her relatives opposed the match, the more she was bent upon
marrying me. Her family, she, said, were afraid they were going to lose
her property, but she would never give them a cent of it, anyhow, and
she would marry when and whom she pleased.

Not "when," exactly; because, as she protested she would marry me, I
had something to say about it; I had been run away with by a milliner
in Vermont, and I had no idea of beings forcibly wedded by a widow in
Maine. I pleaded that my business was not sufficiently established; I
was liable to be called away from time to time; I had affairs to arrange
in New York and elsewhere before I could settle down; and so the happy
day was put off to an indefinite future time.

By-and-by I had business in Boston, and the widow declared that she
would go with me; she wanted to visit her friend's there and do some
shopping; and without making particular mention of her intention to her
relatives, she went with me, and we were in Boston together more
than two weeks. At the end of that time she returned to Biddeford and
notified her friends treat she was married to the doctor, though she had
no certificate, not even a Troy one, to show for it.

I deemed it advisable not to go back with her, but went to Worcester for
a while. In a few days I went to Biddeford, keeping somewhat close, for
I did not care to meet any of the relatives, and at night I called upon
the widow. She told me that her family had raised a tremendous fuss
about me, and had learned as much as they, and indeed she, wanted to
know about my adventures in Vermont and New Hampshire. They had not gone
back of that, but that was enough. It was dangerous, she told me, for me
to stay there; I was sure to be arrested; I had better get away from the
place as soon as possible. We might meet again by-and-by, but unless I
wanted to be arrested I must leave, the place that very night. She gave
me seven hundred dollars, pressed the money upon me, and I parted from
her, returning to Worcester, and going from there to Boston. Besides
what the widow bad given me, I had made more than one thousand dollars
in Maine, and was comparatively well off.

Then came the joyful intelligence that Henry was released. His mother
had worked for him night and day. She bad drawn up a petition, secured
a large number of sterling signatures, had gone with her counsel to see
the Governor, had presented the petition and all the facts in the case,
and the Governor h