CHAPTER XT. 



Now, from what has been said of my old friend, it 

 may naturally be inferred that his was what is called a 

 " green old age." The only indication of age about him 

 was that, about the year 1878, he began to get a little 

 dim in one eye, and from that time his sight failed ; but 

 so inscrutable are the ways of Providence, that what 

 might have been looked upon as a terrible calamity, 

 turned out quite the contrary in the end. However 

 much one may have appreciated Mr. George Carter in 

 his public character, it must be remembered that he 

 was, after all, but mortal, and like all other human 

 beings, not without his faults. He was subject to 

 occasional outbreaks of temper, and was not a little 

 imperious in his own house ; and it was pretty generally 

 supposed that " the nice, tidy 'ooman " who called 

 him husband, and his children, had now and then 

 rather a lively time of it, if they did not turn to the 



