pon the subject."

I was all astonishment. The language would have been an impertinence in
any one else; yet, in the pretty and piquant Mariamne, it was simply
coquettish. At any other time or place I might have felt offended; but I
was now embarrassed, wordless, and plunged in problems. Why should I be
concerned in this news? What was the opinion of this butterfly to me?
yet its sarcasm stung me: what was Clotilde to me? yet I involuntary
wished the Marquis de Montrecour at the bottom of the Channel; or what
knew I of French tastes, or cared about trousseaux? yet, at that moment,
I peevishly determined to take no more rambles in the direction of the
Emigrant cottages, and to return to town at once, and see what sort of
absurdity a French marriage present looked at my first step in Bond
Street.

But this was destined to be a day of adventures. I had led her a circuit
through the Downs, in the hope of reviving her by the fresh air before
we reached the villa; and we were moving slowly along over the velvet
turf, and enjoying that most animating of all the breaths of sky or
earth--the sea-breeze; when Mariamne's steed--one of the most highly
_maneged_, and most beautiful of animals, began to show signs of
restlessness, pricked up his ears, stopped suddenly, and began to snuff
the gale with an inflated nostril. As if the animal had communicated its
opinions to its fellow, both our horses set off at a smart trot, the
trot became a canter, the canter a gallop. Mariamne was a capital
horsewoman and the exercise put her in spirits again. After a quarter of
an hour of this volunteer gallop, from the top of one of the Downs we
saw the cause--the Sussex hunt, ranging the valley at our feet. Our
horses were now irrestrainable, and both rushed down the hill together.
The peril of such a descent instantly caught all eyes. A broad and high
fence surrounded the foot of the hill, and, wildly as we flew down, saw
that the whole hunt had stopped in evident alarm. In another moment we
had reached the fence. Mariamne's horse, making a desperate spring, flew
over it. Mine failed, and threw me into the middle of the hedge. I was
stunned, the sight left my eyes; and, when I opened them again, a man of
peculiarly striking countenance, and stately figure, was raising me from
the ground, while an attendant was pouring brandy down my throat. My
first thought was of my unfortunate companion. "Where is the lady? Is
she safe? What has become of her