pappa, she is gone from us, she is gone from us,
my sister Livy is gone from us for ever'--'Gone, child'--'Yes, she is
gone off with two gentlemen in a post chaise, and one of them kissed
her, and said he would die for her; and she cried very much, and was for
coming back; but he persuaded her again, and she went into the chaise,
and said, O what will my poor pappa do when he knows I am undone!'--'Now
then,' cried I, 'my children, go and be miserable; for we shall never
enjoy one hour more. And O may heaven's everlasting fury light upon him
and his! Thus to rob me of my child! And sure it will, for taking back
my sweet innocent that I was leading up to heaven. Such sincerity as my
child was possest of. But all our earthly happiness is now over! Go,
my children, go, and be miserable and infamous; for my heart is
broken within me!'--'Father,' cried my son, "is this your
fortitude?'--'Fortitude, child! Yes, he shall see I have fortitude!
Bring me my pistols. I'll pursue the traitor. While he is on earth I'll
pursue him. Old as I am, he shall find I can sting him yet. The villain!
The perfidious villain!'--I had by this time reached down my pistols,
when my poor wife, whose passions were not so strong as mine, caught me
in her arms. 'My dearest, dearest husband,' cried she, 'the bible is the
only weapon that is fit for your old hands now. Open that, my love,
and read our anguish into patience, for she has vilely deceived
us.'--'Indeed, Sir,' resumed my son, after a pause, 'your rage is too
violent and unbecoming. You should be my mother's comforter, and you
encrease her pain. It ill suited you and your reverend character thus to
curse your greatest enemy: you should not have curst him, villian as he
is.'--'I did not curse him, child, did I?'--'Indeed, Sir, you did; you
curst him twice.'--'Then may heaven forgive me and him if I did. And
now, my son, I see it was more than human benevolence that first taught
us to bless our enemies! Blest be his holy name for all the good he hath
given, and for all that he hath taken away. But it is not, it is not, a
small distress that can wring tears from these old eyes, that have not
wept for so many years. My Child!--To undo my darling! May confusion
seize! Heaven forgive me, what am I about to say! You may remember, my
love, how good she was, and how charming; till this vile moment all her
care was to make us happy. Had she but died! But she is gone, the honour
of our family contaminated,