ABSTRACT
Montgomery was directed by young Chesterville to the house of a person who let lodgings near the Haymarket; where he was to enquire for a lady lately arrived from abroad, by the name of Madame de Lerida. He was told that such a lady had come to town two days before: – ‘and you Sir,’ said the woman of the house, ‘are, I suppose, the young gentleman she expected, and has been so uneasy about? Poor gentlewoman, she speaks hardly any English.’ Montgomery followed the woman of the house, who went up stairs as she said this, and opening the door of a small dining room, cried – ‘Here, Ma’am; here’s the young Captain come at last.’ She retired; and Montgomery advancing a step or two, beheld, approaching eagerly towards him, a young and very lovely woman, who, on perceiving it was a stranger, and not him whom she expected, started back, and threw herself into her chair in evident terror and dismay. Montgomery, who guessed instantly that he had been mistaken for Chesterville, approached her, and said in French – ‘Be not alarmed, Madam, that a stranger addresses you instead of Mr. Chesterville. It is at his desire that I have the honour of waiting on you.’
