Luckily there was no lack of money;
Mr. Belamour and Hargrave had taken care that Sir Amyas should be
amply supplied, and thus the journey was as rapid as posting could
be in those days of insufficient inns, worse roads, and necessary
precautions against highwaymen.
The road was not the same as that which the young baronet had come
down by, as it was thought better to take the chance of meeting a
different stage waggon, Sir Amyas and his servant having, of course,
examined the one they had overtaken in coming down. At every possible
resting place on the route was inquiry made, but all in vain; no one
had seen such a young gentlewoman as was described, or if some answer
inspired hope for a moment, it was dashed again at once. The young
gentlewoman once turned out to be the Squire's fat lady, and another
time was actually pursued into a troop of strolling players, attiring
themselves in a barn, whence she came with cheeks freshly rouged with
blood taken from a cat's tail.
The young baronet had meanwhile become very dear to the Major and his
daughter. He had inherited his mother's indescribable attractiveness,
and he was so frank, so affectionate, so unspoilt, so grateful for the
little attentions demanded by his maimed condition, so considerate of
the Major, and so regardless of himself, and, above all, so passionately
devoted to his dearest life, as he called Aurelia, that it was impossible
not to take him into their hearts, and let him be, as he entreated, a
son and a brother.
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