how it happened that the man was not with them.--The
two lady-adventurers waited in hopes of seeing their attendant with
another horse, till the abbess, fearing the night would be too far
spent for the execution of her design, and grown quite wild with rage
and vexation, resolved to go without a guide; and accordingly she, and
the young nun that was with her, mounted the horses they found there,
and rode away.

Little did this distracted woman imagine to whom she was indebted for
the means of conveying herself where she wished to be; for in effect
these horses were Natura's, and it was no other than himself, attended
by his man, who had put her into that fright, which occasioned her
running so far back into the garden, as gave him time to enter,
without being either seen or heard by her:--he was no sooner within
the gate, than his servant tied the horses to a tree, as has been
related, and retired to a more convenient place, either to lye down to
sleep, or on some other occasion.--Thus did an accident which had like
to have broken all Elgidia's measures, turn wholly to the advantage of
them, and she found as much satisfaction, as a person in her situation
could possibly take, in finding Natura so punctual to the summons she
had sent:

It was with a flood of tears she related to him all that had passed
between the furious abbess and herself after his departure, and
concluded her discourse with beseeching him to see her in the morning,
and omit nothing that might pacify her, 'even,' said she, 'to forswear
ever speaking to me more.'

Natura was touched to the very soul at the grief he saw her in, and
equally with the tender consideration she had for him; and now more
devoted to her than ever, would have done any thing to prove the
sincerity of his passion, but that which she demanded of him:--it was
in vain she urged the impossibility of keeping a correspondence
together under the same roof with a rival who had all the power in her
own hands; or that she represented how much better it would be for
both to break off so dangerous an intercourse of themselves, before
the rage of the abbess should put her upon doing it, in a manner which
might involve them all in destruction:--all the arguments she made use
of, only served to render him more amorous, and consequently less able
to part with her.--The difference he found between these two sisters;
the outrageous temper of the one, compared with the prudence,
sweetness, and g