After they had both thus silently wept, with very different sentiments,
she thought ’twas time to speak; and dissembling as well as she could,
she caress’d him in her Arms, and told him, She could not express her
Surprize and Joy for his Arrival. If she did not Embrace him heartily,
or speak so Passionately as she us’d to do, he fancy’d it her Confusion,
and his being in a condition not so fit to receive Embraces from her;
and evaded them as much as ’twas possible for him to do, in respect to
her, till he had dress’d his Face, and put himself in order; but the
Supper being just brought up, when he knock’d, she order’d him to sit
down and Eat, and he desir’d her not to let _Maria_ know who he was, to
see how long it would be, before she knew him or would call him to mind.
But _Isabella_ commanded _Maria_, to make up a Bed in such a Chamber,
without disturbing her Fellows, and dismiss’d her from waiting at Table.
The Maid admir’d, what strange, good, and joyful News, this Man had
brought her Mistress, that he was so Treated, and alone with her, which
never any Man had yet been; but she never imagin’d the Truth, and knew
her Lady’s Prudence too well, to question her Conduct. While they were
at Supper, _Isabella_ oblig’d him to tell her, How he came to be
reported Dead; of which, she receiv’d Letters, both from Monsieur
_Villenoys_, and the Duke of _Beaufort_, and by his Man the News, who
saw him Dead? He told her, That, after the Fight, of which, first, he
gave her an account, he being left among the Dead, when the Enemy came
to Plunder and strip ’em, they found, he had Life in him, and appearing
as an Eminent Person, they thought it better Booty to save me,
(continu’d he) and get my Ransom, than to strip me, and bury me among
the Dead; so they bore me off to a Tent, and recover’d me to Life; and,
after that, I was recover’d of my Wounds, and sold, by the Soldier that
had taken me, to a Spahee, who kept me a Slave, setting a great Ransom
on me, such as I was not able to pay. I writ several times, to give you,
and my Father, an account of my Misery, but receiv’d no Answer, and
endur’d seven Years of Dreadful Slavery: When I found, at last, an
opportunity to make my Escape, and from that time, resolv’d, never to
cut the Hair of this Beard, till I should either see my dearest
_Isabella_ again, or hear some News of her. All that I fear’d, was, That
she was Dead; and, at that word, he fetch’d a deep Sigh; and viewing all
things so infinitely more Magnificent than he had left ’em, or,
believ’d, she could afford; and, that she was far more Beautiful in
Person, and Rich in Dress, than when he left her: He had a thousand
Torments of Jealousie that seiz’d him, of which, he durst not make any
mention, but rather chose to wait a little, and see, whether she had
lost her Virtue: He desir’d, he might send for a Barber, to put his Face
in some handsomer Order, and more fit for the Happiness ’twas that Night
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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