:--'Nor, if a bad one, too late,'
cried she, 'as there are great odds on that side.'--'That is true,'
said he, 'but I believe there are many ill husbands, who owe their
being such, to the ill conduct of their wives':--'now I fancy,'
continued he, 'whoever is so happy as to have you, will have no such
excuse; for I firmly believe you have in you all the requisites to
make the marriage state agreeable.' To this she only made a curtesy,
and thanked him for his good opinion: 'I do assure you,' resumed he,
'it is so sincere, that I should be glad to prove it, by making you my
wife. What say you,' pursued he, 'could you be willing to accept of my
addresses on that score?' With these words he took hold of her hand,
and pressing it with a great deal of warmth, occasioned her to blush
excessively.--The inability she was in of speaking, through the shame
this question had excited in her, gave him an opportunity of
prosecuting what he had begun, and saying many tender things, to
convince her he was in earnest; but when at last she gave him an
answer, it was only such as made him see she gave little credit to his
professions.--Some people coming in on business to her father, and
saying they would wait till he came home, obliged Natura to take his
leave for that time, well satisfied in his mind, that he had declared
himself, and not much doubting, but that in spite of this first
shyness, she would easily be prevailed upon to correspond with his
desires, when his perseverance in them, should have assured her of
their sincerity.

He was, notwithstanding, a good deal surprized, when, going several
times after to the house, he could scarce see her, and never be able
to exchange a word with her in private, so industriously did she avoid
coming into his presence.--Such a behaviour, he thought, could proceed
only from one of these two motives, either thro' an extraordinary
dislike to his person, or through the fears of giving any indulgence
to an inclination, which the disparity between them might make her
mistake for a dishonourable one. Sometimes he was tempted to think the
one, sometimes the other; but not being of a humour to endure
suspense, he resolved to take effectual measures for coming at the
certainty.

He went one day about noon, and told the yeoman he was come to take a
dinner with him, on which the other replied, that he did him a great
deal of honour; but should have been glad to have been previously
acquainted with it, i