Page:Adventures of Susan Hopley (Volume 1).pdf/243

228 she is, I am inclined to think she need not have been reduced to the extremity in which we found her, if there had not been some virtue left in her; and her devotion to her child, to my mind, speaks volumes in her favour."

After this matter had been sufficiently discussed, Mr. Simpson turning to Mr. Wetherall, reminded him that he wanted to speak a few words with him in private; upon which hint the lady having retired, he drew his chair closer to his host, and having given three taps on the lid of his gold snuff box, and refreshed his nose with an ample supply from its contents, he drew a letter from his pocket, and opened the business as follows.

"The affair that I want to consult you about is one of a very delicate nature; and I must premise, before I begin, that the communication I am about to make, must be upon honour, strictly private between us. It is not that I have so bad an opinion of human natureand still less of yours, of whose character as well as that of your amiable wife, I have formed the most favourable opinionas to suspect mankind of wishing to injure and expose each other gratuitously; but there are contending interests and enmities, and Heaven knows what, in the world,