w from his bond, and
find himself a free and prosperous man.

Thus much done, there was no time to be lost. Jackson, well and drunk,
might refuse to do what Jackson, sick and sober, had consented to do; so a
place was found for himself and his wife, in a part of the country
inhabited by her relations, in order that, as she said, if Jackson kept on
drinking, she might not be quite alone in the world. Arrangements were
then made for the marriage of the young people.

And what said Hammond to all this? He wrote home that he would consent to
any thing his wife proposed, and he hoped it might answer as well as she
expected. Hannah was sure it would; but, in order to avoid the possibility
of mischief, she arranged that her husband should not return until the eve
of the wedding; while she had made it a condition that Jackson should
depart immediately after it; thus excluding all possibility of a renewal
of intercourse.

On a fine evening in June, the mother and daughter sat under the porch,
hand-in-hand, watching for the coach that was to drop George at the door.
How happy they were! Harry had just left them, in order to spend the last
evening with his poor mother, and, as he said, to have an eye to his
father's proceedings. Young George was still at his country house; but he
was to have a holiday the next day, and to be present at the wedding.

At length there was a sound of wheels, and "Here's the coach!" cried both
the women, as the well-loaded vehicle turned round a corner of the road,
and appeared in sight. But, to their disappointment, instead of pulling
up, the driver only flung down the old portmanteau, and pointed with his
thumb toward the town, intimating that he had dropt the owner of it,
there, as he passed.

Hannah turned pale. Why had he not come on with the coach? Had he fallen
in with Jackson? Her heart sunk within her.

Esther hoped better things; she doubted not that her father had business
in the town; but he must know how anxious they would be to see him, and he
would surely come soon. Yet, hour after hour slipped by, and he came not.
One went to the door, then the other, then the first again, and so on; but
no George Hammond appeared. At length, when it was getting quite dusk,
they did discern somebody coming toward them with an unsteady step--they
saw the figure reel as it approached, before they could distinguish the
features, and they turned sick at heart. Hannah groaned, and Esther,
grasping her