CHAPTER XVII.
REMORSE.
During the progress of the dialogue narrated in the conclusion of our
last chapter, Forrester had absented himself, as much probably with a
delicate sense of courtesy, which anticipated some further results than
came from it, as with the view to the consummation of some private
matters of his own. He now returned, and signifying his readiness to
Ralph, they mounted their horses and proceeded on a proposed ride out of
the village, in which Forrester had promised to show the youth a
pleasanter region and neighborhood.
This ride, however, was rather of a gloomy tendency, as its influences
were lost in the utterance and free exhibition to Ralph of the mental
sufferings of his companion. Naturally of a good spirit and temper, his
heart, though strong of endurance and fearless of trial, had not been
greatly hardened by the world's circumstance. The cold droppings of the
bitter waters, however they might have worn into, had not altogether
petrified it; and his feelings, coupled with and at all times acted upon
by a southern fancy, did not fail to depict to his own sense, and in the
most lively colors, the offence of which he had been guilty.
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