Page:The amorous intrigues and adventures of Aaron Burr.pdf/54

 "In short, madam, she has defiled my bed, I caught a man in bed with her last night."

The old lady drew a long breath. She had supposed that the parties had only quarreled, and that her daughter had fled before the storm.

The charge was a serious one; but like Bunyan's Great-heart, who was at first knocked down upon his knees by the giant's club, she soon recovered herself, though her countenance remained quite pale, and she said:

"Do you say this of your own knowledge, sir?"

"I tell you that I saw the man in bed my wife, your daughter," cried the doctor, bravely, perceiving the impression he had made.

The old lady sighed, passed her hand over her brow, and said:

"Pray, sir, where were you, and what were you adoin' on when my darter was left with another man, as you say?"

"What was I doing?" said the doctor, eyeing the woman keenly, "why—why, I was out of town, as I am often obliged to be."

"You are obleeged to be, you say, sir, and what obleeges you to go and leave your wife every few weeks in these troublesome times, when the rig'lars is goin' about like a roarin' lion a seekin' somebody to devour?"

"We will not discuss that point, madam; but I will appeal to any respectable physician—"

"Well, if you won't 'scuss that p'int, sir, nyther will I s'cuss the tother p'int, and you may go back as empty as you came."

"I claim my wife, madam, and insist upon seeing her."

"That can't come to no good, sir. If your wife has done what you say, you don't want nothin' of her, without it is to abuse her for what she's done; and thar's a doubt in my mind whether you've got a right to do that."

"And why not? Don't she deserve it?"

"I'll tell you what, sir, If my darter really is guilty of what you say, then I tell you that every one says you are guilty of doin' the same thing, and that you have done it a great deal more than she ever did, and it's my opinion that 'what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,' and so you know my mind, and that's all I've got to say."

The old lady then retired to the kitchen to prepare dinner, and Doctor W— went out and walked alone in the woods. He could not but confess to himself that he had neglected his wife, and that he had been very intimate with a widow in New Hampshire, though not with a Miss Johnson, as falsely stated by Burr.

Another thing: the doctor had foolishly supposed that his wife had married him because she could not get any body else, and the fact that another man had sought her in his absence served to remind him of the