Having then settled her
affairs, she set out on her journey, after taking the most
tender leave of me, and at the end of some excellent instruc-
tions, recommending me to myself, with an anxiety perfectly
maternal. In short, she affected me so much, that I was not
presently reconcil'd to myself for suffering her at any rate
to go without me; but fate had, it seems, otherwise dispos'd
of me.
I had, on my separation from Mrs. Cole, taken a pleasant
convenient house at Marybone, but easy to rent and manage from
its smallness, which I furnish'd neatly and modestly. There,
with a reserve of eight hundred pounds, the fruit of my defer-
ence to Mrs. Cole's counsels, exclusive of cloaths, some
jewels, some plate, I saw myself in purse for a long time, to
wait without impatience for what the chapter of accidents
might produce in my favour.
Here, under the new character of a young gentle-woman
whose husband was gone to sea, I had mark'd me out such lines
of life and conduct, as leaving me at a competent liberty to
pursue my views either out of pleasure or fortune, bounded me
nevertheless strictly within the rules od decency and discre-
tion: a disposition in which you cannot escape observing a
true pupil of Mrs. Cole.
I was scarce, however, well warm in my new abode, when
going out one morning pretty early to enjoy the freshness of
it, in the pleasing outlet of the fields, accompanied only by
a maid, whom I had newly hired, as we were carelessly walking
among the trees we were alarmed with the noise of a violent
coughing: turning our heads towards which, we distinguish'd a
plain well-dressed elderly gentleman, who, attack'd with a
sudden fit, was so much overcome as to be forc'd to give way
to it and sit down at the foot of a tree, where he seemed
suffocating with the severity of it, being perfectly black in
the face: not less mov'd than frighten'd with which, I flew
on the instant to his relief, and using the rote of practice
I had observ'd on the like occasion, I loosened his cravat
and clapped him on the back; but whether to any purpose, or
whether the cough had had its course, I know not, but the fit
immediately went off; and now recover'd to his speech and
legs, he returned me thanks with as much emphasis as if I had
sav'd his life.
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