he married again within two years;
after which, owing to the remoteness of our
relative situations, and other circumstances,
we gradually lost sight of him.

I was now an only child; and, as my
elder sister had died without issue, it was
evident that, in the ordinary course of
things, my father's property, which was
altogether in his power, would go to me;
and the consequence was, that before I was
fourteen, Ashtown House was besieged by
a host of suitors. However, whether it was
that I was too young, or that none of the
aspirants to my hand stood sufficiently high
in rank or wealth, I was suffered by both
parents to do exactly as I pleased; and
well was it for me, as I afterwards found,
that fortune, or rather Providence, had so
ordained it, that I had not suffered my
affections to become in any degree engaged,
for my mother would never have suffered
any SILLY FANCY of mine, as she was in the
habit of styling an attachment, to stand
in the way of her ambitious views--
views which she was determined to carry
into effect, in defiance of every obstacle,
and in order to accomplish which she
would not have hesitated to sacrifice
anything so unreasonable and contemptible as