MR. BELFORD
[IN CONTINUATION.]
EIGHT IN THE EVENING.
I had but just time, in my former, to tell you that Col. Morden was
arrived. He was on horseback, attended by two servants, and alighted
at the door just as the clock struck five. Mrs. Smith was then below in
her back-shop, weeping, her husband with her, who was as much affected as
she; Mrs. Lovick having left them a little before, in tears likewise; for
they had been bemoaning one another; joining in opinion that the
admirable lady would not live the night over. She had told them, it was
her opinion too, from some numbnesses, which she called the forerunners
of death, and from an increased inclination to doze.
The Colonel, as Mrs. Smith told me afterwards, asked with great
impatience, the moment he alighted, how Miss Harlowe was? She answered--
Alive!--but, she feared, drawing on apace.--Good God! said he, with his
hands and eyes lifted up, can I see her? My name is Morden. I have the
honour to be nearly related to her.--Step up, pray, and let her know,
(she is sensible, I hope,) that I am here--Who is with her?
Nobody but her nurse, and Mrs. Lovick, a widow gentlewoman, who is as
careful of her as if she were her mother.