May God, ay, and
man too, so deal with my son as he deals with Maria Lee!
"And now I have done; I have already kept you too long. With your
consent, we will have no more speeches, no returning of thanks; we
will spare Philip his blushes. But before I sit down I will bid you
all farewell, for I am in my eighty-third year, and I feel that I
shall never see very many of your faces again. I wish that I had been
a better neighbour to you all, as there are many other things I wish,
now that it is too late to fulfil them; but I still hope that some of
you will now and again find a kind thought for the old man whom among
yourselves you talk of as 'Devil Caresfoot.' Believe me, my friends,
there is truth in the old proverb: the devil is not always as black as
he is painted. I give you my toast, my son Philip and his affianced
wife, Maria Lee."
The whole company rose, actuated by a common impulse, and drank the
health standing; and such was the pathos of the old squire's speech,
that there were eyes among those present that were not free from
tears. Then the ladies retired, amongst them poor Maria, who was
naturally upset at the unexpected, and, in some ways, unwelcome
notoriety thus given to herself.
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