It was not long before the poet obtained an introduction to his ideal. The acquaintance thus began quickly ripened, and Fitz-Greene Halleck became deeply attached to her. This warmth of feeling was undoubtedly returned, and there seems every probability that Maria, girl of seventeen as she was, might have been well content to wed the American poet. Her father, however, intervened, and sternly refused to allow things to go farther. Here we have a possible explanation of the tragedy which ensued. Monsieur Malibran came upon the scene and offered himself, and Maria perhaps decided to accept him in order to escape from the discipline of an exacting parent. There certainly must have been some very powerful reason at work to bring about her union with a man older than her own father, at an age when youth and romance would naturally appeal to her most strongly, and such a wedding of May and December could not but appear repulsive in the extreme. Certainly it can hardly have been the man's reputed wealth which tempted her to take such a step, seeing that she was already well advanced on the road to becoming one of the greatest operatic stars of her day. After the wedding and her family's departure for Mexico, the unhappy Maria discovered that her husband's affairs had for some time past been in a very bad state, and that he had really been counting on the income which would accrue from her talents. Matters grew rapidly worse, and within a year of the marriage he was declared bankrupt and thrown into prison. Under these circumstances Maria at once, of her own accord, determined to resign, for the benefit of her husband's creditors, the whole of the provision which had been made for her by the marriage settlements. It was a noble act, which gave rise to strong manifestations of favour and approbation on the part of the American public. For some months after this she remained in New York, singing on Sundays at Grace Church, and occasionally appearing at the Bowery Theatre in English operettas, such as "The Devil's Bridge" and "Love in a Village." By this time, however, the youthful contralto had had her eyes thoroughly opened as to the character of the man to whom she had given herself, and at last she bravely decided to cut the Gordian knot by leaving her husband and returning to Europe. Accordingly her final appearance on the American stage was announced for September 28, 1827, and on this night she took her farewell benefit at the Bowery Theatre, in Boieldieu's "Jean de Paris." Of the closing scene of that evening we read-- "When the programme had been completed, the Signorina came forward and seated herself at her harp, but seemingly overcome with emotion again rose. Mr Etienne, the pianist, thereupon took up the prelude to a farewell song, specially written for the occasion, and this, on regaining her composure, she sang in a most touching and effective manner."