[Footnote 19: Published by the Fine Art Society, Bond-street.]

The scene of the little girls in beaver bonnets was really taken from
an incident of Julie's childhood, when she and her "duplicate" (my
eldest sister) being the nearest in age, size, and appearance of any
of the family, used to be dressed exactly alike, and were inseparable
companions: _their_ flat-irons, I think, were bought in Matlock.
Shadowy glimpses of this same "duplicate" are also to be caught in
Mrs. Overtheway's "Fatima," and Madam Liberality's "Darling." When "A
Flat-Iron" came out in its book form it was dedicated "To my dear
Father, and to his sister, my dear Aunt Mary, in memory of their good
friend and nurse, E.B., obiit 3 March, 1872, æt. 83;" the loyal
devotion and high integrity of Nurse Bundle having been somewhat drawn
from the "E.B." alluded to. Such characters are not common, and they
grow rarer year by year. We do well to hold them in everlasting
remembrance.




PART II.

The meadows gleam with hoar-frost white,
The day breaks on the hill,
The widgeon takes its early flight
Beside the frozen rill.
From village steeples far away
The sound of bells is borne,
As one by one, each crimson ray
Brings in the Christmas morn.