for, I suppose, in common civility, I must go and speak to her father,
as the old gentleman's eye is upon me. There! He secures his point by
a bow. Dearly beloved, I come, I come!"
Thus saying, he turned to proceed to the box, making a sign to Wilton
to follow, which he did, though at the time he did it, he censured
his own weakness for yielding to the temptation.
"I am but going," he thought, "to augment feelings of regret at a
destiny I cannot change--I only go to increase my own pain, and in no
degree to avert from that sweet girl a fate but too dark and
sorrowful."
As he thus thought, he felt disposed, even then, to make some excuse
for not going to the Duke's box; but by the time they were half way
thither, they were met by several persons coming the other way,
amongst whom was a gentleman richly but not gaudily dressed, who
immediately addressed Lord Sherbrooke, saying, that the Duke of
Gaveston requested the honour of his company in his box, and Wilton
immediately recognised his old companion of the road, Sir John
Fenwick. Sir John bowed to him but distantly; and Wilton was more than
ever hesitating whether he should go on or not, when some one touched
him on the arm, and turning round he beheld his somewhat doubtful
acquaintance, who had given himself the name of Green.
Sir John Fenwick and the stranger looked in each other's faces
without the slightest sign of recognition: but to Wilton himself
Green smiled pleasantly, saying, "I very much wish to speak a word
with you, Mr. Wilton Brown. Will you just step aside with me to the
lobby for a moment?"
The recollection of what had passed when last they met, together with
the wish of avoiding an interview with the Duke and his daughter,
from which he augured nought but pain, overcame Wilton's repugnance
to hold any private communication with one whom he had certainly seen
in a situation at the least very equivocal; and merely saying to Lord
Sherbrooke, "I must speak with this gentleman for a moment, and
therefore cannot come with you," he left the young lord to follow Sir
John Fenwick, and turned with the stranger into the lobby. There was
no one there at the moment, for at that time the licensed
abomination, of which it has since been the scene, would not have
been tolerated in any country calling itself Christian. Wilton was
indeed rather glad that it was vacant, for he was not anxious to be
observed by many people in conversation with his present companion.
Not that anything in his appearance o