till near midnight, having made the long journey from
Princess Anne without fitting companions, and, in the excited state
of her feelings, after she left Vienna in the evening, a depression
of the spirits, accompanied by a fluttering of the heart, came on,
and rapidly increased, and, by the time she arrived at our
relatives', she was nearly dead with nervous apprehension and
weakness. On seeing me, she revived sufficiently to make her will
in the most _sisterly_ and conservative manner.

"A physician was procured, but he pronounced her system so
debilitated and detoned as hardly probable to outride the shock,
the nervous centres being depressed and atrophy setting in.

"She talked incessantly about the _Entailed Hat_, and said it was a
permanent shadow and weight upon your heart, and made me promise to
_mash_ it, if it could conservatively be done.

"I read to my dear sister from _the Book of Books_, and tried to
compose her feelings, but she broke out ever and anon, 'Oh, Brother
Allan! to think I have raised children to be bought and sold, and
married to foresters and trash.' She was deeply sensitive as to
what would be said about it in Baltimore.

"Just before she died, she said, 'Do not bury me at Princess Anne,
where that fiend can come near me with his frightful Hat! Take me
to Baltimore, where there are no bog-ores, nor old family chattels,
to disturb the respectability of death. Apologize for my daughter,
_and do her justice_.'

"And so this grand woman died, in the confidence of a blessed
immortality, leaving us to vindicate her motives and continue her
conservative course, and to meet at her funeral next Friday, at our
church in Baltimore, where Rev. John Breckenridge will preach the
funeral sermon over this murdered saint.

"With conservative, yet proud, grief,
"Affectionately, your uncle,
"ALLAN McLANE."

"Oh, sir!" Vesta exclaimed, turning blindly towards her husband; "mother
is dead. Where can I turn?"

"Where but to me, poor soul!" Milburn replied, knowing nothing of Mrs.
Custis's late feelings against him. "Your father shall be notified, and
I am able to attend the funeral with you."

"It is in Baltimore," Vesta sobbed.

"Well, honey, there I am ordered