True Heroism by Charlotte Maria Tucker

WITH mingled feelings of pleasure and pain, Willy quitted the house of the attorney. He was thankful that he had been enabled to strew some flowers in a path hedged up with so many thorns. The glow of his own warm kindly feelings was a source of rich enjoyment; but there was another side to the picture. He had promised, if not prevented, to return the next day, to be present at an operation from the thought of which he recoiled; he doubted his own firmness, his own strength of mind, and felt that he should suffer almost as much as Percy.

Then with the sight of the white lodge of Anderdon Hall came recollections of no agreeable nature. Willy remembered how he had parted from Ned and his companions, and anticipated an unpleasant meeting. Then perhaps the formidable Sir Hugh might question him as to where he had been, and he could not but offend by his answer. Poor Willy felt as he might have done if marching up to a battery, and instinctively slackened his pace as he approached the house through the shrubbery.