124 THE HISTORY OF

It seems, that he had never forgiven me for
this slight, as he thought it; and he was
mightily pleased when he heard, at Ludlow,
where he had spent the last few days, with
other young men, who had gone there to the
fair, of the disgrace I had fallen into on ac-
count of the Captain. And it was a new plea-
sure to him to be told by his uncle, when he
came home, that I had run away from my ser-
vice, and had come to him for work.

So, as soon as he came to that part of the
field where I was, he called out to me from the
waggon, where he was loading the hay, ‘* Well,
Mrs. Susan, and how did you leave the Cap-
tain? or, to speak more properly, how did the
Captain leave you? For they tell me, in Lud-
low, that he is gone ont of the country, and
taken with him, by way of company, Charlotte
Owen, the huckster’s daughter.” Then he
laughed aloud.

I was like one thunderstruck when I heard
these words: my rake fell from my hand, and
my eyes were filled immediately with tears
when I thought of the imprudence of poor
Charlotte.

1 will not repeat all the foolish jokes of Wil-
liam Ball, when he saw my grief and distress,
Indeed, I paid but little heed to what he said.
At length, one of the old women told him that
he might be ashamed of himself for making a
jest of what did not seem to her any jesting
matter; that, with respect to me, she had seen
no harm by me since she had become acquaint-
ed with me; that she believed I was a very mo-