“No, George. Anywhere on earth to me is better than Mount Vernon. I understand what you feel, and have not spoken--that you do not wish to appear to be master while I am living. But you must. I have no fear that you will not give me my share and more of what comes from the estate; but I would give it all up rather than go back. My father’s house is the least painful place to me now.” There was no moving her, and at last she was permitted to have her own way. The servants all crowded around him, and the old mammy, who was promoted to be housekeeper, wanted him to take the rooms that had once been his brother’s, but George would not, and had his belongings placed in the little room overlooking the river which had been his from his boyhood. This much disgusted Billy, who thought the master of Mount Vernon quite too modest. He spent the autumn there, varied by occasional visits to Ferry Farm and his sister at Belvoir. He worked hard, for he regarded himself as merely his sister’s steward, and he determined never to make her regret either his brother’s or her own generosity to him. He never thought Mount Vernon could be so dreary to him. William Fairfax, who was then graduated from William and Mary College, came over to see him often, but George had not the heart to return even William’s visits, so it was all on one side. His mother and Betty came to visit him, but Madam Washington had upon her hands three growing lads, the eldest a tall youth of seventeen, and with the vast cares and responsibilities of the mistress of a plantation in those days she could not be absent for long. The only time in which there was any real brightness was once when Betty came over and stayed a whole month with him. George’s affections, like his passions, were rooted in the fibre of his being, and he felt his brother’s death with a depth of sorrow that only those who knew him well could understand. At Christmas he gave all the negroes their usual privileges and presents, but closed the house and went to Ferry Farm. In the holiday time his coming gave the greatest joy, and the cloud upon him began to lift a little. Meanwhile he had received his commission as major and inspector-general of the forces in his district from Governor Dinwiddie, and he entered with enthusiasm into his work. He attended the general musters diligently at Alexandria, and used all his influence in promoting enlistments in the militia. He was then nineteen years old--the youngest major in the colonial service.