་ • Madam, It is impoffible to exprefs how much I am fhocked at the Sufpicion you enter. tain of me. Can Lady Bellafton have • conferred Favours on a Man whom the could believe capable of fo bafe a Defign? Or can fhe treat the moit folemn Tie of Love with Contempt? Can you ima-: gine, Madam, that if the Violence of my Paffion, in an unguarded Moment, overcame the Tenderness which I have for. your Honour, that I would think of indulging myfelf in the Continuance of an Intercourfe, which could not poffibly; efcape long the Notice of the World;: and which, when discovered, muft prove fo fatal to your Reputation? If fuch be your Opinion of me, I must pray for a fudden Opportunity of returning thofe pecuniary Obligations, which I have been: fo unfortunate to receive at your Hands; and for thofe of a more tender Kind, I 'fhall ever remain, &c. And fo concluded in the very Words with which he had concluded the former Letter.. The Lady anfwered as follows. I fee I fee you are a Villain; and I despise you from my Soul. If you come here, 1 fhall not be at Home." Though Jones was well fatisfied with his Deliverance from a Thraldom which thofe who have ever experienced it will, I apprehend, allow to be none of the lighteft, he was not, however, perfectly eafy in his Mind. There was, in this Scheme, too much of Fallacy to fatisfy one who utterly detefted every Species of Falfhood or Difhonefty: Nor would he, indeed, have fubmitted to put it in Practice, had he not been involved in a distressful Situation, where he was obliged to be guilty of fome Difhonour, either to the one Lady or the other; and furely the Reader will allow, that every good Principle, as well as Love, pleaded ftrongly, in Favour of Sophia. Nightingale, highly exulted in the Succefs of his Stratagem, upon which he received many Thanks, and much Applause from his Friend. He answered, Dear Tom, we' ⚫ have conferred very different Obligations: on each other. To me you owe the regaining your Liberty; to you I owe the N 5 • Lofs, Lofs of mine. But if you are as happy in the one Inftance, as I am in the other, I promise you we are the two happiest Fellows in England.' The two Gentlemen were now fummoned down to Dinner, where Mrs. Miller, who performed herself the Office of Cook, had exerted her beft Talents, to celebrate the Wedding of her Daughter. This joyful Circumftance, as the afcribed principally to the friendly Behaviour of Jones, her whole Soul was fired with Gratitude to wards him, and all her Looks, Words, and Actions were fo bufied in expreffing it, that her Daughter, and even her new Son-inLaw, were very little the Objects of her Confideration. Dinner was juft ended when Mrs. Miller received a Letter; but as we have had Letters enough in this Chapter, we fhall communicate the Contents in our next. CHAP. CHA P. X. Confifting partly of Falls, and partly of Obfervations upon thein. TH HE Letter then which arrived at the End of the preceding Chapter was from Mr. Allwertky, and the Purport of it was his Intention to come immediately to Town, with his Nephew Blifil, and a Defire to be accommodated with his ufual Lodgings, which were the first Floor for himself, and the fecond for his Nephew. The Chearfulnefs which had before dif play'd itself in the Countenance of the poor Woman, was a little clouded on this Occa. fion. This News did indeed a good deal difconcert her. To requite fo difinterested a Match with her Daughter, by presently turning her new Son-in-Law out of Doors, appeared to her very unjustifiable on the one Hand; and on the other, fhe could fcarce bear the Thoughts of making any Excufe to Mr. Allworthy, after all the Obligations received from him, for depriving him of Lodgings which were indeed ftrictly N 6 his Book XV; his Due: For that Gentleman, in conferring all his numberless Benefits on others, acted by a Rule diametrically oppofite to what is practifed by moft generous People. He contrived, on all Occafions, to hide his Beneficence not only from the World, but even from the Object of it. He conftantly ufed the Words Lend and Pay, instead of Give; and by every other Method he could invent, always leffened the Favours he conferred with his Tongue, while he was heaping them with both his Hands. When he fettled the Annuity of 50l. a Year, therefore, on Mrs. Miller, he told her, "It was in Confideration. of always having her Firit-Floor when he was in Town,' (which he fcarce ever intended to be) but that she might let it at any other Time, for that he would always fend her a • Month's Warning.' He was now, however, hurried to Town fo fuddenly, that he had no Opportunity of giving fuch Notice; and this Hurry probably prevented him, when he wrote for his Lodgings, adding, if they were then empty: For he would most certainly have been well fatisfied to have relinquished them on a lefs fufficient Excufe, than what Mrs. Miller could now have made.. But |