OLD BILL SMITH, THE SILENT HUNTER. 2921 
William and she had, however, in spite of his vigilance, 
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 by letter, 
and even to obtain an occasional interview, which was sufli- 
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 mar. 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 
