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 fledglings the directress spread a wing of kindliest protection: it was to their bedsides she came at night to tuck them warmly in; it was after them she looked in winter to see that they always had a comfortable seat by the stove; it was they who by turns were summoned to the salon to receive some little dole of cake or fruit—to sit on a footstool at the fire-side—to enjoy home-comforts, and almost home-liberty, for an evening together—to be spoken to gently and softly, comforted, encouraged, cherished—and when bed-time came, dismissed with a kiss of true tenderness. As to Julia and Georgiana G, daughters of an English baronet, as to Mdlle. Mathilde de, heiress of a Belgian count, and sundry other children of patrician race, the directress was careful of them as of the others, anxious for their progress, as for that of the rest—but it never seemed to enter her head to distinguish them by a mark of preference; one girl of noble blood she loved dearly—a young Irish baroness—Lady