house. But this my grandfather would by no means
allow, and so the child was christened after his father. I think that
ever since the day she had entered the Stewart family, my aunt had
thought me a spectre across her path, for she was an ambitious woman and
wished the whole estate for her son,--in which I do not greatly blame
her. But she had brooded over her fear until it had become a phantom
which haunted her unceasingly, and she had come to deem me a kind of
monster, who stood between her boy and his inheritance. Her second
husband died three years after their marriage,--he was drowned one day in
January while crossing the river on the ice, which gave way under
him,--and after that she became the mistress of Riverview in earnest,
ruling my grandfather with a rod of iron, for though bold enough with
men, and especially with the men of his own family, he would succumb in a
moment to a woman's shrewish temper.

Only twice had he revolted against her rule. The first time was when she
had announced her intention of naming her boy Thomas, as I have already
mentioned. The second was when he decided to summon me to Riverview. This
she had opposed with all her might, but he had persisted, and finally
ended the argument by putting her from the room,--doubtless with great
inward trepidation. So I came to be a phantom in the flesh, and do not
wonder that she hated me, so sour will the human heart become which
broods forever on its selfishness. Her children she kept from me as from
the plague, and during the years preceding my grandfather's death, I had
almost no communication with them. He required, however, that every
respect be shown me, placed me on his right at table,--how often have I
looked up from my plate to find his eyes upon me,--selected half a dozen
negroes to be my especial servants, engaged the Rev. James Scott, pastor
of the Quantico church, as my tutor, and even ordered for me an elaborate
wardrobe from his factor in London.

Mr. Scott was a man of parts, and under him I gained some knowledge of
Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Certainly I made more progress than I
should have done under different circumstances, for finding myself
without companions or other occupation, I applied myself to my books for
want of something better. My grandfather possessed above a hundred
volumes, and when he saw how my bent lay, he ordered others for me, so
that his library came to be one of the largest on the Northern Neck,
though