ABSTRACT
Mrs. Morley had only passed a few months in Mr. Gerard’s family when, after a short illness, he expired, leaving, excepting a small annuity to Mrs. Gerard, his whole fortune to Sophia during her life; and at her decease, if she should die unmarried, to the heirs or relatives of his second union. Mrs. Gerard was disappointed almost beyond her patience at what she thought a proof of unjust and barbarous neglect: but being shrewd, though illiterate, being taught in the school of interested duplicity, having long fawned where she could not love, and flattered where she did not esteem, she employed all her machinations to counteract the purpose of her ungrateful husband.
