Near Petty's Hotel, I caught sight of a frail beauty. Her dress told her fate. She evidently knew me, and wished to avoid me. I laid my hand on her arm, and the wreck of my Highland beauty stood before me. Alas, how different from the lovely girl she once was! The ruddy rose of the Highlands was changed for the tinge of rum; she had been drinking, but well knew what she was about.
‘Tell me where you are going?’ ‘To hell!’ was her answer. I continued to walk by her side; she became insolent, but I was determined not to leave her. She made for Lavender's Ferry, and said, ‘My mistress lives over there’. I said, ‘I’ll go to the other side with you, as I want to say a few words to you’.
She was unwilling, but I persisted. We crossed over. I felt certain from her manner she meditated suicide. I bade her sit down.
‘Are you a mother?’ She seized my hand and placed it on her heart. ‘God is merciful!’ She shook her head.
I saw a letter in her bosom; I drew it out with her nodded consent. It was from her brother; he felt her disgrace, he taunted her with being the first in the family who had known shame. ‘Were there any in your family that ever committed murder?’ She shook with horror. ‘Then why will you?’ ‘It's there I meant to drown myself,’ she said, pointing to a distant spot. ‘It's there we met often, and there I would die!’
I did not leave until I heard her vow never to attempt self-destruction. I procured her lodgings. My spirits returned; I felt God's blessing was on my work. From the hour I was on the beach with Flora, fear left me.
