ſhe in Complacence to him ſpent much time in adorning herſelf. I ſay, in Complacence to him, becauſe ſhe always expreſt the greateſt Contempt for Dreſs, and for thoſe Ladies who made it their Study.
But if ſuch was her Expectation, how was ſhe diſappointed, when Mrs. Wilkins, according to the Order ſhe had receiv’d from her Maſter, produced the little Infant. Great Surpriſes, as hath been obſerved, are apt to be ſilent, and ſo was Miſs Bridget, ’till her Brother began and told her the whole Story, which as the Reader knows already, we ſhall not repeat.
Miſs Bridget had always expreſt ſo great a regard for what the Ladies are pleaſed to call Virtue, and had herſelf mantained ſuch a Severity of Character, that it was expected, eſpecially by Wilkins, that ſhe would have vented much Bitterneſs on this Occaſion, and would have voted for ſending the Child, as a kind of noxious Animal, immediately out of the Houſe; but on the contrary, ſhe rather took the good-natur’d ſide of the queſtion, intimated ſome Compaſſion for the helpleſs little Creature, and commended her Brother’s Charity in what he had done.
Perhaps the Reader may account for this Behaviour from her Condeſcenſion to Mr. Allworthy, when we have informed him,that
