So what will I do, but strip off my upper petticoat, and throw it into
the pond, with my neckhandkerchief! For to be sure, when they miss me,
they will go to the pond first, thinking I have drowned myself: and so,
when they see some of my clothes floating there, they will be all
employed in dragging the pond, which is a very large one; and as I shall
not, perhaps, be missed till the morning, this will give me opportunity
to get a great way off; and I am sure I will run for it when I am out.
And so I trust, that Providence will direct my steps to some good place
of safety, and make some worthy body my friend; for sure, if I suffer
ever so, I cannot be in more danger, nor in worse hands, than where I am;
and with such avowed bad designs.
O my dear parents! don't be frightened when you come to read this!--But
all will be over before you can see it; and so God direct me for the
best! My writings, for fear I should not escape, I will bury in the
garden; for, to be sure, I shall be searched and used dreadfully if I
can't get off. And so I will close here, for the present, to prepare for
my plot. Prosper thou, O gracious Protector of oppressed innocence! this
last effort of thy poor handmaid! that I may escape the crafty devices
and snares that have begun to entangle my virtue; and from which, but by
this one trial, I see no way of escaping.
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