The History of Miss Betsy ThoughtlessHaywood, Eliza Fowler
General
The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless
Haywood, Eliza Fowler
Abused wives -- Fiction; Bildungsromans; Didactic fiction; England -- Fiction; Married women -- Fiction
He communicated to Mr. Francis Thoughtless, on his arrival, all that Mr.
Goodman had said to him on this score, and his own sentiments upon it:
that young gentleman was entirely of his brother's opinion in this
point; and they both agreed, that marriage was the only sure refuge for
a young woman of Miss Betsy's disposition and humour. They had a long
and pretty serious conversation on this head, the result of which was,
that they should go together to her, and each exert all the influence he
had over her, in order to draw from her some farther eclaircissement of
her intentions than could yet be gathered from her behaviour.
Miss Betsy, who little suspected their designs, received them with all
the tenderness that could be expected from a sister, especially her
brother Frank; whose return, after so long an absence, gave her in
reality an entire satisfaction: but she had scarce time to give him all
the welcomes with which her heart overflowed, before the elder Mr.
Thoughtless fell on the topick of Mr. Goodman, and the misfortune they
sustained in the loss of so good a friend; after which, 'He has left you
a legacy, sister,' said he. 'A legacy!' cried she, 'pray, of what
kind?'--'Such a one,' replied he, 'as perhaps you will not be very well
pleased in receiving; nor would I chuse to deliver it, but for two
reasons: first, that the injunctions of a dying friend are not to be
dispensed with; and, secondly, that it is of a nature, I fear, you stand
in too much need of.'
Miss Betsy, whose ready wit made her presently comprehend the meaning of
these words, replied with some smartness, that whatever she stood in
need of, she should certainly receive with pleasure, and that he might
have spared himself the trouble of a prelude, for any thing that could
be delivered by him, or bequeathed to her by Mr. Goodman.
He then told her, how that gentleman, the day before his death, had sent
for him; 'For no other purpose,' said he, 'than to talk to me on your
account, and to exhort me as your brother, and now your guardian, to
have a watchful eye over all your actions; to remind you of some
inadvertencies of the past, and to warn you against falling into the
like for the future: sorry I am to find myself under a necessity of
speaking to you in this manner; but harsh as it may seem at present, I
doubt not, but you will hereafter own, is a proof of the greatest
affection I could shew you.' He then repeated to her all that Mr.
Goodman had said to him in relation to her; to which he also added many
things of his own, which he thought might serve to strengthen and to
enforce the arguments made use of by the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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