ances that he could have aspired to
her. He was, therefore, submissive to her in everything, consenting to
every proposal that was made by her, and guided by her opinion. When,
therefore, on her arrival at Chatham, she pointed out how impossible it
would be for one brought up as she had been to associate with the women
in the barracks, and that she considered it advisable that she should
set up some business by which she might gain a respectable livelihood,
Ben, although he felt that this would be a virtual separation _a mensa
et thoro_, named no objections. Having thus obtained the consent of her
husband, who considered her so much his superior as to be infallible, my
mother, after much cogitation, resolved that she would embark her
capital in a circulating library and stationer's shop; for she argued
that selling paper, pens, and sealing-wax was a commerce which would
secure to her customers of the better class. Accordingly, she hired a
house close to the barracks, with a very good-sized shop below, painting
and papering it very smartly; there was much taste in all her
arrangements, and although the expenses of the outlay and the first
year's rent had swallowed up a considerable portion of the money she had
laid by, it soon proved that she had calculated well, and her shop
became a sort of lounge for the officers, who amused themselves with her
smartness and vivacity, the more so as she had a talent for repartee,
which men like to find in a very pretty woman.

In a short time my mother became quite the rage, and it was a mystery
how so pretty and elegant a person could have become the wife of a
private marine. It was however, ascribed to her having been captivated
with the very handsome person and figure of her husband, and having
yielded to her feelings in a moment of infatuation. The ladies
patronised her circulating library; the officers and gentlemen purchased
her stationery. My mother then added gloves, perfumery, canes, and
lastly cigars, to her previous assortment and before she had been a year
in business, found that she was making money very fast, and increasing
her customers every day. My mother had a great deal of tact; with the
other sex she was full of merriment and fond of joking, consequently a
great favourite; towards her own sex her conduct was quite the reverse;
she assumed a respectful, prudish air, blended with a familiarity which
was never offensive; she was, therefore, equally popular with