Grimshaw, were it not to
secure peace and comfort to my mother's latter days. Your threat of
turning me out of doors would not compel me into such a marriage, for
well I know that you would not venture to put that threat into
execution. But I cannot bear to see my poor mother suffer so much as she
does while here, dependent upon your uncertain protection. You terrify
and distress her beyond her powers of endurance. You make the bread of
dependence very, very bitter to her, indeed! And well I know that she
will certainly die if she remains subjected to your powers of
tormenting. I speak plainly to you, uncle, having nothing to conceal;
to proceed, I assure you I will not meet your views in marrying Dr.
Grimshaw, unless it be to purchase for my poor mother a deliverance from
bondage, and an independence for life. Therefore, I demand that you
shall buy this place, 'Locust Hill,' which I hear can be bought for five
thousand dollars, and settle it upon my mother; in return for which I
will bestow my hand in marriage upon Dr. Grimshaw. And, mind, I do not
promise with it either love, or esteem, or service--only my hand in
civil marriage, and the estate it has the power of carrying with it! And
the documents that shall make my mother independent of the world must be
drawn up or examined by a lawyer that she shall appoint, and must be
placed in her hands on the same hour that gives my hand to Dr.
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