ose who guarded her looked out to see who it was that
approached. Suspense was not long on either side. The horsemen were up
with them in a moment. "Oh, whoever you are," cried Delia, in an agony of
distress, "pity and relieve the most miserable woman'"----She received no
answer, but the horses stopped, and lord Martin was in a moment at the
door of the carriage. "Oh, my lord," cried Delia, "is it you? Thanks,
eternal thanks, for this fortunate incident. If you had not come, heaven
knows what would have become of me! Those brutes, those wretches--But
conduct me, my lord, to my father's house. Without doubt, they must by
this time be in a terrible fright."

"Do not be uneasy," cried his lordship, endeavouring to assume an
harmonious, but missing his point, he spoke in the shrillest and most
squeaking accent that can be imagined. "Do not be uneasy, my charmer. You
are in the hands of a man, that loves you, as never woman was loved
before. But I will be with you in a minute," said he. And withdrawing
behind the carriage, he beckoned to the person who had conducted the
business of the rape. "Why, you incorrigible blockhead," said lord Martin,
"you have neglected half your instructions. Why, her hands are at
liberty." "I beg your honour's pardon," replied the pimp, "I had indeed
forgotten, but it shall be remedied in a moment." And saying this, he
pulled a strong ribband out of his pocket, and getting into the chariot,
fastened the soft and lily hands of our heroine behind her. She screamed,
and invoked the name of his lordship a thousand times. Her hair became
disentangled from its ligaments, and flowed in waving ringlets about her
snowy, panting bosom. Exhausted with continual agitation, and particularly
with the last struggle, she seemed ready to faint, but was quickly
restored by the assiduity of these sordid grooms.

Before she had completely recovered her recollection, lord Martin had
seated himself in the carriage, and was drawing up some of the blinds.
"Drive on," said he to the coachman, who was by this time mounted into the
box, "Drive, as if the devil was behind you." The cavalcade accordingly
went forward. There was a servant on each side of the carriage, beside the
commander in chief, who occasionally advanced in the front, and
occasionally brought up the rear.

"And whither," said the affrighted Delia, "whither are we going? This
cannot be the way to Southampton. What do you mean? But ah, it is too
plain! Why