But 'tis A Civil Thing, Said I; - And As I Generally Act From The
First Impulse, And Therefore Seldom Listen To These Cabals, Which
Serve No Purpose, That I Know Of, But To Encompass The Heart With
Adamant - I Turned Instantly About To The Lady.
-
- But she had glided off unperceived, as the cause was pleading,
and had made ten or a dozen paces down the street, by the time I
had made the determination; so I set off after her with a long
stride, to make her the proposal, with the best address I was
master of: but observing she walk'd with her cheek half resting
upon the palm of her hand, - with the slow short-measur'd step of
thoughtfulness, - and with her eyes, as she went step by step, fixed
upon the ground, it struck me she was trying the same cause
herself. - God help her! said I, she has some mother-in-law, or
tartufish aunt, or nonsensical old woman, to consult upon the
occasion, as well as myself: so not caring to interrupt the
process, and deeming it more gallant to take her at discretion than
by surprise, I faced about and took a short turn or two before the
door of the Remise, whilst she walk'd musing on one side.
IN THE STREET. CALAIS.
Having, on the first sight of the lady, settled the affair in my
fancy "that she was of the better order of beings;" - and then laid
it down as a second axiom, as indisputable as the first, that she
was a widow, and wore a character of distress, - I went no further;
I got ground enough for the situation which pleased me; - and had
she remained close beside my elbow till midnight, I should have
held true to my system, and considered her only under that general
idea.
She had scarce got twenty paces distant from me, ere something
within me called out for a more particular enquiry; - it brought on
the idea of a further separation: - I might possibly never see her
more: - The heart is for saving what it can; and I wanted the
traces through which my wishes might find their way to her, in case
I should never rejoin her myself; in a word, I wished to know her
name, - her family's - her condition; and as I knew the place to
which she was going, I wanted to know from whence she came: but
there was no coming at all this intelligence; a hundred little
delicacies stood in the way. I form'd a score different plans. -
There was no such thing as a man's asking her directly; - the thing
was impossible.
A little French debonnaire captain, who came dancing down the
street, showed me it was the easiest thing in the world: for,
popping in betwixt us, just as the lady was returning back to the
door of the Remise, he introduced himself to my acquaintance, and
before he had well got announced, begg'd I would do him the honour
to present him to the lady.
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