He was not without hope, that the cordial testimony of Governor Arundel
in his favour at Pendennis-Castle might prove the means of restoring him
to the presence of his friends; but a report at that time reaching him
of the high estimation in which Monthault was held by the Beaumont
family, added to an assurance that he was the accepted lover of
Constantia, determined him against returning to Oxford, to witness the
arts by which that now-detected traitor had confirmed his ruin. He had
often heard the love of women was not of that ardent nature, which
outlives disgrace and misfortune. Perhaps he secretly commended the
noble principles which could prevail on a young woman to reject a
dishonoured lover, and deem infamy a sufficient plea to rescind the bond
of a plighted attachment. He only lamented, that in this instance
Constantia had mistaken the dupe for the villain. Disdaining to dispute
the point of character with Monthault, and bent on clearing his fidelity
to his King, by some indisputable proofs before he claimed his love, he
felt as exiles frequently feel, who, liking nothing but that home from
which they are proscribed, suffer chance to decide their course.
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