y birth, and though the stake I have in it
is very considerable, and go and reside in France or Italy, and never
think of myself as a married man, nor live like one.'

O dear! said one.

That would be a sad thing! said the other.

Nay, Madam, [turning to Mrs. Moore,]--Indeed, Madam, [to Miss Rawlins,]--
I am quite desperate. I can no longer bear such usage. I have had the
good fortune to be favoured by the smiles of very fine ladies, though I
say it [and I looked very modest] both abroad and at home--[Thou knowest
this to be true, Jack]. With regard to my spouse here, I have but one
hope left, (for as to the reconciliation with her friends, I left, I
scorn them all too much to value that, but for her sake,) and that was,
that if it pleased God to bless us with children, she might entirely
recover her usual serenity; and we might then be happy. But the
reconciliation her heart was so much set upon, is now, as I hinted
before, entirely hopeless--made so, by this rash step of her's, and by
the rash temper she is in; since (as you will believe) her brother and
sister, when they come to know it, will make a fine handle of it against
us both;--affecting, as they do at present, to disbelieve our marriage--
and the dear creature herself too ready to countenance such a disbelief
--as nothing more than the ceremony--as nothing more--hem!--as nothing
more than the ceremony--

Here, as thou wilt perceive, I was bashful; for Miss Rawlins, by her
preparatory primness, put me in mind that it was proper to be so--

I turned half round; then facing the fan-player, and the matron--you
yourselves, Ladies, knew not what to believe till now, that I have told
you our story; and I do assure you, that I shall not give myself the same
trouble to convince people I hate; people from whom I neither expect nor
desire any favour; and who are determined not to be convinced. And what,
pray, must be the issue, when her uncle's friend comes, although he seems
to be a truly worthy man? It is not natural for him to say, 'To what
purpose, Mr. Lovelace, should I endeavour to bring about a reconciliation
between Mrs. Lovelace and her friends, by means of her elder uncle, when
a good understanding is wanting between yourselves?'--A fair inference,
Mrs. Moore!--A fair inference, Miss Rawlins.--And here is the
unhappiness--till she is reconciled to them, this cursed oath, in her
notion, is binding.

The women seemed moved; for I spoke with great ear