LOVE AND A COTTAGE. 25 



Fred, now determined to do that wliich, if he had 

 done some years before, he would have been a wiser 

 and a better man: — he resolved to sell his large 

 establishment, dismiss nearly all his servants, and 

 retire to a small patrimony that he still had, solely 

 from his being precluded from raising money on it, 

 under penalty of forfeiture. " Yes," said he, " with my 

 faithful, my splendid Kate, I will leave that world in 

 which I have lived, and, in the retirement of my 

 cottage, her smiles shall teach me to look with eon- 

 tempt on scenes with which I am now so thoroughly 

 disgusted." 



Fred, was destined never to do any thing that was 

 altogether prudent : had he done all he proposed, with 

 one exception, his still attached parent and friend 

 would have hailed his resolution with pleasure, and 

 have afforded him the means of redeeming his pro- 

 perty, or to have still enough left for all the comforts 

 and many of the elegancies of life ; but retaining 

 as his companion a woman of Kate's boundless ex- 

 travagance, was alone sufficient to show that any 

 pecuniary assistance would be thrown away. 



" Kate," said Fred., on entering her miniature but 

 elegant drawing-room, "ixiy angel, Kate," I have 

 bad news for you, — news that distresses me more on 

 your account, than my own, — I am a beggar. 



" And a very handsome beggar, too," cries Kate. 

 " Come, what shall I give you ? " 



" Nay, my sweet one," says Fred., " I am not joking, 

 or in joking mood : I am ruined." 



" Then," exclaimed Kate, " I am delighted ; I shall 

 now be able to show you how truly I love you, and 

 that I am in love with ruin ! ! !" 



" Excellent wench, perdition catch my soul but I 



