But Peregrine,
without stopping, answered in the same tone, "Another time will do
as well"; and in a moment disappeared, leaving the projector very
much mortified with his disappointment; for his intention was to
close the description with a demand of twenty pieces, to be repaid
out of the first remittance he should receive from his estate.
It would have been well for our hero, had he always acted with the
same circumspection. But he had his unguarded moments, in which he
fell a prey to the unsuspecting integrity of his own heart. There
was a person among the number of his acquaintances, whose conversation
he particularly relished, because it was frank, agreeable, and
fraught with many sensible observations upon the craft and treachery
of mankind. This gentleman had made shift to discuss a very genteel
fortune, though it was spent with taste and reputation, and now
he was reduced to his shifts for the maintenance of his family,
which consisted of a wife and child. Not that he was destitute of
the necessaries of life, being comfortably supplied by the bounty
of his friends; but this was a provision not at all suited to his
inclination; and he had endeavoured, by divers unsuccessful schemes,
to retrieve his former independency.
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