CHAPTER II 20
" Let her go ," was the only answer . " Loose Bessie ' s hand , child : you cannot succeed in getting out by these means , be assured . I abhor artifice , particularly in children ; it is my duty to show you that tricks will not answer : you will now stay here an hour longer , and it is only on condition of perfect submission and stillness that I shall liberate you then ."
" O aunt ! have pity ! Forgive me ! I cannot endure it -- let me be punished some other way ! I shall be killed if -- "
" Silence ! This violence is all most repulsive :" and so , no doubt , she felt it . I was a precocious actress in her eyes ; she sincerely looked on me as a compound of virulent passions , mean spirit , and dangerous duplicity .
Bessie and Abbot having retreated , Mrs . Reed , impatient of my now frantic anguish and wild sobs , abruptly thrust me back and locked me in , without farther parley . I heard her sweeping away ; and soon after she was gone , I suppose I had a species of fit : unconsciousness closed the scene .