He did not seem to have had any
relations, and of his wife nothing was known but that she was a Miss
Otway, and that he had met her in some colonial quarters. The old
lady, with whom the little girl had been left, was her mother's
maternal aunt, and had lived on an annuity so small that on her death
there had not been funds sufficient to pay expenses without a sale of
all her effects, so that nothing had been saved for the child, except
a few books with her parents' names in them—-John Allen and Caroline
Otway—-which she still kept as her chief treasures. The lawyer, who
had acted as her guardian, would hand over to her five hundred pounds
on her coming of age.
That was all that could be discovered, nor was Colonel Robert
Brownlow as much flattered as had been hoped by the provision for his
friend's daughter. Nay, he was inclined to disavow the friendship.
He was sorry for poor Allen, he said, but as to making a friend of
such a fellow, pah! No! there was no harm in him, he was a good
officer enough, but he never had a grain of common sense; and whereas
he never could keep out of debt, he must needs go and marry a young
girl, just because he thought her uncle was not kind to her. It was
the worst thing he could have done, for it made her uncle cast her
off on the spot, and then she was killed with harass and poverty.
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