He was rewarded by a little adventure. As he cantered up to London with
two servants and a post-boy, all riding on horses ordered in relays
beforehand, he came up with an antediluvian coach, stuck fast by the
road-side. Looking into the window, with the humane design of quizzing
the elders who should be there, he saw a young lady of surpassing beauty.
This altered the case; Sir Charles instantly drew bridle and offered his
services.
The lady thanked him, and being an innocent country lady, she opened
those sluices, her eyes, and two tears gently trickled down, while she
told him how eager she was to reach London, and how mortified at this
delay.
The good Sir Charles was touched. He leaped his horse over a hedge,
galloped to a farm-house in sight, and returned with ropes and rustics.
These and Sir Charles's horses soon drew the coach out of some stiffish
clay.
The lady thanked him, and thanked him, and thanked him, with heightening
color and beaming eyes, and he rode away like a hero.
Before he had gone five miles he became thoughtful and self-dissatisfied,
finally his remorse came to a head; he called to him the keenest of his
servants, Hunsdon, and ordered him to ride back past the carriage, then
follow and put up at the same inn, to learn who the lady was, and whither
going; and, this knowledge gained, to ride into town full speed and tell
his master all about it.
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