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hopā€™d he knew so much of her, as might serve to convince him, she was not unworthy of his tenderest Regard; and if he couā€™d not content himself with that which she was willing to reveal, and which was the Conditions of their meeting, dear as he was to her, she would rather part with him for ever, than consent to gratify an Inquisitiveness, which, in her Opinion, had no Business with his Love. It was in vain that he endeavourā€™d to make her sensible of her Mistake; and that this Restraint was the greatest Enemy imaginable to the Happiness of them both: She was not to be perswaded, and he was obligā€™d to desist his Solicitations, though determinā€™d in his Mind to compass what he so ardently desirā€™d, before he left the House. He then turned the Discourse wholly on the Violence of the Passion he had for her; and expressā€™d the greatest Discontent in the World at the Apprehensions of being separated; - swore he could dwell for ever in her Arms, and with such an undeniable Earnestness pressed to be permitted to tarry with her the whole Night, that had she been less charmā€™d with his renewā€™d Eagerness of Desire, she scarce would have had the Power of refusing him; but in granting this Request, she was not without a Thought that he had another Reason for making it besides the Extremity of his Passion, and had it immediately in her Head how to disappoint him.

THE Hours of Repose being arrivā€™d, he beggā€™d she would retire to her Chamber; to which she consented, but obligā€™d him to go to Bed first; which he did not much oppose, because he supposā€™d she would not lie in her Mask, and doubted not but the Morningā€™s Dawn would bring the wishā€™d Discovery. - The two imaginā€™d Servants usherā€™d him to his new Lodging; where he lay some Moments in all the Perplexity imaginable at the Oddness of this Adventure. But she sufferā€™d not these Cogitations to be of any long Continuance: She came, but came in the Dark; which being no more than he expected by the former Part of her Proceedings, he said nothing of; but as much Satisfaction as he found in her Embraces, nothing ever longā€™d for the Approach of Day with more Impatience than he did. At last it came; but how great was his Disappointment, when by the Noises he heard in the Street, the hurry of the Coaches, and the Cries of Penny-Merchants, he was convincā€™d it was Night no where but with him? He was still in the same Darkness as before; for she had taken care to blind the Windows in such a manner, that not the least Chink was left to let in the Day. - He complainā€™d of her Behaviour in Terms that she would not have been able to resist yielding to, if she had not been certain it would have been the Ruin of her Passion: - She, therefore, answered him only as she had done before; and getting out of the Bed from him, flew out of the Room with too much Swiftness for him to have overtaken her, if he had attempted it. The Moment she left him, the two Attendants enterā€™d the Chamber, and plucking down the Implements which had skreenā€™d him from the Knowledge of that which he so much desirā€™d to find out, restored his Eyes once more to Day: - They attended to assist him in Dressing, brought him Tea, and by their Obsequiousness, let him see there was but one Thing which the Mistress of them would not gladly oblige him in. - He was so much out of Humour, however, at the Disappointment of his Curiosity, that he resolvā€™d never to make a second Visit. - Finding her in an outer Room, he made no Scruples of expressing the Sense he had of the little Trust she reposed in him, and at last plainly told her, he could not submit to receive Obligations from a Lady, who thought him uncapable of keeping a Secret, which she made no Difficulty of letting her Servants into. - He resented, - he once more entreated, - he said all that Man could do, to prevail on her to unfold the Mystery; but all his Adjurations were fruitless; and he went out of the House determinā€™d never to re-enter it, till she should pay the Price of his Company with the Discovery of her Face and Circumstances. - She sufferā€™d him to go with this Resolution, and doubted not but he would recede from it, when he reflected on the happy Moments they had passā€™d together; but if he did not, she comforted herself with the Design of forming some other Stratagem, with which to impose on him a fourth Time.

SHE kept the House, and her Gentlemen-Equipage for about a Fortnight, in which Time she continuā€™d to write to him as Fantomina and the Widow Bloomer, and received the Visits he sometimes made to each; but his Behaviour to both was grown so cold, that she began to grow as weary of receiving his now insipid Caresses as he was of offering them: She was beginning to think in what Manner she should drop these two Characters, when the sudden Arrival of her Mother, who had been some Time in a foreign Country, obligā€™d her to put an immediate Stop to the Course of her whimsical Adventures. - That Lady, who was severely virtuous, did not approve of many Things she had been told of the Conduct of her Daughter; and though it was not in the Power of any Person in the World to inform her of the Truth of what she had been guilty of, yet she heard enough to make her keep her afterwards in a Restraint, little agreeable to her Humour, and the Liberties to which she had been accustomed.

BUT this Confinement was not the greatest Part of the Trouble of this now afflicted Lady: She found the Consequences of her amorous Follies would be, without almost a Miracle, impossible to be concealed: - She was with Child; and though she would easily have found Means to have skreenā€™d even this from the Knowledge of the World, had she been at liberty to have acted with the same unquestionable Authority over herself, as she did before the coming of her Mother, yet now all her Invention was at a Loss for a Stratagem to impose on a Woman of her Penetration: - By eating little, lacing prodigious strait, and the Advantage of a great Hoop-Petticoat, however, her Bigness was not taken notice of, and, perhaps, she would not have been suspected till the Time of her going into the Country, where her Mother designā€™d to send her, and from whence she intended to make her escape to some Place where she might be delivered with Secrecy, if the Time of it had not happenā€™d much Sooner than she expected. - A Ball being at Court, the good Old Lady was willing she should partake of the Diversion of it as a Farewel to the Town. - It was there she was seizā€™d with those Pangs, which none in her Condition are exempt from: - She could not conceal the sudden Rack which all at once invaded her; or had her Tongue been mute, her wildly rolling Eyes, the Distortion of her Features, and the Convulsions [Page 288 Convulsions] which shook her whole Frame, in spite of her, would have revealā€™d she labourā€™d under some terrible Shock of Nature. - Every Body was surprisā€™d, every Body was concernā€™d, but few guessed at the Occasion. - Her Mother grievā€™d beyond Expression, doubted not but she was struct with the Hand of Death; and orderā€™d her to be carried Home in a Chair, while herself followā€™d in another. - A Physician was immediately sent for: But he was presently perceiving what was her Distemper, callā€™d the old Lady aside, and told her, it was not a Doctor of his Sex, but one of her own, her Daughter stood in need of. - Never was Astonishment and Horror greater than that which seizā€™d the Soul of this afflicted Parent at these Words: She could not for a Time believe the Truth of what she heard; but he insisting on it, and conjuring her to send for a Midwife, she was at length convincā€™d if it. - All the Pity and Tenderness she had been for some Moment before possessā€™d of, now vanishā€™d, and were succeeded by an adequate Shame and Indignation: - She flew to the Bed where her Daughter was lying, and telling her what she had been informā€™d of, and which she was now far from doubting, commanded her to reveal the Name of the Person whose Insinuations had drawn her to this Dishonour. - It was a great while before she could be brought to confess any Thing, and much longer before she could be prevailed on to name the Man whom she so fatally had lovā€™d; but the Rack of Nature growing more fierce, and the enraged old Lady protesting no Help should be afforded her while she persisted in her Obstinacy, she, with great Difficulty and Hesitation in her Speech, at last pronouncā€™d the Name of Beauplaisir. She had no sooner satisfyā€™d her weeping Mother, than that sorrowful Lady sent Messengers at the same Time, for a Midwife, and for that Gentleman who had occasionā€™d the otherā€™s being wanted. - He happenā€™d by Accident to be at home, and immediately obeyā€™d the Summons, though prodigiously surprisā€™d what Business a Lady so much a Stranger to him could have to impart. - But how much greater was his Amazement, when taking him into her Closet, she there acquainted him with her Daughterā€™s Misfortune, of the Discovery she had made, and how far he was concernā€™d in it? - All the Idea one can form of wild Astonishment, was mean to what he felt: - He assurā€™d her, that the young Lady her Daughter was a Person who he had never, more than at a Distance, admirā€™d: - That he had indeed, spoke to her in publick Company, but that he never had a Thought which tended to her Dishonour. - His Denials, if possible, added to the Indignation she was before enflamā€™d with: - She had no longer Patience; and carrying him into the Chamber, where she was just deliverā€™d of a fine Girl, cryā€™d out, I will not be imposā€™d on: The Truth by one of you shall be revealā€™d. ā€”Beauplaisir being brought to the Bed side, was beginning to address himself to the Lady in it, to beg she would clear the Mistake her Mother was involvā€™d in; when she, covering herself with the Cloaths, and ready to die a second Time with the inward Agitations of her Soul, shriekā€™d out, Oh, I am undone! - I cannot live, and bear this Shame! - But the old Lady believing that now or never was the Time to dive into the Bottom of this Mystery, forcing her to rear her Head, told her, she should not hope to Escape the Scrutiny of a Parent she had dishonourā€™d in such a Manner, and pointing to Beauplaisir, Is this the Gentleman, (said she,) to whom you owe your Ruin? or have you deceivā€™d me by a fictitious Tale? Oh! no, (resumā€™d the trembling Creature,) he is, indeed, the innocent Cause of my Undoing: - Promise me your Pardon, (continued she,) and I will relate the Means. Here she ceasā€™d, expecting what she would reply, which, on hearing Beauplaisir cry out, What mean you Madam? I your Undoing, who never harbourā€™d the least Design on you in my Life, she did in these Words, Though the Injury you have done your Family, (said she,) is of a Nature

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