ell as afraid of being used with greater indignity,
in a place where his personal prowess would only serve to heighten his
disgrace, quitted the house in a transport of rage, which he could not
wholly suppress, telling the landlord, that if his age did not protect
him, he would have chastised him for his insolent behaviour.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

He projects a violent Scheme, in consequence of which he is involved in
a most fatiguing Adventure, which greatly tends towards the Augmentation
of his Chagrin.

Thus debarred of personal communication with his mistress, he essayed
to retrieve her good graces by the most submissive and pathetic letters,
which he conveyed by divers artifices to her perusal; but, reaping no
manner of benefit from these endeavours, his passion acquired a degree
of impatience little inferior to downright frenzy; and he determined to
run every risk of life, fortune, and reputation, rather than desist
from his unjustifiable pursuit. Indeed, his resentment was now as deeply
concerned as his love, and each of these passions equally turbulent and
loud in demanding gratification. He kept sentinels continually in pay,
to give him notice of her outgoings, in expectation of finding some
opportunity to carry her off; but her circumspection entirely
frustrated this design, for she suspected everything of that sort from a
disposition like his, and regulated her motions accordingly.

Baffled by her prudence and penetration, he altered his plan. On
pretence of being called to his country house by some affair of
importance, he departed from London, and, taking lodgings at a farmer's
house that stood near the road through which she must have necessarily
passed in her return to her mother, concealed himself from all
intercourse, except with his valet-de-chambre and Pipes, who had orders
to scour the country, and reconnoitre every horse, coach, or carriage,
that should appear on that highway, with a view of intercepting his
Emilia in her passage.

He had waited in this ambuscade a whole week, when his valet gave him
notice, that he and his fellow-scout had discovered a chaise-and-six,
driving at full speed towards them; upon which they had flapped their
hats over their eyes, so as they might not be known, in case they should
be seen, and concealed themselves behind a hedge, from whence they could
perceive in the carriage, as it passed, a young man plainly dressed,
with a lady in a mask, of the exact size,