On the following day, Miss Matthews, an old acquaintance whom he had not seen for some years, was brought into the prison, and Booth was shortly afterwards invited to the room this lady had engaged.  Miss Matthews, having told her story, requested Booth to do the same, and to this he acceded.

II.—­Captain Booth Tells His Story

“From the first I was in love with Amelia; but my own fortune was so desperate, and hers was entirely dependent on her mother, a woman of violent passions, and very unlikely to consent to a match so highly contrary to the interest of her daughter, that I endeavoured to refrain from any proposal of love.  I had nothing more than the poor provision of an ensign’s commission to depend on, and the thought of leaving my Amelia to starve alone, deprived of her mother’s help, was intolerable to me.

“In spite of this I could not keep from telling Amelia the state of my heart, and I soon found all that return of my affection which the tenderest lover can require.  Against the opposition of Amelia’s mother, Mrs. Harris, to our engagement, we had the support of that good man, Dr. Harrison, the rector; and at last Mrs. Harris yielded to the doctor, and we were married.  There was an agreement that I should settle all my Amelia’s fortune on her, except a certain sum, which was to be laid out in my advancement in the army, and shortly afterwards I was preferred to the rank of a lieutenant in my regiment, and ordered to Gibraltar.  I noticed that Amelia’s sister, Miss Betty, who had said many ill-natured things of our marriage, now again became my friend.

“At the siege of Gibraltar I was very badly wounded, and in this situation the image of my Amelia haunted me day and night.  Two months and more I continued in a state of uncertainty; when one afternoon poor Atkinson, my servant, came running to my room.  I asked him what was the matter, when Amelia herself rushed into the room, and ran hastily to me.  She gently chided me for concealing my illness from her, saying, ’Oh, Mr. Booth!  And do you think so little of your Amelia as to think I could or would survive you?’ Amelia then informed me that she had received a letter from an unknown hand, acquainting her with my misfortune, and advising her, if she desired to see me more, to come directly to Gibraltar.

“From the time of Amelia’s arrival nothing remarkable happened till my perfect recovery; and then the siege being at an end, and Amelia being in some sort of fever, the governor gave me leave to attend my wife to Montpelier, the air of which was judged to be most likely to restore her to health.

“A fellow-officer, Captain James, willingly lent me money, and, after an ample recovery at Montpelier, and a stay in Paris, we returned to England.  It was in Paris we received a long letter from Dr. Harrison, enclosing L100, and containing the news that Mrs. Harris was dead, and had left her whole fortune to Miss Betty.  So now it was that I was a married man with children, and the half-pay of a lieutenant.