He was barely in it when a
lady's horse took fright: she was riding alone, with a groom following;
Lord Hartledon gave her his assistance, led her horse until the animal
was calm, and rode side by side with her to the end of the Row. He knew
not who she was; scarcely noticed whether she was young or old; and had
not given a remembrance to it since.
When your wife's dying! Accustomed to the strong expressions of the
countess-dowager, he passed that over. But, "going the same way that her
father went;" he paused there, and tried to remember how her father did
"go." All he could recollect now, indeed all he knew at the time, was,
that Lord Kirton's last illness was reported to have been a lingering
one.
Such missives as these--and the countess-dowager favoured him with more
than one--coupled with his own consciousness that he was not behaving
to his wife as he ought, took him at length down to Hartledon. That his
presence at the place so soon after his marriage was little short of an
insult to Dr. Ashton's family, his sensitive feelings told him; but his
duty to his wife was paramount, and he could not visit his sin upon her.
She was looking very ill; was low-spirited and hysterical; and when she
caught sight of him she forgot her anger, and fell sobbing into his arms.
The countess-dowager had gone over to Garchester, and they had a few
hours' peace together.
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