
otherwise inevitably perished.
    Her Kindness to me in this Season of Distress prevailed on me to return
again to her House. Why, indeed, should I have refused an Offer so very
convenient for me to accept, and which seemed so generous in her to make? Here I
lived a very retired Life, with my little Babe, seeing no Company but Mrs.
Ellison herself, for a full Quarter of a Year. At last Mrs. Ellison brought me a
Parchment from my Lord, in which he had settled upon me, at her Instance, as she
told me, and as I believe it was, an Annuity of 150l. a Year. This was, I think,
the very first time she had mentioned his hateful Name to me since my Return to
her House. And she now prevailed upon me, tho' I assure you, not without much
Difficulty, to suffer him to execute the Deed in my Presence.
    I will not describe our Interview, - I am not able to describe it, and I
have often wondered how I found Spirits to support it. This I will say for him,
that if he was not a real Penitent, no Man alive could act the Part better.
    Beside Resentment, I had another Motive of my Backwardness to agree to such
a Meeting. And this was Fear. I apprehended, and surely not without Reason, that
the Annuity was rather meant as a Bribe than a Recompence, and that further
Designs were laid against my Innocence: But in this I found myself happily
deceived; for neither then, nor at any time since, have I ever had the least
Solicitation of that Kind. Nor indeed have I seen the least Occasion to think my
Lord had any such Desires.
    Good Heavens! what are these Men! What is this Appetite, which must have
Novelty and Resistance for its Provocatives; and which is delighted with us no
longer than while we may be considered in the Light of Enemies.«
    »I thank you, Madam,« cries Amelia, »for relieving me from my Fears on your
Account; I trembled at the Consequence of this second Acquaintance with such a
Man, and in such a Situation.«
    »I assure you, Madam, I was in no Danger,« returned Mrs. Bennet: »For
besides that I think I could have pretty well relied on my own Resolution, I
have heard since, at St. Edmundsbury, from an intimate Acquaintance of my
Lord's, who was an entire Stranger to my Affairs, that the highest Degree of
Inconstancy is his Character; and that few
