Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded

And here he proposed articles to you, I understand? Yes, madam, replied

I; but I abhorred so much the thoughts of being a kept creature, that

I rejected them with great boldness; and was resolved to die before I

would consent to them. He afterwards attempted you, I think: Did he not? O yes, madam, said I,

a most sad attempt he made! and I had like to have been lost; for

Mrs. Jewkes was not so good as she should have been. And so I told

her ladyship that sad affair, and how I fell into fits; and that they

believing me dying, forbore.--Any attempts after this base one? she

said. He was not so good as he should have been, returned I, once in the

garden, afterwards; but I was so watchful, and so ready to take the

alarm! But, said she, did he not threaten you, at times, and put on his stern

airs, every now and then?--Threaten, madam, replied I; yes, I had enough

of that! I thought I should have died for fear several times.--How could

you bear that? said she: for he is a most daring and majestic mortal! He

has none of your puny hearts, but is as courageous as a lion; and, boy

and man, never feared any thing. I myself, said she, have a pretty good

spirit; but, when I have made him truly angry, I have always been forced

to make it up with him, as well as I could: for, child, he is not one

that is easily reconciled, I assure you.

But, after he had professed honourable love to you, did he never attempt

you again?--No, indeed, madam, he did not. But he was a good while

struggling with himself, and with his pride, as he was pleased to call

it, before he could stoop so low; and considered, and considered again:

and once, upon my saying but two or three words, that displeased him,

when he was very kind to me, he turned me out of doors, in a manner,

at an hour's warning; for he sent me above a day's journey towards my

father's; and then sent a man and horse, post-haste, to fetch me back

again; and has been exceedingly kind and gracious to me ever since, and

made me happy. That sending you away, said she, one hour, and sending after you the

next, is exactly like my brother; and 'tis well if he don't turn you off

twice or thrice before a year comes about, if you vex him: and he would

have done the same by the first lady in the land, if he had been

married to her. Yet has he his virtues, as well as his faults; for he is

generous; nay, he is noble in his spirit; hates little dirty actions: he

delights in doing good; but does not pass over a wilful fault easily. He

is wise, prudent, sober, and magnanimous, and will not tell a lie,

nor disguise his faults; but you must not expect to have him all to

yourself, I doubt.