20 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
the very necessities of existence, he was driven 
in the midst of winter to sleep with but a single 
threadbare covering, on some hay in a barn! 
Such was the endurance to which he bravely 
submitted for his dear companion’s sake. His 
sole consoiation was the sympathy expressed by 
Mattie, during his stolen interviews with her. 
She, no longer permitted to see poor Will, had 
her gentle heart lacerated, by the knowledge of 
the persecution he suffered, without the ability of 
alleviating the misery, of which she knew her- 
self to be the innocent cause. Meek-spirited and 
tender, she was but little fitted to oppose the 
unremitting severity of her father, who, having 
amassed for her a considerable fortune, imagined 
he did sufficient for her happiness by zealously 
guarding it. His daughter, even on the ap- 
proach to womanhood was rigorously watched, 
for the idea of a moneyless suitor was distracting 
to him. His malignity, awakened by the affec- 
tion subsisting between Mattie and Will, was 
mercilessly visited on the forlorn orphan boy. 
The patient heroism of love alone could have 
induced Will, naturally of a bold and de 
fiant temper, to yield to the degrading servitude 
he owned. But to break from it was to part 
from Mattie—that thought was more grievous 
than all. So he endured and hoped for long, 
till the increasing severity of the bondage bo 
