She was married--married against her inclination to my brother.

Her fortune was large, and our family estate much encumbered.

And this, I fear, is all that can be said for the conduct of one, who was at once her uncle and guardian.
My brother did not deserve her; he did not even love her.

I had hoped that her regard for me would support her under any difficulty, and for some time it did; but at last the misery of her situation, for she experienced great unkindness, overcame all her resolution, and though she had promised me that nothing--but how blindly I relate! I have never told you how this was brought on.

We were within a few hours of eloping together for Scotland.