CHAPTER SEVEN MRS. HEARTFREE RELATES HER ADVENTURES.
Mrs. Heartfree proceeded thus: "The vengeance which the Frenchcaptain exacted on that villain (our hero) persuaded me that I wasfallen into the hands of a man of honour and justice; nor indeedwas it possible for any person to be treated with more respect andcivility than I now was; but if this could not mitigate my sorrowswhen I reflected on the condition in which I had been betrayed toleave all that was dear to me, much less could it produce such aneffect when I discovered, as I soon did, that I owed it chiefly toa passion which threatened me with great uneasiness, as it quicklyappeared to be very violent, and as I was absolutely in the powerof the person who possessed it, or was rather possessed by it. Imust however do him the justice to say my fears carried mysuspicions farther than I afterwards found I had any reason tocarry them: he did indeed very soon acquaint me with his passion,and used all those gentle methods which frequently succeed withour sex to prevail with me to gratify it; but never oncethreatened, nor had the least recourse to force. He did not evenonce insinuate to me that I was totally in his power, which Imyself sufficiently saw, and whence I drew the most dreadfulapprehensions, well knowing that, as there are some dispositionsso brutal that cruelty adds a zest and savour to their pleasures,so there are others whose gentler inclinations are bettergratified when they win us by softer methods to comply with theirdesires; yet that even these may be often compelled by an unrulypassion to have recourse at last to the means of violence, whenthey despair of success from persuasion; but I was happily thecaptive of a better man. My conqueror was one of those over whomvice hath a limited jurisdiction; and, though he was too easilyprevailed on to sin, he was proof against any temptation tovillany.
"We had been two days almost totally becalmed, when, a brisk galerising as we were in sight in Dunkirk, we saw a vessel making fullsail towards us. The captain of the privateer was so strong thathe apprehended no danger but from a man-of-war, which the sailorsdiscerned this not to be. He therefore struck his colours, andfurled his sails as much as possible, in order to lie by andexpect her, hoping she might be a prize." (Here Heartfree smiling,his wife stopped and inquired the cause. He told her it was fromher using the sea-terms so aptly: she laughed, and answered hewould wonder less at this when he heard the long time she had beenon board; and then proceeded.) "This vessel now came alongside ofus, and hailed us, having perceived that on which we were aboardto be of her own country; they begged us not to put into Dunkirk,but to accompany them in their pursuit of a large Englishmerchantman, whom we should easily overtake, and both together aseasily conquer. Our captain immediately consented to thisproposition, and ordered all his sail to be crowded. This was mostunwelcome news to me; however, he comforted me all he could byassuring me I had nothing to fear, that he would be so far fromoffering the least rudeness to me himself, that he would, at thehazard of his life, protect me from it. This assurance gave me allthe consolation which my present circumstances and the dreadfulapprehensions I had on your dear account would admit." (At whichwords the tenderest glances passed on both sides between thehusband and wife.)