Lady Mary added a number of little corroborating anecdotes, which gave the affair a striking appearance of matter of fact; and I was inclined to believe it, till I recollected how much my opinion had been misled by appearances in the affair of Peggy, of which I spoke to you in my last letter. Warned by that example, I began to doubt the representations of her ladyship; and begged she would join with me in having better hopes of Murden, and endeavouring to discountenance the unsupported assertions that were spread abroad concerning him. Lady Mary willingly promised, and I dare say as readily forgot it the very next instant. As I told you, Sibella, my suspicions of Peggy, I will now tell you her history at once, without going through the round of circumstances that brought me acquainted with it. In Murden's own words, you have learned, that the pleasant farm was his house of call in the shooting season. The farmer is an industrious and worthy man; and his daughter Peggy is, or rather was, ere disappointment fed upon her bloom, a very pretty girl. Joseph, Murden's servant, fell in love with Peggy, and Peggy with Joseph. He was sober; he had some expectations from friends; and his master thought very well of him; and all this together induced the father of Peggy to consent. The marriage was settled as a certain thing; but a delay of time was agreed on among all parties; and Joseph went to London with his master. It so happened, that at Christmas Joseph's father died; and, as he was a shopkeeper in a country town, Joseph might, if he chose, succeed him, and marry Peggy directly. He consulted Murden, who approved much of his designs, and likewise gave him thirty pound to assist in forwarding them. Thus, rich in pocket and in expectation, ere he commenced shopkeeper, Joseph went first to stay a week at Peggy's farm, to settle the time of marriage, &c. &c. Alas, the week began with much happiness, and laid the foundation for much sorrow. Peggy became too indulgent to her lover; and, in consequence, her lover cruelly forgot to come back, as he had promised, at six weeks end and marry her. Peggy's father had a strong sense of honest pride; he disdained to solicit an ungenerous man. On the contrary, he exhorted Peggy to forget him, be industrious, and hereafter irreproachable. But while he was thus daily kind to Peggy, the poor old man, as he told Murden underneath my window, wept through sleepless nights for Peggy's naughtiness. Murden knew nothing of these transactions. He had not called at the farm-house since he arrived at Barlowe Hall, when we met Peggy in the narrow lane. I can now well account for her blushes, and his surprise. He, struck with her appearance and her manner, left us to fish, and went to inform himself at the farm why Peggy was still in that part of the world. The father was absent; but the mother told him the whole story, and he promised to do all that lay within his power to restore the peace of the family.