 when he had
repeated, she lamented her own fate, in being the occasion of so much
uneasiness, desired her brother to assure Mr. Pickle, that she was not a
voluntary enemy to his peace; on the contrary, she wished him all happiness,
tho' she hoped he would not blame her for consulting her own, in avoiding any
future explanation or connexion with a person whose correspondence she found
herself under a necessity to renounce.
    In vain did the new-married couple exhaust their eloquence in attempting to
prove, that the reparation which our hero had offered was adequate to the injury
she had sustained; that in reconciling herself to a penitent lover, who
subscribed to her own terms of submission, her honour would be acquitted by the
most scrupulous and severe judges of decorum; and that her inflexibility would
be justly ascribed to the pride and insensibility of her heart. She turned a
deaf ear to all their arguments, exhortations and intreaties, and threatened to
leave the house immediately, if they would not promise to drop that subject of
discourse.
    Godfrey, very much chagrined at the bad success of his endeavours, returned
to his friend, and made as favourable a report of the affair, as the nature of
his conversation with Emilia would permit; but as he could not avoid mentioning
her resolution in the close, Peregrine was obliged to drink again the bitter
draught of disappointment, which put his passions into such a state of
agitation, as produced a short extasy of despair, in which he acted a thousand
extravagancies. This paroxysm, however, soon subsided into a settled reserve of
gloomy resentment, which he in secret indulged, detaching himself as soon as
possible from the company of the soldier, on pretence of retiring to rest.
    While he lay ruminating upon the circumstances of his present situation, his
friend Pipes, who knew the cause of his anxiety, and firmly believed that Emilia
loved his master in her heart, howsoever she might attempt to disguise her
sentiments; I say, Thomas was taken with a conceit which he thought would set
every thing to rights, and therefore put it in execution, without farther delay.
Laying aside his hat, he ran directly to the house of Sophy's father, and
affecting an air of surprize and consternation, to which he had never before
been subject, thundered at the door with such an alarming knock, as in a moment
brought the whole family into the hall. When he was admitted, he began to gape,
stare, and pant at the same time, and made no reply, when Godfrey asked what was
the matter, till Mrs
