that 'Maria Venables had, without any
assignable cause, absconded from her husband; and any person harbouring
her, was menaced with the utmost severity of the law.'

"Perfectly acquainted with Mr. Venables' meanness of soul, this step did
not excite my surprise, and scarcely my contempt. Resentment in my
breast, never survived love. I bade the poor woman, in a kind tone, wipe
her eyes, and request her husband to come up, and speak to me himself.

"My manner awed him. He respected a lady, though not a woman; and began
to mutter out an apology.

"'Mr. Venables was a rich gentleman; he wished to oblige me, but he had
suffered enough by the law already, to tremble at the thought; besides,
for certain, we should come together again, and then even I should not
thank him for being accessary to keeping us asunder.--A husband and wife
were, God knows, just as one,--and all would come round at last.' He
uttered a drawling 'Hem!' and then with an arch look, added--'Master
might have had his little frolics--but--Lord bless your heart!--men
would be men while the world stands.'

"To argue with this privileged first-born of reason, I perceived, would
be vain. I therefore only requested him to let me remain another day at
his house, while I sought for a lodging; and not to inform Mr. Venables
that I had ever been sheltered there.

"He consented, because he had not the courage to refuse a person for whom
he had an habitual respect; but I heard the pent-up choler burst forth in
curses, when he met his wife, who was waiting impatiently at the foot of
the stairs, to know what effect my expostulations would have on him.

"Without wasting any time in the fruitless indulgence of vexation, I once
more set out in search of an abode in which I could hide myself for a
few weeks.

"Agreeing to pay an exorbitant price, I hired an apartment, without any
reference being required relative to my character: indeed, a glance at my
shape seemed to say, that my motive for concealment was sufficiently
obvious. Thus was I obliged to shroud my head in infamy.

"To avoid all danger of detection--I use the appropriate word, my child,
for I was hunted out like a felon--I determined to take possession of my
new lodgings that very evening.

"I did not inform my landlady where I was going. I knew that she had a
sincere affection for me, and would willingly have run any risk to show
her gratitude; yet I was fully convinced, that a few kind words from
Joh