Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/196

188 was understood that the Welfords were about to leave the town, whither none knew,—some said to gaol; but then, unhappily, no debtor could be discovered. Their bills had been "next to nothing," but at least they had been regularly paid. However, before the rumoured emigration took place, a circumstance equally wonderful to the good people of occurred. One bright spring morning, a party of pleasure from a great house in the vicinity, passed through that town. Most conspicuous of these was a young horseman richly dressed, and of a remarkably showy and handsome appearance. Not a little sensible of the sensation he created, this cavalier lingered behind his group in order to eye more deliberately certain damsels stationed in a window, and who were quite ready to return his glances with interest. At this moment, the horse, which was fretting itself fiercely against the rein that restrained it from its fellows, took fright at a knifegrinder, started violently to one side, and the graceful cavalier, who had been thinking not of the attitude best adapted to preserve his equilibrium, but to display his figure, was thrown with some force upon a heap of bricks