a salver; and must needs, making a low courtesy, offered first to me;
saying, Will your ladyship begin? I coloured like scarlet, and said,
No;--my master, to be sure!

But they all took the hint; and Miss Darnford said, I'll be hanged if
they have not stolen a wedding! said Mrs. Peters, It must certainly be
so! Ah! Mr. Peters.

I'll assure you, said he, I have not married them. Where were you, said
she, and Mr. Williams, last Thursday morning? said Sir Simon, Let me
alone, let me alone; if any thing has been stolen, I'll find it out!
I'm a justice of the peace, you know. And so he took me by the hand,
and said, Come, madam, answer me, by the oath you have taken: Are you
married or not?

My master smiled, to see me look so like a fool; and I said, Pray, Sir
Simon!--Ay, ay, said he; I thought you did not look so smirking upon
us for nothing.--Well, then, Pamela, said my master, since your blushes
discover you, don't be ashamed, but confess the truth!

Now, said Miss Darnford, I am quite angry; and, said Lady Darnford, I am
quite pleased; let me give you joy, dear madam, if it be so. And so
they all said, and saluted me all round.--I was vexed it was before Mrs.
Jewkes; for she shook her fat sides, and seemed highly pleased to be a
means of discovering it.

Nobody, said my master, wishes me joy. No, said Lady Jones, very
obligingly, nobody need; for, with such a peerless spouse, you want no
good wishes:--And he saluted them; and when he came last to me, said,
before them all, Now, my sweet bride, my Pamela, let me conclude with
you; for here I began to love, and here I desire to end loving, but not
till my life ends.

This was sweetly said, and taken great notice of; and it was doing
credit to his own generous choice, and vastly more than I merited.

But I was forced to stand many more jokes afterwards: For Sir Simon
said, several times, Come, come, madam, now you are become one of us, I
shall be a little less scrupulous than I have been, I'll assure you.

When we came in to dinner, I made no difficulty of what all offered me,
the upper end of the table; and performed the honours of it with pretty
tolerable presence of mind, considering. And, with much ado, my good
benefactor promising to be down again before winter, we got off the
ball; but appointed Tuesday evening, at Lady Darnford's, to take leave
of all this good company, who promised to be there, my master designing
to set out on Wednesday morning for Bedfo