But the knowledge of character that had been acquired by the hard experience of thirty years, was not to be unsettled by the gratitude of a moment.
"I wish, Mr.Goldencalf," she anxiously resumed, "to receive your solemn promise to commit the education of our boy to Dr.Etherington--you know his worth, and must have full confidence in such a man." "Nothing would give me greater satisfaction, my dear Betsey; and if Dr.
Etherington will consent to receive him, I will send Jack to his house this very evening; for, to own the truth, I am but little qualified to take charge of a child under a year old.

A hundred a year, more or less, shall not spoil so good a bargain." The divine was a gentleman, and he looked grave at this speech, though, meeting the anxious eyes of my mother, his own lost their displeasure in a glance of reassurance and pity.
"The charges of his education will be easily settled, Mr.Goldencalf," added my mother; "but the Doctor has consented with difficulty to take the responsibility of my poor babe, and that only under two conditions." The stock-dealer required an explanation with his eyes.
"One is, that the child shall be left solely to his own care, after he has reached his fourth year; and the other is, that you make an endowment for the support of two poor scholars, at one of the principal schools." As my mother got out the last words, she fell back on her pillow, whence her interest in the subject had enabled her to lift her head a little, and she fairly gasped for breath, in the intensity of her anxiety to hear the answer.

My ancestor contracted his brow, like one who saw it was a subject that required reflection.
"Thou dost not know perhaps, Betsey, that these endowments swallow up a great deal of money--a great deal--and often very uselessly." "Ten thousand pounds is the sum that has been agreed upon between Mrs.
Goldencalf and me," steadily remarked the Doctor, who, in my soul, I believe had hoped that his condition would be rejected, having yielded to the importunities of a dying woman, rather than to his own sense of that which might be either very desirable or very useful.
"Ten thousand pounds!" My mother could not speak, though she succeeded in making an imploring sign of assent.
"Ten thousand pounds is a great deal of money, my dear Betsey--a very great deal!" The color of my mother changed to the hue of death, and by her breathing she appeared to be in the agony.
"Well, well, Betsey," said my father a little hastily, for he was frightened at her pallid countenance and extreme distress, "have it thine own way--the money, yes, yes--it shall be given as thou wishest--now set thy kind heart at rest." The revulsion of feeling was too great for one whose system had been wound up to a state of excitement like that which had sustained my mother, who, an hour before, had seemed scarcely able to speak.

She extended her hand toward her husband, smiled benignantly in his face, whispered the word "Thanks," and then, losing all her powers of body, sank into the last sleep, as tranquilly as the infant drops its head on the bosom of the nurse.

This was, after all, a sudden, and, in one sense, an unexpected death: all who witnessed it were struck with awe.
My father gazed for a whole minute intently on the placid features of his wife, and left the room in silence.