Page:Letters of Life.djvu/100

88 it, was wont to reply, that it was "her daily hope to reach three hundred." Notwithstanding this great weight of adipose substance her active movements betokened her French origin, and her step in the dance was almost impalpably light. She was a person of good capacity and great shrewdness of observation, and filled in the family an important place, which was affectionately appreciated. Her gratitude for the memory of her benefactor was enthusiastic; and from her eloquent, almost histrionic descriptions, I gathered my most graphic ideas of the nobleness of his domestic habits and feelings, who for bravery as an officer, and wisdom as a financier and statesman, was illustrious on both shores of the Atlantic.

The comfort of this interesting and dignified family was promoted by a band of well-trained and trustworthy servants, a cook, chambermaid, and waiter, gardener, and coachman. Each was at their post with a clock-work precision, so perfect was the system of organization. The house was old-fashioned but commodious. Its late proprietor, notwithstanding his huge wealth, preferred it to a modern and costly mansion, because it was consecrated by filial recollections. To me it seemed a most amiable sentiment that, accustomed as he had been for years to a palace-residence in France, and to all the decorations which the fine arts could give, he should still choose to dwell in comparatively humble apartments which had been