Every one have their trials and troubles, as we have seen in this tale, besides Sir Andrew, hence it need not surprise any one to be informed that good Dame Worthington had a very long list of grievances to complain of in her dealings with the world. It was her settled conviction that old widows were the most oppressed class in existence, and herself the most deeply wronged of them all. Butchers, bakers, milkmen, and tax-collectors were her abomination, and she often sighed that boarding houses could not be carried on without them. “For, my dear,” she would say, “one has scarcely got a few pounds in hand, before down come the bills upon you, first for one thing, and then for another, so that we never have a penny to call our own. And then, there’s our _losses_; ah, my dear, you haven’t the _slightest_ notion of what I have to suffer; poor folks like me have occasion to be ‘smart,’ these times, I can assure you, for we see a deal of this wicked world in a very short time. “Just fancy, my dear; little more than two years ago, a very respectable-looking, genteel young man, calls on me. “‘Good morning, Dame Worthington,’ says he. “‘Good morning, sir,’ says I, ‘and what do you please to want?’ “‘I have been in search of hotel accommodation, ma’am,’ says he, ‘for several days; respectable apartments in a respectable neighbourhood, and hearing yours highly spoken of, I have called.’ “Well, my dear, he was the nicest young man you ever see; so mild and quiet, and honest looking, very much like my brother was before he was killed, and I thought that he certainly must be a very genteel, amiable young man, and I let him have the lodgings. “After a few nights he got more and more at home with the lodgers, and even played the harp and guitar in the parlour; and Mistress Haylark said, and the other ladies also, that he was the nicest young man, that ever lived in my house. “He dressed very stylish, my dear, and _would_ have his apartments arranged, and swept, and dusted oftener than anybody else, for which he was willing to pay ‘extra,’ he said, if required. “The number of wax candles that young man had, and the coals, and odds and ends of different kinds, were considerable, my dear, but he said he had never denied himself in anything, being rich, and, therefore, couldn’t do without them. “The number of things which shopmen sent in, was wonderful; new boots and shoes, new coats and waistcoats, and fine linen, until we all began to think, at one time, he was going to make a runaway match with Mistress Haylark’s daughter Fanny. “For he seemed very sweet in that quarter, and Mistress Haylark was very fond of him also; _too_ fond of him, _I_ think, between ourselves, considering she’s a widow just as old as me almost, except she primps and paints, and wears false back hair.