I had received, which indeed came to
almost #500, so I did not fail to let my new friend know that I
expected a supply from thence, and so indeed I did; and as the ships
went from Bristol to York River, in Virginia, and back again generally
in less time from London, and that my brother corresponded chiefly at
Bristol, I thought it was much better for me to wait here for my
returns than to go to London, where also I had not the least
acquaintance.

My new friend appeared sensibly affected with my condition, and indeed
was so very kind as to reduce the rate of my living with her to so low
a price during the winter, that she convinced me she got nothing by me;
and as for lodging, during the winter I paid nothing at all.

When the spring season came on, she continued to be as kind to me as
she could, and I lodged with her for a time, till it was found
necessary to do otherwise. She had some persons of character that
frequently lodged in her house, and in particular the gentleman who, as
I said, singled me out for his companion the winter before; and he came
down again with another gentleman in his company and two servants, and
lodged in the same house. I suspected that my landlady had invited him
thither, letting him know that I was still with her; but she denied it,
and protested to me that she did not, and he said the same.

In a word, this gentleman came down and continued to single me out for
his peculiar confidence as well as conversation. He was a complete
gentleman, that must be confessed, and his company was very agreeable
to me, as mine, if I might believe him, was to him. He made no
professions to be but of an extraordinary respect, and he had such an
opinion of my virtue, that, as he often professed, he believed if he
should offer anything else, I should reject him with contempt. He soon
understood from me that I was a widow; that I had arrived at Bristol
from Virginia by the last ships; and that I waited at Bath till the
next Virginia fleet should arrive, by which I expected considerable
effects. I understood by him, and by others of him, that he had a
wife, but that the lady was distempered in her head, and was under the
conduct of her own relations, which he consented to, to avoid any
reflections that might (as was not unusual in such cases) be cast on
him for mismanaging her cure; and in the meantime he came to the Bath
to divert his thoughts from the disturbance of such a melancholy
circumstance as