***

    Do you forgive me too, my dear—­my mother

ought; because she says, I am my father’s girl; and
because I am sure I am her’s.  I don’t kow what
to do—­I don’t know what to write next—­I have
so much to write, yet have so little patience, and so
little opportunity.

But I will tell you how I came by my intelli-
>>> gence.  That being a fact, and requiring the less
attention, I will try to account to you for that.

Thus, then, it came about:  ’Miss Lardner
(whom you have seen at her cousin Biddulph’s)
saw you at St. James’s Church on Sunday was fort-
night.  She kept you in her eye during the whole
time; but could not once obtain the notice of your’s,
though she courtesied to you twice.  She thought to
pay her compliments to you when the service was
over, for she doubted not but you were married—­
>>> and for an odd reason—­because you came to church
by yourself.  Every eye, (as usual, wherever you
are, she said,) was upon you; and this seeming to
give you hurry, and you being nearer the door than
she, you slid out, before she could get to you.—­But
she ordered her servant to follow you till you were
housed.  This servant saw you step into a chair,
which waited for you; and you ordered the men to
carry you to the place where they took you up.

’The next day, Miss Lardner sent the same
servant, out of mere curiosity, to make private in-
quiry whether Mr. Lovelace were, or were not,
with you there.—­And this inquiry brought out,
>>> from different people, that the house was suspected
to be one of those genteel wicked houses, which
receive and accommodate fashionable people of both
sexes.

’Miss Lardner, confounded at this strange intel-
ligence, made further inquiry; enjoining secrecy
to the servant she had sent, as well as to the gentle-
>>> man whom she employed; who had it confirmed
from a rakish friend, who knew the house; and
told him, that there were two houses:  the one in
which all decent appearances were preserved, and guests
rarely admitted; the other, the receptacle of those
who were absolutely engaged, and broken to the
vile yoke.’

>>> Say—­my dear creature—­say—­Shall I not exe-
     crate the wretch?—­But words are weak—­What
     can I say, that will suitably express my abhorrence
     of such a villain as he must have been, when he
     meditated to carry a Clarissa to such a place!

    ’Miss Lardner kept this to herself some days,

not knowing what to do; for she loves you, and
admires you of all women.  At last she revealed it,
but in confidence, to Miss Biddulph, by letter. 
Miss Biddulph, in like confidence, being afraid it
would distract me, were I to know it, communi-
cated it to Miss Lloyd; and so, like a whispered
scandal, it passed through several canals, and then
it came to me; which was not till last Monday.’