Some others, measuring me by the propensity of their own
inclinations, concluded I would steal her, run away with her, and
marry her; which they thought I might be the more easily induced to
do, from the advantageous opportunities I frequently had of riding
and walking abroad with her, by night as well as by day, without any
other company than her maid. For so great indeed was the confidence
that her mother had in me, that she thought her daughter safe if I
was with her, even from the plots and designs that others had upon
her; and so honourable were the thoughts she entertained concerning
me, as would not suffer her to admit a suspicion that I could be
capable of so much baseness as to betray the trust she with so great
freedom reposed in me.
I was not ignorant of the various fears which filled the jealous
heads of some concerning me, neither was I so stupid nor so divested
of all humanity as not to be sensible of the real and innate worth
and virtue which adorned that excellent dame, and attracted the eyes
and hearts of so many with the greatest importunity to seek and
solicit her.
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