ur brother off in distress. At
dinner I thought suddenly, I'll say to her, 'Maria, poor as I am, I am
yours to take or to leave. If you will have me, here I am: I will
enlist: I will work: I will try and make a livelihood for myself
somehow, and my bro--my relations will relent, and give us enough to
live on.' That's what I determined to tell her; and I did, George. I
found them all at dinner, all except Will; that is, I spoke out that
very moment to them all, sitting round the table over their wine.
'Maria,' says I, 'a poor fellow wants to redeem his promise which he
made when he fancied he was rich. Will you take him?' I found I had
plenty of words, and I ended by saying 'I would do my best and my duty
by her, so help me God!'

"When I had done, she came up to me quite kind. She took my hand, and
kissed it before the rest. 'My dear,' she said, 'I have long seen it was
only duty and a foolish promise made by a young man to an old woman,
that has held you to your engagement. To keep it would make you
miserable, and I absolve you from it, thanking you with all my heart for
your fidelity, and blessing my dear cousin always.' And she came up to
me and kissed me before them all, and went out of the room quite
stately, and without a single tear. Oh, George, isn't she a noble
creature?"

"Here's her health," cries George, filling a glass.

"Hip, hip, huzzay!" says Harry. He was wild with delight at being free.

Madame Bernstein was scarcely less pleased than her Virginian nephews at
the result of Harry's final interview with Lady Maria.

_IV.--From the Warrington MSS._

My brother Harry Warrington went to Canada to serve tinder General
Wolfe, and remained with the army after the death of his glorious
commander. And I, George Warrington, stayed in London, read law in the
Temple, and wrote plays which were performed at Covent Garden, and was
in love with Miss Theodosia Lambert. Madame Esmond Warrington, however,
refused her consent to the match, and Major General Lambert declared an
engagement impossible under the circumstances.

Then in 1760, when George II. was dead, and George III. was king,
General Lambert was appointed to be governor and commander-in-chief of
the Island of Jamaica. His speedy departure was announced, he would have
a frigate given him, and _take his family with him._ Merciful powers!
and were we to be parted?

At last, one day, almost the last of his stay, when the General's
preparations for d