About ten o'clock William left for his hotel, having first made an
appointment with his father for the following morning. When they met
William returned to the subject of their previous discourse, and
insisted on his father returning with him to Montreal. The old
man vowed that, come what might, he would never go back to his
"priest-ridden family" as he chose to designate his wife and children.
The battle waxed fast and furious, till at last William exclaimed
with an oath: "By ---- you shall leave your Yankee mistress, then;
_she_ shall suffer what _my mother_ suffered;" and with oaths and
threatenings he hounded his father out of Boston, determined that
Mrs. Hill should not (innocent though she was) enjoy the happy home
which was denied to his mother.

When Mrs. Hill learned the truth (which she did from a letter sent
her from Montreal) she nearly lost her reason. Her case was even
worse than that of Bennett's first wife; because, whereas the latter
could at least seek her husband, and live in the hope of one day
finding him again, the former could not, even did she discover him,
claim him as her own.

Mr. Hill's visit to Montreal, then, though ostensibly made for
professional pursuits was, in reality to find out something
concerning his father's whereabouts, and other matters connected
with his quasi-relations. It was strange that he should have come to
me for information without being at all aware of our intimacy with
the Bennett family, indeed, while he was relating his story Amelia
Bennett, his brother's eldest child, came running in for something
or another, and I at once saw a resemblance between the two, not
only in personal appearance, but also in manners and actions.