 misrepresentation of Hornbeck, took our hero by the hand,
asked pardon for the doubts he had entertained of his honour, declared him from
that moment at liberty, ordered his domesticks to be enlarged, and offered him
his countenance and protection, as long as he should remain in the Austrian
Netherlands. At the same time, he cautioned him against indiscretion in the
course of his gallantries; and took his word and honour, that he should drop all
measures of resentment against the person of Hornbeck, during his residence in
that place.
    The delinquent, thus honourably acquitted, thanked the prince in the most
respectful manner, for his generosity and candour, and retired with his two
friends, who were amazed and bewildered in their thoughts, at what they had seen
and heard, the whole adventure still remaining without the sphere of their
comprehension, which was not at all enlarged by the unaccountable appearance of
Pipes, who, with the valet de chambre, joined them at the castlegate. Had Jolter
been a man of a luxuriant imagination, his brain would undoubtedly have suffered
in the investigation of his pupil's mysterious conduct, which he strove in vain
to unravel; but his intellects were too solid to be affected by the miscarriage
of his invention; and as Peregrine did not think proper to make him acquainted
with the cause of his being apprehended, he contented himself with supposing,
that there was a lady in the case.
    The painter, whose imagination was of a more flimsy texture, formed a
thousand chimerical conjectures, which he communicated to Pickle, in imperfect
insinuations, hoping, by his answers and behaviour, to discover the truth; but
the youth, in order to tantalize him, eluded all his enquiries, with such
appearance of industry and art, as heightened his curiosity, while it
disappointed his aim, and inflamed him to such a degree of impatience, that his
wits began to be unsettled, and Peregrine was fain to recompose his brain, by
telling him in confidence, that he had been arrested as a spy. This secret he
found more intolerable than his former uncertainty; he ran from one apartment to
another, like a goose in the agonies of egg-laying, with intention of
disburdening this important load; but, Jolter being engaged with his pupil, and
all the people of the house ignorant of the only language he could speak, he was
compelled, with infinite reluctance, to address himself to the doctor, who was,
at that time, shut up in his own chamber. Having knocked at the door, to no
purpose, he peeped through the key-hole, and
