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

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
were nowhere about the premises the possibility of your elopement did not occur to
him. Not, indeed, until on making inquiries he found that your lover was also absent.
Ah, you laid your plans very cleverly, but you are not quite so clever as you supposed,
you see."
"So it appears, indeed," she returned. "I had no idea you would come up with us here,
but really, my dear Cousin, I am sorry you should have given yourself so much trouble;
you must have been tired after your long journey, and it was a little inconsiderate of my
father to send you forth again on such an unnecessary errand. If you think you can bully
or cajole me into giving up Simon Fleetwood I can assure you very positively that you
are mistaken
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Nothing that you can say will have the least effect on me."
"There, my good girl, you are making a mistake," retorted Charnock, who, though his
face was livid with passion, had evidently schooled himself to speak with calmness. "It
is quite impossible that what I have to tell you should not have a very great effect on
you."
“This grows interesting: pray let us hear."
“When you suffered yourself to be persuaded to take this disastrous step," said
Humphrey deliberately, "it is more than probable that you imagined you were trusting
yourself to a man who, however beneath you in degree, was at feast honourable and
straightforward."
"Why, what remarkable penetration has this cousin of mine! As you say, Humphrey, it
is quite probable that I did. Now, I wonder by what intuition you guessed the power of
Mr. Fleetwood's persuasions." Here she darted a joyous, mischievous glance at Simon.
"Is it not wonderful that he should have divined how you contrived the affair, how you
besought me, how, in fact, you would take no denial? Clever Humphrey!"
"It requires no very great penetration, I think, to guess that such a plot was hatched by
him," cried young Charnock, whose breath was now coming quickly, and who was
evidently beginning to lose mastery over himself. "It was worthy of him — like the