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betake them? By what exertion of industry could Lucy procure them another
abode? Her mother nearly bed-rid, could not survive any extreme of
famine-struck poverty. At this time her other admirer stept forward, and
renewed his offer of marriage. He had saved money, and was going to set up
a little inn at Datchet. There was nothing alluring to Lucy in this offer,
except the home it secured to her mother; and she felt more sure of this,
since she was struck by the apparent generosity which occasioned the
present offer. She accepted it; thus sacrificing herself for the comfort
and welfare of her parent.
It was some years after her marriage that we became acquainted with her.
The accident of a storm caused us to take refuge in the inn, where we
witnessed the brutal and quarrelsome behaviour of her husband, and her
patient endurance. Her lot was not a fortunate one. Her first lover had
returned with the hope of making her his own, and met her by accident, for
the first time, as the mistress of his country inn, and the wife of
another. He withdrew despairingly to foreign parts; nothing went well with
him; at last he enlisted, and came back again wounded and sick, and yet
Lucy was debarred from nursing him. Her husband's brutal disposition was
aggravated by his yielding to the many temptations held out by his
situation, and the consequent disarrangement of his affairs. Fortunately
she had no children; but her heart was bound up in her brothers and
sisters, and these his avarice and ill temper soon drove from the house;
they were dispersed about the country, earning their livelihood with toil
and care. He even shewed an inclination to get rid of her mother--but
Lucy was firm here--she had sacrificed herself for her; she lived for her
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