'
We afterwards understood he had quarrelled at a public house with
an exciseman, whom he challenged to a bout at single stick, in
which he had been worsted; and that the shame of this defeat had
tied up his tongue. As for madam, she had shewn no concern for
his disaster, and now heard of his recovery without emotion -- She
had taken some little notice of my sister and niece, though
rather with a view to indulge her own petulance, than out of any
sentiment of regard to our family. -- She said Liddy was a fright,
and ordered her woman to adjust her head before dinner; but she
would not meddle with Tabby, whose spirit, she soon perceived,
was not to be irritated with impunity. At table, she acknowledged
me so far as to say she had heard of my father; though she
hinted, that he had disobliged her family by making a poor match
in Wales. She was disagreeably familiar in her enquiries about
our circumstances; and asked, if I intended to bring up my nephew
to the law. I told her, that, as he had an independent fortune,
he should follow no profession but that of a country gentleman;
and that I was not without hopes of procuring for him a seat in
parliament -- 'Pray cousin (said she), what may his fortune be?'
When I answered, that, with what I should be able to give him, he
would have better than two thousand a year, she replied, with a
disdainful toss of her head, that it would be impossible for him
to preserve his independence on such a paultry provision.
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