OLD BILL SMITH, THE SILENT HUNTER. 221 



' William and she had, however, in spite of his vigilanc^', 

 managed, through the good offices of a relation of Mattie's, 

 who had learned to admire Smith, and had always loved 

 Mattie, to keep up a sort of broken correspondence bj letter, 

 and even to obtain an occasional interview, which was suffi- 

 cient, during the long period I have passed over, to keep 

 always bright and unbroken the links of that subtle chain 

 which seems from the first gradually binding their lives more 

 inseparably in one. 



Smith, though considered a rising young man with a good 

 fortune already in hand, and every prospect of great honors 

 and a greater fortune before him, and therefore, of course, 

 greatly sought after by the highest ladies of the land, yet 

 never for one moment did he falter or flinch in allegiance to 

 his gentle mistress with the chubby fingers ! When he came 

 to realize that it was really love that he bore her, he felt at 

 once the serenity of entire content ; and that love was enough 

 for him, it filled his being and he asked no other. The sub- 

 ject was never mentioned between them until after the death 

 of his adopted parents, for William seems to have always felt 

 as if his first duty was to them and gratitude,— love and 

 himself afterwards. 



He was now in such circumstances as permitted him to 

 think of marriage ; as it was utterly hopeless to expect the 

 consent of the miserly old Saunders, he took the matter in 

 his own hands, and in defiance married the sweet Mattie, who 

 was now of age, almost under his eyes, and leaving him to 

 rave, blaspheme and tear his hair at his own leisure, quietly 

 installed his bride as mistress of the old town mansion left 

 him by the Judge. Mattie proved a thrifty and a tender 

 wife, and bore him sons and daughters, comely to look upon, 

 and that gladdened their father's heart. 



He, in the meantime, grew apace in manly honors, and at 

 the time of the Declaration of Independence, was forty-five 



