f spirits. I
was sorry for Susan.

THIRD EPOCH.

ONE of my faults (which has not been included in the list set forth
by my valet) is a disinclination to occupy myself with my own domestic
affairs. The proceedings of my footman, while I had been away from
home, left me no alternative but to dismiss him on my return. With this
exertion of authority my interference as chief of the household came to
an end. I left it to my excellent housekeeper, Mrs. Mozeen, to find
a sober successor to the drunken vagabond who had been sent away. She
discovered a respectable young man--tall, plump, and rosy--whose name
was Joseph, and whose character was beyond reproach. I have but one
excuse for noticing such a trifling event as this. It took its place, at
a later period, in the chain which was slowly winding itself round me.

My uncle had asked me to prolong my visit and I should probably
have consented, but for anxiety on the subject of a near and dear
relative--my sister. Her health had been failing since the death of her
husband, to whom she was tenderly attached. I heard news of her while I
was in Sussex, which hurried me back to town. In a month more, her death
deprived me of my last living relation. She left no children; and my two
brothers had both died unmarried while they were still young men.

This affliction placed me in a position of serious embarrassment, in
regard to the disposal of my property after my death.

I had hitherto made no will; being well aware that my fortune (which was
entirely in money) would go in due course of law to the person of all
others who would employ it to the best purpose--that is to say, to my
sister as my nearest of kin. As I was now situated, my property would
revert to my uncle if I died intestate. He was a richer man than I was.
Of his two children, both sons, the eldest would inherit his estates:
the youngest had already succeeded to his mother's ample fortune. Having
literally no family claims on me, I felt bound to recognize the wider
demands of poverty and misfortune, and to devote my superfluous wealth
to increasing the revenues of charitable institutions. As to minor
legacies, I owed it to my good housekeeper, Mrs. Mozeen, not to forget
the faithful services of past years. Need I add--if I had been free to
act as I pleased--that I should have gladly made Rothsay the object of
a handsome bequest? But this was not to be. My friend was a man morbidly
sensitive on the subject of money.