The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

I asked him why he would be so unkind to carry me into Ireland, when I

might suppose he could not have subsisted me there. He took me in his

arms. 'My dear,' said he, 'depend upon it, I never designed to go to

Ireland at all, much less to have carried you thither, but came hither

to be out of the observation of the people, who had heard what I

pretended to, and withal, that nobody might ask me for money before I

was furnished to supply them.' 'But where, then,' said I, 'were we to have gone next?' 'Why, my dear,' said he, 'I'll confess the whole scheme to you as I had

laid it; I purposed here to ask you something about your estate, as you

see I did, and when you, as I expected you would, had entered into some

account with me of the particulars, I would have made an excuse to you

to have put off our voyage to Ireland for some time, and to have gone

first towards London.

'Then, my dear,' said he, 'I resolved to have confessed all the

circumstances of my own affairs to you, and let you know I had indeed

made use of these artifices to obtain your consent to marry me, but had

now nothing to do but ask to your pardon, and to tell you how

abundantly, as I have said above, I would endeavour to make you forget

what was past, by the felicity of the days to come.' 'Truly,' said I to him, 'I find you would soon have conquered me; and

it is my affliction now, that I am not in a condition to let you see

how easily I should have been reconciled to you, and have passed by all

the tricks you had put upon me, in recompense of so much good-humour.

But, my dear,' said I, 'what can we do now? We are both undone, and

what better are we for our being reconciled together, seeing we have

nothing to live on?' We proposed a great many things, but nothing could offer where there

was nothing to begin with. He begged me at last to talk no more of it,

for, he said, I would break his heart; so we talked of other things a

little, till at last he took a husband's leave of me, and so we went to

sleep.

He rose before me in the morning; and indeed, having lain awake almost

all night, I was very sleepy, and lay till near eleven o'clock. In

this time he took his horses and three servants, and all his linen and

baggage, and away he went, leaving a short but moving letter for me on

the table, as follows:-'MY DEAR--I am a dog; I have abused you; but I have been drawn into do

it by a base creature, contrary to my principle and the general

practice of my life. Forgive me, my dear! I ask your pardon with the

greatest sincerity; I am the most miserable of men, in having deluded

you. I have been so happy to possess you, and now am so wretched as to

be forced to fly from you. Forgive me, my dear; once more I say,

forgive me! I am not able to see you ruined by me, and myself unable

to support you. Our marriage is nothing; I shall never be able to see

you again; I here discharge you from it; if you can marry to your

advantage, do not decline it on my account; I here swear to you on my

faith, and on the word of a man of honour, I will never disturb your

repose if I should know of it, which, however, is not likely. On the

other hand, if you should not marry, and if good fortune should befall

me, it shall be all yours, wherever you are.