ABSTRACT
The man readily obeyed, and the mourning, but thankful Martha was once more left with her old servant, to watch beside her father’s corpse.
CHAPTER XXXII.
T H E circumstances which immediately followed are not of sufficient consequence to detain us long. Our old acquaintaince, Mr. Augustus, now Major Dowling of the — regiment, quartered at the distance of a day’s journey, was sent for to get through the melancholy business going on in his paternal mansion, as well as he could; to give orders respecting the funeral, and to make himself as thoroughly acquainted with the real state of his family affairs as circumstances would permit, Michael, meanwhile, had taken leave of the weeping Martha without having given her the slightest hint as to the means by which Sir Matthew’s body had been released. Had he not known that the Mr. Augustus, whose kicks and pinches he so well remembered, was expected to arrive for the protection of his sister, and of whatever property they might still call their own, he would hardly have made up his mind to leave her, however conscious he might have been of the doubtful propriety of offering such protection as he could give. But it was evident that the poor girl thought he had better go, though it was equally so that she parted from him with the greatest reluctance.
