Beware of the Otters!

I'm reading The Romance of the Forest (or possibly The Romance of the Forest; I've forgotten the proper formatting for book titles). It's a Gothic novel, written in 1791, and is pretty entertaining, if you're into spooky chambers, a Marquis with evil intentions, and a heroine with a dubious past but a true and gentle heart. I have the cheap Barnes and Noble printing (which I think I bought for like two dollars), and throughout the book, I've noticed what seem to be spelling errors, but they are usually such that the word that I expect to see, is instead replaced by a word which is similar, and sort of makes sense, but not exactly. And I think, well, this was written two hundred years ago; maybe that's the right word, and we just don't use it that way any more. And on I go with the reading.

We've gotten to the point in the book where the heroine has been kidnapped by the Marquis, who, while repeatedly professing his total love for her, is instead imprisoning her and plans on forcing her into marriage with him...of course, he doesn't know that she knows that the Marchioness is still alive, and that any 'marriage' would instead be a gross insult upon her honor, etc etc...and so she's protesting most mightily that he's treating her horribly and she wants out. Good stuff! And then I read the following:

I am a wretched and friendless orphan, exposed to many evils, and, I fear, abandoned to misfortune: I do not wish to be rude; but allow me to say, that no misery can exceed that I feel in remaining here, or, indeed, in being anywhere pursued by the otters you make me!

Pretty sure that is a spelling error. Or the language has changed more than I would expect. It's a good one, though!

I also love that she doesn't want to be rude to the man who kidnapped her and is holding her against her will. A lady to the end, that Adeline!