e consternation which ensued to the
proprietor of the Hall, to his relatives and friends, and all the
neighbors of that staunch Presbyterian region, when Colonel Henry
James Carroll, of St. Mary's, of the old Catholic family of the noted
Charles Carroll, and himself a Catholic by profession, came across the
waters of the Chesapeake, courting the only daughter of Sir Thomas
King, the heiress to all these estates and the reigning belle of the
county.

In vain was the bitter opposition of father and friends. The willful
young heiress insisted on giving to the handsome officer from St.
Mary's the preference over all her other admirers. It may be that a
reaction from the strict rules and the severe tenets of her education
gave to this young scion of another faith an additional charm. However
that may be, love won the day.

The father was compelled to yield, and the young heiress became the
wife of the intrepid Colonel Henry James Carroll. It could hardly have
been expected that Sir Thomas King should associate with himself under
the same roof a son-in-law of principles so opposed to his own; but he
established the young couple on the adjacent estate of Bloomsborough,
which he also owned, and here their little son, Thomas King Carroll,
first saw the light of day.

The old proprietor, in his great empty hall, coveted this little
grandson and proposed to adopt him as his own child and make him the
heir to all his estates.

In course of time a younger son, Charles Cecilius Carroll, was born to
the Bloomsborough household, the grandfather's proposition was
accepted, and little Thomas King Carroll, then between five and six
years of age, became an inmate of Kingston Hall and the object of Sir
Thomas King's devoted affection and brightest hopes.

Governor Carroll, in after times, used to relate to his children how
they spent the winter evenings alone in the old Hall. His grandfather,
in his spacious armchair, on one side of the open hearth, with a
blazing wood fire and tall brass andirons; the little boy, in a low
chair, on the opposite side, listening to the tales that his
grandfather related of ancient times and heroic deeds. By these means
Sir Thomas King strove to amuse his youthful heir and to train his
mind to high principles and brave aspirations. But Sunday must have
been a terrible day to the little boy, attending long services in the
red brick meeting-house and occupying himself as he best could between
whiles with