Page:Horrid Mysteries Volume 3.djvu/15

 been applied in a more artful manner; all circumstances were in his favour: whatever the rest of the company said, supported and advanced his superiority; and being, in the sequel, convinced of the purity of his passion, by his indefatigable exertions to please me, I could not have avoided being caught in the snare at last, if not a trifling accident had rectified my opinion of him, and restored me to myself and to my plans.

"He had a little French dog; and I grew so foolishly fond of the animal, that I frequently hinted to him, it would give me the greatest pleasure if he would make me a present of it; yet he seemed not to be inclined to part with his little favourite. At length he promised me, one afternoon, to let me have it in the evening. I was walking sometime before the assembly hour in the boscage, and passing the entrance of a bower, saw him in it, seated on a bench, and occupied with his favourite, and concealed myself behind a