MISADVENTURES OF A LOVER. 33 



room. I enquired where I was, and was answered, "The Duke of 

 York Hotel, in the town of D ." 



"The same," I ejaculated with myself, " the same as that in which 

 Lavinia and I supped last night." 



"And where," I asked, with an emphasis of which print can give 

 no idea, " where is Lavinia ?'* 



" Lavinia,'' exclaimed Boots, evidently ignorant of who I meant. 



" The young lady I brought here with me last night/' said I hur- 

 riedly. 



*' Adz, Sur, she was carried off by the three gentlemons who 

 coorned in such haste in a carriage," said Boots, with an archness of 

 look which denoted that Nature had intended the young rascal for 

 the stage. 



" The three gentlemen !'' A recollection of the triumvirate of 

 scoundrels who so abruptly and unceremoniously thrust their hated 

 presence on us the previous night, darted across my mind. But 

 what they were, whither they had come, where they were gone, 

 what they had done with Lavinia, whether they had " Burked" her, 

 or compelled her to marry one of their ruffian selves, were all mat- 

 ters as to which I was in a state of as total ignorance as the child un- 

 born ; nor could any person in the inn furnish me with information 

 on the subject. 



Boots withdrew. I rose, huddled on part of my clothes, and pre- 

 pared for shaving. Has the reader a good imagination ? If he 

 have, let him conceive as he best can of my horror, mingled with as- 

 tonishment, when, on looking in the glass, I saw my frontispiece so 

 shockingly mangled and furrowed with deep scratches that there 

 was scarcely a square inch of whole skin on it. 



" In the name of wonder, what can be the meaning of this ? How 

 have I come by such a face ?" were questions I asked myself. They 

 were unanswerable by me. The matter was involved in as much 

 mystery as the identity of the trio of scamps who wrested Lavinia 

 from my arms. 



What was to be done respecting my inamorato ? what with my 

 face ? were two queries which now occupied my thoughts. A little 

 sober reflection advised me that time alone could remedy the latter 

 evil. A for my Dulcinea, I had at intervals a faint hope that she 

 might possibly make her escape from the ragamuffins who had ab- 

 stracted her, in which case I had no doubt of her return. But this 

 delusion, indifferently pleasing as it only was at best, was of short 

 continuance. The horrible hypothesis would every now and then 

 suggest itself, that one of the three, most probably the first who en- 

 tered the room, was some unknown rival ; in which case there was 

 no room for even the slightest hope. 



However, as the state of my phiz disqualified me from being seen 

 in public, I thought it the most advisable course to stay that day in 

 the inn, to see what would turn up in the chapter of accidents. 



The day passed ; but not a syllable about Lavinia. Dante speaks 

 of the ineffable miseries of those who have entered a certain place, 

 on whose portals are written the words, " All hope abandon, ye who 

 enter here." Their misery ! It must be happiness compared with 



M.M. No. l. D 



