It was enough to tell her husband this; there needed nothing on my
side. I was but to sit still and wait the event, for it presently went
all over the neighbourhood that the young widow at Captain ----'s was a
fortune, that she had at least #1500, and perhaps a great deal more,
and that the captain said so; and if the captain was asked at any time
about me, he made no scruple to affirm it, though he knew not one word
of the matter, other than that his wife had told him so; and in this
he thought no harm, for he really believed it to be so, because he had
it from his wife: so slender a foundation will those fellows build
upon, if they do but think there is a fortune in the game. With the
reputation of this fortune, I presently found myself blessed with
admirers enough, and that I had my choice of men, as scarce as they
said they were, which, by the way, confirms what I was saying before.
This being my case, I, who had a subtle game to play, had nothing now
to do but to single out from them all the properest man that might be
for my purpose; that is to say, the man who was most likely to depend
upon the hearsay of a fortune, and not inquire too far into the
particulars; and unless I did this I did nothing, for my case would not
bear much inquiry.
I picked out my man without much difficulty, by the judgment I made of
his way of courting me. I had let him run on with his protestations
and oaths that he loved me above all the world; that if I would make
him happy, that was enough; all which I knew was upon supposition, nay,
it was upon a full satisfaction, that I was very rich, though I never
told him a word of it myself.
This was my man; but I was to try him to the bottom, and indeed in that
consisted my safety; for if he baulked, I knew I was undone, as surely
as he was undone if he took me; and if I did not make some scruple
about his fortune, it was the way to lead him to raise some about mine;
and first, therefore, I pretended on all occasions to doubt his
sincerity, and told him, perhaps he only courted me for my fortune. He
stopped my mouth in that part with the thunder of his protestations, as
above, but still I pretended to doubt.
One morning he pulls off his diamond ring, and writes upon the glass of
the sash in my chamber this line-'You I love, and you alone.' I read it, and asked him to lend me his ring, with which I wrote under
it, thus-'And so in love says every one.' He takes his ring again, and writes another line thus-'Virtue alone is an estate.' I borrowed it again, and I wrote under it-'But money's virtue, gold is fate.' He coloured as red as fire to see me turn so quick upon him, and in a
kind of a rage told me he would conquer me, and writes again thus-'I scorn your gold, and yet I love.' I ventured all upon the last cast of poetry, as you'll see, for I wrote
boldly under his last-'I'm poor: let's see how kind you'll prove.' This was a sad truth to me; whether he believed me or no, I could not
tell; I supposed then that he did not. However, he flew to me, took me
in his arms, and, kissing me very eagerly, and with the greatest
passion imaginable, he held me fast till he called for a pen and ink,
and then told me he could not wait the tedious writing on the glass,
but, pulling out a piece of paper, he began and wrote again-'Be mine, with all your poverty.' I took his pen, and followed him immediately, thus-'Yet secretly you hope I lie.' He told me that was unkind, because it was not just, and that I put him
upon contradicting me, which did not consist with good manners, any
more than with his affection; and therefore, since I had insensibly
drawn him into this poetical scribble, he begged I would not oblige him
to break it off; so he writes again-'Let love alone be our debate.' I wrote again-'She loves enough that does not hate.' This he took for a favour, and so laid down the cudgels, that is to
say, the pen; I say, he took if for a favour, and a mighty one it was,
if he had known all. However, he took it as I meant it, that is, to
let him think I was inclined to go on with him, as indeed I had all the
reason in the world to do, for he was the best-humoured, merry sort of
a fellow that I ever met with, and I often reflected on myself how
doubly criminal it was to deceive such a man; but that necessity, which
pressed me to a settlement suitable to my condition, was my authority
for it; and certainly his affection to me, and the goodness of his
temper, however they might argue against using him ill, yet they
strongly argued to me that he would better take the disappointment than
some fiery-tempered wretch, who might have nothing to recommend him but
those passions which would serve only to make a woman miserable all her
days.