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174 who plied them with pennies and all manner of good and pretty things. She never lost the power of speaking their language, her letters to children are among some of the most genial she wrote. She was pleased and gratified when the little ones liked her or her stories.

Visits to Mrs. Ruxton at Black Castle, to married brothers and sisters, or to friends, formed more and more frequent interludes in her home life; but each time she returns, Miss Edgeworth records her excessive happiness to find herself at Edgeworthstown again, with her beloved step-mother and those who still were left.

After one such visit to Mrs. Ruxton, she writes to her:—

The outward course of existence at home was one of quiet routine. Habits of order had been early impressed upon Miss Edgeworth by Mrs. Honora Edgeworth, and, though naturally impetuous, she had curbed herself to act with method. It was thanks to these acquired habits that she was able to accomplish daily such a surprising amount of multifarious work. It was her