Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/111

 it is the beginning of all iniquity. But O that unhappy woman! hurried into eternity with all her sins upon her head! without a moment, a single moment, to pray for mercy on her soul. And yet, perhaps, she might, perhaps—

"No, no," cried Mrs Nelson, "she was in no state to pray; for she was in a state of intoxication, utterly deprived of her senses. Sally has confessed all. You never heard such plans of wickedness. Sally, it seems, had been her emissary and confidant, when they lived together at Sir William Blendon's. And it was with a view to get her to be under her, that she fell out with Peggy, and got her turned out, and got all the management of the nursery to herself. They then went on at full career, no one to controul them, going out, one or other of them, night after night, to the feasts and juukettings which in this wicked town go on among servants all the winter. And for the men servants, there may to be sure be some excuse, for you