Mr. Boulderstone did not long outlive his sister. Though the old couple,
for they were rather old before they died, if, indeed, they were not born
old, which I strongly suspect, being the last of a decaying family that had
not left the land on which they were born for a great many generations--
though the old people had not, of what the French call sentiments, one
between them, they were yet capable of a stronger and, I had almost said,
more romantic attachment, than many couples who have married from love; for
the lady's sole trouble in dying was what her brother _would_ do without
her; and from the day of her death, he grew more and more dull and
seemingly stupid. Nothing gave him any pleasure but having Wynnie to dinner
with him. I knew that it must be very dull for her, but she went often, and
I never heard her complain of it, though she certainly did look fagged--not
_bored_, observe, but fagged--showing that she had been exerting herself to
meet the difficulties of the situation. When the good man died, we found
that he had left all his money in my hands, in trust for the poor of the
parish, to be applied in any way I thought best.
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