to the
faint-hearted, she imbibed courage herself; and when teaching them to be
of good cheer, she spoke the language of encouragement to herself.
Her bodily health, too, kept pace with her mental. She who rarely had
ventured out if the weather merely were threatening, could now face the
stormiest seasons of that wild west. The darkest day of winter would see
her abroad, braving with an almost childish excitement the beating
rain and wind, or fighting onward to some lone cabin amongst the hills,
through sleet and snowdrift, undeterred!

I have heard but little of the life they led within doors, but I believe
that the evenings were passed pleasantly with books and conversation,
De Gabriac reading aloud, while my mother and Polly worked; and thus the
winter glided easily over, and spring was now approaching ere they were
well aware that so many months had gone by. If my mother wondered at
times why they never heard from MacNaghten, De Gabriac and Polly,
who were in the secret for his mishap, would frame various excuses
to account for his silence. Meanwhile they heard that such was the
complication of the law proceedings which concerned the estate, so
intricate the questions, and so puzzling, that years might pass in
litigation ere any decision could be come to. A reserved offer came
at this time from Sir Carew O'Moore to settle some small annuity on my
mother if she would relinquish all claim to the estate in his favor; but
Fagan hesitated to acquaint her with a proposal which he well knew
she would reject, and the very fact of which must be an insult to her
feelings. This the Grinder commented on in a letter to his daughter,
while he also avowed that as he saw no prospect of anything favorable to
my mother likely to issue from the course of law, he must press upon her
the necessity of her seeking an asylum in her own country and amongst
her own friends.

I have never been able to ascertain why my mother herself did not at
once determine on returning to France after my father's death. Perhaps
the altered circumstances of her fortune deterred her. There might have
been reasons, perhaps, on the score of her birth. My impression is, that
De Gabriac had quitted the Continent overwhelmed with debt, and dared
not return there, and that, as his counsels greatly swayed her, she was
influenced by whatever arguments he adduced.

So little was my mother acquainted with the details of her altered
condition in life, that she still