they found that some speculation, in which he was
greatly involved, had failed; and the old man had taken the loss so
greatly to heart, that he died only five months after having
dispatched the letter to his English relatives.
Poor Julia was placed in a most painful position. In England she had
scarcely been able to support her invalid mother by her own exertions,
but in a strange country and without friends these difficulties seemed
increased.
