Meanwhile, as Nigel walked hastily forward towards the place of
sanctuary, he bitterly blamed himself for suffering Lord Dalgarno to
lead him into the haunts of dissipation; and no less accused his
intemperate heat of passion, which now had driven him for refuge into
the purlieus of profane and avowed vice and debauchery.
"Dalgarno spoke but too truly in that," were his bitter reflections;
"I have made myself an evil reputation by acting on his insidious
counsels, and neglecting the wholesome admonitions which ought to have
claimed implicit obedience from me, and which recommended abstinence
even from the slightest approach of evil. But if I escape from the
perilous labyrinth in which folly and inexperience, as well as violent
passions, have involved me, I will find some noble way of redeeming
the lustre of a name which was never sullied until I bore it."
As Lord Glenvarloch formed these prudent resolutions, he entered the
Temple Walks, whence a gate at that time opened into Whitefriars, by
which, as by the more private passage, he proposed to betake himself
to the sanctuary. As he approached the entrance to that den of infamy,
from which his mind recoiled even while in the act of taking shelter
there, his pace slackened, while the steep and broken stairs reminded
him of the _facilis_ descensus Averni, and rendered him doubtful
whether it were not better to brave the worst which could befall him
in the public haunts of honourable men, than to evade punishment by
secluding himself in those of avowed vice and profligacy.
Pages:
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335