But she was prepared for more than this. Her heart had become
thoroughly steeled by the harsh treatment which she considered she
had received from her father and others, so she laid herself out to
make what capital she could, not only out of her accomplishments but
also of her beauty, and with such success that she obtained an
elegant establishment at the hands of a wealthy Michigan shipping
merchant, the public being led to believe that she had become
possessed of an estate in trust for her child (a boy) who was
just then born. For several years she lived in this way, always
moving along quietly and respectably, when the old gentleman
died, leaving her but a few hundred dollars capital, for he had
neglected to provide for this contingency, and she, with less
forethought than one would imagine, had never considered such a
possibility. Mrs. McClintock, as she now called herself, began to
think of returning to her old business as a teacher, but there was
little necessity, for an old gentleman who had made a fortune as a
distiller, an acquaintance of the deceased merchant, soon made
excuse for calling upon her, and made undoubted advances to her.
It may be that he knew something of his friend's arrangements, or
that he only suspected them; however, the widow managed matters so
adroitly that he imagined he must have been mistaken, and that the
reports he had heard were not true.
Pages:
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220