Having made him
acquainted with the circumstances of my distress, and consulted
him about a proper place of retreat, after some recollection, he
directed me to a little house in a court, to which, by the assistance
of my lover, my woman and clothes were safely conveyed that same
evening.
"My lord, however, came to dinner, according to invitation, and
did not seem at all alarmed when my maid told him I was gone, but
stepped to my lawyer to know if he thought I should return. Upon
his answering in the affirmative, and advising his lordship to go
back in the meantime, and eat the dinner I had provided, he very
deliberately took his advice, made a very hearty meal, drank his
bottle of wine, and, as I did not return according to his expectation,
withdrew in order to consult his associates. This motion of his
furnished my woman with an opportunity of making her retreat; and,
when he returned at night, the coast was clear, and he found nobody
in the house, but a porter, who had been left to take care of the
furniture. He was so enraged at this disappointment, that he made
a furious noise, which raised the whole neighbourhood, reinforced
his crew with the authority of a justice of the peace, tarried in
the street till three o'clock in the morning, discharged a lodging
he had hired at a barber's shop opposite to the house from which I
had escaped, and retired with the comfortable reflection of having
done everything which a man could do to retrieve me.
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