In half an hour some one tapped at the door, and in came my late
tormentor, and in came the captain; and now they laughed heartily; and I
smiled in return, for my heart was too full to break out in loud mirth.
It seems it was as much as they could all do to restrain the lively
lady, fearing that the plot would be discovered before the time. My wife
intended to show herself as soon as the pilot left us; but she was so
very seasick that she thought I could better bear the pain of thinking
her away from me than witness suffering which I could not relieve. The
gale came on, and her sickness continued, and she thought it most
prudent to wait till it was over. Her plan was to write me a note, and
prepare me for it, but the captain and his wife, as well as the
gentlemen, begged her to allow of this little artifice, which, as they
had taken such an interest in her affairs, she thought it right to
indulge them in. Finding me so averse to her going, and knowing that I
should so bitterly regret it, she and Martha went in a carriage, one
day, and interested Mr. Blagge in her scheme. The captain and his wife
were delighted; and whilst he detained me by a sham business, on shore,
Mr. Porter saw her and Martha safely on board. She had left the trunks
till the last, hoping that I might relent, and thus prevent any
necessity of a plot; but as I would not consent, Mr. Porter, who had
another carriage in waiting, took them down to the wharf.
What more is to be said? Our voyage was delightful. I had no difficulty,
whatever, in identifying myself; and I returned in possession of a large
estate, which I trust I shall spend with grateful feelings. Dr. Bently
and his amiable niece, Miss Sidney, now Mrs. North, were our
fellow-passengers on returning. They little knew what an interest I had
in the village of Camperdown, when they so earnestly pressed me to
settle in their neighbourhood. My beloved wife was not at all the worse
for the three months’ excursion; and two months after our return, we
were made still happier, if possible, by the birth of a son. My wife,
always mindful of my feelings, has called him Cyrus, after my poor
father; and we are, I trust, bringing him up in the love of his Maker,
and in the fear of breaking his commandments. Aunt Martha, as you know,
lives with us, and Mr. Porter resides altogether in the stone house,
where I was born; we could not do without him. Now that you all know my
dear wife, you can easily imagine that my love for her can never
diminish; and that, to be separated from her, would be the greatest of
evils.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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