During this retirement, which I might justly call a honeymoon, from the happiness I experienced, I obtained from Miss K⸺e some account of herself, and the misfortunes which had reduced her to the disgraceful situation in which I found her. The following are the particulars:—
She was the second daughter of a respectable tradesman in the city, who had placed her, with her elder sister, at a boarding school in Queen-square, where she had become perfectly accomplished. About a year before our acquaintance began, she had been accidentally seen walking in the garden of the square, to which the young ladies had access, by an officer of dragoons, who, being struck with her beauty, had employed every art of bribery and intrigue, first to open a correspondence by letter, and afterwards to obtain a personal interview, of which opportunity he made such good use that he succeeded in seducing this amiable child, then just fifteen years of age, to elope from her school, to sacrifice to him, honour, fortune, and parental affection, and entail on herself ruin, remorse, and endless shame!
This gallant hero treated her with the fondest attention, and spared no expense to gratify her every wish, and, by a continual round of splendid dissipation, to banish any reflections which might otherwise obtrude themselves; and in this (owing to her youth and the natural levity of her sex,) he so far succeeded that she felt not, for the first six months, those compunctions which, sooner or later, must attend conscious guilt. At the end of that time, however, her protector, being ordered abroad with his regiment, left her with a slender provision in possession; but for which he made up with most liberal promises of future bounty. It is probable he had by this time gratified a passion which was at first but of a sensual nature; and I am led to think his going abroad was only a fiction, the better to cover his base design of deserting her: be this as it might, she had never since heard from him; and, as her little money was soon exhausted, she found herself alone and friendless, and now first began to reflect on the consequences of her imprudence. She had, on quitting the school, assumed the name of K⸺e, which I have recorded her by, in order to avoid the inquiries of her family; to whom shame and (perhaps false) delicacy, now deterred her from a thought of returning. In the late scenes of her guilty prosperity she had formed an acquaintance with several kept women who were living, like herself, in elegant infamy. She now had recourse to some of these friends for temporary assistance; but alas! they soon convinced her how little is to be expected from such friendship, when adversity renders it most essential. In a fatal moment she took the usual course of persons similarly situated; she procured a suitable lodging where her misfortunes were not known, and frequented the theatres and other public places; at which (being a new face on the town), she was successful above all her competitors in attracting the notice of the male sex. The pecuniary emoluments she thence derived had enabled her to live elegantly; and her person and carriage were so much above the common class of Cyprians that she was still, at the time I first saw her, an object of general admiration. Fortunately also her health was yet untainted, so that, could I have found means for our mutual support, this connexion promised to be a source of happiness to us both. She felt happy at the opportunity of quitting a course of life which had always disgusted her; and little regret for the past (being ignorant of the true state of my finances) save when a melancholy thought of her disconsolate family caused a temporary effusion of grief.
The first month or honeymoon of our connexion being expired, and the Astræa long departed from the river, I began to revolve in my mind the means of future subsistence. As I had spared no expense to render our retirement pleasing, and had purchased for myself a suit of plain clothes, I now found myself reduced to my last guinea, and I knew that unless I hit upon some mode of speedily recruiting, I must have recourse to the pawnbroker for another. These unpleasing reflections gave me much uneasiness; but I carefully concealed it from my partner, and preserved the same air of cheerfulness as before. At length came “th’ inevitable hour.” Money was wanting for household purposes, and I was obliged to raise a few pounds, by depositing my watch in the usual place of security. I accounted for the absence of this article by a pretence that it wanted repair. This small supply lasted but a fortnight, as we retrenched nothing of our mode of living; and I had lately accompanied my dear Sarah to the theatres, and other places of diversion, for which amusement she had as violent a passion as myself. But I have now to relate an event, which no less afflicted than surprised me, and of which I had not the most distant apprehension.
One night, towards the close of the last mentioned period, we had returned late from the opera, and, being in high spirits though low in pocket, I proposed to send for a small collation from the neighbouring tavern, and to indulge in a little extra festivity: this was approved of by my charmer, who indeed had no will but mine; and, our little maid having procured the necessary requisites, we enjoyed a most comfortable supper; after which we circulated the cheering glass, the wine receiving an additional zest from the wit and enlivening conversation of my fair companion. But mark the uncertainty of human happiness!
About two o’clock, as we were on the point of retiring to rest, we were surprised by a sudden and loud knock at the street door, which being unusual at so late an hour, caused a momentary alarm to us both. Before we had time to form any idea of the cause, the door of our apartment was burst rudely open, and three persons entered, at the sight of whom, my unfortunate girl fainted in my arms, on the sofa whereon we sat. One of the three persons, a respectable looking elderly gentleman, from his tender anxiety, but mixed with some degree of severity, I soon conjectured to be her unhappy father; in which I was not mistaken. The other two immediately called the landlady of the house, by whose assistance they recovered the poor girl from her swoon; which having accomplished, they instantly hurried her down stairs, the old gentleman darting an angry look at me, and left me so stupified with grief and surprise, that I had not power to follow, or notice their proceedings. I soon afterwards heard a coach drive from the door, on which the latter was immediately shut, and the landlady coming up, informed me of what she had gathered during a short conversation from the parties. It appeared that the young lady had been seen with me the preceding night at the opera-house, by a friend of her family, who knowing of her elopement, had officiously followed us home, and then immediately given information to her father, who applying instantly to Sir William Ford, the Bow-Street magistrate, that gentleman had detached Messrs. Townshend and Carpmeal (two of his principal officers) to assist him in the recovery of his lost child. This they had effected as I have described; the anxiety of her parent not suffering him to defer the business even till the ensuing day. The woman added that on learning from her, the life his daughter had led for some months prior to her acquaintance with me, and that I was not her original seducer, he had declined the idea of apprehending me, which the officers were otherwise empowered to do.
This melancholy event was a grievous affliction to me, who had relinquished an honourable situation, purely on her account; and was now not only deprived of a beloved object, but reduced to a state of utter poverty. Notwithstanding every inquiry I could institute, I could never obtain any further information as to the fate of Miss K⸺e, than what I extracted by a bribe from one of the officers, who assured me that it was her father’s intention to send her to a remote part of the kingdom, where she had a female relation who had undertaken the care of her: but this man declared that the name of her parents was known only to the magistrate, which was perhaps true: and the dear girl had never even disclosed her real name to myself, but had almost promised so to do on a little longer acquaintance.
I now quitted this lodging, the wearing apparel of my late companion being claimed by the landlady for some arrears of rent, as the father had refused to take any thing from the house, and never approached it more. I engaged a small apartment for myself in a more centrical situation; and, to supply my immediate wants, deposited one article after another at the pawnbroker’s, till I had no longer any thing left to deposit.
It was necessary, however, before my appearance became too shabby, to find some means of support. As to my friends, I had given up every idea of returning to them, nor did I, for some months after this, acquaint them of the rash step I had taken: and when I afterwards did so, I amused my poor grandfather with a fictitious account of my having returned to the law, and assured him that I was doing well; for as I have before hinted, I was so sensible of the inconvenience which that worthy man must unavoidably suffer in his old age, from his too great liberality to me, that I determined to submit to any hardships rather than be a further incumbrance upon him.
I had, during my former residence in London, taken great delight in billiards, and, by a frequent attendance at public tables, had become a tolerably good player. I had renewed my acquaintance with this game, since my last arrival in town; and, urged by necessity, I now deemed it possible to pick up a little money at one of these boards of green cloth. For this purpose I attended daily at the rooms in Bow-Street, Covent Garden, where, by a few days play with the marker, I gained a knowledge of the tables; and, as nothing contributes like practice to improve one at this scientific game, I was soon enabled to engage with such gentlemen as accidentally dropped in for an hour’s amusement, which I obligingly afforded them at the expense of a few shillings.