Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/273

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FORTY YEARS SINCE.
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at last, there will be mourning in Heaven." I had forborne to communicate to her the opposition of Edward's father to our union, lest it might embitter her parting moments. But as her sickness approached its fatal termination, he was himself summoned to his last account. He had been for some time absent, superintending an estate in Ireland, and encountering a storm in the Channel, was drowned on his homeward passage. He gave by will all his possessions to his eldest son, to whom he was partial, and who resembled him in character. Edward came to us depressed at the depth of his poverty. But my heart with deep gratitude thanked the Eternal Sire, that I might now return his affection without the imputation of mercenary motives, and relieved from the dread of a father's malediction. He departed for a few days to seek some prospect of maintenance, and returned only in time to support me to my mother's grave. The fatal disease, which has set its seal upon me, triumphed over both my parents. The bitterness of my orphanage was consoled by the voice of love as pure, as ardent, as holy, as ever dwelt in the breast of man. So firmly was it returned, that I heard, without repining, that the only resource which remained was to join the army, then about to embark for America, under Earl Cornwallis.

"We were married, and my little patrimony, which in consequence of my mother's sicknsss had become somewhat encumbered with debt, was sold. Hand in hand, we parted from that sweet cottage, to encounter the perils