 sort of ceremonious distance,
which she thought not only requisite for the honour and interest of her family,
but likewise for her own exculpation, should she ever be taxed with having
encouraged or abetted him in the imprudent sallies of his youth: yet
notwithstanding this affected reserve, he was treated with such distinction both
by one and t'other, that he was ravished with his situation, and became more and
more enamoured every day.
    While he remained under the influence of this sweet intoxication, his
absence produced great disturbance at Winchester. Mr. Jolter was grievously
afflicted at his abrupt departure, which alarmed him the more, as it happened
after a long fit of melancholy which he had perceived in his pupil. He
communicated his apprehensions to the master of the school, who advised him to
apprize the commodore of his nephew's disappearance, and in the mean time
inquire at all the inns in town, whether he had hired horses, or any sort of
carriage, for his conveyance, or was not met with on the road by any person who
could give an account of the direction in which he travelled.
    This scrutiny, though performed with great diligence and minuteness, was
altogether ineffectual; they could obtain no intelligence of the runaway. Mr.
Trunnion was well nigh distracted at the news of his flight; he raved with great
fury at the imprudence of Peregrine, whom in his first transports he damned as
an ungrateful deserter; then he cursed Hatchway and Pipes, who he swore had
foundered the lad by their pernicious counsels; and, lastly, transferred his
execrations upon Jolter, because he had not kept a better look-out: finally, he
made an apostrophe to that son of a bitch the gout, which for the present
disabled him from searching for his nephew in person. That he might not,
however, neglect any means in his power, he immediately dispatched expresses to
all the seaport towns on that coast, that he might be prevented from leaving the
kingdom; and the lieutenant, at his own desire, was sent across the country, in
quest of this young fugitive.
    Four days had he unsuccessfully carried on his inquiries with great
accuracy, when resolving to return by Winchester, where he hoped to meet with
some hints of intelligence, by which he might profit in his future search, he
struck off the common road, to take the benefit of a nearer cut; and finding
himself benighted near a village, took up his lodging at the first inn to which
his horse directed him. Having bespoke something for supper, and retired to his
chamber, where he amused himself with
