a long pause, he answered: "I begin to suspect, and heartily wish
it may appear, that we have misunderstood each other from the beginning.
Pray, Miss Gauntlet, did you not find a copy of verses inclosed in that
unfortunate letter?"--"Truly, sit," said the lady, "I am not so much of
a connoisseur as to distinguish whether that facetious production, which
you merrily style as an unfortunate letter, was composed in verse or
prose; but methinks, the jest is a little too stale to be brought upon
the carpet again." So saying, she tripped away to her companion, and
left her lover in a most tumultuous suspense. He now perceived that her
neglect of his addresses when he was at Winchester, must have been owing
to some mystery which he could not comprehend; and she began to suspect
and to hope that the letter which she received was spurious, though
she could not conceive how that could possibly happen, as it had been
delivered to her by the hands of his own servant.

However, she resolved to leave the task of unravelling this affair to
him, who, she knew, would infallibly exert himself for his own as well
as her satisfaction. She was not deceived in her opinion: he went up
to her again at the staircase, and, as they were improvided with a male
attendant, insisted upon squiring the ladies to their lodgings. Emilia
saw his drift, which was no other than to know where she lived; and
though she approved of his contrivance, thought it was incumbent upon
her, for the support of her own dignity, to decline the chivalry;
she therefore thanked him for his polite offer, but would by no means
consent to his giving himself such unnecessary trouble, especially as
they had a very little way to walk. He was not repulsed by this refusal,
the nature of which he perfectly understood; nor was she sorry to see
him persevere in his determination: he therefore accompanied them
in their return, and made divers efforts to speak with Emilia in
particular; but she had a spice of the coquette in her disposition,
and being determined to whet his impatience, artfully baffled all
his endeavours, by keeping her companion continually engaged in the
conversation, which turned upon the venerable appearance and imperial
situation of the place. Thus tantalized, he lounged with them to the
door of the house in which they lodged, when his mistress, perceiving,
by the countenance of her comrade, that she was on the point of desiring
him to walk in, checked her intention