The cause of this want of proper filial feeling was the opposition which I had experienced from him in an affair which deeply concerned me.

I had formed an attachment for a young female in the neighbourhood, who, though poor, was of highly respectable birth, her father having been a curate of the Established Church.

She was, at the time of which I am speaking, an orphan, having lost both her parents, and supported herself by keeping a small school.
My attachment was returned, and we had pledged our vows, but my father, who could not reconcile himself to her lack of fortune, forbade our marriage in the most positive terms.

He was wrong, for she was a fortune in herself--amiable and accomplished.

Oh! I cannot tell you all she was"-- and here the old man drew his hand across his eyes.