"I met her that very night; for, you see, she had gone to a cottage and taken off her clothes, having insisted upon her fancy man going back to Portsmouth to fetch her others to go home in. He dared not refuse, so off he went in the pickle that he was. But he didn't come back again, for, you see, there was a warrant out against him for an affray at Bear Haven, in which a King's officer was killed; and after he had changed his own clothes, and was proceeding to get some for her from the Chequers, he was met by the constable who had the warrant, and carried off handcuffed to jail, and afterward he was transported--so she never saw him again. Well, Peggy, poor creature, had been waiting for him for hours, expecting his return; and it was past ten o'clock when I was coming down with some others, and saw her at the door of the cottage weeping. "'Good-night, Peggy,' says I. "'Oh, Philip, do be kind, do come to me; I'm frightened out of my life. I shall have to stay here all night.' "So, you see, I did feel some little pity for her, and I went up to her, and she told me how she had sent him, and he had never come back again. "'The fact is,' says I, 'Peggy, you aren't smart enough for such a Frenchified chap as he is. He don't like to be seen in your company. Come, get up, and I will see you home, at all events;' so I took charge of her, and saw her safe to her father's door. "'Won't you come in?' said she. "'No, thank you,' says I. "'Won't you forgive me, Philip?' said she. "'Yes," says I, 'I'll forgive you, for old acquaintance' sake, and for one more reason.' "'What's that?' says Peggy. "'Why,' says I, 'for the lesson which you've learned me. I've been made a fool of once, and it's your fault; but if ever a woman makes a fool of me again, why, then it's mine. And so, Peggy, good-by forever.' "So I turned away on my heel, and as I left the transport the next trip, I never saw her again." "Well, Bramble," replied I, "I agree with you; and if ever a woman makes a fool of me _again_, it will be my fault. You know what's happened, so I don't mind saying so." "Why, Tom, in your present humor, you think so; but all do not keep to the same way of thinking as I did till it was too late to think about marrying; but still I do not think that I should have been happy as a single man, if it had not been for my falling in with Bessy. I should have been very lonely, I expect, for I began to feel so. When you come to your own door, Tom, home looks cheerless if there is no bright eye to welcome you, and the older a man gets the more he feels that he was not intended to live single. My yearning after something to love and to love me, which is in our nature, was satisfied, first by having Bessy, and then by having you--and I'm thankful." "You might have married, and have been very unhappy." "I might, and I might have been very happy, had I chosen a wife as a man should do." "And how is that, pray, Bramble?"