Delia at length permitted him to accompany her home, determined to hide nothing from so benevolent a man, but by a candid acknowledgment of her real situation endeavour to prove herself worthy of the generous friend whom-she was now fully persuadedHeaven had sent to her relief.
He listened with the greatest attention and absolutely shed tears as she related the cause and manner of her ruin. He called upon Heaven to pour forth its direst vengeance on the head of the cruel despoiler who could have the heart to abandon one so young, so innocent, and so lovely. Moved by his tears and the interest he appeared to take in her misfortunes, she endeavoured in her turn to soothe the violence of his emotions; and as he called her his dear suffering child, allowed him to take what he termed a fatherly salute; he now insisted on sending the landlady for some refreshment; and a cold fowl and ham, with two bottles of wine, were procured from a neighbouring tavern, of which, as he said, for the purpose of preventing her from thinking that he was actuated by any immoral motive, the landlady was invited to partake.
After upwards of two hours had been passed in cheerful conversation he rose to depart, begging that he might be allowed to repeat his visit on the following day, which being granted he took his leave, the landlady escorting him downstairs; but, to the surprise of Delia, half an hour elapsed ere he left the house; and it was evident that he had been, during the whole of that period, in earnest conversation with the gratified hostess, who returned to Delia with eyes beaming with delight.
"Well," she exclaimed, "here's a friend indeed! You may thank your lucky stars-he has desired me to let you want for nothing and has given me this five pound note to meet any present emergency; and this excess of feeling upon his part, he has just informed me with tears in his eyes, arises from the extraordinary likeness you bear to a dearly beloved daughter, of whom he was deprived by death some four years ago; so striking, he says, is the resemblance that he could almost imagine that Heaven had restored his lost child to bring peace and happiness once again to the heart of a bereaved father."
Early on the following morning she was visited by Rebecca, who, anxious to account for her apparent want of feeling towards the friend of her infancy, hastened to give the requisite explanation. It appeared that Mr. B. had first beheld her at the village school when she had scarcely entered into her fourteenth year; he was frequently in the habit of calling and questioning the children and evinced much satisfaction at their gradual improvement; he seemed more particularly struck with Rebecca and having at various times made her several trifling presents, she, as might be expected from a girl of such tender age, could not conceal the pleasure she derived whenever she saw him coming.
But how great was her astonishment, on one Sunday afternoon while sitting with her father in their humble cottage, to see Mr. B" accompanied by an elderly lady, crossing the little garden which fronted their abode.
"There, my dear," said he, addressing the lady as they entered, "there, my dear, this is my little favourite; what do you think of her? I hope you'll acknowledge that I have done her no more than justice in the description I have given."
The lady, whom he now introduced as his wife, replied with a smile,
"Well, indeed, if she be as good as she is pretty I should say you certainly have not. Come hither, child, what say you-should you like to quit the country to live with me in London?"
Rebecca curtsied, and frankly replied, "Yes, ma'am, if my father pleases."
Mr. B. then proceeded to explain: He had been greatly attracted towards Rebecca from the time he had first beheld her, in consequence of the extraordinary resemblance which she bore to an only daughter (this was, in fact, his usual mode of accounting for his singular attachments), and hearing of her father's extreme poverty he had spoken of his intentions to his wife, whom he had at last prevailed upon to accompany him in order that she might judge for herself; the result, he was happy to say, was perfectly satisfactory-and should it meet with his (the father's) approbation, she might prepare herself to accompany them to London in the following week, where she would be in every respect treated as their own child.
The old lady herself seconded her husband's desires and painted the advantages that the dear child would derive from the proposed arrangements in such glowing colours that the delighted parent, thinking that his daughter's fortune was made forever, hesitated not in giving his permission, in consequence of which Rebecca was soon installed in her new habitation as the adopted daughter of the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. B.
The young girl was at first delighted at a change so greatly for the better, but could not refrain from expressing her astonishment at the secluded manner in which Mrs. B. seemed to live. This, she was informed, was entirely owing to the bad state of her health and that it was enjoined by her medical adviser that she should confine herself as much as possible to her own apartment. Such being the case, Rebecca and her protector generally took their meals together; once in every day she was allowed to visit the invalid, with whom she stayed for about an hour; the old lady always received her with the greatest kindness and never failed at parting to impress upon her mind the importance of her doing all in her power to retain the affection of Mr.
B. by striving continually to please him and to study carefully all his little peculiarities. He, in the meantime, continued to behave towards her with the most devoted affection, and each evening upon the removal of the tea equipage he would endeavour to improve her in reading and writing; he would occasionally seek to divert her by reading to her some amusing story, which by degrees assumed a rather voluptuous character, so much so, indeed, that without knowing why she would feel her young cheeks glow with the blush of confusion as she listened to the amatory descriptions rather too vividly explicit. At other times he would sit gazing at her for several minutes exclaiming, as to himself, "How lovely, how very like!" Then, seizing her in his arms, he would seat her upon his knee and almost stifle her with kisses. One evening he, by accident, discovered that she had a small mole underneath her left breast. Wonderful similitude! so had his dear departed child; and this was a sufficient excuse for frequently uncovering her youthful bosom in order that he might kiss and finger the beloved spot which so strongly reminded him of his lost daughter.
But he was all a cheat. He had never been married-never had a child; the hypocritical old beldame who resided with him had been once a well-known procuress whom he paid to assist him in his nefarious practices, and by their united efforts too often fatally succeeded in their diabolical designs. Thus, in the present instance, he so artfully proceeded by imperceptible degrees to undermine the virtue of the artless Rebecca that ere she had become sensible of her danger she had nothing left to grant, or he to ask. Her innocence thus destroyed, she was easily persuaded to keep her father in ignorance of her fall. The vile assistant was rewarded and dismissed; and the degraded girl consented to be introduced to her neighbours as the daughter of the man who had so cruelly abused her confidence.
At this tender age (she had not yet completed her eighteenth year) had the once innocent girl consented to become a pander to the lusts of this hoary-headed miscreant, who having long been satiated with the charms of his young victim had repeatedly threatened to cast her forth upon the world if she refused to assist him in luring fresh victims to his frightful lair, and as she had no home save that of her betrayer, for shame and guilt would for ever prevent her from returning to her father, she determined to avoid the horrors of more general prostitution by reluctantly becoming his agent.