another place
of entertainment on the road where they could pass the night; and
therefore, as a friend, he advised them to stay at his house, where they
would find the best of accommodation, and proceed upon their journey
betimes in the morning.

Mr. Jolter, though he had travelled on that road before, could not
recollect whether or not mine host spoke truth; but his remonstrance
being very plausible, our hero determined to follow his advice, and
being conducted into an apartment, asked what they could have for
supper. The landlord mentioned everything that was eatable in the house;
and the whole being engrossed for the use of him and his attendants,
he amused himself, till such time as it should be dressed, in strolling
about the house, which stands in a very rural situation. While he thus
loitered away the time that hung heavy on his hands, another chaise
arrived at the inn, and upon inquiry he found that the new-comers were
Mr. Hornbeck and his lady. The landlord, conscious of his inability to
entertain this second company, came and begged with great humiliation
that Mr. Pickle would spare them some part of the victuals he had
bespoken; but he refused to part with so much as the wing of a
partridge, though at the same time he sent his compliments to the
strangers, and giving them to understand how ill the house was provided
for their reception, invited them to partake of his supper. Mr.
Hornbeck, who was not deficient in point of politeness, and extremely
well disposed for a relishing meal, which he had reason to expect from
the savoury steam that issued from the kitchen, could not resist this
second instance of our young gentleman's civility, which he acknowledged
in a message, importing that he and his wife would do themselves the
pleasure of profiting by his courteous offer. Peregrine's cheeks glowed
when he found himself on the eve of being acquainted with Mrs. Hornbeck,
of whose heart he had already made a conquest in imagination; and he
forthwith set his invention at work, to contrive some means of defeating
her husband's vigilance.

When supper was ready, he in person gave notice to his guests, and,
leading the lady into his apartment, seated her in an elbow-chair at the
upper end of the table, squeezing her hand, and darting a most insidious
glance at the same time. This abrupt behaviour he practised on the
presumption that a lady of her breeding was not to be addressed with
the tedious forms that must be