The Duel and Lothario’s Wounding
About two o’clock, the man returned and assured her her perfidious lover was no more, having been challenged to the field, upbraided for his treachery, and left weltering in his blood after a few passes. She delighted in this recital, made him repeat the particulars, and feasted her eyes on the blood on his clothes and sword. Her imagination was so engrossed that she dreamed Lothario appeared pale, mangled, and bloody, blaming her rashness, protesting his innocence, and pleading his cause so pathetically that she woke in horror and remorse.
Lothario’s Letter
In the morning, perceiving her aversion, the avenger (Horatio) hinted there was possibility of Lothario’s recovery—he was wounded but not quite dead. She bade him fly for intelligence. He returned with a letter in Lothario’s hand saying the wounds were not mortal. She read it with transport of joy and caressed Horatio, thus won from despair by the menace of a greater misfortune.
Life with Horatio
The letter that restored her peace soon banished it, for his reproaches recalled her former happiness and filled her soul with rage and sorrow. Horatio endeavored to divert her by treating her to the amusements of the town. She was gratified with every indulgence, introduced to women in her own situation who paid her uncommon deference, and began to lose remembrance of her former condition.
News of the Father’s Death
One day, reading newspapers, she found an advertisement describing a young gentlewoman who had disappeared from her father’s house, offering reward for information about her, or if she would return, promising tender reception. She resolved to return like the prodigal son, but learned upon inquiry that her father had died a month before, lamenting her absence to his last hour. He had left his fortune to a stranger as a mark of resentment at her undutiful behavior. She sank into profound melancholy, and most of her acquaintances abandoned her when they perceived her change of temper.
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