and turned a wistful gaze down the river, in the vain hope that Antonio
might, at the same moment, be enjoying the scene--but the sluggish sloop
was now far behind, and the eye of Antonio, bright as it was, could not
pierce the distance. Julia felt rather relieved than otherwise, when the
vessel which contained her hero was hid from view by a mountain that
they doubled. Her feelings were much like those of a girl who had long
anxiously waited the declaration of a favourite youth, had received it,
and acknowledged her own partiality. She felt all the assurance of her
conquest, and would gladly, for a time, avoid the shame of her own
acknowledgment. The passage up the Hudson furnishes in itself so much to
charm the eye of a novice, that none but one under the extraordinary
circumstances of our heroine, could have beheld the beauties of the
river unmoved. If Julia did not experience quite as much rapture in the
journey as she had anticipated, she attributed it to the remarkably
delicate situation she was in with her lover, and possibly to a dread
of his being detected. An officer of his rank and reputation must be
well known, thought she, and he may meet with acquaintances every where.
However, by the attention of Charles, she passed the day with a very
tolerable proportion of pleasure. Their arrival at Albany was
undistinguished by any remarkable event, though Julia looked in vain
through the darkness of the night, in quest of the fertile meadows and
desert islands which Anna had mentioned in her letter. Even the river
seemed straight and uninteresting. But Julia was tired--it was
night--and Antonio was absent.
The following morning Miss Emmerson and her niece, attended by Charles,
took a walk to examine the beauties of Albany. It did not strike our
heroine as being so picturesque as it had her friend; still it had
novelty, and that lent it many charms it might have wanted on a more
intimate acquaintance. Their forenoon, however, exhausted the beauties
of this charming town, and they had returned to the inn, and the ladies
were sitting in rather a listless state when Charles entered the room
with a look of pleasure, and cried "he is here."
"Who!" exclaimed Julia, starting, and trembling like an aspen.
"He!--Tony," said Charles, in reply.
Julia was unable to say any more; but her aunt, without noticing her
agitation, asked mildly,
"And who is Tony?"
"Why Anthony, the driver--he is here and wishes to see you."
"Show him up, Charles, and let us learn when he will be ready to go on."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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