I also learned farther from Donald MacLeish,
that there was some apprehension of ill luck attending
those who had the boldness to approach too
near, or disturb the awful solitude of a being so
unutterably miserable; that it was supposed that
whosoever approached her must experience in some
respect the contagion of her wretchedness.
It was therefore with some reluctance that Donald
saw me prepare to obtain a nearer view of the
sufferer, and that he himself followed to assist me in
the descent down a very rough path. I believe his
regard for me conquered some ominous feelings
in his own breast, which connected his duty on this
occasion with the presaging fear of lame horses, lost
linch-pins, overturns, and other perilous chances of
the postilion's life.
I am not sure if my own courage would have
carried me so close to Elspat, had he not followed.
There was in her countenance the stern abstraction
of hopeless and overpowering sorrow, mixed
with the contending feelings of remorse, and of the
pride which struggled to conceal it. She guessed,
perhaps, that it was curiosity, arising out of her
uncommon story, which induced me to intrude on
her solitude---and she could not be pleased that a
fate like hers had been the theme of a traveller's
amusement.
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