Assault in the Wood
One evening, while reading in a wood bordering the high road near her father’s house, Miss Williams was accosted by a drunken local squire who called her a “charming creature,” dismounted, grabbed her in his arms, and assaulted her. She screamed and struggled with all her strength to resist his violence.
The Rescue
A passing male horseman witnessed the assault, dismounted, and rushed to her aid. The squire, furious at being interrupted, ran to his horse, drew a pistol, and fired at the rescuer, who was unharmed. The rescuer knocked the squire to the ground with the butt of his whip, seized the squire’s second pistol, and threatened to kill him for his cowardice and treachery until Miss Williams intervened and begged for his life. The rescuer agreed to spare the squire only after he apologized and swore he had only intended to steal a kiss, then unloaded the squire’s remaining pistol and discarded the flints before releasing him.
A Growing Attachment
The rescuer escorted Miss Williams home, where her father thanked him profusely for saving his daughter and insisted he stay the night. Miss Williams was struck by the rescuer’s appearance (which she noted was nearly identical to the person she was addressing her story to) and his sensible, open, ingenuous conversation; she learned he was the eldest son of a wealthy local family, and spent the night consumed by romantic, chivalric fantasies of their connection, imagining herself a rescued princess bound to her heroic savior.
Courtship and Deception
The rescuer, whom Miss Williams later named Horatio, began visiting regularly, artfully flattering her intellect and feigning misapprehension of her arguments to give her opportunities to demonstrate her own sharpness, winning her full esteem. He eventually declared his ardent, sincere love, professing honorable intentions to marry her, and lamented that his greedy father had betrothed him to another woman against his will. Convinced by his apparent candor, Miss Williams entered into a secret relationship with him, and eventually yielded her innocence to him, believing he would uphold his promise to marry her.
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