Eugene Aram — Volume 04 by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton
page 87 of 124 (70%)
page 87 of 124 (70%)
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occurrence; and he was weighing the danger of riding a lame horse against
his master's displeasure. Walter, perceiving he demurred, was seized with so violent a resentment, that he dashed up to the Corporal, and, grasping him by the collar, swung him, heavy as he was,--being wholly unprepared for such force,--to the ground. Without deigning to look at his condition, Walter mounted the sound horse, and throwing the bridle of the lame one over a bough, left the Corporal to follow at his leisure. There is not perhaps a more sore state of mind than that which we experience when we have committed an act we meant to be generous, and fear to be foolish. "Certainly," said Walter, soliloquizing, "certainly the man is a rascal: yet he was evidently sincere in his emotion. Certainly he was one of the men who robbed me; yet, if so, he was also the one who interceded for my life. If I should now have given strength to a villain;--if I should have assisted him to an outrage against myself! What more probable? Yet, on the other hand, if his story be true;--if his child be dying,--and if, through my means, he obtain a last interview with her! Well, well, let me hope so!" Here he was joined by the Corporal, who, angry as he was, judged it prudent to smother his rage for another opportunity; and by favoring his master with his company, to procure himself an ally immediately at hand, should his suspicions prove true. But for once, his knowledge of the world deceived him: no sign of living creature broke the loneliness of the way. By and by the lights of the town gleamed upon them; and, on reaching the inn, Walter found his horse had been already sent there, |
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