Page:Adventures of Susan Hopley (Volume 1).pdf/242

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SUSAN HOPLEY.
227

for many days exposed to cold and want; and that a good warm clean bed must be the greatest luxury they can enjoy."

"I love and honour you for your goodness, Madam," said Mr. Simpson. "How few of your sex there are, especially of the young and handsome members of it, (and here by a bow he appropriated the compliment to Mrs. Wetherall,) would have admitted this poor creature under their roof and given her a night's lodging, until they had ascertained the cause of her destitution, and whether her child was born in lawful wedlock. But you opened your doors and administered food and shelter to the wretched, without demanding that poverty should be perfect, or human frailty, exposed to temptations that the prosperous never know, exempt from error. Yours, Madam, is real charity, and I feel honoured in having made your acquaintance. With respect to this poor creature, as you think she is not yet fit to be moved, and are willing to give her another night's shelter, I'll not disturb her to-day; and perhaps by to-morrow you may have learned something of her history, and in what manner I can best serve her. That she is not altogether blameless, is extremely probable; but young, and pretty, as amidst all her wretch-