do to
gratify your preserver?'--The surprize Natura was in, did not hinder
him from replying, that there was nothing with which he would not
purchase such a deliverance, provided the terms were not inconsistent
with his honour:--'No,' resumed she, 'I know by your behaviour since
in custody, and the resolution with which you have withstood all the
temptations laid before you, for the unravelling an affair, you have,
it is the opinion of every one, been led into only by your friendship
to some person, that you regard nothing so much as honour; what I have
to propose will be no breach of it';--'but,' continued she, 'time is
precious, and opportunities of speaking to you are scarce; therefore
know, in a few words, that I am weary of my husband's ill usage,
desire nothing so much as to go where I may never see him more; and if
you will make me the companion of your flight, and swear to take care
of me till I shall otherwise dispose of myself; I have disguises for
both of us prepared, and this night you shall be free.'

Natura had little need to hesitate if he should accept this
proposal:--he saw there was at least a chance for escaping the dangers
to which he was exposed; and should the woman's plot miscarry, and he
detected of being an accomplice in it, his condition could not, even
then, be worse than it was at present; he therefore embraced her with
a fervor which she seemed very well pleased with, and assured her in
the most solemn manner he would return all the obligations she
conferred on him, by such ways as should be most agreeable to her. She
then told him she had not slept for some time in the same bed with her
husband, and therefore might easily come to him again as soon as the
family were gone to their respective apartments; and having said this,
went out of the room hastily, tho' not without returning his salute,
and telling him he was worthy of greater risques than those she was
about to run.

He was no sooner left alone, than he began to reflect: on the
capriciousness of his destiny, which to preserve him from suffering
for a crime he was innocent of, was about to make him in reality
guilty of one of the very same nature: it is likely, however, he was
not troubled with many scruples on this head; or if any arose in his
mind, they were soon dissipated in the consideration of what he owed
to his own safety, which he yet could not greatly flatter himself with
the hope of, as he was not ignorant how difficult i