I would gladly have
offered my own house, but it was still some miles distant, and the
young woman was so weak, and trembled so violently, that it would
plainly be impossible to conduct her so far on foot. True, my carriage
might have been sent for her, but the rain was now descending in
torrents; before it arrived she would be drenched--something else must
be thought of. All at once the idea occurred to me, 'Parson Hope's is
only a quarter of a mile distant.' Mr. Hope was the parson of the
parish, and a most excellent man. I at once suggested to Mr. Mortimer
that his sister should be conducted thither, and as he assented at
once, we half conducted, half carried the poor girl through the woods
to the humble dwelling of the clergyman.
"The good parson received us in a manner which showed his conviction
that to succor the stranger or the unfortunate is often to 'entertain
angels unawares.' It is true that on this occasion it was something
like a brace of devils whom he received into his mansion! The young
lady threw herself into a seat; seemed to suffer much; and was soon
conducted by the parson's old housekeeper--for he was a childless
widower--to her chamber in which a fire had been quickly kindled. She
disappeared, sighing faintly, but in those few minutes I had taken a
good look at her.
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