Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/122

 clever, that all their masters said, they learned better and faster than any scholars they had. Lady Charlotte was very handsome; and had many admirers, before she was out eighteen; but she had no liking to any of them; and said, she should never marry any one whom she could not look up to as a friend and guide. She was just nineteen when young Sir William Bandon came to spend the Christmas holidays at the Park; and I soon perceived, by the way she spoke of him, that his attentions were agreeable to her. We went up to town, and Sir William soon after declared himself. My lord was highly pleased with his character; so that every thing was soon agreed on, and the marriage was to take place at Easter; but, alas! before Easter, my lord was carried off by a fever of less than a fortnight's duration.

By this event, all our joy was changed into mourning. I could not have felt more if I had lost a father. He was,