His own man--a respectable elderly servant whom
the Major recollected waiting on Sir Jovian--came to beg that his honour
would sit up no longer, as he had been travelling since six in the
morning, and was quite worn out. Indeed, so it proved; for when the
Major and Betty not only promised to come with him on the search the
next day, but bade him a kind affectionate good-night, the poor lad,
all unused to kindness, fairly burst into tears, which all his dawning
manhood could not restrain.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE TRACES.
Oh, if I were an eagle to soar into the sky,
I'd gaze around with piercing eye when I my love might spy.
The second-best coach, which resided at Bowstead, the same which had
carried Aurelia off from Knightsbridge, had brought Sir Amyas Belamour
to Carminster--an effeminate proceeding of which he was rather ashamed,
though clearly he could not have ridden, and he had hoped to have
brought his bride back in it.
There was plenty of room in it to take back the Major, Betty, and even
Eugene, since he could not well have been left without his sister or
Palmer, who was indispensable to the Major. He was so enchanted at
"riding in a coach," and going perhaps to see London, that he did not
trouble himself much about sister Aurelia being lost, and was in such
high spirits as to be best disposed of outside, between Palmer and
Gray, where he could at his ease contemplate the horses, generally
four in number, though at some stages only two could be procured,
and then at an extra steep hill a farmer's horse from the hayfield
would be hitched on in front.
Pages:
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293