12 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST 



This wind-up of the season, united to sultry weather 

 and a tender persecution, determined me to fly " east, 

 west, or north, I care not whither." This, however, 

 was more easily decided on than effected, for to retreat 

 is the difficulty, as I find myself hemmed in by my 

 enemies on every side. The widow cuts me off from 

 Cheltenham ; the Honourable Juliana Thistleton would 



haunt me in Hastings ; the Dowager of and her 



protegee abide in the pleasant town of Brighton ; and my 

 Lord Leatherby has taken out a sort of roving commis- 

 sion, to infest every retirement of fashionable repute ; 

 and from his cunning enquiries as to the particular point, 

 seaside or suburban, to which I purpose to remove, 

 I perceive I am as deliberately doomed to matrimony 

 by this relentless nobleman as ever a country bonnet- 

 maker was devoted to destruction by an immoral captain 

 of horse. 



And shall I fall without a struggle to avert my fate ? 

 forbid it, honour ! Yes, my determination is fixed 

 I will counteract this conspiracy against my freedom, 

 and call my Connaught cousin " to the rescue." He 

 is a determined duellist, and has been regularly jilted 

 consequently he abominates the sex (I hope) and will 

 protect me from the widow ; while his truculent 

 propensities for the pistol will keep the Peer at a distance. 



