and resent the indelible injury you have done them. You
have wounded me to the very heart, and have taught me to what a pitch the
villainy of man can extend.
    Madam, I can be silent no longer. I see that you have by some means come to
a hearing of the story of Mr. Falkland.
    I have. I am astonished you have the effrontery to pronounce his name. That
name has been a denomination, as far back as my memory can reach, for the most
exalted of mortals, the wisest and most generous of men.
    Madam, I owe it to myself to set you right on this subject. Mr. Falkland -
    Mr. Williams, I see my children returning from the fields, and coming this
way. The basest action you ever did, was the obtruding yourself upon them as an
instructor. I insist that you see them no more. I command you to be silent. I
command you to withdraw. If you persist in your absurd resolution of
expostulating with me, you must take some other time.
    I could continue no longer. I was in a manner heart broken through the whole
of this dialogue. I could not think of protracting the pain of this admirable
woman, upon whom, though I was innocent of the crimes she imputed to me, I had
inflicted so much pain already. I yielded to the imperiousness of her commands,
and withdrew.
    I hastened, without knowing why, from the presence of Laura, to my own
habitation. Upon entering the house, an apartment of which I occupied, I found
it totally deserted of its usual inhabitants. The woman and her children were
gone to enjoy the freshness of the breeze. The husband was engaged in his usual
out-door occupations. The doors of persons of the lower order in this part of
the country, are secured, in the day-time, only with a latch. I entered, and
went into the kitchen of the family. Here, as I looked round, my eyes
accidentally glanced upon a paper lying in one corner, which by some association
I was unable to explain, roused in me a strong sensation of suspicion and
curiosity. I eagerly went towards it, caught it up, and found it to be the very
paper of the Wonderful and Surprising History of Caleb Williams, the discovery
of which towards the close of my residence in London had produced in me such
inexpressible anguish.
    This encounter at once cleared up all the mystery that hung upon my late
transactions. Abhorred and intolerable certainty, succeeded to the doubts which
had haunted my mind. It