No, no, Mrs. Jervis, said I; I have thought of
that too; for I would be glad to consider him with that duty that becomes
me: but then he would have let me go to Lady Davers, and not have
hindered my preferment: and he would not have said, I should return to my
poverty and distress, when, by his mother's goodness, I had been lifted
out of it; but that he intended to fright me, and punish me, as he
thought, for not complying with his wickedness: And this shews me well
enough what I have to expect from his future goodness, except I will
deserve it at his own dear price.
She was silent; and I added, Well, there's no more to be said; I must go,
that's certain: All my concern will be how to part with you: and, indeed,
after you, with every body; for all my fellow-servants have loved me, and
you and they will cost me a sigh, and a tear too, now and then, I am
sure. And so I fell a crying: I could not help it. For it is a pleasant
thing to one to be in a house among a great many fellow-servants, and be
beloved by them all.
Nay, I should have told you before now, how kind and civil Mr. Longman
our steward is; vastly courteous, indeed, on all occasions! And he said
once to Mrs. Jervis, he wished he was a young man for my sake; I should
be his wife, and he would settle all he had upon me on marriage; and, you
must know, he is reckoned worth a power of money.
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