my lady, and another sigh, which made my master,
half-shaved as he was, turn round upon her in surprise.

'Why, Bell,' says he, 'you can't deny what you know as well as I do,
that it was at your own particular desire, and that twice under your
own hand and seal expressed, that I should carry you off as I did to
Scotland, and marry you there.'

'Well, say no more about it, Sir Condy,' said my lady, pettish-like; 'I
was a child then, you know.'

'And as far as I know, you're little better now, my dear Bella, to be
talking in this manner to your husband's face; but I won't take it
ill of you, for I know it's something in that letter you put into your
pocket just now that has set you against me all on a sudden, and imposed
upon your understanding.'

'It's not so very easy as you think it, Sir Condy, to impose upon my
understanding,' said my lady.

'My dear,' says he, 'I have, and with reason, the best opinion of your
understanding of any man now breathing; and you know I have never set my
own in competition with it till now, my dear Bella,' says he, taking her
hand from her book as kind as could be--'till now, when I have the great
advantage of being quite cool, and you not; so don't believe one word
your friends say against your own Sir Condy, and lend me the letter out
of your pocket, till I see what it is they can have to say.'

'Take it then,' says she; 'and as you are quite cool, I hope it is a
proper time to request you'll allow me to comply with the wishes of all
my own friends, and return to live with my father and family, during the
remainder of my wretched existence, at Mount Juliet's Town.'

At this my poor master fell back a few paces, like one that had been
shot.

'You're not serious, Bella,' says he; 'and could you find it in your
heart to leave me this way in the very middle of my distresses, all
alone' But recollecting himself after his first surprise, and a moment's
time for reflection, he said, with a great deal of consideration for my
lady, 'Well, Bella, my dear, I believe you are right; for what could you
do at Castle Rackrent, and an execution against the goods coming down,
and the furniture to be canted, and an auction in the house all next
week? So you have my full consent to go, since that is your desire; only
you must not think of my accompanying you, which I could not in honour
do upon the terms I always have been, since our marriage, with your
friends. Besides, I have business to transact