Here he had not waited above ten minutes,
when Emilia entered in a most enchanting undress, with all the
graces of nature playing about her person, and in a moment riveted
the chains of his slavery beyond the power of accident to unbind.
Her mother being still abed, and her brother gone to give orders
about the chaise, in which they proposed to return that same day to
their own habitation, he enjoyed her company a whole hour, during
which he declared his love in the most passionate terms, and begged
that he might be admitted into the number of those admirers whom
she permitted to visit and adore her.
She affected to look upon his vows and protestations as the ordinary
effect of gallantry, and very obligingly assured him that were she
to live in that place she should be glad to see him often; but as
the spot on which she resided was at a considerable distance, she
could not expect he would go so far, upon such a trifling occasion, as
to take the trouble of providing himself with her mamma's permission.
To this favourable hint he with all the eagerness of the most
fervent passion, that he had uttered nothing but the genuine dictates
of his heart; that he desired nothing so much as an opportunity
of evincing the sincerity of his professions; and that, though he
lived at the extremity of the kingdom, he would find means to lay
himself at her feet, provided he could visit her with her mother's
consent, which he assured her he would not fail to solicit.
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