n who had just
entered his twentieth year.

Young as Edward Houstoun was, he had a man's decision of character; and
when the question of his assuming his father's title, and claiming the
estates attached to it in England, was submitted to him, he replied that
"his proudest title was that of an American citizen, and he would not
forfeit that title to become a royal duke." He could therefore inherit
only his father's personal property, consisting principally of plate,
jewels and paintings. The property thus received was all which the young
Edward Houstoun could call his own. All else was his mother's, and
though it would doubtless be his at her death, the Lady Houstoun was not
one to relinquish the reins of government before that inevitable hour
should wrest them from her hand. She made her son a very handsome
allowance, however, and, with a higher degree of generosity than any
pecuniary grant could evince, she never attempted to control his
actions, suffering him to enjoy his sports in the country and amusements
in the city without constraint. The Lady Houstoun was a wise woman, as
well as an affectionate mother. She saw well that her son's independent
and proud nature might be attracted by kindness to move whither she
would, while the very appearance of constraint would drive him in an
opposite direction. On one subject he greatly tried her forbearance--the
unbecoming levity, as she esteemed it, with which he regarded the
big-wigged gentlemen and hooped and farthingaled ladies whose portraits
ornamented their picture gallery. For only one of these did Edward
profess the slightest consideration. This was that of the simple
soldier whose gallantry under William the Conqueror had laid the
foundation of his family fortunes and honors.

"Dear mother," said he one day, "what proof have we that those other
fine gentlemen and ladies deserved the wealth and station which, through
his noble qualities, they obtained?"

"Sir James Houstoun, my son, who devoted life and fortune to his king--"

"Pardon me, noble Sir James," interrupted Edward, bowing low and with
mock gravity to the portrait, "I will place you and your stern-looking
son there at your side next in my veneration to our first ancestor. Yet
you showed that, like me, you had little value for wealth or station."

"Edward!" ejaculated Lady Houstoun, in an accent of displeasure, "that
we are willing to sacrifice a possession at the call of duty does not
prove us insensi