were
in affluence.

She was a boarder at the same school as my sister Caroline; and, by
frequently going to see my sister, I became acquainted with Miss Norman,
and was sincerely attached to her before I thought that I felt more for
her than a common friendship. This, in some respects, was an unfortunate
circumstance, for my father, who was then Earl of Malbourne, wished me
to marry a lady of high birth and large fortune; but she was of such a
disagreeable imperious temper that I could not endure the thought of
passing my life with her.

'When Miss Norman was a little turned of seventeen, her mother died, and
she went home to live with her father. I still visited her in company
with my sister, for I hoped that my father would, at some time, consent
to my marrying her. About a year after this, her father engaged in some
mercantile business that failed; he was also very much defrauded by his
agents, so that, from being what might be called a rich man, he was
suddenly reduced to poverty. This sad change in his affairs affected him
so much that he fell ill. I was grieved to my heart to see him in such a
state, and to see Miss Norman pining, as it were, to death.

'I was certainly old enough to choose a wife for myself, for I was
twenty-five, had a handsome estate, and was then major of a regiment. I
had often told my father that I could never marry Lady Clara Froward,
for that I was attached to another lady, and only wished for his consent
to marry her. That, said my father, I never should have, for that he
would never consent to my marrying anybody but Lady Clara Froward.

'I had waited a long time in the hope that he would change his mind, but
he did not; and, when I saw Mr. Norman and his daughter in such
distress, I determined not to wait any longer, but offered my hand to
your mother, and urged her father to consent to the marriage. It was a
long time before he would agree to it; but, finding his health every day
worse, he gave his consent, and we were married.

'A few days afterwards I informed my father of our marriage, and
entreated him to receive my amiable wife as his daughter. He wrote me
word that I had married without his consent, he disowned me as his son,
and would never receive either me or my wife.

'This determination was the subject of regret to us all; but we lived in
hopes that time would soften his resentment, and that in the end he
would relent. About two months after our marriage Mr. Norman die