and who had no other Quarrel to her Maid, anſwered boldly, She did not know any Obligation the Pariſh had to her on that Account, for ſhe believed Jenny had. ſcarce left her Equal behind her.
‘No, truly, ſaid the Goſip, I hope not, tho’ I fancy we have Sluts enow too. Then you have not heard, it ſeems, that ſhe hath been brought to bed of two Baſtards; but as they are not born here, my Huſband, and the other Overſeer, ſays we ſhall not be obliged to keep them.’
‘Two Baſtards!’ anſwered Mrs. Partridge haſtily, ‘you ſurprize me. I don’t know whether we muſt keep them; but I am ſure they muſt have been begotten here, for the Wench hath not been nine Months gone away.’
Nothing can be ſo quick and ſudden as the Operations of the Mind, eſpecially when Hope, or Fear; or Jealouſy to which the two others are but Journeymen, ſet it to work. It occurred inſlantly to her, that Jenny had ſcarce ever been out of her own Houſe, while ſhe lived with her. The leaning over the Chair, the ſudden ſtarting up, the Latin, the Smile, and many other Thingsruſhed
