CHAPTER X.

Wherein the history begins to draw towards a conclusion. WHEN Allworthy returned to his lodgings, he heard Mr. Jones was just arrived before him. He hurried therefore instantly into an empty chamber, whither he ordered Mr. Jones to be brought to him alone.

It is impossible to conceive a more tender or moving scene, than the meeting between the uncle and nephew (for Mrs. Waters, as the reader may well suppose, had at her last visit discovered to him the secret of his birth). The first agonies of joy which were felt on both sides, are indeed beyond my power to describe: I shall not therefore attempt it. After Allworthy had raised Jones from his feet, where he had prostrated himself, and received him into his arms, 'O my child!' he cried, 'how have I 'been to blame! how have I injured you! What amends 'can I ever make you for those unkind, those unjust suspicions which I have entertained; and for all the sufferings they have occasioned to you?' 'Am I not now 'made amends?' cries Jones; 'Would not my sufferings, if they had been ten times greater, have been now richly repaid? O my dear uncle! this goodness, this tender'ness overpowers, unmans, destroys me. I cannot bear 'the transports which flow so fast upon me. To be again restored to your presence, to your favour; to be once more thus kindly received by my great, my noble, my generous benefactor.'-' Indeed, child,' cries Allworthy, 'I have used you cruelly.' He then explained to him all the treachery of Blifil, and again repeated expressions of the utmost concern, for having been induced by that treachery to use him so ill. 'O,

เ

เ

'talk not so!' answered Jones; indeed, Sir, you have ' used me nobly. The wisest man might be deceived as you were; and under such a deception, the best must have acted just as you did. Your goodness displayed itself in the midst of your anger, just as it then seemed. 'I owe everything to that goodness of which I have been most unworthy. Do not put me on self accusation, by carrying your generous sentiments too far. Alas! Sir, 'I have not been punished more than I have deserved; and it shall be the whole business of my future life to เ deserve that happiness you now bestow on me; for 'believe me, my dear uncle, my punishment hath not 'been thrown away upon me: though I have been a เ great, I am not a hardened sinner; I thank heaven, I have had time to reflect on my past life, where, though I cannot charge myself with any gross villany, yet I can discern follies and vices more than enow to repent and to be ashamed of; follies which have been 'attended with dreadful consequences to myself, and 'have brought me to the brink of destruction.' 'I 'am rejoiced, my dear child,' answered Allworthy, 'to เ hear you talk thus sensibly; for as I am convinced 'hypocrisy (good heaven! how have I been imposed on by it in others!) was never among your faults; so I can readily believe all you say. You now see, Tom, to what dangers imprudence alone may subject 'virtue (for virtue, I am now convinced, you love in a great degree). Prudence is indeed the duty which we owe to ourselves; and if we will be so much our ' own enemies as to neglect it, we are not to wonder 'if the world is deficient in discharging their duty to us; for when a man lays the foundation of his own ruin, others will, I am afraid, be too apt to build upon it. You say, however, you have seen your errors, and will reform them. I firmly believe you,

เ

เ

เ

Re

my dear child ; and therefore, from this moment, you shall never be reminded of them by me. 'member them only yourself so far, as for the future 'to teach you the better to avoid them; but still re'member, for your comfort, that there is this great difference between those faults which candour may เ construe into imprudence, and those which can be 'deduced from villany only. The former, perhaps, are even more apt to subject a man to ruin; but if he 'reform, his character will, at length, be totally retrieved; the world, though not immediately, will, in time, be reconciled to him; and he may reflect, not 'without some mixture of pleasure, on the dangers he 'hath escaped; but villany, my boy, when once dis'covered, is irretrievable; the stains which this leaves behind, no time will wash away. The censures of 'mankind will pursue the wretch, their scorn will 'abash him in public; and if shame drives him into ' retirement, he will go to it with all those terrors with which a weary child, who is afraid of hobgoblins, เ retreats from company to go to bed alone.-Here his 'murdered conscience will haunt him. Repose, Repose, like 6 a false friend, will fly from him. Wherever he turns his eyes, horror presents itself; if he looks backward, ' unavailable repentance treads on his heels; if forward, 'incurable despair stares him in the face; till, like a 'condemned prisoner confined in a dungeon, he detests his present condition, and yet dreads the consequence of that hour which is to relieve him from it. Comfort 'yourself, I say, my child, that this is not your case; and rejoice, with thankfulness to him who hath suffered you to see your errors, before they have brought on you that destruction, to which a persistence in even 'those errors must have led you. You have deserted them; and the prospect now before you is such, that

เ

'happiness seems in your own power.'-At these words Jones fetched a deep sigh; upon which, when Allworthy remonstrated, he said, 'Sir, I will conceal nothing from you: I fear there is one consequence of my vices I 'shall never be able to retrieve. O, my dear uncle! 'I have lost a treasure.'--'You need say no more,' answered Allworthy; 'I will be explicit with you; I 'know what you lament; I have seen the young lady,

เ

เ

เ

and have discoursed with her concerning you. This 'I must insist on, as an earnest of your sincerity in 'all you have said, and of the stedfastness of your resolution, that you obey me in one instance. To 'abide entirely by the determination of the young lady, 'whether it shall be in your favour, or no. She hath already suffered enough from solicitations which I เ hate to think of; she shall owe no further constraint to my family: I know her father will be as ready 'to torment her now on your account, as he hath forเ merly been on another's; but I am determined she 'shall suffer no more confinement, no more violence, no more uneasy hours.'-' O, my dear uncle!' answered Jones, 'lay, I beseech you, some command เ on me, in which I shall have some merit in obedience. 'Believe me, Sir, the only instance in which I could 'disobey you, would be to give an uneasy moment 'to my Sophia. No, Sir, if I am so miserable to have incurred her displeasure beyond all hope of เ forgiveness, that alone, with the dreadful reflection of causing her misery, will be sufficient to overpower me. To call Sophia mine is the greatest, and now 'the only additional blessing which heaven can bestow 'but it is a blessing which I must owe to her alone.' 'I will not flatter you, child,' cries Allworthy; 'I 'fear your case is desperate: I never saw stronger 'marks of an unalterable resolution in any person,

'than appeared in her vehement declarations against'receiving your addresses; for which, perhaps, you 'can account better than myself.'-'Oh, Sir! I can account too well,' answered Jones; 'I have sinned เ against her beyond all hope of pardon; and guilty เ as I am, my guilt unfortunately appears to her in 'ten times blacker than the real colours. O, my dear ' uncle! I find my follies are irretrievable; and allyour goodness cannot save me from perdition.'

A servant now acquainted them, that Mr. Western was below stairs; for his eagerness to see Jones could not wait till the afternoon. Upon which Jones, whose eyes were full of tears, begged his uncle to entertain Western a few minutes, till he a little recovered himself; to which the good man consented, and having ordered Mr. Western to be shewn into a parlour, went down to him.

Mrs. Miller no sooner heard that Jones was alone, (for. she had not yet seen him since his release from prison) than she came eagerly into the room, and advancing. towards Jones, wished him heartily joy of his newfound uncle, and his happy reconciliation; adding, "I wish I could give you joy on another account, my dear child: but any thing so inexorable I never 'saw.'

Jones, with some appearance of surprise, asked her what she meant. 'Why then,' says she, 'I have been 'with your young lady, and have explained all matters. เ to her, as they were told me by my son Nightingale. She can have no longer any doubt about the letter; of that I am certain; for I told her my son Nightingale 'was ready to take his oath, if she pleased, that it was 'all his own invention, and the letter of his inditing. 'I told her the very reason of sending the letter ought to ' recommend you to her the more, as it was all upon her

เ