with the account till after the wedding: but now it may serve to
moderate your warmth in the argument; for, I suppose, your own
prudence will enforce the necessity of dissembling at least till
your son has the young lady's fortune secure.'--'Well,' returned
I, 'if what you tell me be true, and if I am to be a beggar, it
shall never make me a rascal, or induce me to disavow my
principles. I'll go this moment and inform the company of my
circumstances; and as for the argument, I even here retract my
former concessions in the old gentleman's favour, nor will I
allow him now to be an husband in any sense of the expression.'

It would be endless to describe the different sensations of both
families when I divulged the news of our misfortune; but what
others felt was slight to what the lovers appeared to endure. Mr
Wilmot, who seemed before sufficiently inclined to break off the
match, was by this blow soon determined: one virtue he had in
perfection, which was prudence, too often the only one that is
left us at seventy-two.



CHAPTER 3

A migration. The fortunate circumstances of our lives are
generally found at last to be of our own procuring


The only hope of our family now was, that the report of our
misfortunes might be malicious or premature: but a letter from my
agent in town soon came with a confirmation of every particular.