Note 02 — Chapter IX · TREATING OF LOVERS AND FRIENDS.

I thought Mr Menotti seemed confounded for a moment, but he answered quickly, with a monstrous effrontery, “Why, sir, I saw the fellow sneaking into the shadow of the thicket, and thinking I knew his villainous countenance, my concern for your interests induced me to follow him. Recognising me as an acquaintance of his master’s, he was so imprudent as to declare his errand, when my regard for Miss’s honour at once put me upon getting hold of the letter he carried, which I did by promising to deliver it to the proper person. The wicked wretch had been haunting the spot for hours without being able to have speech of Miss, and being a simple sort of fellow, one of those Sykes[02] from the Mogul’s dominions, and not a Gentoo, he was easily persuaded to deliver it up.”