So here ended my guardianship of the poor
young fellow.
In the afternoon I called at the Waterloo Hotel, where Mrs. ------ was
staying, and found her in the coffee-room with the children. She had
determined to take a lodging in the vicinity of the Asylum, and was going
to remove thither as soon as the children had had something to eat. They
seemed to be pleasant and well-behaved children, and impressed me more
favorably than the mother, whom I suspect to be rather a foolish woman,
although her present grief makes her appear in a more respectable light
than at other times. She seemed anxious to impress me with the
respectability and distinction of her connections in America, and I had
observed the same tendency in the insane patient, at my interview with
him. However, she has undoubtedly a mother's love for this poor
shatterbrain, and this may weigh against the folly of her marrying an
incongruously youthful second husband, and many other follies.
This was day before yesterday, and I have heard nothing of her since.
The same day I had applications for assistance in two other domestic
affairs; one from an Irishman, naturalized in America, who wished me to
get him a passage thither, and to take charge of his wife and family
here, at my own private expense, until he could remit funds to carry them
across. Another was from an Irishman, who had a power of attorney from a
countrywoman of his in America, to find and take charge of an infant whom
she had left in the Liverpool work-house, two years ago.
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