Page:A general history of the pyrates, from their first rise and settlement in the Island of Providence, to the present time (1724).djvu/178

have the beſt Luck. Her Father was a Married Man, and his Wife having been brought to Bed, contracted an Illneſs in her lying in, and in order to recover her Health, ſhe was adviſed to remove for Change of Air; the Place ſhe choſe, was a few Miles diſtance from her Dwelling, where her Husband’s Mother liv’d. Here ſhe ſojourn’d ſome Time, her Husband ſtaying at Home, to follow his Affairs. The Servant-Maid, whom ſhe left to look after the Houſe, and attend the Family, being a handſome young Woman, was courted by a young Man of the ſame Town, who was a Tanner; this Tanner uſed to take his Opportunities, when the Family was out of the Way, of coming to purſue his Courtſhip; and being with the Maid one Day as ſhe was employ’d in the Houſhold Buſineſs, not having the Fear of God before his Eyes, he takes his Opportunity, when her Back was turned, of whipping three Silver Spoons into his Pocket. The Maid ſoon miſs’d the Spoons, and knowing that no Body had been in the Room, but herſelf and the young Man, ſince ſhe ſaw them laſt, ſhe charged him with taking them; he very ſtifly denied it, upon which ſhe grew outragious, and threatned to go to a Conſtable, in order to carry him before a Juſtice of Peace: Theſe Menaces frighten’d him out of his Wits, well knowing he could not ſtand Search; wherefore he endeavoured to pacify her, by deſiring her to examine the Drawers and other Places, and perhaps ſhe might find them; in this Time he ſlips into another Room, where the Maid uſually lay, and puts the Spoons betwixt the Sheets, and then makes his Eſcape by a back Door, concluding ſhe muſt find them, when ſhe went to Bed, and ſo next Day he might pretend he did it only to frighten her, and the Thing might be laugh’d off for a Jeſt.

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