Well this was concluded on, after a great many other Reasons used on
either Side, in favour of the Contrivance; they at last argued
themselves into a Belief, that Fortune had befriended them with a
better Plot, than their regular Thinking could have contriv’d. So soon
had they convinc’d themselves, in what they were willing to believe.
Aurelian laid himself down to rest, that is, upon the Bed; for he was a
better Lover than to pretend to sleep that Night, while Hippolito set
himself again to frame his Letter design’d for Leonora. He writ
several, at last pitched upon one, and very probably the worst, as you
may guess when you read it in its proper Place.
It was break of Day when the Servant, who had been employed all the
foregoing Day in procuring Accoutrements for the Two Cavaliers, to
appear in at the Tilting, came into the Room, and told them all the
Young Gentlemen in the Town were trying their Equipage, and preparing
to be early in the Lists. They made themselves ready with all
Expedition at the Alarm: and Hippolito having made a Visit to his
Governour, dispatch’d a Messenger with the Letter and Directions to
Leonora. At the Signal agreed upon the Casement was opened and a String
let down, to which the Bearer having fastned the Letter, saw it drawn
up, and returned. It were a vain attempt to describe Leonora’s
Surprize, when she read the Superscription.—The Unfortunate Aurelian,
to the Beautiful Leonora—After she was a little recovered from her
Amaze, she recollected to her self all the Passages between her and her
supposed Cousin, and immediately concluded him to be Aurelian. Then
several little Circumstances which she thought might have been
sufficient to have convinced her, represented themselves to her; and
she was in a strange Uneasiness to think of her free Carriage to a
Stranger.
She was once in a Mind to have burn’d the Letter, or to have stay’d for
an Opportunity to send it again. But she was a Woman, and her Curiosity
opposed it self to all thoughts of that Nature: at length with a firm
Resolution, she opened it, and found Word for Word, what is
underwritten.
The Letter.
MADAM,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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