d never show my face in it any
more. I replied, with more spirit than respect, that it was high time
that the son of a gentleman and lady should leave the house, when such
lowborn creatures were installed in it as the mistress. My father, in
a rage, flung his crutch at my head, and I left the room.

"As I went out I met her in the passage; she had evidently been
listening to what had passed, and she was full of exultation.

"'It is your turn now, you she-devil,' said I, in my rage; 'but wait
till my father dies. You shall go a-milking again.'

"I do not mean to defend my conduct, but I was then no seventeen, and
that must be my excuse. I little thought, when I said so, that it
would be from my hands that she would have to receive bounty, but so
it is, as Mr. Campbell informs me that my father destroyed, previous
to his death, the papers which he had signed to secure her a large
jointure on the estate. I set off with my wardrobe and the purse of
twenty guineas, which my father had given me, and having a desire to
see the world, I went on board of a merchant vessel. Six months
afterwards, when we were at Liverpool, I went on board of a privateer.
The remainder of my history you are already acquainted with.

"As soon as she had wreaked her vengeance upon me, my brother Philip
was the next; but he was too young at that time to be turned adrift,
so she put it off till the time should come, irritating and weaning my
father from him by every means in her power. Three years afterwards
she succeeded in having him dismissed, also, and you know how I found
him out. All these circumstances were very well known in the
neighbourhood and to our own relations; and one only, my aunt, called
upon my father, and, after a long conversation, my father consented
that my sisters should go away, and remain under her charge. My
step-mother's violent temper, her exactions, her imperious conduct,
which was now shown even towards him, with what my aunt had advanced,
had to a certain extent opened my father's eyes. He perceived that she
had no other view but her own aggrandisement, and that she cared
little for him. Her repeated attempts, however, to make him sign in
her favour, in case of his death, were successful, and it was not
till after her conduct had alienated him from her, and he deplored the
loss of his children, that he committed the deed to the flames. About
three years after I had quitted the house, my eldest brother, who had
infor