is true,’ said he, ’but I believe there are many ill husbands, who owe their being such, to the ill conduct of their wives’:—­’now I fancy,’ continued he, ’whoever is so happy as to have you, will have no such excuse; for I firmly believe you have in you all the requisites to make the marriage state agreeable.’  To this she only made a curtesy, and thanked him for his good opinion:  ‘I do assure you,’ resumed he, ’it is so sincere, that I should be glad to prove it, by making you my wife.  What say you,’ pursued he, ’could you be willing to accept of my addresses on that score?’ With these words he took hold of her hand, and pressing it with a great deal of warmth, occasioned her to blush excessively.—­The inability she was in of speaking, through the shame this question had excited in her, gave him an opportunity of prosecuting what he had begun, and saying many tender things, to convince her he was in earnest; but when at last she gave him an answer, it was only such as made him see she gave little credit to his professions.—­Some people coming in on business to her father, and saying they would wait till he came home, obliged Natura to take his leave for that time, well satisfied in his mind, that he had declared himself, and not much doubting, but that in spite of this first shyness, she would easily be prevailed upon to correspond with his desires, when his perseverance in them, should have assured her of their sincerity.

He was, notwithstanding, a good deal surprized, when, going several times after to the house, he could scarce see her, and never be able to exchange a word with her in private, so industriously did she avoid coming into his presence.—­Such a behaviour, he thought, could proceed only from one of these two motives, either thro’ an extraordinary dislike to his person, or through the fears of giving any indulgence to an inclination, which the disparity between them might make her mistake for a dishonourable one.  Sometimes he was tempted to think the one, sometimes the other; but not being of a humour to endure suspense, he resolved to take effectual measures for coming at the certainty.

He went one day about noon, and told the yeoman he was come to take a dinner with him, on which the other replied, that he did him a great deal of honour; but should have been glad to have been previously acquainted with it, in order to have been prepared to receive a gentleman of his condition.—­’No,’ said Natura, ’I chose to come upon you unawares, not only to prevent you from giving yourself any superfluous trouble on my account, but also because I would use a freedom, which should authorize you to treat me with the same;—­we are neighbours,’ continued he, ’and neighbours should be friends, and love one another.’