In that fortunate case, the
lovers would have had quick warning of the ills that threatened them,
and the aid of various timely and wise suggestions to boot; for all
Joe's readiness of thought and action, and all his sympathies and good
wishes, were enlisted in favour of the young people, and were staunch in
devotion to their cause. Whether this disposition arose out of his old
prepossessions in favour of the young lady, whose history had surrounded
her in his mind, almost from his cradle, with circumstances of unusual
interest; or from his attachment towards the young gentleman, into
whose confidence he had, through his shrewdness and alacrity, and the
rendering of sundry important services as a spy and messenger, almost
imperceptibly glided; whether they had their origin in either of these
sources, or in the habit natural to youth, or in the constant badgering
and worrying of his venerable parent, or in any hidden little love
affair of his own which gave him something of a fellow-feeling in the
matter, it is needless to inquire--especially as Joe was out of the way,
and had no opportunity on that particular occasion of testifying to his
sentiments either on one side or the other.
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