We soon hear of her as a servant in the house of the Principal of Yale
University, a much better place than any she had at home. At the end of
the seven years she came back to England, where she seems to have been
received as something of a heroine, and took possession of £500 which
had been left her by an old lady living in Newington Green. She then
sailed for America once more, and married a well-to-do farmer called
Treat, and passed the rest of her life with her husband and children in
the State of Connecticut.
Up to her death, which occurred in 1773, she always maintained the truth
of her tale.
Was it true?
The lawyers who were against Elizabeth said, at her trial, that as soon
as she was found guilty, the secret of where she had been would be
revealed.
It never was revealed. Now several persons must have known where
Elizabeth was; all the world heard her story, yet nobody told where she
had been. If the persons who knew had not detained and ill-used the
girl, there was nothing to prevent them from speaking.
Yet to the end we shall ask, why _did_ Mary Squires keep her at Enfield
Wash--if she _did_ keep her?
_MRS. VEAL'S GHOST_
Now you are going to hear a ghost story published, but he says, not
written, by Daniel Defoe the author of 'Robinson Crusoe.' If you read it
carefully, you will find how very curious it is.
Miss Veal, or as she was then called according to custom, Mrs. Veal, was
an unmarried lady of about thirty living with her only brother in Dover.
She was a delicate woman, and frequently had fits, during which she
would often stop in the middle of a sentence, and begin to talk
nonsense. These fits probably arose from not having had enough food or
warm clothes in her childhood, for her father was not only a poor man
but also a selfish one, and was too full of his own affairs to look
after his children. One comfort, however, she had, in a little girl of
her own age, named Lodowick, who often used to bring her neighbour half
of her own dinner, and gave her a thick wadded tippet to wear over her
bare shoulders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account