`` 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 in this musty edifice . -- Well , then , Mistress Dudley , since you will needs tarry , I give the province-house in charge to you . Take this key , and keep it safe until myself or some other royal governor shall demand it of you . '' Smiling bitterly at himself and her , he took the heavy key of the province-house , and , delivering it into the old lady 's hands , drew his clonk around him for departure .
As the general glanced back at Esther Dudley 's antique figure he deemed her well fitted for such a charge , as being so perfect a representative of the decayed past -- of an age gone by , XXXXX its manners , opinions , faith and feelings all fallen into oblivion or scorn , of what had once been a reality , but was now merely a vision of faded magnificence .
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