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 absence, and before he had the power to assist them?

Under these, and a thousand other painful reflections, he used to escape from the observation of his brother and his wife, and range from the gardens to the wilderness, and from thence into an adjoining forest, where he commonly spent hours every day, forming a thousand schemes, and rejecting them as quickly from their uselessness or impracticability. One morning, as he was taking his customary ramble, at the entrance of the forest he met Ernest. He started, "Pardon me, my dear master (said he) if I have broken upon you abruptly; I have long observed your solitary walks."

"You have watched me then (cried Ferdinand, rather haughtily) it is an unbecoming liberty."

"Pardon me, Sir (returned Ernest, in a tremulous voice, and with a look of humble sorrow) pardon your poor servant, if duty and affection."