 earnestly sollicited in his behalf; but all he could obtain,
was a promise of re-admitting him into favour on the terms already proposed, or
at least on condition that he should make his acknowledgment to the Chevalier,
for his want of reverence and respect for the French monarch.
    Upon this condescension, the culprit was called up stairs, and made
acquainted with the mitigation of his fate; upon which he said, he would down on
his marrow-bones to his own master, but would be damn'd before he would ask
pardon of e'er a Frenchman in Christendom. Pickle, exasperated at this blunt
declaration, ordered him out of his presence, and charged him never to appear
before his face again; while the officer in vain employed all his influence and
address to appease his resentment, and about midnight took his leave, with marks
of mortification at his want of success.
    Next day the company agreed to travel through Flanders in the Diligence, by
the advice of Peregrine, who was not without hope of meeting with some adventure
or amusement in that carriage; and Jolter took care to secure places for them
all, it being resolved that the valet de chambre and the doctor's man should
attend the vehicle on horseback; and as for the forlorn Pipes, he was left to
reap the fruits of his own stubborn disposition, notwithstanding the united
efforts of the whole triumvirate, who endeavoured to procure his pardon.
    Every previous measure being thus taken, they set out from Lisle about six
in the morning, and found themselves in the company of a female adventurer, a
very handsome young lady, a Capuchin, and a Rotterdam Jew. Our young gentleman
being the first of this society that entered, surveyed the strangers with an
attentive eye, and seated himself immediately behind the beautiful unknown, who
at once attracted his attention. Pallet seeing another lady unengaged, in
imitation of his friend, took possession of her neighbourhood; the physician
paired with the priest, and Jolter sat down by the Jew.
    The machine had not proceeded many furlongs, when Pickle accosting the fair
incognita, congratulated himself upon his happiness, in being the
fellow-traveller of so charming a lady. She, without the least reserve or
affectation, thanked him for his compliment, and replied with a sprightly air,
that now they were embarked in one common bottom, they must club their
endeavours to make one another as happy as the nature of their situation would
permit them to be. Encouraged by this frank intimation, and captivated by her
fine black eyes and easy behaviour, he attached himself to her from that
