Page:Duty and Inclination 2.pdf/178

176 plunge into a thicket, and pursue a narrow, winding alley, which he thought might lead him to the Bower, but which from its frequent breaks and deviations inclosed him in a sort of labyrinth: at last, finding himself in a more open space, as he took his course by the side of a thickset hedge, he fancied he heard on the other side a rustling amidst the branches; looking through a small opening, he indistinctly perceived a female, endeavouring to disentangle her robe, which had been caught by the briars. He feared to speak, under the supposition it might not be Oriana, but with breathless impatience awaited the issue; her efforts having succeeded, she leaped nimbly from her place of confinement; the light and sylph-like form, displayed grace in every motion, when, with a sudden and violent force tearing down the hedge, he exclaimed, for it was she, "Oriana, Oriana! fly me not! 'tis thy Edmund!"

At the sound of those well-known accents, precipitately turning, she flew to meet him, at the same time warning him that her mother and sister were not distant, the accident of her robe being entangled having detained her behind them.

"I leave the hermitage to-morrow," exclaimed Philimore; "I beseech you to grant me one moment's conference ere I depart."