That he had himself, under the laws of the place, contracted
a close alliance with my unhappy protegee, and that their union had been
duly accredited; but that I had lost no opportunity of attempting to
undermine his happiness, and to maintain an unwholesome influence over
her. That I had at last left the place myself, with a most uncivil
abruptness; during the interval of absence my occupations were believed
to have been of the most dubious character: it was more than suspected,
indeed, that I had penetrated to places, the very name of which could
hardly be mentioned without shame and consternation. That my associates
had been persons of the vilest character and the most brutal
antecedents; and at last, feeling in need of distraction, I had again
returned with the deliberate intention of seducing his unhappy partner
into accompanying me to one or other of the abandoned places I had
visited. He added that Cynthia had been so much overcome by her emotion,
and her natural compassion for an old acquaintance, that he had
persuaded her not to subject herself to the painful strain of an
appearance in public; but that for this action he threw himself upon the
mercy of the Court, who would know that it was only dictated by
chivalrous motives.
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