talents, he was cut off by a short illness, when not quite nineteen,
a most grievous loss to his family, and above all, to Eleanor.
Unlike her, as he was joyous, high-spirited, full of fun, and
overflowing with imagination and poetry, there was a very close bond
of union between them, in the strong sense of duty, the firmness of
purpose, and energy of mind which both possessed, and which made
Eleanor feel perfect reliance on him, and look up to him with earnest
admiration. With him alone she was unreserved; he was the only
person who could ever make her show a spark of liveliness, and on his
death, it was only with the most painful efforts that she could
maintain her composed demeanour and fulfil her daily duties. Years
passed on, and still she felt the blank which Harry had left, almost
as much as the first day that she heard of his death, but she never
spoke of him, and to her sisters it seemed as if he was forgotten.
The reserve which had begun to thaw under his influence, again
returning, placed her a still greater distance from the younger
girls, and unconsciously she became still more of a governess and
less of a sister. Little did she know of the 'blissful dreams in
secret shared' between Emily, Lilias, and their brother Claude, and
little did she perceive the danger that Lilias would be run away with
by a lively imagination, repressed and starved, but entirely
untrained.

Whatever influenced Lilias, had, through her, nearly the same effect
upon Emily, a gentle girl, easily led, especially by Lilias, whom she
regarded with the fondest affection and admiration. The perils of
fancy and romance were not, however, to be dreaded for Jane, the
fourth sister, a strong resemblance of Eleanor in her clear common
sense, love of neatness, and active usefulness; but there were other
dangers for her, in her tendency to faults, which, under wise