him where he expected, proceeded thus far towards the house of his
kinsman. To me the meeting was most unaccountable in the world.

I instantly foresaw the dreadful complication of misfortune that was
included in this event. To Mr. Falkland, the meeting between me and his
relation must appear not accidental, but, on my part at least, the
result of design. I was totally out of the road I had been travelling by
his direction; I was in a road that led directly to the house of Mr.
Forester. What must he think of this? How must he suppose I came to that
place? The truth, if told, that I came there without design, and purely
in consequence of having lost my way, must appear to be the most
palpable lie that ever was devised.

Here then I stood detected in the fact of that intercourse which had
been so severely forbidden. But in this instance it was infinitely worse
than in those which had already given so much disturbance to Mr.
Falkland. It was then frank and unconcealed; and therefore the
presumption was, that it was for purposes that required no concealment.
But the present interview, if concerted, was in the most emphatical
degree clandestine. Nor was it less perilous than it was clandestine: it
had been forbidden with the most dreadful menaces; and Mr. Falkland was
not ignorant how deep an impression those menaces had made upon my
imagination. Such a meeting therefore could not have been concerted
under such circumstances, for a trivial purpose, or for any purpose
that his heart did not ache to think of. Such was the amount of my
crime, such was the agony my appearance was calculated to inspire; and
it was reasonable to suppose that the penalty I had to expect would be
proportionable. The threats of Mr. Falkland still sounded in my ears,
and I was in a transport of terror.