She answered, quite composed, Then, Madam, you will see an object, that
would greatly move your pity.
She rose up as she spoke this, saying, her poor father would be very
uneasy at her staying so long, and was preparing to go.
I was seized with a strong inclination to visit this unhappy father
directly. If, said I, the case be as she represents it, I cannot be too
speedy in my relief; and, if she has falsified in any thing, I shall
probably detect her, by not giving her an opportunity of seeing and
preparing him first.
It was not more than eleven o'clock; and I resolved not to defer the
charity I intended. I desired the young woman to stay a while, and
ordering Patty to bring down a plain black silk hood and scarf of her
own, I made the poor girl, to her great astonishment, put them on. I
then ordered a hackney coach to be called, and said, I would go with her
to her father. She looked surprized, but not startled, which made a
favourable impression on me. She appeared decent, and I desired her to
get into the coach, which I ordered, according to her direction, to
drive to the jail, where her father was confined.
When we arrived at this mansion of horror, for so it appeared to me, I
let her go up stairs before me. She stopped at a door, and said that was
the room where her father lay. I bid her go in first; she entered, and I
stood without-side the door, where (as the lobby was dark) I could not
readily be perceived.
I saw there a man of about sixty; and as she had told me her father was
corpulent, I did not at first take him to be the person, for he looked
worn out, pale, and emaciated. He wore his own grisled hair, and had on
a cassock, girded about him with silk sash. One of his hands was slung
in a black crape; he sat pensively, leaning on a table, with a book open
before him, which seemed to be the Bible.
Upon his daughter's going into the room, he lifted up his eyes to see
who it was: he had a fine countenance; candour and sincerity were
painted on it.
My dear, you made a long stay, said he, in a melancholy voice, I was
afraid something had happened to you. What has detained you?
Oh, Sir, said she, looking towards the door, I believe I met with a good
angel, who is come to visit you in prison.
I entered at these words: the venerable man rose.--A good angel indeed,
if her mind be like her face! He bowed respectfully.
Pray, Sir, keep your seat.
I took a chair, and placed myself by him. He did not seem in the least
embarrassed, but gravely and modestly demanded to what it was that he
owed the honour of a visit from a lady of my appearance; for, said he,
affluence and prosperity seldom seek the dwellings of the wretched.
I informed him, that, having met with his daughter by accident, she had
given me a melancholy account of his situation, and that I wished to
hear the particulars from his own mouth. He made an apology for the
length of his story; but said, if I had patience, he would relate it. I
told him, I had come for that purpose.
He then repeated to me every particular, as I had before heard them from
his daughter, enlarging on certain passages, which she had but slightly
touched upon. He shewed me copies of his two letters to Mr Ware, and
that gentleman's answer to the first, as also the old servant's letter
to his daughter, which convinced me of the truth of every thing he had
said.