roduced a new inmate into his frugal abode, in the
person of an infant female child. It would seem that some one had
been speculating on his stock of weakness too, for this poor, little,
defenceless, and dependent being was thrown upon his care, like Tom
himself, through the vigilance of the parish officers. There were many
good-natured jokes practised on the prosperous fancy-dealer, by the more
witty of his neighbors, at this sudden turn of good fortune, and not a
few ill-natured sneers were given behind his back; most of the knowing
ones of the vicinity finding a stronger likeness between the little girl
and all the other unmarried men of the eight or ten adjoining streets,
than to the worthy housekeeper who had been selected to pay for her
support. I have been much disposed to admit the opinions of these
amiable observers as authority in my own pedigree, since it would
be reaching the obscurity in which all ancient lines take root, a
generation earlier, than by allowing the presumption that little Betsey
was my direct male ancestor's master's daughter; but, on reflection, I
have determined to adhere to the less popular but more simple version
of the affair, because it is connected with the transmission of no small
part of our estate, a circumstance of itself that at once gives dignity
and importance to a genealogy.

Whatever may have been the real opinion of the reputed father touching
his rights to the honors of that respectable title, he soon became as
strongly attached to the child, as if it really owed its existence
to himself. The little girl was carefully nursed, abundantly fed,
and throve accordingly. She had reached her third year, when the
fancy-dealer took the smallpox from his little pet, who was just
recovering from the same disease, and died at the expiration of the
tenth day.

This was an unlooked-for and stunning blow to my ancestor, who was then
in his thirty-fifth year and the head shopman of the establishment,
which had continued to grow with the growing follies and vanities of the
age. On examining his master's will, it was found that my father, who
had certainly aided materially of late in the acquisition of the money,
was left the good-will of the shop, the command of all the stock at
cost, and the sole executorship of the estate. He was also intrusted
with the exclusive guardianship of little Betsey, to whom his master
had affectionately devised every farthing of his property. An ordinary
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