partition of our provinces," said the Princess, "enabled myself to
enter familiarly into many families, where there was the fairest
show of prosperity and peace, and know not one house that is not
haunted by some fury that destroys their quiet.

"I did not seek ease among the poor, because I concluded that there
it could not be found. But I saw many poor whom I had supposed to
live in affluence. Poverty has in large cities very different
appearances. It is often concealed in splendour and often in
extravagance. It is the care of a very great part of mankind to
conceal their indigence from the rest. They support themselves by
temporary expedients, and every day is lost in contriving for the
morrow.

"This, however, was an evil which, though frequent, I saw with less
pain, because I could relieve it. Yet some have refused my
bounties; more offended with my quickness to detect their wants
than pleased with my readiness to succour them; and others, whose
exigencies compelled them to admit my kindness, have never been
able to forgive their benefactress. Many, however, have been
sincerely grateful without the ostentation of gratitude or the hope
of other favours."



CHAPTER XXVI--THE PRINCESS CONTINUES HER REMARKS UPON PRIVATE LIFE.



Nekayah, perceiving her brother's attention fixed, proceeded in her