But when, in compliance with his inquiries, she informed him
how it happened that he had to seek her at Harrowby Abbey, when he
supposed her to be on the Wolds, it was his turn to pity, and to
shudder at his own consanguinity with Lord Harwold.
"Indeed," added the countess, wishing to turn from the painful
subject, "you must have had a most tedious journey from Harwold Park
to Harrowby, and nothing but my pleasure could exceed my astonishment
when I met you last night on the hill."
Thaddeus sincerely declared that travelling a few miles further than
he intended was no fatigue to him; yet, were it otherwise, the
happiness which he then enjoyed would have acted as a panacea for
worse ills, could he have seen her looking as well as when she left
London.
Lady Tinemouth smiled. "You are right, Sobieski. I am worse than when
I was in town. My solitary journey to Harwold oppressed me; and when
my son sent me orders to leave it, because his father wanted the
place for the autumnal months, his capricious cruelty seemed to
augment the hectic of my distress. Nevertheless, I immediately
obeyed, and in augmented disorder, arrived here last week. But how
kind you were to follow me! Who informed you of the place of my
destination?--hardly any of Lady Olivia's household?"
"No," returned Thaddeus; "I luckily had the precaution to inquire at
the inn on the Wolds where the coach stopped, what part of Lord
Tinemouth's family were at the Park; and when I heard that the earl
himself was there, my next question was, "Where, then, was the
countess?" The landlord very civilly told me of your having engaged a
carriage from his house a day or two before, to carry you to one of
his lordship's seats within a few miles of Somerset Castle.
Pages:
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561