just as I
began to flatter myself that my constitution would weather the storm,
I experienced an attack of headache, chills, and fever. By dint of
resolution and nerve, which will accomplish much, I succeeded in
throwing it off, being determined not to succumb through imagination
or fear. A few days afterwards the attack was renewed with greater
violence, and I was compelled to admit its reality, and acknowledge the
supremacy of remittent fever. Mr. Church manifested much interest in
my behalf. He caused a skillful physician to attend me, and promptly
provided me with every thing the occasion required, excepting a
salubrious atmosphere; and on being told that this was indispensable to
my recovery, he generously caused me to be transported on a litter to
"Bel-Air," the beautiful and healthy villa in which he resided. Here
I was provided with a comfortable apartment, and received the kindest
attention from Mrs. Church. After a severe struggle the fever left me in
a weak and emaciated condition, and weeks elapsed before I was permitted
to resume my duties of the estate.

My wardrobe, although it had been replenished by Bohun, in a style which
I thought unnecessarily liberal was still far from approaching what, by
persons of simple tastes, would be called genteel. As I was now liable
to be thrown into the company of the WELL-DRESSED visitors to Bel-Air,
it was thought by Mr. Church perhaps at the suggestion of his wife
that some improvement in my external appearance might be desirable.
Accordingly, one day, on returning from a journey to St. George, he
brought me, greatly to my astonishment, a dress coat, of bottle-green
hue, much too large, which he had purchased ready-made; a pair
of stockinet pantaloons, too tight for even my slim shanks, and a
flashy-looking vest, which, for aught I know, may have been made of the
stuff called "thunder and lightning;" so that, when rigged out in my
genteel habiliments, I must have looked not unlike Moses, in the "Vicar
of Wakefield," going to the fair, but far more ridiculous!

I cared less about the effect I might produce in my unaccustomed finery
than the expense of such luxuries, which I knew I could not afford, and
which would inevitably subject me to much inconvenience. My salary, I
found on inquiry, was a nominal one, barely sufficient to furnish me
with ordinary comforts. I had already incurred a serious debt in the
purchase of a saddle and bridle and other articles which I co