I had been idle now for some weeks in New York, and I went back to
Maine, to Biddeford, where I lad a good practice. I picked up a good
deal of money, and in two months I returned to New York to make a
brief visit, and to see if something could not be done for the
release of Henry from prison. At my solicitation a friend of mine
wrote to Trenton to Henry's mother to come on to New York, and meet
me at the Metropolitan Hotel on a specified day, to transact some
business. She came, and we met for the first time in several years.
We met now simply on business, and there was no expression of
sentiment or feeling on either side. We cared nothing for each
other. I commended her for her devotion to Henry, and then told her
I believed, if the proper efforts were made, he could be pardoned
out of prison. I told her what lawyer and other persons to see, and
how to proceed in the matter. I gave her the most minute
instructions, and then handed her five hundred dollars with which to
fee her lawyer, and to pay her and her daughter's living expenses in
Trenton. She was grateful for the money, and was only too glad to go
to work for Henry; she would have done it long ago if she had only
known what to do. We then parted, and I have never seen the woman,
since that day.
This business transacted, I at once returned to my practice at
Biddeford. Among my patients was a wealthy widow, "fat, fair, and
forty," and I had not attended her long before a warm affection
sprung up between us, and in time, when the widow recovered, we
began to think we were in love with each other.
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