ts devoted to her brother, was admitted to her presence, that
afterwards she had been a little enlarged, and was permitted to see
company; during which indulgence, she had been several times at the
cottage; but of late she had been betrayed by one of the servants, who
discovered to the squire, that he had once carried a letter from her to
the post-house directed to me; upon which information she was now more
confined than ever, and that I could have no chance of seeing her,
unless I would run the risk of getting into the garden, where she and
her maid were every day allowed to take the air, and lie hid until I
should have an opportunity of speaking to them--an adventure attended
with such danger, that no man in his right wits would attempt it. This
enterprise, hazardous as it was, I resolved to perform, in spite of
all the arguments of Mrs. Sagely, who reasoned, chid, and entreated by
turns; and the tears and prayers of Strap, who conjured me on his knees,
to have more regard to myself as well as to him, than to attempt my
own destruction in such a precipitate manner. I was deaf to but the
suggestions of my love; and ordering him to return immediately with the
horses to the inn from whence we set out, and wait for my coming in that
place, he at first peremptorily refused to leave me, until I persuaded
him, that if our horses should remain where they were till daylight,
they would certainly be discovered, and the whole country alarmed. On
this consideration, he took his leave in a sorrowful plight, kissed my
hand, and, weeping, cried "God knows if ever I shall see you again."
My kind landlady, finding me obstinate, gave me her best advice how to
behave in the execution of my project: and after having persuaded me to
take a little refreshment, accommodated me with a bed, and left me to my
repose. Early in the morning I arose, and armed with a couple of loaded
pistols and a hanger, went to the back part of the squire's garden,
climbed over the wall, and, according to Mrs. Sagely's direction,
concealed myself in a thicket, hard by an alcove that terminated a walk
at a good distance from the house, which (I was told) my mistress mostly
frequented. Here I absconded from five o'clock in the morning to six in
the evening, without seeing a human creature; at last I perceived two
women approaching, whom, by my throbbing heart, I soon recognised to be
the adorable Narcissa and Miss Williams. I felt the strongest agitation
of soul at