breaking theſe Promiſes, it depended, whether ſhe ſhould be the happieſt, or the moſt miſerable of Womankind. And to be the Author of this higheſt Degree of Miſery to a human Being, was a Thought on which he could not bear to ruminate a ſingle Moment. He conſidered this poor Girl as having ſacrificed to him every Thing in her little Power; as having been at her own Expence the Object of his Pleaſure; as ſighing and languiſhing for him even at that very Inſtant. Shall then, ſays he, my Recovery, for which ſhe hath ſo ardently wiſhed; ſhall my Preſence which ſhe hath ſo eagerly expected, inſtead of giving her that Joy with which ſhe hath flattered herſelf, caſt her at once down into Miſery and Diſpair? Can I be ſuch a Villain? Here, when the Genius of poor Molly ſeem’d triumphant, the Love of Sophia towards him, which now appeared no longer dubious, ruſhed upon his Mind, and bore away every Obſtacle before it.
At length it occurred to him, that he might poſſibly be able to make Molly amends another Way; namely, by giving her a Sum of Money. This nevertheleſs, he almoſt deſpaired of her accepting, when he recollected the frequent and vehementAſſu-
