either of
those ladies' neighbourhood, as were once my thoughts?

I was still silent.

Whether I chose to go to either of Lord M.'s seats; that of Berks, or
that in the county we were in?

In lodgings, I said, any where, where he was not to be.

He had promised this, he owned; and he would religiously keep to his
word, as soon as he found all danger of pursuit over; and that I was
settled to my mind. But, if the place were indifferent to me, London was
the safest, and the most private: and his relations should all visit
me there, the moment I thought fit to admit them. His cousin Charlotte,
particularly, should attend me, as my companion, if I would accept of
her, as soon as she was able to go abroad. Mean time, would I go to Lady
Betty Lawrance's (Lady Sarah was a melancholy woman)? I should be the
most welcome guest she ever received.

I told him, I wished not to go (immediately, however, and in the frame
I was in, and not likely to be out of) to any of his relations: that my
reputation was concerned, to have him absent from me: that, if I were in
some private lodging, the meaner the less to be suspected, (as it would
be known, that I went away by his means; and he would be supposed to
have provided me handsome accommodations,) it would be most suitable
both to my mind and to my situation: that this might be best, I should
think, in the country for me; in town for him. And no matter how soon he
was known to be there.

If he might deliver his opinion, he said, it was, that since I declined
going to any of his relations, London was the only place in the world
to be private in. Every new comer in a country town or village excited a
curiosity: A person of my figure [and many compliments he made me] would
excite more. Even messages and letters, where none used to be brought,
would occasion inquiry. He had not provided a lodging any where,
supposing I would choose to go either to London, where accommodations of
that sort might be fixed upon in an hour's time, or to Lady Betty's; or
to Lord M.'s Herfordshire seat, where was the housekeeper, an excellent
woman, Mrs. Greme, such another as my Norton.

To be sure, I said, if I were pursued, it would be in their first
passion; and some one of his relations' houses would be the place they
would expect to find me at--I knew not what to do.

My pleasure should determine him, he said, be it what it would. Only
that I were safe, was all he was solicitous about. He had lodgi