Page:Modern Literature Volume 3 (1804).djvu/119

 *sion); I was left alone with my charming youth; and—(she sobbed out)—we ceased to be Platonists! My gallant contrived to pass a good part of the summer in disguise, near our country-seat; and I became daily fonder and fonder of him. We frequently indulged in gaming, and I was much oftener a loser than a winner. One day, after he had spent about a fortnight at Bath, he returned with a melancholy countenance. I was extremely alarmed, and endeavoured to discover the cause. He long refused to inform me; but at length acknowledged he had been stripped of all his money, and contracted a very large debt, which he had no means of paying, as he entirely depended on his father, who would be very much incensed were he to hear of his folly, as he necessarily must, from his inability to discharge the debt himself. I myself owed my lover