Даниэль Дефо - Roxana

He smil’d at that; I can indeed, says he , take him away, but then I must lose my 20 l . that I gave with him.

Well Sir, said Amy , I’ll enable you to lose that 20 l . immediately, and so she put her Hand in her Pocket, and pulls out her Purse.

He begun to be a little amaz’d at her, and look’d her hard in the Face, and that so very much, that she took Notice of it, and said, Sir, I Fancy by your looking at me, you think you know me, but I am assur’d you do not, for I never saw your Face before; I think you have done enough for the Child, and that you ought to be acknowleg’d as a Father to him, but you ought not to lose by your Kindness to him, more than the Kindness of bringing him up obliges you to; and therefore there’s the twenty Pound, added she , and pray let him be fetch’d away.

Well, Madam, says he , I will thank you for the Boy, as well as for my self; but will you please to tell me, what I must do with him.

Sir, says Amy , as you have been so Kind to keep him so many Years, I beg you will take him home again one Year more, and I’ll bring you an hundred Pound more, which I will desire you to lay-out in Schooling and Cloaths for him, and to pay you for his Board; perhaps I may put him in a Condition to return your Kindness.

He look’d pleas’d, but surpriz’d very much, and enquir’d of Amy , but with very great Respect, what he should go to School to learn? and what Trade she would please to put him out to?

Amy said, he should put him to learn a little Latin , and then Merchants-Accounts; and to write a good Hand, for she would have him be put to a Turkey -Merchant. [229] put to a Turkey-Merchant : made apprentice to an importer of Turkish goods.

Madam, says he , I am glad for his sake, to hear you talk so; but do you know that a Turkey -Merchant will not take him under 4 or 500 Pounds?

Yes Sir, says Amy , I know it very well.

And, says he , that it will require as many Thousands to set him up?

Yes Sir, says Amy , I know that very well too; and resolving to talk very big, she added , I have no Children of my own, and I resolve to make him my Heir; and if ten Thousand Pounds be requir’d to set him up, he shall not want it; I was but his Mother’s Servant when he was born, and I mourn’d heartily for the Disaster of the Family; and I always said, if ever I was worth anything in the World, I wou’d take the Child for my own, and I’ll be as good as my Word now, tho’ I did not then foresee: that it wou’d be with me, as it has been since: And so Amy told him a long Story how she was troubled for me; and what she wou’d give to hear whether I was dead or alive, and what Circumstances I was in; that if she cou’d but find me, if I was ever so poor, she wou’d take Care of me, and make a Gentlewoman of me again.

He told her, That as to the Child’s Mother, she had been reduc’d to the last Extremity, and was oblig’d (as he suppos’d she knew) to send the Children all among her Husband’s Friends; and if it had not been for him, they had all been sent to the Parish; but that he oblig’d the other Relations to share the Charge among them; that he had taken two, whereof he had lost the eldest, who died of the Small-Pox; but that he had been as careful of this, as of his own, and had made very little Difference in their breeding up; only that when he came to put him out, he thought it was best for the Boy, to put him to a Trade which he might set-up in, without a Stock; for otherwise his Time wou’d be lost; and that as to his Mother, he had never been able to hear one Word of her, no, not tho’ he had made the utmost Enquiry after her; that there went a Report, that she had drown’d herself; but that he cou’d never meet with any-body that cou’d give him a certain Account of it.

Amy counterfeited a Cry for her poor Mistress; told him, she wou’d give any thing in the World to see her, if she was alive; and a great deal more such-like Talk they had about that; then they return’d to speak of the Boy.

He enquir’d of her, why she did not seek after the Child before, that he might have been brought up from a younger Age, suitable to what she design’d to do for him.

She told him, she had been out of England , and was but newly return’d from the East-Indies ; that she had been out of England , and was but newly return’d, was true; but the latter was false, and was put in to blind him, and provide against farther Enquiries; for it was not a strange thing for young Women to go away poor to the East-Indies , and come home vastly Rich; so she went on with Directions about him; and both agreed in this, that the Boy should by no means be told what was intended for him, but only that he should be taken home again to his Uncle’s; that his Uncle thought the Trade too hard for him, and the like .

About three Days after this, Amy goes again, and carry’d him the hundred Pound she promis’d him, but then Amy made quite another Figure than she did before; for she went in my Coach, with two Footmen after her, and dress’d very fine also, with Jewells and a Gold Watch; and there was indeed, no great Difficulty to make Amy look like a Lady, for she was a very handsome wellshap’d Woman, and genteel enough; the Coachman and Servants were particularly order’d to show her the same Respect as they wou’d to me, and to call her Madam Collins , if they were ask’d any Questions about her.

When the Gentleman saw what a Figure she made, it added to the former Surprize, and he entertain’d her in the most respectful Manner possible; congratulated her Advancement in Fortune, and particularly rejoyc’d that it should fall to the poor Child’s Lot to be so provided for, contrary to all Expectation.

Well, Amy talk’d big, but very free and familiar; told them she had no Pride in her good-Fortune; (and that was true enough for to give Amy her due, she was far from it, and was as good-humour’d a Creature as ever liv’d) that she was the same as ever, and that she always lov’d this Boy, and was resolv’d to do something extraordinary for him.

Then she pull’d out her Money, and paid him down an hundred and twenty Pounds, which, she said, she paid him, that he might be sure he should be no Loser by taking him Home again, and that she would come and see him again, and talk farther about things with him, that so all might be settled for him, in such a Manner, as the Accidents, such as Mortality, or any-thing else, should make no Alteration to the Child’s Prejudice.

At this Meeting, the Uncle brought his Wife out, a good motherly, comely, grave Woman who spoke very tenderly of the Youth, and as it appear’d, had been very good to him, tho’ she had several Children of her own: After a long Discourse, she put in a Word of her own; Madam, say she , I am heartily glad of the good Intentions you have for this poor Orphan, and I rejoice sincerely in it, for his sake; but Madam, you know, (I suppose) that there are two Sisters alive too, may we not speak a Word for them? Poor Girls, says she , they have not been so kindly us’d, as he has; and are turn’d out to the wide World.

Where are they, Madam? says Amy .

Poor Creatures, says the Gentlewoman , they are out at Service; no-body knows where but themselves; their Case is very hard.

Well, Madam, says Amy , tho’, if I cou’d find them, I would assist them; yet my Concern is for my Boy, as I call him , and I will put him into a Condition to take Care of his Sisters.

But, Madam, says the good compassionate Creature , he may not be so charitable perhaps, by his own Inclination, for Brothers are not Fathers; and they have been cruelly us’d already, poor Girls; we have often reliev’d them, both with Victuals and Cloaths too, even while they were pretended to be kept by their barbarous Aunt.