ms, surprise us no longer,
we can better bear the presence of others; for a look, an occasional
word, even a tone, will convey to the mind of those we love, all that
we could wish to say. But when love is fresh, and every feeling
produced thereby is new and wonderful to our hearts; when we make
hourly discoveries of new sensations in our own bosoms, and neither
know how to express them, nor how to conceal them, the presence of
others--cold, indifferent, strange--is no slight punishment and
privation.
Laura endeavoured, as far as possible, to keep down such feelings,
but yet she could not drive them from her bosom. The minutes seemed
long, tedious, and heavy: from time to time she would fall into a fit
of musing; from time to time she would answer wide from the question;
but it fortunately so happened, that the events which had lately
occurred, and her anxiety to rejoin her father, were causes
sufficient to account for greater inequalities of conduct than these.
In the meantime, Wilton was subjected to the same, or even greater
pain, from the impossibility of saying all that he could have wished
to say; and he had, moreover, to contend both against the civility of
his landlord, individually, and the curiosity of the two magistrates,
conjointly, who did not fail, during the time that he remained, both
to press him to eat and drink, in spite of all denials and
remonstrances, and to torment him with questions, many of them
frivolous in the extreme, not only concerning the events in which he
had been lately engaged, but also in regard to everything that was
taking place in London.
Nearly two hours passed in this unpleasant manner; but at length the
joyful sound of carriage-wheels announced that the man who had been
sent to Stroud had returned. Laura was eager to set out; but the
motherly care of good Mrs. Jeffreys detained her for some time
longer, by insisting upon wrapping her warmly up in cloaks, and
mantles, and hoods, to guard against the cold of the wintry night.
At length all was ready; and Wilton led her down to the carriage,
which it seems had been procured with difficulty; the machines called
post-chaises being not so common in those days as they became within
fifty years afterwards. The two magistrates stood bowing low to the
young lady as she entered the tall, long-backed, but really not
uncomfortable vehicle. The landlord of the inn, too, and his ostler,
were there; and Wilton failed not to pay them liberally for the
services they had rendered