Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/103

93 with expence and inconvenience, beſides the perpetual riſk of injuring my health, and catching a diſeaſe which I dreaded above all things. But I was fortunate enough to eſcape this danger. As a neighbour and old acquaintance, I had kept up a friendly intimacy with the family of Miſs Read. Her parents had retained an affection for me from the time of my lodging in their houſe. I was often invited thither; they conſulted me about their affairs, and I had been ſometimes ſerviceable to them. I was touched with the unhappy ſituation of their daughter, who was almoſt always melancholy, and continually ſeeking ſolitude. I regarded my forgetfulneſs and inconſtancy, during my abode in London, as the principal cauſe of her misfortune; though her mother had the candour to attribute the fault to herſelf, rather than to me, becauſe, after having prevented our marriage previouſly to my departure, ſhe had induced her to marry another in my abſence.

Our mutual affection revived; but there exiſted great obſtacles to our union. Her marriage was conſidered, indeed, as not being valid, the man having, it was ſaid, a former wife ſtill living in England; but of this it was difficult to obtain a proof at ſo great a diſtance; and though a report prevailed of his being dead, yet we had no certainty of it; and ſuppoſing it to be true, he had left many debts, for the payment of which his ſucceſſor might be ſued. We ventured nevertheleſs, in ſpite of all theſe difficulties; and I married her on the firſt of September 1730. None of the inconveniences we had feared happened to us. She proved to me a good and faithful companion, and contributed eſſentially to the ſucceſs of my ſhop. We proſpered together, and it was our mutual ſtudy to render each other