The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
dear little mother is the last person in the world whom I wish to be worried or
distressed. I know not what she would say were the news of this sad scrape to come to
her ears. No, no; even Humphrey has promised to keep it secret from her. But, now, put
on your considering cap and listen very attentively, for I will read you Sir Walter's
letter. It begins, you must know, with a deal of high-flown nonsense about the state of
mind into which he was thrown by my unexpected flight. Let me see… h'm, h'm…
Town a desert… Assemblies unlit by my eyes, like the sky without stars. Ah! here we
come to the point: ‘Finding it impossible to exist in a world so gloomy, and being
indeed drawn by an attraction stronger than the power of the magnet for the needle, I
have this very day arrived amid the regions gladdened by your presence. Though the
edict of my cruel charmer forbids my visiting at her home, she cannot prevent my
dwelling in the neighbourhood. I warn you then, O obdurate beauty, that I shall continue
to haunt the woods and fields which surround your abode. No rustic Strephon ever
dogged the footsteps of his reluctant Chloe more persistently than I will dog the
footsteps of my coy and cruel fair. You shall not be rid of me till you grant me at least
one interview — no, not though you remain in utter seclusion for months. See to what a
pass you have brought your faithful admirer — drive him not to extremities, most
bewitching Rachel, if you would not have him take some desperate step. You have
shunned me of late, but you were not wont to be so harsh' — Then he rambles on for a
long time," pursued Rachel, in an indifferent tone. “I will not tax your patience with his
nonsensical tirades; but here we come to the real motive of the letter, and I must own,"
she added, drawing together her pretty brows, "it puzzles and annoys me:
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‘Let me beg of you to consider the plan which 1 would now suggest to you. Consent to
meet me at a spot which I shall point out, at a sufficient distance from your father's
house to secure your movements being unobserved, and we will there once more
discuss the vexed question of the promised waltz. It is possible that we may arrive at
some compromise. The affair has now become as painful to me as you allege it is to
yourself; nevertheless, my honour is engaged, and I cannot draw back, unless you
yourself give me such good and weighty reasons as shall force me to withdraw. Do but