his
eyes, beseeching me to forgive him, and offering all the reparation in
his power. It is certain that could I, at the instant of regaining my
senses, have called out, or taken the bloodiest revenge, I would not
be stuck at it; the violation was attended too with such aggravating
circumstances, though he was ignorant of them, since it was to my
concern for the preservation of his life, that I owed my ruin.

"But how quick is the shift of passions from one extreme to another! and
how little are they acquainted with the human heart who dispute it! I
could not see this amiable criminal, so suddenly the first object of my
love, and as suddenly of my just hate, on his knees, bedewing my hands
with his tears, without relenting. He was still stark-naked, but my
modesty had been already too much wounded, in essentials, to be so much
shocked as I should have otherwise been with appearances only; in short,
my anger ebbed so fast, and the tide of love returned so strong upon
me, that I felt it a point of my own happiness to forgive him. The
reproaches I made him were murmured in so soft a tone, my eyes met his
with such glances, expressing more languor than resentment, that he
could not but presume his forgiveness was at no desperate distance; but
still he would not quit his posture of submission, till I had
pronounced his pardon in form; which after the most fervent entreaties,
protestations, and promises, I had not the power to withhold. On which,
with the utmost marks of a fear of again offending, he ventured to
kiss my lips, which I neither declined nor resented: but on my mild
expostulation with him upon the barbarity of his treatment, he explained
the mystery of my ruin, if not entirely to the clearance, at least much
to the alleviation of his guilt, in the eyes of a judge so partial in
his favour as I was grown.

"It seems that the circumstance of his going down, or sinking, which
in my extreme ignorance I had mistaken for something very fatal, was no
other than a trick of diving, which I had not ever heard, or at least
attended o, the mention of: and he was so long-breathed at it, that in
the few moments in which I ran out to save him, he had not yet emerged,
before I fell into the swoon, in which, as he rose, seeing me extended
on the bank, his first idea was, that some young woman was upon some
design of frolic or diversion with him, for he knew I could not have
fallen asleep there without his having seen me before: a