WITH A WINE-GLASS. 85

wife quitted the place, and I could find neither
tale nor tidings of them. Poor gentleman!
my heart ached for him; and it was just at
that time I had the heavy trial to meet with |
my husband. He was flush of money and I
was hard up for something to fill my heart
with, or Vd never have had him. Thah!
thah! The beauty of the world he was, with
a tongue like a smoothing iron; the greatest
vagabond, Mary, dear, and the biggest liar
that ever broke the world’s bread ! Well,
anyhow, we got back to England, and I tried
to make out my master’s lawyers, and my
dear mistress’s people had been broken stock
and lock, and the estates gone in some estates’
court, and the family emigrated. And it’s
no good to tell you of all I went through
with such a husband as the devil himself
sent me; but, anyhow, I found myself free,
one fine morning, to work hard for twenty-

one years.