O, said he, let me judge of that, as well as you, Pamela.
These ladies know a good part of your story; and, let me tell you, what
they know is more to your credit than mine; so that if I have no
averseness to reviving the occasion, you may very well bear it. Said he,
I will put you out of your pain, Pamela: here it is: and took it out of
his pocket.
I stood up, and said, Indeed, sir, I can't bear it; I hope you'll allow
me to leave the room a minute, if you will read it. Indeed but I won't,
answered he. Lady Jones said, Pray, good sir, don't let us hear it, if
Mrs. Andrews be so unwilling. Well, Pamela, said my master, I will put
it to your choice, whether I shall read it now, or you will sing it by
and by. That's very hard, sir, said I. It must be one, I assure you,
said he. Why then, sir, replied I, you must do as you please; for I
cannot sing it.
Well, then, said my master, I find I must read it; and yet, added he,
after all, I had as well let it alone, for it is no great reputation to
myself. O then, said Miss Darnford, pray let us hear it, to choose.
Why then, proceeded he, the case was this: Pamela, I find, when she was
in the time of her confinement, (that is, added he, when she was taken
prisoner, in order to make me one; for that is the upshot of the matter,)
in the journal she kept, which was intended for nobody's perusal but her
parents, tells them, that she was importuned, one Sunday, by Mrs.
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