 not be brought to abandon me. A Treaty of Marriage was
now set on Foot, in which my Father himself offered me to Hebbers, with a
Fortune superior to that which had been given with my Sister; nor could all my
Brother's Remonstrances against it, as an Act of the highest Injustice, avail.
    Hebbers entered into the Treaty, tho' not with much Warmth. He had even the
Assurance to make additional Demands on my Father, which being complied with,
every thing was concluded, and the Villain once more received into the House. He
soon found Means to obtain my Forgiveness of his former Behaviour; indeed he
convinced me, so foolishly blind is female Love, that he had never been to
blame.
    When every thing was ready for our Nuptials, and the Day of the Ceremony was
to be appointed, in the midst of my Happiness, I received a Letter from an
unknown Hand, acquainting me (guess, Mr. Booth, how I was shocked at receiving
it) that Mr. Hebbers was already married to a Woman, in a distant Part of the
Kingdom.
    I will not tire you with all that past at our next Interview. I communicated
the Letter to Hebbers, who, after some little Hesitation, owned the Fact; and
not only owned it, but had the Address to improve it to his own Advantage, to
make it the Means of satisfying me concerning all his former Delays; which, to
say the Truth, I was not so much displeased at imputing to any Degree of
Villany, as I should have been to impute it to the Want of a sufficient Warmth
of Affection; and tho' the Disappointment of all my Hopes, at the very Instant
of their expected Fruition, threw me into the most violent Disorders; yet when I
came a little to myself, he had no great Difficulty to persuade me that in every
Instance, with regard to me, Hebbers had acted from no other Motive than from
the most ardent and ungovernable Love. And there is, I believe, no Crime which a
Woman will not forgive, when she can derive it from that Fountain. In short, I
forgave him all, and am willing to persuade myself I am not weaker than the rest
of my Sex. Indeed, Mr. Booth, he hath a bewitching Tongue, and is Master of an
Address that no Woman could resist. I do assure you the Charms of his Person are
his least Perfection, at least in my Eye.«
    Here Booth smiled, but happily without her perceiving it.
    »A fresh Difficulty (continued she)
