directions how to conduct myself on this occasion.

He appeared to ponder deeply and with much perplexity on what I had
said. When he spoke there was hesitation in his manner and circuity in
his expressions, that proved him to have something in his thoughts which
he knew not how to communicate. He frequently paused; but my answers and
remarks, occasionally given, appeared to deter him from the revelation
of his purpose. Our discourse ended, for the present, by his desiring me
to persist in my present plan; I should suffer no inconveniences from
it, since it would be my own fault if an interview again took place
between the lady and me; meanwhile he should see her and effectually
silence her inquiries.

I ruminated not superficially or briefly on this dialogue. By what means
would he silence her inquiries? He surely meant not to mislead her by
fallacious representations. Some inquietude now crept into my thoughts.
I began to form conjectures as to the nature of the scheme to which my
suppression of the truth was to be thus made subservient. It seemed as
if I were walking in the dark and might rush into snares or drop into
pits before I was aware of my danger. Each moment accumulated my doubts,
and I cherished a secret foreboding that the event would prove my new
situation to be far less fortunate than I had, at first, fondly
believed. The question now occurred, with painful repetition, who and
what was Welbeck? What was his relation to this foreign lady? What was
the service for which I was to be employed?

I could not be contented without a solution of these mysteries. Why
should I not lay my soul open before my new friend? Considering my
situation, would he regard my fears and my surmises as criminal? I felt
that they originated in laudable habits and views. My peace of mind