Page:Pathetic history of George Barnwell the London apprentice.pdf/6

 delicately turned foot, produced an emotion in our hero to which he had hitherto been a stranger. His agitation, notwithstanding his efforts to conceal it, did not escape her scrutinizing eye, and her hopes rose accordingly. She now contrived, in the course of conversation, to learn from Barnwell the particulars of his name and connections, and every other particular which was at all likely to facilitate her intended project of seduction.

Until this hour George's heart had been uncorrupted, and the first impressions of a vieious nature were accompanied by the most bitter sensations. Alarmed at this breach of fidelity to his master, he took his hat, and seizing the hand of his seducer, begged of her to suffer him to depart—a request which she would not comply with, until she had extorted from him a promise to renew his visit the following evening. As he walked homewards, his eyes were fixed on the ground, and his thoughts were deeply intent upon framing an excuse for his long absence; at last, still hesitating and undetermined, he reached the counting-house. It was now he awoke to a proper sense of his situation: a thousand times he resolved to break his appointment with Milwood; and as often would he say to himself that the best proof he could give of his contrition