Page:Horrid Mysteries Volume 3.djvu/12

 signs upon me; and the more the result of my contemplations seemed to make me uneasy, the less mistrust against their secret endeavours to encrease those distressing doubts did I display. I submitted, with an unaffected reluctance, more and more, to their attempts at diverting my mind, and to their exertions to restore me to happiness, as they pretended, and to return me to my family with an easier heart. A cheerful gaiety, which I kept in proper bounds, and strove to render as natural as possible, by an imposing varnish of truth, confirmed them in their belief of having gained upon my credulity; and I began to hope that I should find a favourable moment to give them the slip. I was not anxious to know the external circumstances of the confederates, thinking myself sufficiently happy if I could but escape their baneful breath.

"Mean time a number of fine ladies and gentlemen gathered around me. I was invited to accompany them on a noc-