I left her at length, and returned to the house not till a late hour.

As soon as I entered, my father presented Betty to me as his wife, and desired she might receive that treatment from me which was due to a mother.
It was not till after repeated and solemn declarations from both of them that I was prevailed upon to credit this event.

Its effect upon my feelings may be easily conceived.

I knew the woman to be rude, ignorant, and licentious.

Had I suspected this event, I might have fortified my father's weakness and enabled him to shun the gulf to which he was tending; but my presumption had been careless of the danger.