Page:The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Volume 1 - Smollett (1772).djvu/40

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22
The EXPEDITION of

To Miss Lydia Milford.

MISS WILLIS has pronounced my doom—you are going away, dear Miss Melford!—you are going to be removed, I know not whither! what shall I do? wihch way shall I turn for consolation? I know not what I say—all night long have I been tossed in a sea of doubts and fears, uncertainty and distraction, without being able to connect my thoughts, much less to form any consistent plan of conduct—I was even tempted to wish that I had never seen you; or that you had been less amiable, or less compassionate to your poor Wilson; and yet it would be detestable ingratitude in me to form such a wish, considering how much I am indebted to your goodness, and the ineffable pleasure I have derived from your indulgence and approbation—Good God! I never heard your name mentioned without emotion! the most distant prospect of being admitted to your company, filled my whole soul with a kind of pleasing alarm! as the time approached, my heartbeat