I had not seen him: so that we knew
one another by hear-say only; and finding me stretched on
his mother's bed, he readily concluded, from her descrip-
tion who it was. The rest you know.
"This affair had however no ruinous consequences, the
young gentleman escaping then, and many more times undis-
cover'd. But the warmth of my constitution, that made the
pleasures of love a kind of necessary of life to me, having
betray'd me into indiscretions fatal to my private fortune,
I fell at length to the publick; from which, it is probable,
I might have met with the worst of ruin if my better fate
had not thrown me into this safe and agreeable refuge."
Here Louisa ended; and these little histories having
brought the time for the girls to retire, and to prepare
for the revels of the evening, I staid with Mrs. Cole till
Emily came and told us the company was met, and waited for
us.
Part 7
On the landing-place of the first pair of stairs, we
were met by a young gentleman, extremely well dress'd, and a
very pretty figure, to whom I was to be indebted for the
first essay of the pleasures of the house. He saluted me
with great gallantry, and handed me into the drawing room,
the floor of which was overspread with a Turkey carpet, and
all its furniture voluptuously adapted to every demand of
the most study'd luxury; now too it was, by means of a pro-
fuse illumination, enliven'd by a light scarce inferior, and
perhaps more favourable to joy, more tenderly pleasing, than
that of broad sun-shine.
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