Her sentiments were espoused
by all the company, except the French lady of pleasure, who, thinking
the credit of the sisterhood concerned in the affair, bitterly
inveighed against the profligacy of the age, and particularly
the base and villainous attempts of man upon the chastity of the
weaker sex; saying, with a look of indignation directed to the
painter, that for her own part she should never be able to manifest
the acknowledgment she owed to Providence, for having protected her
last night from the wicked aims of unbridled lust. This observation
introduced a series of jokes at the expense of Pallet, who hung
his ears, and sat with a silent air of dejection, fearing that,
through the malevolence of the physician, his adventure might
reach the ears of his wife. Indeed, though we have made shift to
explain the whole transaction to the reader, it was an inextricable
mystery to every individual in the diligence, because the part which
was acted by the Capuchin was known to himself alone, and even he
was utterly ignorant of Pickle's being concerned in the affair; so
that the greatest share of the painter's sufferings were supposed
to be the exaggerations of his own extravagant imagination.
Pages:
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575