“Actress!” he shouted.  “Have you seen her in The Orphan?  My soul, she is a divinity!” Then he shifted suddenly to whining and cringing.  “I am ruined outright, Richard, if I do not get it.”

Abjectly he confessed the situation, which had in it enough material for a scandal to set the town wagging for a month.  And the weight of it would fall; as I well knew, upon those who deserved it least.

“I will lend you the money, or, rather, will pay it for you,” I said, at last.  For I was not so foolish as to put it into his hands.  “You shall have the sum under certain conditions.”

He agreed to them before they were out of my mouth, and swore in a dozen ways that he would repay me every farthing.  He was heartily tired of the creature, and, true to his nature, afraid of her.  That night when the play was over I went to her lodging, and after a scene too distressing to dwell upon, bought her off.

I sat with Mr. Swain many an hour that spring, with Patty sewing at the window open to the garden.  Often, as we talked, unnoticed by her father she would drop her work and the tears glisten in her eyes.  For the barrister’s voice was not as strong as it once was, and the cold would not seem to lift from his chest.  So this able man, who might have sat in the seats of Maryland’s high reward, was stricken when he was needed most.

He was permitted two visitors a day:  now ’twas Mr. Carroll and Colonel Lloyd, again Colonel Tilghman and Captain Clapsaddle, or Mr. Yaca and Mr. Bordley.  The gentlemen took turns, and never was their business so pressing that they missed their hour.  Mr. Swain read all the prints, and in his easier days would dictate to me his views for the committee, or a letter signed Brutes for Mr. Green to put in the Gazette.  So I became his mouthpiece at the meetings, and learned to formulate my thoughts and to speak clearly.

For fear of confusing this narrative, my dears, I have referred but little to her who was in my thoughts night and day, and whose locket I wore, throughout all those years, next my heart.  I used to sit out under the stars at Gordon’s Pride, with the river lapping at my feet, and picture her the shining centre of all the brilliant scenes I had left, and wonder if she still thought of me.

Nor have I mentioned that faithful correspondent, and more faithful friend, Lord Comyn.  As soon as ever I had obtained from Captain Daniel my mother’s little inheritance, I sent off the debt I owed his Lordship.  ’Twas a year before I got him to receive it; he despatched the money back once, saying that I had more need of it than he.  I smiled at this, for my Lord was never within his income, and I made no doubt he had signed a note to cover my indebtedness.