"What could I have replied to the declaration of that woman in my situation? I was silent; and having taken a firm resolution to conceal all my ideas, I dissembled to rely implicitly on the candour of my pretended deliverers. It was but too evident in whose power I was; and what I had heard of that society on my wedding-day forced itself with additional strength on my recollection. Though I could not unfold the real purport of that incident, yet it was sufficient to ascertain to me the truth of my suspicions. If, therefore, it was possible to extricate myself from their snares, no other expedient was left than to pay them in their own coin, and to attempt to outwit them by a dissimulation superior to theirs. I began, therefore, to pretend being more susceptible of the ideas which they endeavoured to instil into my mind, and returned gradually from my gloomy reveries. I was, indeed, partial to solitude; however, it appeared to them to be favourable to their secret de-signs
