In which our heroine is engaged in a new adventure.
As Mr. Glanville took a great deal of pains to turn the discourse upon subjects on which the charming Arabella could expatiate, without any mixture of that absurdity which mingled itself in a great many others; the rest of that day, and several others, were passed very agreeably: at the end of which, Mr. Glanville being perfectly recovered, and able to go abroad, the baronet proposed to take the diversion of hunting; which Arabella, who was used to it, consented to partake of; but being informed that Miss Glanville could not ride, and chose to stay at home, she would have kept her company, had not Sir Charles insisted upon the contrary.
As Sir George, and some other gentlemen, had invited themselves to be of the party; Arabella, on her coming down to mount her horse, found a great many young gallants ready to offer her their assistance upon this occasion: accepting therefore, with great politeness, this help from a stranger, who was nearest her, she mounted her horse, giving occasion to every one that was present, to admire the grace with which she sat and managed him. Her shape being as perfect as any shape could possibly be, her riding-habit discovered all its beauties: her hat, and the white feather waving over part of her fine black hair, gave a peculiar charm to her lovely face; and she appeared with so many advantages in this dress and posture, that Mr. Glanville, forgetting all her absurdities, was wholly lost in the contemplation of so many charms, as her whole person was adorned with.
Sir George, though he really admired Arabella, was not so passionately in love as Mr. Glanville; and, being a keen sportsman, eagerly pursued the game, with the rest of the hunters; but Mr. Glanville minded nothing but his cousin, and kept close by her.
After having rode a long time, Arabella, conceiving it a piece of cruelty not to give her lover an opportunity of talking to her, as, by his extreme solicitude, he seemed ardently to desire, coming to a delightful valley, she stopped; and told Mr. Glanville, that being weary of the chase, she should alight, and repose herself a little under the shade of those trees.
Mr. Glanville, extremely pleased at this proposition, dismounted; and, having helped her to alight, seated himself by her on the grass.
Arabella, expecting he would begin to talk to her of his passion, could not help blushing at the thoughts of having given him such an opportunity; and Mr. Glanville, endeavouring to accommodate himself to her ideas of a lover, expressed himself in terms extravagant enough to have made a reasonable woman think he was making a jest of her: all which, however, Arabella was extremely pleased with; and she observed such a just decorum in her answers, that, as the writers of romance phrase it, if she did not give him any absolute hopes of being beloved, yet she said enough to make him conclude she did not hate him.
They had conversed in this manner near a quarter of an hour, when Arabella, perceiving a man at a little distance, walking very composedly, shrieked out aloud; and, rising with the utmost precipitation, flew from Mr. Glanville, and went to untie her horse; while his astonishment being so great at her behaviour, that he could not, for a moment or two, ask her the cause of her fear—
Do you not see, said she, out of breath with the violence of her apprehensions, the person who is coming towards us? It is the same, who, some months ago, attempted to carry me away, when I was riding out with only two attendants: I escaped for that time the danger that threatened me; but, questionless, he comes now to renew his attempts: therefore can you wonder at my fear?