I thought my heart was seared; but it was not so.

The savage beauty of Bess pleased me more than the most refined charms could have done, and her fierce character harmonised with my own.

How I won her matters not, but she cast off all thoughts of Ashbead, and clung to me.

My wild life suited her; and she roamed the wastes with me, scaled the hills in my company, and shrank not from the weird meetings I attended.

Ill repute quickly attended her, and she became branded as a witch.