ought the shoes but was keeping
them "to wear to meeting;" and though there would seem to be no great
wit herein, it is recorded that Frankland thought that "a reply had
never been made with such charming grace." At all events, he
incontinently fell heels over head in love; but his pride of family
forbade marriage, and it would seem that at first his intentions toward
the young girl were creditable enough, since he had her educated by the
best masters in Boston, and especially instructed in religion by the
Rev. Dr. Edward Holyoke, president of Harvard College. So matters went
until Agnes was twenty-three; but then Frankland's passion would no
longer be denied, though he had no intention of making the lowborn girl
his wife. But she loved him with a love too great to balk at
conventions; she felt herself his wife in heart, and she gave herself
unreservedly to him. For a time they lived together in Boston; but
scandal became too strong, and they went into the country, where they
lived for about three years the ideal country life of that day,--a life
much like that of the Virginia planter. Then they went on a visit to
England; but the relatives of Frankland would have none of them, and
they went to travel on the continent. After about a year of wandering
they settled down at Lisbon, and were there during the terrible
earthquake that visited that city on All Saints' Day, 1755. During that
catastrophe Frankland was in mortal peril; and in his moments of pain
and danger he vowed that, if he were saved, he would make Agnes his wife
in fact as she had so long been in heart. Scarcely had the vow been
recorded before Agnes was at his side, having searched for him and come
in time to aid in his rescue. He did not forget his oath when the danger
was passed, and the next day married her according to the rites of the
Church of Rome, the ceremony being repeated according to English customs
while they were on their homeward voyage. Agnes, now Lady Frankland, was
on this occasion well received in England; but the hearts of the
lovers--for such they still were--inclined to Boston, the scene of their
first loves, and they soon crossed the ocean and took up their residence
in the Clarke Mansion on Garden Street in Boston. Here they lived until
1757, when Frankland was appointed consul-general at Lisbon; but in 1763
they once more returned to the city of their early love and lived there
until 1768, when they went to England, where Frankland di