ABSTRACT
It was now become impossible for the two friends to find any enjoyment in hunting, or any other of those amusements which they meant to have engaged in during their stay with Captain Caverly. No pretence was necessary to excuse their repeating their visit to the house of Mr. Sanderson, for the elder lady had declared that nothing gave her so much satisfaction as to see them; and besides that general invitation, it was merely a matter of common civility to enquire after her daughter-in-law, whom they had seen the day before so much indisposed. They set out together, therefore, about ten o’clock; having persuaded Captain Caverly to postpone, till another opportunity, the introduction he was so desirous of obtaining; not only because they believed Madame de Touranges was too ill not to be incommoded by the presence of another stranger, but because he had complained the evening before of some symptoms of the gout, which, in early spring, generally attacked him with great severity. But, though he could not now pay his respects to the foreigners, for whom he felt so generously interested, he charged his nephew and D’Alonville to offer them, on his part, all manner of service; and sent them, from his own garden, some of the productions of his hot-beds, on which he greatly prided himself.
