colours which were not my due; and I thought, since it was come
to that pitch, that I would know the bottom of it before I went
out of England, and before I should put myself into I knew not
whose hands in a strange country.
Upon this I called his sister into my chamber the next morning,
and letting her know the discourse her brother and I had
been upon the evening before, I conjured her to tell me what
she had said to him, and upon what foot it was that she had
made this marriage. She owned that she had told him that I
was a great fortune, and said that she was told so at London.
‘Told so!’ says I warmly; ‘did I ever tell you so?’ No, she
said, it was true I did not tell her so, but I had said several
times that what I had was in my own disposal. ‘I did so,’
returned I very quickly and hastily, ‘but I never told you I had
anything called a fortune; no, not that I had #100, or the value
of #100, in the world. Any how did it consist with my being
a fortune,; said I, ‘that I should come here into the north of
England with you, only upon the account of living cheap?’
At these words, which I spoke warm and high, my husband,
her brother (as she called him), came into the room, and I
desired him to come and sit down, for I had something of
moment to say before them both, which it was absolutely
necessary he should hear.
He looked a little disturbed at the assurance with which I
seemed to speak it, and came and sat down by me, having first
shut the door; upon which I began, for I was very much provoked,
and turning myself to him, ‘I am afraid,’ says I, ‘my dear’ (for
I spoke with kindness on his side), ‘that you have a very great
abuse put upon you, and an injury done you never to be
repaired in your marrying me, which, however, as I have had
no hand in it, I desire I may be fairly acquitted of it, and that
the blame may lie where it ought to lie, and nowhere else, for
I wash my hands of every part of it.’
‘What injury can be done me, my dear,’ says he, ‘in marrying
you. I hope it is to my honour and advantage every way.’ ‘I
will soon explain it to you,’ says I, ‘and I fear you will have
no reason to think yourself well used; but I will convince you,
my dear,’ says I again, ‘that I have had no hand in it’; and there
I stopped a while.
He looked now scared and wild, and began, I believe, to
suspect what followed; however, looking towards me, and
saying only, ‘Go on,’ he sat silent, as if to hear what I had
more to say; so I went on. ‘I asked you last night,’ said I,
speaking to him, ‘if ever I made any boast to you of my estate,
or ever told you I had any estate in the Bank of England or
anywhere else, and you owned I had not, as is most true; and
I desire you will tell me here, before your sister, if ever I gave
you any reason from me to think so, or that ever we had any
discourse about it’; and he owned again I had not, but said I
had appeared always as a woman of fortune, and he depended
on it that I was so, and hoped he was not deceived. ‘I am not
inquiring yet whether you have been deceived or not,’ said I;
‘I fear you have, and I too; but I am clearing myself from the
unjust charge of being concerned in deceiving you.
‘I have been now asking your sister if ever I told her of any
fortune or estate I had, or gave her any particulars of it; and
she owns I never did. Any pray, madam,’ said I, turning myself
to her, ‘be so just to me, before your brother, to charge me,