The next Day, as soon as I was up, I asked him for another Hundred.
Why, my Dear, says he, I don't grudge you any thing, but how was it
possible for you to lay out the other two Hundred here. La! Sir, says
I, I hope I am not obliged to give you an Account of every Shilling;
Troth, that will be being your Servant still. I assure you, I married
you with no such view, besides did not you tell me I should be
Mistress of your Estate? And I will be too. For tho' I brought no
Fortune, I am as much your Wife as if I had brought a Million--yes,
but, my Dear, says he, if you had brought a Million, you would spend
it all at this rate; besides, what will your Expences be in _London_,
if they are so great here. Truly, says I, Sir, I shall live like
other Ladies of my Fashion; and if you think, because I was a
Servant, that I shall be contented to be governed as you please, I
will shew you, you are mistaken. If you had not cared to marry me,
you might have let it alone. I did not ask you, nor I did not court
you. Madam, says he, I don't value a hundred Guineas to oblige you;
but this is a Spirit which I did not expect in you, nor did I ever
see any Symptoms of it before. O but Times are altered now, I am your
Lady, Sir; yes to my Sorrow, says he, I am afraid--and I am afraid to
my Sorrow too: For if you begin to use me in this manner already, I
reckon you will beat me before a Month's at an end. I am sure if you
did, it would injure me less than this barbarous Treatment; upon
which I burst into Tears, and pretended to fall into a Fit. This
frighted him out of his wits, and he called up the Servants. Mrs.
_Jewkes_ immediately came in, and she and another of the Maids fell
heartily to rubbing my Temples, and holding Smelling-Bottles to my
Nose. Mrs. _Jewkes_ told him she fear'd I should never recover, upon
which he began to beat his Breasts, and cried out, O my dearest
Angel, Curse on my passionate Temper, I have destroy'd her, I have
destroy'd her!----would she had spent my whole Estate rather than
this had happened. Speak to me, my Love, I will melt myself into Gold
for thy Pleasure. At last having pretty well tired my self with
counterfeiting, and imagining I had continu'd long enough for my
purpose in the sham Fit, I began to move my Eyes, to loosen my Teeth,
and to open my Hands, which Mr. _Booby_ no sooner perceived than he
embraced and kissed me with the eagerest Extacy, asked my Pardon on
his Knees for what I had suffered through his Folly and Perverseness,
and without more Questions fetched me the Money. I fancy I have
effectually prevented any farther Refusals or Inquiry into my
Expences. It would be hard indeed, that a Woman who marries a Man
only for his Money, should be debarred from spending it.
Well, after all things were quiet, we sat down to Breakfast, yet I
resolved not to smile once, nor to say one good-natured, or
good-humoured Word on any Account.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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