In this interval, however, I pick'd out of the broken,
often pleasingly interrupted account of himself, that he was,
at that instant, actually on his road to London, in not a
very paramount plight or condition, having been wreck'd on
the Irish coast for which he had prematurely embark'd, and
lost the little all he had brought with him from the South
Seas; so that he had not till after great shifts and hard-
ships, in the company of his fellow-traveller, the captain,
got so far on his journey; that so it was (having heard of
his father's death and circumstances) he had now the world
to begin again, on a new account: a situation which he
assur'd me, in a vein of sincerity that, flowing from his
heart, penetrated mine, gave him to farther pain, than that
he had it not in his power to make me as happy as he could
wish. My fortune, you will please to observe, I had not
enter'd upon any overture of, reserving to feast myself with
the surprize of it to him, in calmer instants. And, as to
my dress, it could give him no idea of the truth, not only
as it was mourning, but likewise in a style of plainness and
simplicity that I had ever kept to with studied art. He
press'd me indeed tenderly to satisfy his ardent curiosity,
both with regard to my past and present state of life since
his being torn away from me: but I had the address to elude
his questions by answers that, shewing his satisfaction at
no great distance, won upon him to waive his impatience, in
favour of the thorough confidence he had in my not delaying
it, but for respects I should in good time acquaint him with.
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