Flight to London
She furnished herself with money and eloped from her father at night, arriving at a small town where she took a stage coach to London. The spirit of revenge supported her against all other reflections. She hired a lodging under a feigned name and soon found Lothario’s house, where she went in a transport of rage.
Confrontation with Lothario
She demanded admission to Lothario, refusing to send her name. She was conducted to a parlor, where after waiting a quarter hour, a servant said his master was engaged with company. Her temper could hold no longer; she produced a poniard from her bosom and rushed upstairs exclaiming she would plunge it into his false heart. The noise alarmed the household; she was seized and disarmed. In this state she beheld Lothario approaching with his young wife, fell into a severe fit, and lost her senses.
The Fever and Miscarriage
When she recovered, she found herself attended by an old woman in a paltry apartment. She learned Lothario had called her mad and proposed sending her to Bedlam, but his wife believed there was more to her conduct than he wished known. She desired to leave and was conveyed to her lodgings. The agitation of her thoughts produced a fever, which brought on a miscarriage. She confesses that if she had borne a living child, her frenzy might have prompted her to sacrifice the innocent to her resentment.
The Avenger’s Proposition
One day a stranger came saying he was acquainted with her story, having learned it from Lothario himself, and had conceived a detestation for the author of her misfortunes. He offered to espouse her quarrel and take vengeance, provided she would grant him some consideration. She was transported with gloomy joy, made a contract, and he devoted himself to her revenge, undertaking to murder Lothario that very night.
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