Miss Groves approved of this second proposal, but took advantage of her shape, which, being far from delicate, would not easily discover any growing bigness, to stay in town as long as she possibly could. When her removal was necessary, she went to the lodgings provided for her, a few miles distant from London: and, notwithstanding the excuses which were framed for this sudden absence, the true cause was more than suspected by some busy people, who industriously enquired into her affairs.
Mr. L—— saw her but seldom during her illness: the fear of being discovered was his pretence: but her friends easily saw through this disguise, and were persuaded Miss Groves was waning in his affections.
As she had a very strong constitution, she returned to town at the end of three weeks: the child was dead, and she looked handsomer than ever. Mr. L—— continued his visits; and the town to make remarks of them. All this time the duchess never troubled herself about the conduct of this unfortunate young creature; and the people she was with had not the goodness to give her any hint of her misconduct, and the waste of her fortune: on the contrary, they almost turned her head with their flatteries, preyed upon her fortune, and winked at her irregularities.
She was now a second time with child: her character was pretty severely handled by her enemies: Mr. L—— began openly to slight her: and she was several thousand pounds in debt. The mother and sisters of her woman, in whose house she still was, were base enough to whisper the fault she had been guilty of to all their acquaintances. Her story became generally known: she was shunned and neglected by every body; and even Mr. L——, who had been the cause of her ruin, entirely abandoned her, and boasted openly of the favours he had received from her.
Miss Groves protested to her friends, that he had promised her marriage; but Mr. L—— constantly denied it; and never scrupled to say, when he was questioned about it, that he found Miss Groves too easy a conquest to make any perjury necessary. Her tenderness, however, for this base man was so great, that she never could bear to hear him railed at in her presence; but would quarrel with the only friends she had left, if they said any thing to his disadvantage. As she was now pretty far advanced with child, she would have retired into the country; but the bad condition of her affairs made her removal impossible: in this extremity she had recourse to her uncle, a rich merchant in the city, who, having taken all the necessary precautions for his own security, paid Miss Groves's debts, carrying on, in her name, a law-suit with the duchess, for some lands which were to be put into her hands when she was of age, and which that great lady detained. Miss Groves, being reduced to live upon something less than an hundred a year, quitted London, and came into this part of the country, where she was received by Mrs. Barnet, one of her woman's sisters, who is married to a country gentleman of some fortune. In her house she lay-in of a girl, which Mr. L—— sent to demand, and will not be persuaded to inform her how, or in what manner, he has disposed of the child.
Her former woman leaving her, I was received in her place, from whom I learnt all these particulars: and Miss Groves having gained the affections of Mr. Barnet's brother, her beauty, and the large fortune which she has in reversion, has induced him, notwithstanding the knowledge of her past unhappy conduct, to marry her. But their marriage is yet a secret, Miss Groves being apprehensive of her uncle's displeasure for not consulting him in her choice.
Her husband is gone to London, with an intention to acquaint him with it; and, when he returns, their marriage will be publicly owned.