strings: It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady of my acquaintance, and who was a great friend of mine, being about to pay a visit to her father and other relatives residing in Kentucky, proposed to me that on her return she would bring a sister of hers with her on condition that I would engage to become her brotherin-law with all convenient despatch. I, of course, accepted the proposal, for you know I could not have done otherwise had I really been