He imbibed
from him a relish for trifling amusements and extravagant expenditure,
which clung to him through life. The sudden death of his misjudging
instructor recalled him to a painful sense of past indiscretions. He
determined to amend his ways, and make choice of some profession, and
employ his time in a more honorable manner for the future. These serious
impressions scarcely survived the funeral of the thoughtless man whose
death he sincerely lamented; but the many debts his uncle had
contracted, and the exhausted state of his purse, urged upon him the
imperative necessity of returning to England; and the voyage was
undertaken accordingly.
CHAPTER II.
The steel strikes fire from the unyielding flint:
So love has struck from out that flinty heart
The electric spark, which all but deifies
The human clay.--S.M.
About two years after Algernon Hurdlestone left the Hall, a widow lady
and her daughter came to reside at Ashton, and hired a small cottage,
pleasantly situated at the back of the park.
Mrs. Wildegrave's husband had been engaged in the rebellion of 1745; and
his estates, in consequence, were confiscated, and he paid with his life
the forfeit of his rashness. His widow and child, after many years of
sorrow and destitution, and living as dependents upon the charity of
poor relatives, were enabled to break through this painful bondage, and
procure a home for themselves.
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