a gracious reception. Of course I secretly rebelled at this arbitrary disposition of my hand; but at the time he told me about it, he was not as well as usual, and I said nothing in reply, fearing to excite him if I opposed the arrangement in any way. It came out afterward that he had told his wife more than he told me regarding these plans, but even she was appalled upon learning the truth regarding the disposal of his property. My father died very suddenly one day, while we were all out shopping, and we came home to find the servants wild with excitement, and the house in the greatest confusion. Mrs. Rochester is, however, a woman of rare executive ability, as you have doubtless learned, and she managed everything during this unlooked-for emergency very wisely, and with the utmost propriety. “Every mark of respect was paid to the dead, and even the most critical could have found no fault with her deportment and arrangements at this time. But when the will was produced and read she was simply furious. It was then, too, that I learned the whole truth regarding his plans for my future. The will stated that I was to marry Mr. Hamilton’s heir, or forfeit the Rochester homestead and a hundred thousand dollars besides; fifty thousand dollars alone being held in reserve for me in case I refused to comply with my father’s wishes. A will to the same tenor and effect was made after his marriage with Mrs. Rockwell, which stated that the income of the previously mentioned fifty thousand dollars should go to her if I married Mr. Hamilton’s heir; if I did not, she was simply to share a certain amount of the income until I married to please myself, when she would receive ten thousand outright. The income of the fifty thousand dollars was to revert to me at her death. I will not attempt to describe her anger over this state of affairs. She claimed that my father had promised her fifty thousand dollars, and that he had shamefully wronged her by making such a will. She appeared to imagine that I was responsible for it, and she treated me accordingly. Of course she immediately became very anxious that I should fulfil the Rochester-Hamilton contract; you were expected to arrive at any time, and she insisted that the marriage must be solemnized immediately upon your arrival, or as soon after as it could be arranged.