“I suppose you must marry Mr. Allenham, Caroline; but what is to become of me?” he one day said, in a desponding tone. “How can a man see to all the details of a household, and the boys, and everything?” “Why, papa, you always said I was but a bad housekeeper,” replied Caroline, who, in her new-born happiness and brightened prospects, had found a certain degree of courage, and sometimes ventured to reply half playfully to her father’s lamentations; “you will do all the better without me, I dare say.” “No, no! I shan’t! You have been a good girl, Caroline, and I shall not be able to do at all well without you. You will all marry, and I shall be left alone in my old age.” “Why, papa,” interrupted Matilda, “I have heard you regret a hundred times that Caroline did not marry, and say that it preyed upon your mind to think that we were unprovided for; and that if we were but married, you should be quite happy.” “In the meantime, my dear papa,” said Caroline, “Matilda can take my place. She is seventeen now, and I was not older when my poor mother died.” “Ah! but she is not so steady as you were. I cannot manage you, Matilda, as I can Caroline,” answered Captain Wareham, in whose estimation Caroline had risen wonderfully, now he was going to lose her. “Well, then, I will manage you, papa, and that will be much best,” replied the blunt and light-hearted Matilda, who was not easily either daunted or vexed. “I am so glad Caroline is going to marry that dear, good Mr. Allenham, that I shall not mind casting up those abominable bills. But I will tell you what, papa, you must not scold me as you do Caroline; I shall never bear it as she has done.” Caroline looked at Matilda, and tried to silence her, but without effect. And, strange to say, Captain Wareham would bear from Matilda jokes, and even lectures, which he would never have endured from her elder sisters. The fact was, that Matilda had a high spirit. She meant no harm; she did not mind a sharp word; and she gradually obtained a sort of mastery over her father. The marriage was not to take place till Mr. Allenham was settled at Longbury, but all things proceeded placidly and cheerfully with the Wareham family, except that the letters which Ellen received from Mr. Cresford were more and more distressing. They were written in a state of dreadfully low spirits. He complained of mental and bodily miseries. Still she was little prepared for the shock which awaited her, when one morning she read in the papers an official return from the depôt at Verdun, and among the deaths she saw the name of Charles Cresford, Esq. CHAPTER IV. And such the colouring fancy gave To a young, warm, and dauntless chief,— And as a lover hails the dawn Of a first smile, so welcomed he The sparkle of the first sword drawn For vengeance and for liberty. _Lalla Rookh._