shook off its burthen. Indignation succeeded to emotions of terror. The
hostility of Mr. Falkland excited hostility in me. I determined I would
never calumniate him in matters of the most trivial import, much less
betray the grand secret upon which every thing dear to him depended.
But, totally abjuring the offensive, I resolved to stand firmly upon the
defensive. The liberty of acting as I pleased I would preserve, whatever
might be the risk. If I were worsted in the contest, I would at least
have the consolation of reflecting that I had exerted myself with
energy. In proportion as I thus determined, I drew off my forces from
petty incursions, and felt the propriety of acting with premeditation
and system. I ruminated incessantly upon plans of deliverance, but I was
anxious that my choice should not be precipitately made.

It was during this period of my deliberation and uncertainty that Mr.
Forester terminated his visit. He observed a strange distance in my
behaviour, and, in his good-natured, rough way, reproached me for it. I
could only answer with a gloomy look of mysterious import, and a
mournful and expressive silence. He sought me for an explanation, but I
was now as ingenious in avoiding as I had before been ardent to seek
him; and he quitted our house, as he afterwards told me, with an
impression, that there was some ill destiny that hung over it, which
seemed fated to make all its inhabitants miserable, without its being
possible for a bystander to penetrate the reason.




CHAPTER VIII.