The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE LONELY INN Jia particular in certain respects. For instance, smuggling in her eyes was no moral offence, and we have seen her laugh approvingly at the dashing exploits of her former friend and school companion, Elizabeth Paton. But in that virtue which constitutes the chief ornament of the sex, Kate Mar- shall’s character was unimpeachable. Never had she strayed from the path of chastity, never had she given encourage- ment to any libertine look that was fixed upon her. Even before she was engaged to Ned Russell, her behaviour in this respect was most scrupulously proper, and the same may be said of her sisters. She moreover possessed a generous heart and kind disposition, the reader is already aware that she did not lack courage, and thus if her merits were weighed against her faults, it would be impossible to refuse her some slight meed of admiration. Having parted with Don Diego Christoval in the manner already described, Kate pursued her journey in the chaise. Hours passed, the evening came, and as the dusk closed in, she could not help observing that the road was much nar- rower than the highway had hitherto appeared to be. In- deed, it had rather the appearance of a lane than of the main route. In a few minutes the chaise entered the precincts oi a forest; the shade of the huge trees completely shut out the twilight; she was enveloped in darkness. The position was far from an agreeable one. Utterly unacquainted with the Spanish language, and the two muleteers being equally unable to answer her in her own native tongue, she could not question them as to whether they were pursuing the right road. At the several places where the cattle were changed since she parted from Don Christoval, the single word ‘“ Madrid,’’ pronounced by her lips, had served as an indica- tion of the direction in which she was to be borne; but she was now seized with misgivings as to the good faith of the muleteers belonging to the last relay. All the terrific tales she had ever read of travellers being murdered in lonely places on the Continent trooped into her memory, and not- withstanding her courageous disposition, she could not pre- vent the darkest suspicions from arising in her mind. She had no defensive weapon, and she regretted that she had not provided herself therewith, for though she might be certain to succumb beneath the murderous attack of the muleteers, if such were intended, it would nevertheless be some satis- CONNIE DOOKS (S(O)