Accordingly, two days after
my escape, I set out at eleven o'clock at night, in a chariot and
four, which I borrowed of my friend, attended by a footman, who
was a stout fellow, and well armed, I myself being provided with a
brace of good pistols, which I was fully determined to use against
any person who should presume to lay violent hands upon me, except
my lord, for whom a less mortal weapon would have sufficed, such as
a bodkin or a tinder-box. Nothing could be farther from my intention
than the desire of hurting any living creature, much less my husband:
my design was only to defend myself from cruelty and oppression,
which I knew, by fatal experience, would infallibly be my lot,
should he get me into his power. And I thought I had as good a
right to preserve my happiness, as that which every individual has
to preserve his life, especially against a set of ruffians, who
were engaged to rob me of it for a little dirty lucre.
"In the midst of our journey, the footman came up, and told me I
was dogged; upon which I looked out, and, seeing a man riding by
the chariot side, presented one of my pistols out of my window,
and preserved that posture of defence, until he thought proper
to retreat, and rid me of the fears that attended his company.
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