Page:Modern literature (1804 Volume 1).djvu/269

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very great happiness in seeing my friend John, than whom I can love no man more affectionately, but with what exquisite joy I shall again behold his lovely and angelic sister." Before he had time to finish, the squire returned; and a minute or two after, a tall strapping lady, very thinly dressed, and who about the neck anticipated the imitation of mother Eve, that has since become so prevalent, came in, saying, she understood there was one gentleman to be her fellow passenger in the mail, she had come to have the pleasure of his acquaintance before they embarked together. "I understand," she continued, "that he is a very handsome young gentleman, and so, sir, I suppose you are he." Hamilton, though not unacquainted with the world, and not without many opportunities, could not be called a man of gallantry, and made a very slight answer to this