Page:Maria, or, The wanderer reclaim'd.pdf/13

Rh came with him the moſt frequently; was moſt aſſiduous to attract my notice; and was by far the moſt agreeable man that viſited us.

In this manner a twelvemonth paſſed away; and as I had brought Mr. G** a fine little girl, the neceſſary attention to this ſweet babe rendered my ſituation much more comfortable. But one evening Mr. G**, by hint following hint, alarmed my ſuſpicions; and at length led me to know, that his uncle had procured a confiderable place for him, ſomewhere in America, whither he muſt ſpeedily ſail, though not without hopes, he added, of a happy return to me in proper time.— Judge, Sir, what I felt upon this information.— My blood grew cold; my heart was ready to burſt; my limbs trembled; I fainted away! Oh that I had died! would God, that I had died that moment! Oh that I had never more recovered from that ſwoon— recovered to miſery and guilt, to poverty and woe, to ſin and ſorrow! Oh that my eyes never more had opened to the ſcene of anguiſh before me!—

It was to no purpoſe that I entreated or complained; that I upbraided or beſought; that I pleaded the calls of the mother, or the wife; reſpecting each, he dropped ſome things which ſhocked my inmoſt ſoul; and, after a night, a night of ſuch horror, as I wiſh no poor young woman may ever experience, he left me and I was undone!