And if ever domicile was becoming too warm for man to
live in, in consequence of female indignation, that one was Mr.
Blackmore Blackett's. It was not so much that the father had
purchased this beautiful creature to serve fiendish purposes. Oh
no!-that was a thing of every-day occurrence,--something excusable in
any respectable man's family. It was beauty rivalling, fierce and
jealous of its compliments. Again, the wretch-found incorrigible,
and useless for the purpose purchased-is sold. Poor, luckless
maiden! she might add, as she passed through the hands of so many
purchasers. This time, however, she is less valuable from having
fractured her left wrist, deformity being always taken into account
when such property is up at the flesh shambles. But Mr. Blackmore
Blackett has a delicacy about putting her up under the hammer just
now, inasmuch as he could not say she was sold for no fault; while
the disfigured wrist might lead to suspicious remarks concerning his
treatment of her. Another extremely unfortunate circumstance was its
getting all about the city that she was a cold, soulless thing, who
declared that sooner than yield to be the abject wretch men sought
to make her, she would die that only death. She had but one life,
and it were better to yield that up virtuously than die degraded.
Graspum, then, is the only safe channel in which to dispose of the
like. That functionary assures Mr. Blackmore Blackett that the girl
is beautiful, delicate, and an exceedingly sweet creature yet! but
that during the four months she has depreciated more than fifty per
cent in value.
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