Were Mrs. Hampden the only claimant she would even
then have but a widow's mite, but there are others, unf--others, as
you know, these others, ahem, ahem, of course, have a sort of right to
a reasonable share, although they have youth and energy on their side,
which she has not--however--that is not the point," he put in hastily,
as he detected an uneasy gesture from the object of his solicitude.
"The subject which we have to submit to your consideration, young
lady, is this--we have decided that in her present condition of health
and spirits, Mrs. Hampden is unfit to remain here in the gloomy
presence of depressing associations--in fact it is a question whether
she shall ever be able to resume her domestic duties in this place,"
here the handkerchief with the deep border was again produced, and the
doleful widowed countenance buried in its folds. "We deem it
advisable," said the solicitous brother, casting a look of tender,
heart-stirring compassion upon his afflicted relative, "to remove her
to her native town, where her surroundings will be less suggestive of
the recent heavy loss she has been called upon to sustain, and where
her crushed energies may regain some of their old buoyancy." The
shapely shoulders of the afflicted relative shook with convulsive
sobs, after which melancholy interruptions the solicitous brother
proceeded in a less feeling and more business-like tone.
"As circumstances have kept you estranged from the friends and
immediate relatives of your late father's surviving wife, we feared
you might not be willing to accompany her on this journey.
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