Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/177

This page needs to be proofread.

seems formed for the world, should take a fancy to roam the forests on foot, without a companion or necessaries to refresh him!"

"The first I want not (said Ferdinand) and for the last I trust to benevolence and hospitality, such as I now experience."

"But suppose you had not met my daughter, your trust would have been a very feeble one, for I know not another hut for a great way off, and you would have been benighted in the forest. Think of your danger in that case."

"Could we always foresee (observed Ferdinand) we might possibly avoid many disagreeable accidents, many melancholy circumstances; but no such prescience is allowed to man, and if it was, and the evils of life unavoidable, we should be still more wretched than we are."

"True (answered the old man;) but had I guessed you was coming here, I might have been better prepared, for we eat up our eggs at dinner; bread and milk is all your fare."