it, asked me would I go. I replied coldly:

"Yes. Paupers and beggars cannot be choosers, and grandmother might as
well keep me at Caddagat as at Possum Gully"--for my grandmother
contributed greatly to the support of our family.

As regards scenery, the one bit of beauty Possum Gully possessed was its
wattles. Bowers of grown and scrubs of young ones adorned the hills and
gullies in close proximity to the house, while groves of different
species graced the flats. Being Sunday, on this afternoon I was at
liberty for a few hours; and on receiving the intelligence contained in
the letter, I walked out of the house over a low hill at the back into a
gully, where I threw myself at the foot of a wattle in a favourite clump,
and gave way to my thoughts.

So mother had been telling my grandmother of my faults--my grandmother
whom I loved so dearly. Mother might have had enough honour and motherly
protection to have kept the tale of my sins to herself. Though this
intelligence angered, it did not surprise me, being accustomed to mother
telling every neighbour what a great trial I was to her--how discontented
I was, and what little interest I took in my work. It was the last part
of the letter which finished up my feelings. Oh heavens! Surely if my
mother understood the wild pain, the days and hours of agony pure and
complete I have suffered on account of my appearance, she would never
have shown me that letter.

I was to be given more time on account of being ugly--I was not a
valuable article in the marriage market, sweet thought! My grandmother is
one of the good old school, who believed that a girl's only proper sphere
in life was marriage; so, knowing her sentiments, her purpose to get me