The other
lodgers in the house were generally very quiet and orderly people,
and she herself was quite successful in arranging her affairs so as
to create no disturbance. She had her regular _elientele_; she
frequented the roads about Regent's Park and Primrose Hill; and she
supported herself and her child.
Ida Starr's bringing up was in no respect inferior to that she would
have received in the home of the average London artisan or small
tradesman. At five years old she had begun to go to school; Mrs.
Ledward's daughter, a girl of seventeen, took her backwards and
forwards every day. At this school she remained three years and a
half; then her mother took her away, and put her under the care of
Miss Rutherford, a better teacher. When at home, she either amused
herself in Lotty's room, or, when that was engaged, made herself
comfortable with Mrs. Ledward's family, with one or other of whom
she generally passed the night. She heard no bad language, saw
nothing improper, listened to no worse conversation than any of the
other children at Miss Rutherford's. Even at her present age of ten
it never occurred to her to inquire how her mother supported
herself. The charges brought by Harriet Smales conveyed to her mind
no conception of their true meaning; they were to her mere general
calumnies of vague application.
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