But I think I am obliged
to let you know, that I have discovered the strange correspondence
carried on between you and your daughter, so injurious to my honour and
reputation, and which, I think, you should not have encouraged, till you
knew there were sufficient grounds for those aspersions, which she so
plentifully casts upon me. Something possibly there might be in what she
has written from time to time; but, believe me, with all her pretended
simplicity and innocence, I never knew so much romantic invention as she
is mistress of. In short, the girl's head's turned by romances, and such
idle stuff, to which she has given herself up, ever since her kind lady's
death. And she assumes airs, as if she was a mirror of perfection, and
every body had a design upon her.
'Don't mistake me, however; I believe her very honest, and very virtuous;
but I have found out also, that she is carrying on a sort of
correspondence, or love affair, with a young clergyman, that I hope in
time to provide for; but who, at present, is destitute of any subsistence
but my favour: And what would be the consequence, can you think, of two
young folks, who have nothing in the world to trust to of their own to
come together with a family multiplying upon them before they have bread
to eat.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150