e of her senses.

"There are public schools, Betsey; I promise thee the child shall not be
forgotten: I will have him well taught, though it cost me a thousand a
year!"

His wife reached forth her emaciated hand to that of my father, and
pressed the latter with as much force as a dying mother could use. For
a fleet moment she even appeared to have gotten rid of her latest
care. But the knowledge of character that had been acquired by the hard
experience of thirty years, was not to be unsettled by the gratitude of
a moment.

"I wish, Mr. Goldencalf," she anxiously resumed, "to receive your solemn
promise to commit the education of our boy to Dr. Etherington--you know
his worth, and must have full confidence in such a man."

"Nothing would give me greater satisfaction, my dear Betsey; and if Dr.
Etherington will consent to receive him, I will send Jack to his house
this very evening; for, to own the truth, I am but little qualified to
take charge of a child under a year old. A hundred a year, more or less,
shall not spoil so good a bargain."

The divine was a gentleman, and he looked grave at this speech, though,
meeting the anxious eyes of my mother, his own lost their displeasure in
a glance of reassurance and pity.

"The charges of his education will be easily settled, Mr. Goldencalf,"
added my mother; "but the Doctor has consented with difficulty to take
the responsibility of my poor babe, and that only under two conditions."

The stock-dealer required an explanation with his eyes.

"One is, that the child shall be left solely to his own care, after
he has reached his fourth year; and the other is, that you make an
endowment for the support of two poor scholars, at one of the principal
schools."

As my mother got out the last words, she fell back on her pillow, whence
her interest in the subject had enabled her to lift her head a little,
and she fairly gasped for breath, in the intensity of her anxiety to
hear the answer. My ancestor contracted his brow, like one who saw it
was a subject that required reflection.

"Thou dost not know perhaps, Betsey, that these endowments swallow up a
great deal of money--a great deal--and often very uselessly."

"Ten thousand pounds is the sum that has been agreed upon between Mrs.
Goldencalf and me," steadily remarked the Doctor, who, in my soul, I
believe had hoped that his condition would be rejected, having yielded
to the importunities of a dying woman, rather than t