the latter, must not a person be capable of premedi-
tated art, who can sit down to write, and not write
from the heart?—And a woman to write her heart
to a man practised in deceit, or even to a man of
some character, what advantage does it give him
over her?
>>> As this man’s vanity had made him imagine,
that
no woman could be proof
against love, when his
address was honourable;
no wonder that he
struggled, like a lion
held in toils, against a passion
that he thought not
returned. And how could
you, at first, show
a return in love, to so fierce
a spirit, and who had
seduced you away by vile
artifices, but to the
approval of those artifices.
>>> Hence, perhaps, it is not difficult to believe,
that
it became possible for
such a wretch as this to give
way to his old prejudices
against marriage; and to
that revenge which had
always been a first passion
with him.
This is the only way, I think,
to account for his
horrid views in bringing you to a vile house.
And now may not all the rest
be naturally
accounted for?—His delays—his
teasing ways—
his bringing you to bear with his lodging in
the
same house—his making you pass to
the people of
>>> it as his wife, though restrictively so, yet
with hope,
no doubt, (vilest of villains as he is!) to take
you
>>> at an advantage—his bringing you into
the com-
pany of his libertine companions—the
attempt of
imposing upon you that Miss Partington for a
bedfellow, very probably his own invention for
the worst of purposes—his terrifying
you at many
different times—his obtruding himself
upon you
when you went out to church; no doubt to prevent
your finding out what the people of the house
were
—the advantages he made of your brother’s
foolish
project with Singleton.
See, my dear, how naturally
all this follows from
>>> the discovery made by Miss Lardner. See
how
the monster, whom I thought, and so often called,
>>> a fool, comes out to have been all the time one
of
the greatest villains in the world!
But if this is so, what, [it would be asked by
an indifferent person,] has hitherto saved you?
Glorious creature!—What, morally speaking, but
your watchfulness! What but that, and the
majesty of your virtue; the native dignity, which,
in a situation so very difficult, (friendless, destitute,
passing for a wife, cast into the company of crea-
tures accustomed to betray and ruin innocent hearts,)
has hitherto enabled you to baffle, over-awe, and
confound, such a dangerous libertine as this; so
habitually remorseless, as you have observed him
to be; so very various in his temper, so inventive,