Alfred intended, when he was of age, to be one of the first men of fashion; but he did not consider, that if he "cut a dash" at college, with the _eclat_ he wished, that before three years had passed, he would not be much richer than he had been when the fortune was first left him.
"Mother, you will drive me from you," he one day exclaimed, in passion, as she endeavoured to detain him.

"If you wish ever to see me, let me take my own way.

Advice I will not brook, and reproach I will not bear; if you love me, be silent, for I will not be governed." "Alfred, I will speak!" replied his almost agonized parent, urged on by an irresistible impulse.

"Child of my love, my prayers! Alfred, I will not see you go wrong, without one effort, one struggle to guide you in the right path.

Alfred, I leave England--my heart is bursting; for Mary's sake alone I live, and if she be taken from me, Alfred, we shall never meet again.