Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/24

12 in love with the bright, young poetess, and, though he was twenty years her elder, she accepted him, gave up her interest in the school, and purchased her trousseau. The wedding day was fixed, but the gentleman continually deferred it, until the family became indignant, and Sir James Stonehouse, an intimate friend, was called into their counsels, and the engagement was broken off. Mr. Turner was anxious to make some sort of compensation in money, but this the lady refused. He persisted, however; and Sir James Stonehouse, without her knowledge, became trustee for an annuity which was settled upon her, and which she was finally induced to accept.

Everyone agreed that no blame attached to her in this strange affair, the result probably of an elderly man growing shy and fearing to have rashly committed himself. He always spoke of Hannah with the greatest respect, and at his death bequeathed to her one thousand pounds. But this unfortunate experience, when she must have suffered grievously, steeled her heart against other offers, and she rejected one that was made to her a little later. This matter may be held to have been the end of her joyous girlhood, and to have ushered in the second period of her life—her brilliant womanhood.