ABSTRACT

Unaware of these circumstances, for Catherine did not even mention to me her momentary encounter with a person that looked like Ambrose, we embarked. We had scarcely passed the Foreland, a before a heavy gale overtook us from the south-east, and kept us for two days, not without some danger, beating about in the waves of the North Sea, with the apprehension that we might be obliged to come to anchor in some port of the English coast. This incident was in itself no way of material importance; but, in the frame of mind in which I found myself, and the perilous condition in which I stood, circumstances which at any other time / would have appeared slight, made a strong impression upon me. I regarded this obstruction to my passage as ominous, and became apprehensive that, after the like fashion, every attempt I should make to escape from the tragical consequences of my rash proceeding, would be rendered ineffectual and abortive. Both Catherine and myself had been too much accustomed to the motion of the sea, to be much inconvenienced by that particular.