This moved my lord somewhat.
Where, he asked, could he go, so as to lie perdu for a few days, or a few weeks, if necessary?
“I have thought upon that,” replied Sir Miles, looking at me with a meaning eye (but I blushed and turned pale, and reddened again). “I have just now thought of a plan. Your lordship has been there once already; I mean the Rules of the Fleet. Here will I find you lodgings, where no one will look for you; where, if you please to lie hidden for awhile, you may do so in perfect safety; where you may have any society you please, from a baronet out at elbows to a baker in rags, or no society at all, if you please to lie quiet.”
“I like not the place,” said his lordship. “I have been there it is true once, and it was once too often. Find me another place.”
“I know no other,” Sir Miles replied. “You must be in London; you must be in some place where no one will suspect you. As for me, I will stay near you, but not with you. There will be some noise over this affair; it will be well for us to be separated, yet not so far but that I can work for you. Come, my lord, be reasonable. The place is dirty and noisy; but what signify dirt and noise when safety is concerned?”
He wavered. The recollection of the place was odious to him. Yet the case was pressing.
He gave way.
“Have it,” he said, “your own way. Kitty,” he took my hand, “hopeless as is my case, desperate as is my condition, I am happy in having rescued you, no matter at what cost.”
“Your lordship’s case is not so hopeless as mine,” said Sir Miles; “yet I, too, am happy in having helped to rescue this, the noblest creature in the world.”
The tears were in my eyes as these two men spoke of me in such terms. How could I deserve this worship? By what act, or thought, or prayer, could I raise myself to the level where my lord’s imagination had planted me? O Love divine, since it makes men and women long to be angels!