Young needy favourite she had been obliged to withdraw the
allowance they had from her.
On taking leave she found means to slip a little billet into Horatio's
hands, unperceived by any of the company, which, as soon as he had a
convenient opportunity, he opened, and found these words in French:
To the agreeable HORATIO.
SIR,
"Tho' I have not perhaps so much beauty
as Edella, I have twice her sincerity, and
not many years older: such as I am, however,
I fancy you will think a correspondence with
me of too much advantage to be refused: - if
you will counterfeit an indisposition, to-morrow
I will out of excessive charity visit you, and
bring you a refreshment, I flatter myself, will
not be disagreeable to a man in your circumstances: - farewell; - be
secret, - and love as well as you can,
Yours,
MATTAKESA."
Of all the accidents that had befallen Horatio since his leaving
England, none ever so much surprized him as the prodigious impudence of
this lady: he had heard talk of such adventures, but never till now
believed there could be any such thing in nature, as a woman that
offered herself in this manner, without the least sollicitation from the
person on whom she wished to lavish what ought only to be the reward of
an approved, or at least a shew of the most violent passion.
The dilemma he was in how to behave, was also equal to his
astonishment: - had she been the most lovely of her sex, as she was very
much the reverse, the ever present idea of his dear Charlotta would have
defended his heart from the invasions of any other charms; but he needed
not that pre-engagement to make him look with detestation on a woman of
Mattakesa's principles: - when he reflected on what she had said
concerning Edella, he found her base, censorious, and unjust: - and when
he considered the manner in which she proceeded in regard to himself, he
saw a lewdness and audacity which rendered her doubly odious, to
him: - he doubted not but she was wicked and subtle enough to contrive
some means of revenging herself, in case she met with a disappointment
in her wishes, yet had too great an abhorrence to be able to entertain
one thought of gratifying them.
As he was young and unexperienced in the world, he would have been glad
of some advice how to act so as not to incur her resentment, yet avoid
her love; but the strict notions he had of honour remonstrated to him
that he ought not to betray a secret of that nature, tho' confided in
him by an ill woman. - Her baseness, cried he to himself, would be no
excuse for mine; and it is better for me to risque whatever her malice
may inflict, than forfeit my character, by exposing a woman who pretends
to love me.
