But at last one
day, lest she should be guilty of unkindness, she consented, and so
enjoyed the ride--felt, indeed, so much the better for it, that she
did not thereafter so positively as before decline to allow her
cousin to look out for a horse fit to carry her; and Forgue, taking
her consent for granted, succeeded, with the help of the factor, in
finding for her a beautiful creature, just of the sort to please
her. Almost at sight of him she agreed to his purchase.
This put Forgue in great spirits, and much contentment with himself.
He did not doubt that, gaining thus opportunity so excellent, he
would quickly succeed in withdrawing her from the absurd influence
which, to his dismay, he discovered his enemy had in his absence
gained over her. He ought not to have been such a fool, he said to
himself, as to leave the poor child to the temptations naturally
arising in such a dreary solitude! He noted with satisfaction,
however, that the parson's daughter seemed to have forsaken the
house. And now at last, having got rid of the folly that a while
possessed him, he was prepared to do his duty by the family, and, to
that end, would make unfaltering use of the fascinations experience
had taught him he was, in a most exceptional degree, gifted with! He
would at once take Arctura's education in his own hands, and give
his full energy to it! She should speedily learn the difference
between the assistance of a gentleman and that of a clotpoll!
He had in England improved in his riding as well as his manners, and
knew at least how a gentleman, if not how a man, ought to behave to
the beast that carried him.
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