One thing more I will add, That I
should scorn myself, if there was one privilege of your sex, that a
princess might expect, as my wife, to be indulged in, that I would not
allow to my Pamela; for you are the wife of my affections: I never wished
for one before you, nor ever do I hope to have another.
I hope, sir, said I, my future conduct--Pardon me, said he, my dear, for
interrupting you; but it is to assure you, that I am so well convinced of
your affectionate regard for me, that I know I might have spared the
greatest part of what I have said: And, indeed, it must be very bad for
both of us, if I should have reason to think it necessary to say so much.
But one thing has brought on another; and I have rather spoken what my
niceness has made me observe in other families, than what I fear in my
own. And, therefore, let me assure you, I am thoroughly satisfied with
your conduct hitherto. You shall have no occasion to repent it: And you
shall find, though greatly imperfect, and passionate, on particular
provocations, (which yet I will try to overcome,) that you have not a
brutal or ungenerous husband, who is capable of offering insult for
condescension, or returning evil for good.
I thanked him for these kind rules, and generous assurances: and assured
him, that they had made so much impression on my mind, that these, and
his most agreeable injunctions before given me, and such as he should
hereafter be pleased to give me, should be so many rules for my future
behaviour.
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