C. H. Delacour,' I could command money at will. I signed, and signed, till
at last I was with all due civility informed that my signature was no
longer worth a farthing; and when I came to inquire into the cause of this
phenomenon, I could nowise understand what my Lord Delacour's lawyer said
to me: he was a prig, and I had not patience either to listen to him or to
look at him. I sent for an old uncle of mine, who used to manage all my
money matters before I was married: I put the uncle and the lawyer into a
room, together with their parchments, to fight the matter out, or to come
to a right understanding if they could. The last, it seems, was quite
impossible. In the course of half an hour, out comes my uncle in such a
rage! I never shall forget his face--all the bile in his body had gotten
into it; he had literally no whites to his eyes. 'My dear uncle,' said I,
'what is the matter? Why, you are absolutely gold stick in waiting.'

"'No matter what I am, child,' said the uncle; 'I'll tell you what you
are, with all your wit--a dupe: 'tis a shame for a woman of your sense to
be such a fool, and to know nothing of business; and if you knew nothing
yourself, could not you send for me?'

"'I was too ignorant to know that I know nothing,' said I. But I will not
trouble you with all the said I's and said he's. I was made to understand,
that if Lord Delacour were to die the next day, I should live a beggar.
Upon this I grew serious, as you may imagine. My uncle assured me that I
had been grossly imposed upon by my lord and his lawyer; and that I had
been swindled out of my senses, and out of my dower. I repeated all that
my uncle said, very faithfully, to Lord Delacour; and all that either he
or his lawyer could furnish out by way of answer was, that 'Necessity had
no law.' Necessity, it must be allowed, though it might be the mother of
law, was never with my lord the mother of invention. Having now found out
that I had a good right to complain, I indulged myself in it most