[Sidenote: A Bank Failure]
But a break came to those happy times: a joint stock bank, in which Mr.
Martyn had invested, failed, and he was ruined. The shock was more than
his somewhat weak heart could stand, and it killed him.
His daughter was just sixteen at the time, and the head pupil at Seaton
Lodge. She was going to leave at the end of the half-year; but now all
was changed. Instead of returning home to be mistress of her father's
house, she would have to work for her living, and the opportunity for
doing so came more quickly than she had dared to hope.
With Miss Clayton, the mistress, she had been a favourite from the first
day she had entered the school, and the former now made her the offer of
remaining on as a pupil teacher. Without hesitation the girl accepted.
She had no relatives; Seaton Lodge was her second home; she was loved
there, and she would not be dependent; and from that hour never had she
to regret her decision.
When her father's affairs were settled up there remained but a few
pounds a year for her, but these she was able to put by, for Miss
Clayton was no niggard towards those that served her, and Selina
received sufficient salary for clothes and pocket-money.
After the first agony of the shock had passed away, her life was a happy
if a quiet one. Her companions all loved her; she was to them a friend
rather than a governess, and few were the holidays when she did not
receive more than one invitation to spend part of them at the homes of
some of her pupil friends.
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