Our hero assured him he would not fail to pay his
respects to him at the time and place appointed; and foreseeing
that he might be prevented from keeping this engagement by the
officious care of his governor, who saw the mousquetaire come in,
he told Mr. Jolter, that the Frenchman had visited him in consequence
of an order he had received from his superiors, to make an apology
for his rude behaviour to him in the playhouse, and that they had
parted very good friends. This assurance, together with Pickle's
tranquil and unconcerned behaviour through the day, quieted the terrors
which had begun to take possession of his tutor's imagination; so
that the youth had an opportunity of giving him the slip at night,
when he betook himself to the lodgings of a friend, whom he engaged
as his second, and with whom he immediately took the field, in order
to avoid the search which Jolter, upon missing him, might set on
foot.
This was a necessary precaution; for as he did not appear at supper,
and Pipes, who usually attended him in his excursions, could give
no account of his motions, the governor was dreadfully alarmed at
his absence, and ordered his man to run in quest of his master to
all the places which he used to frequent, while he himself went to
the commissaire, and, communicating his suspicions, was accommodated
with a party of the horse-guards, who patrolled round all the
environs of the city, with a view of preventing the rencounter.
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