? ? ? ? 'Well! Don't cry!' said Miss Betsey. 'You were not equally matched, child - if any two people can be equally matched - and so I asked the question. You were an orphan, weren't you?' 'Yes.'
? ? ? ? 'And a governess?'
? ? ? ? 'I was nursery-governess in a family where Mr. Copperfield came to visit. Mr. Copperfield was very kind to me, and took a great deal of notice of me, and paid me a good deal of attention, and at last proposed to me. And I accepted him. And so we were married,' said my mother simply.
? ? ? ? 'Ha! Poor Baby!' mused Miss Betsey, with her frown still bent upon the fire. 'Do you know anything?'
? ? ? ? 'I beg your pardon, ma'am,' faltered my mother.
? ? ? ? 'About keeping house, for instance,' said Miss Betsey.
? ? ? ? 'Not much, I fear,' returned my mother. 'Not so much as I could wish. But Mr. Copperfield was teaching me -'
? ? ? ? ('Much he knew about it himself!') said Miss Betsey in a parenthesis.
? ? ? ? - 'And I hope I should have improved, being very anxious to learn, and he very patient to teach me, if the great misfortune of his death' - my mother broke down again here, and could get no farther.
? ? ? ? 'Well, well!' said Miss Betsey.
? ? ? ? -'I kept my housekeeping-book regularly, and balanced it with Mr.
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