`` Now , Heaven forgive me ! '' said Sir William Howe to himself . `` I was about to leave this wretched old creature to starve or beg . -- Take this , good Mistress Dudley , '' he added , putting a purse into her hands . `` King George 's head on these golden guineas is sterling yet , and will continue so , I warrant you , even should the rebels crown John Hancock their king . That purse will buy a better shelter than the province-house can now afford . '' `` While the burden of life remains upon me I will have no other shelter than this roof , '' persisted Esther Dudley , striking her stuff upon the floor with a gesture that expressed immovable resolve ; `` and when Your Excellency returns in triumph , I will totter into the porch to welcome you . '' `` My poor old friend ! '' answered the British general , and all his manly and martial pride could no longer restrain a gush of bitter tears . `` This is an evil hour for you and me . The province which the king entrusted to my charge is lost . I go hence in misfortune -- perchance in disgrace -- to return no more . And you , whose present being is incorporated with the past , who have seen governor after governor in stately pageantry ascend these steps , whose whole life has been an observance of majestic ceremonies and a worship of the king , -- how will you endure the change ? Come with us ; bid farewell to a land that has shaken off its allegiance , and live still under a royal government at Halifax . '' `` Never ! never ! '' said the pertinacious old dame . `` Here will I abide , and King George shall still have one true subject in his disloyal province . '' `` Beshrew the old fool ! '' muttered Sir William Howe , growing impatient of her obstinacy and ashamed of the emotion into which he had been betrayed .
`` She is the very moral of old-fashioned prejudice , and could exist nowhere but XXXXX this musty edifice .
While at for in into of on than to under