accusing the charming countess, he suffered a thousand different
anxieties on her account. Sometimes he imagined that her husband might
have returned unexpectedly; sometimes, that she might suddenly have been
taken ill; in short, that some insuperable obstacle had unluckily
interposed, and prevented his happiness, notwithstanding his mistress's
kind intentions towards him. "But wherefore," said he, "did she forget
me in that cursed garden? Is it possible that she could not find a
single moment to make me at least, some sign or other, if she could
neither speak to me nor give me admittance?" He knew not which of these
conjectures to rely upon, or how to answer his own questions; but as he
flattered himself that everything would succeed better the next night,
after having vowed not to set a foot again into that unfortunate garden,
he gave orders to be awakened as soon as any person should inquire for
him: then he laid himself down in one of the worst beds in the world, and
slept as sound as if he had been in the best: he supposed that he should
not be awakened, but either by a letter or a message from Lady
Chesterfield; but he had scarce slept two hours when he was roused by the
sound of the horn and the cry of the hounds. The but which afforded him
a retreat, joining, as we before said, to the park wall, he called his
host, to know what was the occasion of that hunting, which made a noise
as if the whole pack of hounds had been in his bed-chamber. He was told
that it was my lord hunting a hare in his park. "What lord?" said he,
in great surprise. "The Earl of Chesterfield," replied the pea sant.
He was so astonished at this that at first he hid his head under the
bed-clothes, under the idea that he already saw him entering with all his
bounds; but as soon as he had a little recovered himself he began to
curse capricious fortune, no longer doubting but this jealous fool's
return had occasioned all his tribulations in the preceding night.

It was not possible for him to sleep again, after such an alarm; he