like a cup of tea before we
talk about the _master_.'

'O my dear Miss Marion!' was all I could utter; 'what does this mean?
Am I in a dream?' But it was not a happy dream; for when I had a
moment to reflect, my very soul was troubled as I thought of the
sacrifice of all her youthful aspirations, made by that poor, gentle
creature, for the sake of a secure and comfortable home in this stormy
world. I could not reconcile myself to the idea of Mr Budge and Marion
as man and wife; and as I learned, ere we retired to rest that night,
I had no occasion to do so. Mr Budge was Miss Marion's paternal uncle,
her mother, Miss Dacre, having married his elder brother. These
brothers were of respectable birth, but inferior to the Dacres; and
while the elder never prospered in any undertaking, and finally died
of a broken heart, the younger, toiling in foreign climes, gradually
amassed a competency. On returning to his native land, he found his
brother no more, and the orphan girl he had left behind placed with
her mother's relatives.

Mr Budge had a great dread of appearing before these proud patrician
people, who had always openly scorned his deceased brother; and once
accidentally encountering them at a public _fete_, the contumelious
bearing of the young ladies towards the little brown gentleman
deterred him from any nearer approach. No doubt, he argued, his
brother's daughter was deeply imbued with similar principles, and
would blush to own a 'Mr Budge' for her uncle! This name he had
adopted as the condition of inheriting a noble fortune unexpectedly
bequeathed by a plebeian, but worthy and industrious relative, only a
few years previous to the period when Providence guided his footsteps
to Fairdown Farm and Miss Marion.

The moderate competency Mr Budge had hitherto enjoyed, and which he
had toiled hard for, now augmented to ten times the amount, sorely
perplexed and troubled him; and after purchasing Sorel Park, he had
flown from the turmoil of affluence, to seek peace and obscurity for
awhile, under pretext of pursuing the philosophical recreation of
angling. How unlike the Misses Dacre was the fair and gracious
creature he encountered at Fairdown! And not a little the dear old
gentleman prided himself on his talents for what he called
diplomacy--arranging his plans, he said, 'just like a book-romance.'
After my departure, he returned to Fairdown, and confided the
wonderful tidings to Thomas and Martha Wesley, more caut