which Mr. Solsgrace expressed to his desponding
friends, and which he expatiated upon at more length with Major
Bridgenorth; not failing, with friendly zeal, to rebuke the haste
which the latter had shown to thrust out the hand of fellowship to the
Amalekite woman, whereby he reminded him, "He had been rendered her
slave and bondsman for a season, like Samson, betrayed by Delilah, and
might have remained longer in the house of Dagon, had not Heaven pointed
to him a way out of the snare. Also, it sprung originally from the
Major's going up to feast in the high place of Baal, that he who was the
champion of the truth was stricken down, and put to shame by the enemy,
even in the presence of the host."

These objurgations seeming to give some offence to Major Bridgenorth,
who liked, no better than any other man, to hear of his own mishaps, and
at the same time to have them imputed to his own misconduct, the worthy
divine proceeded to take shame to himself for his own sinful compliance
in that matter; for to the vengeance justly due for that unhappy dinner
at Martindale Castle (which was, he said, a crying of peace when there
was no peace, and a dwelling in the tents of sin), he imputed his
ejection from his living, with the destruction of some of his most pithy
and highly prized volumes of divinity, with the loss of his cap, gown,
and band, and a double hogshead of choice Derby ale.

The mind of Major Bridgenorth was strongly tinged with devotional
feeling, which his late misfortunes had rendered more deep and solemn;
and it is therefore no wonder, that, when he heard these arguments urged
again and again, by a pastor whom he so much respected, and who was now
a confessor in the cause of their joint faith, he began to look
back with disapproval on his own conduct, and to suspect that he had
permitted himself to be seduced by gratitude towards Lady Peveril, and
by her special arguments in favour of a mutual and tolerating liberality
of sentiments, into an action which had a tendency to compromise his
religious and political principles.

One morning, as Major Bridgenorth had wearied himself with several
details respecting the arrangement of his affairs, he was reposing in
the leathern easy-chair, beside the latticed window, a posture which, by
natural association, recalled to him the memory of former times, and
the feelings with which he was wont to expect the recurring visit of
Sir Geoffrey, who brought him news of his ch