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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3)
+       Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+Author: Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7152]
+This file was first posted on March 18, 2003
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECILIA, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CECILIA
+
+OR
+
+Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+by
+
+FRANCES BURNEY
+
+VOL. III.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII. _Continued_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+AN EVENT.
+
+Scarce less unhappy in her decision than in her uncertainty, and every
+way dissatisfied with her situation, her views and herself, Cecilia
+was still so distressed and uncomfortable, when Delvile called the next
+morning, that he could not discover what her determination had been, and
+fearfully enquired his doom with hardly any hope of finding favour.
+
+But Cecilia was above affectation, and a stranger to art. “I would not,
+Sir,” she said, “keep you an instant in suspense, when I am no longer in
+suspense myself. I may have appeared trifling, but I have been nothing
+less, and you would readily exculpate me of caprice, if half the
+distress of my irresolution was known to you. Even now, when I hesitate
+no more, my mind is so ill at ease, that I could neither wonder nor be
+displeased should you hesitate in your turn.”
+
+“You hesitate no more?” cried he, almost breathless at the sound of
+those words, “and is it possible--Oh my Cecilia!--is it possible your
+resolution is in my favour?”
+
+“Alas!” cried she, “how little is your reason to rejoice! a dejected and
+melancholy gift is all you can receive!”
+
+“Ere I take it, then,” cried he, in a voice that spoke joy; pain, and
+fear all at once in commotion, “tell me if your reluctance has its
+origin in _me_, that I may rather even yet relinquish you, than merely
+owe your hand to the selfishness of persecution?”
+
+“Your pride,” said she, half smiling, “has some right to be alarmed,
+though I meant not to alarm it. No! it is with myself only I am at
+variance, with my own weakness and want of judgment that I quarrel,--in
+_you_ I have all the reliance that the highest opinion of your honour
+and integrity can give me.”
+
+This was enough for the warm heart of Delvile, not only to restore
+peace, but to awaken rapture. He was almost as wild with delight, as he
+had before been with apprehension, and poured forth his acknowledgments
+with so much fervour of gratitude, that Cecilia imperceptibly grew
+reconciled to herself, and before she missed her dejection, participated
+in his contentment.
+
+She quitted him as soon as she had power, to acquaint Mrs Charlton with
+what had passed, and assist in preparing her to accompany them to the
+altar; while Delvile flew to his new acquaintance, Mr Singleton, the
+lawyer, to request him to supply the place of Mr Monckton in giving her
+away.
+
+All was now hastened with the utmost expedition, and to avoid
+observation, they agreed to meet at the church; their desire of secrecy,
+however potent, never urging them to wish the ceremony should be
+performed in a place less awful.
+
+When the chairs, however, came, which were to carry the two ladies
+thither, Cecilia trembled and hung back. The greatness of her
+undertaking, the hazard of all her future happiness, the disgraceful
+secrecy of her conduct, the expected reproaches of Mrs Delvile, and
+the boldness and indelicacy of the step she was about to take, all so
+forcibly struck, and so painfully wounded her, that the moment she was
+summoned to set out, she again lost her resolution, and regretting the
+hour that ever Delvile was known to her, she sunk into a chair, and gave
+up her whole soul to anguish and sorrow.
+
+The good Mrs Charlton tried in vain to console her; a sudden horror
+against herself had now seized her spirits, which, exhausted by long
+struggles, could rally no more.
+
+In this situation she was at length surprised by Delvile, whose uneasy
+astonishment that she had failed in her appointment, was only to be
+equalled by that with which he was struck at the sight of her tears. He
+demanded the cause with the utmost tenderness and apprehension; Cecilia
+for some time could not speak, and then, with a deep sigh, “Ah!” she
+cried, “Mr Delvile! how weak are we all when unsupported by our own
+esteem! how feeble, how inconsistent, how changeable, when our courage
+has any foundation but duty!”
+
+Delvile, much relieved by finding her sadness sprung not from any new
+affliction, gently reproached her breach of promise, and earnestly
+entreated her to repair it. “The clergyman,” cried he, “is waiting; I
+have left him with Mr Singleton in the vestry; no new objections have
+started, and no new obstacles have intervened; why, then, torment
+ourselves with discussing again the old ones, which we have already
+considered till every possible argument upon them is exhausted?
+Tranquillize, I conjure you, your agitated spirits, and if the truest
+tenderness, the most animated esteem, and the gratefullest admiration,
+can soften your future cares, and ensure your future peace, every
+anniversary of this day will recompense my Cecilia for every pang she
+now suffers!”
+
+Cecilia, half soothed and half ashamed, finding she had in fact nothing
+new to say or to object, compelled herself to rise, and, penetrated
+by his solicitations, endeavoured to compose her mind, and promised to
+follow him.
+
+He would not trust her, however, from his sight, but seizing the very
+instant of her renewed consent, he dismissed the chairs, and ordering
+a hackney-coach, preferred any risk to that of her again wavering, and
+insisted upon accompanying her in it himself.
+
+Cecilia had now scarce time to breathe, before she found herself at the
+porch of----church. Delvile hurried her out of the carriage, and then
+offered his arm to Mrs Charlton. Not a word was spoken by any of the
+party till they went into the vestry, where Delvile ordered Cecilia
+a glass of water, and having hastily made his compliments to the
+clergyman, gave her hand to Mr Singleton, who led her to the altar.
+
+The ceremony was now begun; and Cecilia, finding herself past all power
+of retracting, soon called her thoughts from wishing it, and turned her
+whole attention to the awful service; to which though she listened with
+reverence, her full satisfaction in the object of her vows, made
+her listen without terror. But when the priest came to that solemn
+adjuration, _If any man can shew any just cause why they may not
+lawfully be joined together_, a conscious tear stole into her eye, and
+a sigh escaped from Delvile that went to her heart: but, when the priest
+concluded the exhortation with _let him now speak, or else hereafter
+for-ever hold his peace_, a female voice at some distance, called out in
+shrill accents, “I do!”
+
+The ceremony was instantly stopt. The astonished priest immediately shut
+up the book to regard the intended bride and bridegroom; Delvile started
+with amazement to see whence the sound proceeded; and Cecilia, aghast,
+and struck with horror, faintly shriekt, and caught hold of Mrs
+Charlton.
+
+The consternation was general, and general was the silence, though all
+of one accord turned round towards the place whence the voice issued: a
+female form at the same moment was seen rushing from a pew, who glided
+out of the church with the quickness of lightning.
+
+Not a word was yet uttered, every one seeming rooted to the spot on
+which he stood, and regarding in mute wonder the place this form had
+crossed.
+
+Delvile at length exclaimed, “What can this mean?”
+
+“Did you not know the woman, Sir?” said the clergyman.
+
+“No, Sir, I did not even see her.”
+
+“Nor you, madam?” said he, addressing Cecilia.
+
+“No, Sir,” she answered, in a voice that scarce articulated the two
+syllables, and changing colour so frequently, that Delvile, apprehensive
+she would faint, flew to her, calling out, “Let _me_ support you!”
+
+She turned from him hastily, and still, holding by Mrs Charlton, moved
+away from the altar.
+
+“Whither,” cried Delvile, fearfully following her, “whither are you
+going?”
+
+She made not any answer; but still, though tottering as much from
+emotion as Mrs Charlton from infirmity, she walked on.
+
+“Why did you stop the ceremony, Sir?” cried Delvile, impatiently
+speaking to the clergyman.
+
+“No ceremony, Sir,” he returned, “could proceed with such an
+interruption.”
+
+“It has been wholly accidental,” cried he, “for we neither of us
+know the woman, who could not have any right or authority for the
+prohibition.” Then yet more anxiously pursuing Cecilia, “why,”
+ he continued, “do you thus move off?--Why leave the ceremony
+unfinished?--Mrs Charlton, what is it you are about?--Cecilia, I beseech
+you return, and let the service go on!”
+
+Cecilia, making a motion with her hand to forbid his following her,
+still silently proceeded, though drawing along with equal difficulty Mrs
+Charlton and herself.
+
+“This is insupportable!” cried Delvile, with vehemence, “turn, I conjure
+you!--my Cecilia!--my wife!--why is it you thus abandon me?--Turn,
+I implore you, and receive my eternal vows!--Mrs Charlton, bring her
+back,--Cecilia, you _must_ not go!--”
+
+He now attempted to take her hand, but shrinking from his touch, in an
+emphatic but low voice, she said, “Yes, Sir, I must!--an interdiction
+such as this!--for the world could I not brave it!”
+
+She then made an effort to somewhat quicken her pace.
+
+“Where,” cried Delvile, half frantic, “where is this infamous woman?
+This wretch who has thus wantonly destroyed me!”
+
+And he rushed out of the church in pursuit of her.
+
+The clergyman and Mr Singleton, who had hitherto been wondering
+spectators, came now to offer their assistance to Cecilia. She declined
+any help for herself, but gladly accepted their services for Mrs
+Charlton, who, thunderstruck by all that had past, seemed almost robbed
+of her faculties. Mr Singleton proposed calling a hackney coach, she
+consented, and they stopt for it at the church porch.
+
+The clergyman now began to enquire of the pew-opener, what she knew of
+the woman, who she was, and how she had got into the church? She knew of
+her, she answered, nothing, but that she had come in to early prayers,
+and she supposed she had hid herself in a pew when they were over, as
+she had thought the church entirely empty.
+
+An hackney coach now drew up, and while the gentlemen were assisting Mrs
+Charlton into it, Delvile returned.
+
+“I have pursued and enquired,” cried he, “in vain, I can neither
+discover nor hear of her.--But what is all this? Whither are you
+going?--What does this coach do here?--Mrs Charlton, why do you get into
+it?--Cecilia, what are you doing?”
+
+Cecilia turned away from him in silence. The shock she had received,
+took from her all power of speech, while amazement and terror deprived
+her even of relief from tears. She believed Delvile to blame, though she
+knew not in what, but the obscurity of her fears served only to render
+them more dreadful.
+
+She was now getting into the coach herself, but Delvile, who could
+neither brook her displeasure, nor endure her departure, forcibly caught
+her hand, and called out, “You are _mine_, you are my _wife_!--I will
+part with you no more, and go whithersoever you will, I will follow and
+claim you!”
+
+“Stop me not!” cried she, impatiently though faintly, “I am sick, I am
+ill already,--if you detain me any longer, I shall be unable to support
+myself!”
+
+“Oh then rest on _me_!” cried he, still holding her; “rest but upon me
+till the ceremony is over!--you will drive me to despair and to madness
+if you leave me in this barbarous manner!”
+
+A crowd now began to gather, and the words bride and bridegroom reached
+the ears of Cecilia; who half dead with shame, with fear, and with
+distress, hastily said “You are determined to make me miserable!” and
+snatching away her hand, which Delvile at those words could no longer
+hold, she threw herself into the carriage.
+
+Delvile, however, jumped in after her, and with an air of authority
+ordered the coachman to Pall-Mall, and then drew up the glasses, with a
+look of fierceness at the mob.
+
+Cecilia had neither spirits nor power to resist him; yet, offended by
+his violence, and shocked to be thus publickly pursued by him, her looks
+spoke a resentment far more mortifying than any verbal reproach.
+
+“Inhuman Cecilia!” cried he, passionately, “to desert me at the very
+altar!--to cast me off at the instant the most sacred rites were uniting
+us!--and then thus to look at me!--to treat me with this disdain at a
+time of such distraction!--to scorn me thus injuriously at the moment
+you unjustly abandon me!”
+
+“To how dreadful a scene,” said Cecilia, recovering from her
+consternation, “have you exposed me! to what shame, what indignity, what
+irreparable disgrace!”
+
+“Oh heaven!” cried he with horror, “if any crime, any offence of mine
+has occasioned this fatal blow, the whole world holds not a wretch so
+culpable as myself, nor one who will sooner allow the justice of your
+rigour! my veneration for you has ever equalled my affection, and could
+I think it was through _me_ you have suffered any indignity, I should
+soon abhor myself, as you seem to abhor me. But what is it I have done?
+How have I thus incensed you? By what action, by what guilt, have I
+incurred this displeasure?
+
+“Whence,” cried she, “came that voice which still vibrates in my ear?
+The prohibition could not be on _my_ account, since none to whom I am
+known have either right or interest in even wishing it.”
+
+“What an inference is this! over _me_, then, do you conclude this woman
+had any power?”
+
+Here they stopt at the lodgings. Delvile handed both the ladies out.
+Cecilia, eager to avoid his importunities, and dreadfully disturbed,
+hastily past him, and ran up stairs; but Mrs Charlton refused not his
+arm, on which she lent till they reached the drawing-room.
+
+Cecilia then rang the bell for her servant, and gave orders that a
+post-chaise might be sent for immediately.
+
+Delvile now felt offended in his turn; but suppressing his vehemence, he
+gravely and quietly said “Determined as you are to leave me, indifferent
+to my peace, and incredulous of my word, deign, at least, before we
+part, to be more explicit in your accusation, and tell me if indeed it
+is possible you can suspect that the wretch who broke off the ceremony,
+had ever from me received provocation for such an action?”
+
+“I know not what to suspect,” said Cecilia, “where every thing is thus
+involved in obscurity; but I must own I should have some difficulty to
+think those words the effect of chance, or to credit that their speaker
+was concealed without design.”
+
+“You are right, then, madam,” cried he, resentfully, “to discard me! to
+treat me with contempt, to banish me without repugnance, since I see
+you believe me capable of duplicity, and imagine I am better informed
+in this affair than I appear to be. You have said I shall make you
+miserable,--no, madam, no! your happiness and misery depend not upon one
+you hold so worthless!”
+
+“On whatever they depend,” said Cecilia, “I am too little at ease for
+discussion. I would no more be daring than superstitious, but none of
+our proceedings have prospered, and since their privacy has always been
+contrary both to my judgment and my principles, I know not how to repine
+at a failure I cannot think unmerited. Mrs Charlton, our chaise is
+coming; you will be ready, I hope, to set off in it directly?”
+
+Delvile, too angry to trust himself to speak, now walked about the room,
+and endeavoured to calm himself; but so little was his success, that
+though silent till the chaise was announced, when he heard that dreaded
+sound, and saw Cecilia steady in her purpose of departing, he was so
+much shocked and afflicted, that, clasping his hands in a transport of
+passion and grief, he exclaimed. “This, then, Cecilia, is your faith!
+this is the felicity you bid me hope! this is the recompense of my
+sufferings, and the performing of your engagement!”
+
+Cecilia, struck by these reproaches, turned back; but while she
+hesitated how to answer them, he went on, “You are insensible to my
+misery, and impenetrable to my entreaties; a secret enemy has had power
+to make me odious in your sight, though for her enmity I can assign no
+cause, though even her existence was this morning unknown to me!
+Ever ready to abandon, and most willing to condemn me, you have more
+confidence in a vague conjecture, than in all you have observed of the
+whole tenour of my character. Without knowing why, you are disposed to
+believe me criminal, without deigning to say wherefore, you are eager
+to banish me your presence. Yet scarce could a consciousness of guilt
+itself, wound me so forcibly, so keenly, as your suspecting I am
+guilty!”
+
+“Again, then,” cried Cecilia, “shall I subject myself to a scene of such
+disgrace and horror? No, never!--The punishment of my error shall at
+least secure its reformation. Yet if I merit your reproaches, I deserve
+not your regard; cease, therefore, to profess any for me, or make them
+no more.”
+
+“Shew but to them,” cried he, “the smallest sensibility, shew but for
+me the most distant concern, and I will try to bear my disappointment
+without murmuring, and submit to your decrees as to those from which
+there is no appeal: but to wound without deigning even to look at what
+you destroy,--to shoot at random those arrows that are pointed with
+poison,--to see them fasten on the heart, and corrode its vital
+functions, yet look on without compunction, or turn away with cold
+disdain,--Oh where is the candour I thought lodged in Cecilia! where the
+justice, the equity, I believed a part of herself!”
+
+“After all that has past,” said Cecilia, sensibly touched by his
+distress, “I expected not these complaints, nor that, from me, any
+assurances would be wanted; yet, if it will quiet your mind, if it will
+better reconcile you to our separation---”
+
+“Oh fatal prelude!” interrupted he, “what on earth can quiet my mind
+that leads to our separation?--Give to me no condescension with any such
+view,--preserve your indifference, persevere in your coldness,
+triumph still in your power of inspiring those feelings you can never
+return,--all, every thing is more supportable than to talk of our
+separation!”
+
+“Yet how,” cried she, “parted, torn asunder as we have been, how is it
+now to be avoided?”
+
+“Trust in my honour! Shew me but the confidence which I will venture to
+say I deserve, and then will that union no longer be impeded, which in
+future, I am certain, will never be repented!”
+
+“Good heaven, what a request! faith so implicit would be frenzy.”
+
+“You doubt, then, my integrity? You suspect---”
+
+“Indeed I do not; yet in a case of such importance, what ought to guide
+me but my own reason, my own conscience, my own sense of right? Pain me
+not, therefore, with reproaches, distress me no more with entreaties,
+when I solemnly declare that no earthly consideration shall ever
+again make me promise you my hand, while the terror of Mrs Delvile's
+displeasure has possession of my heart. And now adieu.”
+
+“You give me, then, up?”
+
+“Be patient, I beseech you; and attempt not to follow me; 'tis a step I
+cannot permit.”
+
+“Not follow you? And who has power to prevent me?”
+
+“_I_ have, Sir, if to incur my endless resentment is of any consequence
+to you.”
+
+She then, with an air of determined steadiness, moved on; Mrs Charlton,
+assisted by the servants, being already upon the stairs.
+
+“O tyranny!” cried he, “what submission is it you exact!--May I not even
+enquire into the dreadful mystery of this morning?”
+
+“Yes, certainly.”
+
+“And may I not acquaint you with it, should it be discovered?”
+
+“I shall not be sorry to hear it. Adieu.”
+
+She was now half way down the stairs; when, losing all forbearance, he
+hastily flew after her, and endeavouring to stop her, called out, “If
+you do not hate and detest me,--if I am not loathsome and abhorrent to
+you, O quit me not thus insensibly!--Cecilia! my beloved Cecilia!--speak
+to me, at least, one word of less severity! Look at me once more, and
+tell me we part not for-ever!”
+
+Cecilia then turned round, and while a starting tear shewed her
+sympathetic distress, said, “Why will you thus oppress me with
+entreaties I ought not to gratify?--Have I not accompanied you to the
+altar,--and can you doubt what I have thought of you?”
+
+“_Have_ thought?--Oh Cecilia!--is it then all over?”
+
+“Pray suffer me to go quietly, and fear not I shall go too happily!
+Suppress your own feelings, rather than seek to awaken mine. Alas! there
+is little occasion!--Oh Mr Delvile! were our connection opposed by no
+duty, and repugnant to no friends, were it attended by no impropriety,
+and carried on with no necessity of disguise,--you would not thus charge
+me with indifference, you would not suspect me of insensibility,--Oh no!
+the choice of my heart would then be its glory, and all I now blush to
+feel, I should openly and with pride acknowledge!”
+
+She then hurried to the chaise, Delvile pursuing her with thanks and
+blessings, and gratefully assuring her, as he handed her into it, that
+he would obey all her injunctions, and not even attempt to see her,
+till he could bring her some intelligence concerning the morning's
+transaction.
+
+The chaise then drove off.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A CONSTERNATION.
+
+The journey was melancholy and tedious: Mrs Charlton, extremely fatigued
+by the unusual hurry and exercise both of mind and body which she had
+lately gone through, was obliged to travel very slowly, and to lie upon
+the road. Cecilia, however, was in no haste to proceed: she was going to
+no one she wished to see, she was wholly without expectation of meeting
+with any thing that could give her pleasure. The unfortunate expedition
+in which she had been engaged, left her now nothing but regret, and only
+promised her in future sorrow and mortification.
+
+Mrs Charlton, after her return home, still continued ill, and Cecilia,
+who constantly attended her, had the additional affliction of imputing
+her indisposition to herself. Every thing she thought conspired to
+punish the error she had committed; her proceedings were discovered,
+though her motives were unknown; the Delvile family could not fail to
+hear of her enterprize, and while they attributed it to her temerity,
+they would exult in its failure: but chiefly hung upon her mind the
+unaccountable prohibition of her marriage. Whence that could proceed
+she was wholly without ability to divine, yet her surmizes were not more
+fruitless than various. At one moment she imagined it some frolic of
+Morrice, at another some perfidy of Monckton, and at another an idle
+and unmeaning trick of some stranger to them all. But none of these
+suppositions carried with them any air of probability; Morrice, even if
+he had watched their motions and pursued them to the church, which his
+inquisitive impertinence made by no means impossible, could yet hardly
+have either time or opportunity to engage any woman in so extraordinary
+an undertaking; Mr Monckton, however averse to the connection, she
+considered as a man of too much honour to break it off in a manner so
+alarming and disgraceful; and mischief so wanton in any stranger, seemed
+to require a share of unfeeling effrontery, which could fall to the lot
+of so few as to make this suggestion unnatural and incredible.
+
+Sometimes she imagined that Delvile might formerly have been affianced
+to some woman, who having accidentally discovered his intentions,
+took this desperate method of rendering them abortive: but this was a
+short-lived thought, and speedily gave way to her esteem for his general
+character, and her confidence in the firmness of his probity.
+
+All, therefore, was dark and mysterious; conjecture was baffled, and
+meditation was useless. Her opinions were unfixed, and her heart was
+miserable; she could only be steady in believing Delvile as unhappy as
+herself, and only find consolation in believing him, also, as blameless.
+
+Three days passed thus, without incident or intelligence; her time
+wholly occupied in attending Mrs Charlton; her thoughts all engrossed
+upon her own situation: but upon the fourth day she was informed that a
+lady was in the parlour, who desired to speak with her.
+
+She presently went down stairs,--and, upon entering the room, perceived
+Mrs Delvile!
+
+Seized with astonishment and fear, she stopt short, and, looking aghast,
+held by the door, robbed of all power to receive so unexpected and
+unwelcome a visitor, by an internal sensation of guilt, mingled with a
+dread of discovery and reproach.
+
+Mrs Delvile, addressing her with the coldest politeness, said, “I fear
+I have surprised you; I am sorry I had not time to acquaint you of my
+intention to wait upon you.”
+
+Cecilia then, moving from the door, faintly answered, “I cannot, madam,
+but be honoured by your notice, whenever you are pleased to confer it.”
+
+They then sat down; Mrs Delvile preserving an air the most formal and
+distant, and Cecilia half sinking with apprehensive dismay.
+
+After a short and ill-boding silence, “I mean not,” said Mrs Delvile,
+“to embarrass or distress you; I will not, therefore, keep you in
+suspense of the purport of my visit. I come not to make enquiries,
+I come not to put your sincerity to any trial, nor to torture your
+delicacy; I dispense with all explanation, for I have not one doubt to
+solve: I _know_ what has passed, I _know_ that my son loves you.”
+
+Not all her secret alarm, nor all the perturbation of her fears, had
+taught Cecilia to expect so direct an attack, nor enabled her to bear
+the shock of it with any composure: she could not speak, she could
+not look at Mrs Delvile; she arose, and walked to the window, without
+knowing what she was doing.
+
+Here, however, her distress was not likely to diminish; for the first
+sight she saw was Fidel, who barked, and jumped up at the window to lick
+her hands.
+
+“Good God! Fidel here!” exclaimed Mrs Delvile, amazed.
+
+Cecilia, totally overpowered, covered her glowing face with both her
+hands, and sunk into a chair.
+
+Mrs Delvile for a few minutes was silent; and then, following her, said,
+“Imagine not I am making any discovery, nor suspect me of any design
+to develop your sentiments. That Mortimer could love in vain I never,
+believed; that Miss Beverley, possessing so much merit, could be blind
+to it in another, I never thought possible. I mean not, therefore, to
+solicit any account or explanation, but merely to beg your patience
+while I talk to you myself, and your permission to speak to you with
+openness and truth.”
+
+Cecilia, though relieved by this calmness from all apprehension of
+reproach, found in her manner a coldness that convinced her of the loss
+of her affection, and in the introduction to her business a solemnity
+that assured her what she should decree would be unalterable. She
+uncovered her face to shew her respectful attention, but she could not
+raise it up, and could not utter a word.
+
+Mrs Delvile then seated herself next her, and gravely continued her
+discourse.
+
+“Miss Beverley, however little acquainted with the state of our family
+affairs, can scarcely have been uninformed that a fortune such as hers
+seems almost all that family can desire; nor can she have failed to
+observe, that her merit and accomplishments have no where been more felt
+and admired: the choice therefore of Mortimer she could not doubt would
+have our sanction, and when she honoured his proposals with her favour,
+she might naturally conclude she gave happiness and pleasure to all his
+friends.”
+
+Cecilia, superior to accepting a palliation of which she felt herself
+undeserving, now lifted up her head, and forcing herself to speak,
+said “No, madam, I will not deceive you, for I have never been deceived
+myself: I presumed not to expect your approbation,--though in missing it
+I have for ever lost my own!”
+
+“Has Mortimer, then,” cried she with eagerness, “been strictly
+honourable? has he neither beguiled nor betrayed you?”
+
+“No, madam,” said she, blushing, “I have nothing to reproach him with.”
+
+“Then he is indeed my son!” cried Mrs Delvile, with emotion; “had he
+been treacherous to you, while disobedient to us, I had indisputably
+renounced him.”
+
+Cecilia, who now seemed the only culprit, felt herself in a state of
+humiliation not to be borne; she collected, therefore, all her courage,
+and said, “I have cleared Mr Delvile; permit me, madam, now, to say
+something for myself.”
+
+“Certainly; you cannot oblige me more than by speaking without
+disguise.”
+
+“It is not in the hope of regaining your good opinion,--that, I see, is
+lost!--but merely--”
+
+“No, not lost,” said Mrs Delvile, “but if once it was yet higher, the
+fault was my own, in indulging an expectation of perfection to which
+human nature is perhaps unequal.”
+
+Ah, then, thought Cecilia, all is over! the contempt I so much feared is
+incurred, and though it may be softened, it can never be removed!
+
+“Speak, then, and with sincerity,” she continued, “all you wish me to
+hear, and then grant me your attention in return to the purpose of my
+present journey.”
+
+“I have little, madam,” answered the depressed Cecilia, “to say; you
+tell me you already know all that has past; I will not, therefore,
+pretend to take any merit from revealing it: I will only add, that my
+consent to this transaction has made me miserable almost from the moment
+I gave it; that I meant and wished to retract as soon as reflection
+pointed out to me my error, and that circumstances the most perverse,
+not blindness to propriety, nor stubbornness in wrong, led me to make,
+at last, that fatal attempt, of which the recollection, to my last hour,
+must fill me with regret and shame.”
+
+“I wonder not,” said Mrs Delvile, “that in a situation where delicacy
+was so much less requisite than courage, Miss Beverley should feel
+herself distressed and unhappy. A mind such as hers could never err
+with impunity; and it is solely from a certainty of her innate sense of
+right, that I venture to wait upon her now, and that I have any hope
+to influence _her_ upon whose influence alone our whole family must in
+future depend. Shall I now proceed, or is there any thing you wish to
+say first?”
+
+“No, madam, nothing.”
+
+“Hear me, then, I beg of you, with no predetermination to disregard me,
+but with an equitable resolution to attend to reason, and a candour that
+leaves an opening to conviction. Not easy, indeed, is such a task, to
+a mind pre-occupied with an intention to be guided by the dictates of
+inclination,---”
+
+“You wrong me, indeed, madam!” interrupted Cecilia, greatly hurt, “my
+mind harbours no such intention, it has no desire but to be guided by
+duty, it is wretched with a consciousness of having failed in it! I
+pine, I sicken to recover my own good opinion; I should then no longer
+feel unworthy of yours; and whether or not I might be able to regain it,
+I should at least lose this cruel depression that now sinks me in your
+presence!”
+
+“To regain it,” said Mrs Delvile, “were to exercise but half your power,
+which at this moment enables you, if such is your wish, to make me think
+of you more highly than one human being ever thought of another. Do you
+condescend to hold this worth your while?”
+
+Cecilia started at the question; her heart beat quick with struggling
+passions; she saw the sacrifice which was to be required, and her pride,
+her affronted pride, arose high to anticipate the rejection; but the
+design was combated by her affections, which opposed the indignant
+rashness, and told her that one hasty speech might separate her from
+Delvile for ever. When this painful conflict was over, of which Mrs
+Delvile patiently waited the issue, she answered, with much hesitation,
+“To regain your good opinion, madam, greatly, truly as I value it,--is
+what I now scarcely dare hope.”
+
+“Say not so,” cried she, “since, if you hope, you cannot miss it. I
+purpose to point out to you the means to recover it, and to tell you
+how greatly I shall think myself your debtor if you refuse not to employ
+them.”
+
+She stopt; but Cecilia hung back; fearful of her own strength, she dared
+venture at no professions; yet, how either to support, or dispute her
+compliance, she dreaded to think.
+
+“I come to you, then,” Mrs Delvile solemnly resumed, “in the name of Mr
+Delvile, and in the name of our whole family; a family as ancient as
+it is honourable, as honourable as it is ancient. Consider me as its
+representative, and hear in me its common voice, common opinion, and
+common address.
+
+“My son, the supporter of our house, the sole guardian of its name, and
+the heir of our united fortunes, has selected you, we know, for the lady
+of his choice, and so fondly has, fixed upon you his affections, that
+he is ready to relinquish us all in preference to subduing them. To
+yourself alone, then, can we apply, and I come to you--”
+
+“O hold, madam, hold!” interrupted Cecilia, whose courage now revived
+from resentment, “I know, what you would say; you come to tell me of
+your disdain; you come to reproach my presumption, and to kill me with
+your contempt! There is little occasion for such a step; I am depressed,
+I am self-condemned already; spare me, therefore, this insupportable
+humiliation, wound me not with your scorn, oppress me not with your
+superiority! I aim at no competition, I attempt no vindication, I
+acknowledge my own littleness as readily as you can despise it, and
+nothing but indignity could urge me to defend it!”
+
+“Believe me,” said Mrs Delvile, “I meant not to hurt or offend you, and
+I am sorry if I have appeared to you either arrogant or assuming. The
+peculiar and perilous situation of my family has perhaps betrayed me
+into offensive expressions, and made me guilty myself of an ostentation
+which in others has often disgusted me. Ill, indeed, can we any of us
+bear the test of experiment, when tried upon those subjects which call
+forth our particular propensities. We may strive to be disinterested,
+we may struggle to be impartial, but self will still predominate, still
+shew us the imperfection of our natures, and the narrowness of our
+souls. Yet acquit me, I beg, of any intentional insolence, and imagine
+not that in speaking highly of my own family, I, mean to depreciate
+yours: on the contrary, I know it to be respectable, I know, too, that
+were it the lowest in the kingdom, the first might envy it that it gave
+birth to such a daughter.”
+
+Cecilia, somewhat soothed by this speech, begged her pardon for having
+interrupted her, and she proceeded.
+
+“To your family, then, I assure you, whatever may be the pride of our
+own, _you_ being its offspring, we would not object. With your merit we
+are all well acquainted, your character has our highest esteem, and
+your fortune exceeds even our most sanguine desires. Strange at once
+and afflicting! that not all these requisites for the satisfaction of
+prudence, nor all these allurements for the gratification of happiness,
+can suffice to fulfil or to silence the claims of either! There are yet
+other demands to which we must attend, demands which ancestry and blood
+call upon us aloud to ratify! Such claimants are not to be neglected
+with impunity; they assert their rights with the authority of
+prescription, they forbid us alike either to bend to inclination, or
+stoop to interest, and from generation to generation their injuries
+will call out for redress, should their noble and long unsullied name be
+voluntarily consigned to oblivion!”
+
+Cecilia, extremely struck by these words, scarce wondered, since so
+strong and so established were her opinions, that the obstacle to her
+marriage, though but one, should be considered as insuperable.
+
+“Not, therefore, to _your_ name are we averse,” she continued, “but
+simply to our own more partial. To sink that, indeed, in _any_
+other, were base and unworthy:--what, then, must be the shock of my
+disappointment, should Mortimer Delvile, the darling of my hopes, the
+last survivor of his house, in whose birth I rejoiced as the promise of
+its support, in whose accomplishments I gloried, as the revival of its
+lustre,--should _he_, should, _my_ son be the first to abandon it! to
+give up the name he seemed born to make live, and to cause in effect its
+utter annihilation!--Oh how should I know my son when an alien to his
+family! how bear to think I had cherished in my bosom the betrayer of
+its dearest interests, the destroyer of its very existence!”
+
+Cecilia, scarce more afflicted than offended, now hastily answered, “Not
+for me, madam, shall he commit this crime, not on _my_ account shall he
+be reprobated by his family! Think of him, therefore, no more, with any
+reference to me, for I would not be the cause of unworthiness or guilt
+in him to be mistress of the universe!”
+
+“Nobly said!” cried Mrs Delvile, her eyes sparkling with joy, and her
+cheeks glowing with pleasure, “now again do I know Miss Beverley! now
+again see the refined, the excellent young woman, whose virtues taught
+me to expect the renunciation even of her own happiness, when found to
+be incompatible with her duty!”
+
+Cecilia now trembled and turned pale; she scarce knew herself what she
+had said, but, she found by Mrs Delvile's construction of her words,
+they had been regarded as her final relinquishing of her son. She
+ardently wished to quit the room before she was called upon to confirm
+the sentence, but, she had not courage to make the effort, nor to rise,
+speak, or move.
+
+“I grieve, indeed,” continued Mrs Delvile, whose coldness and austerity
+were changed into mildness and compassion, “at the necessity I have been
+under to draw from you a concurrence so painful: but no other resource
+was in my power. My influence with Mortimer, whatever it may be, I have
+not any right to try, without obtaining your previous consent, since I
+regard him myself as bound to you in honour, and only to be released by
+your own virtuous desire. I will leave you, however, for my presence,
+I see, is oppressive to you. Farewell; and when you _can_ forgive me, I
+think you _will_.”
+
+“I have nothing, madam,” said Cecilia, coldly, “to forgive; you have
+only asserted your own dignity, and I have nobody to blame but myself,
+for having given you occasion.”
+
+“Alas,” cried Mrs Delvile, “if worth and nobleness of soul on your part,
+if esteem and tenderest affection on mine, were all which that dignity
+which offends you requires, how should I crave the blessing of such a
+daughter! how rejoice in joining my son to excellence so like his own,
+and ensuring his happiness while I stimulated his virtue!”
+
+“Do not talk to me of affection, madam,” said Cecilia, turning away from
+her; “whatever you had for me is past,--even your esteem is gone,--you
+may pity me, indeed, but your pity is mixed with contempt, and I am not
+so abject as to find comfort from exciting it.”
+
+“O little,” cried Mrs Delvile, looking at her with the utmost
+tenderness, “little do you see the state of my heart, for never have you
+appeared to me so worthy as at this moment! In tearing you from my son,
+I partake all the wretchedness I give, but your own sense of duty must
+something plead for the strictness with which I act up to mine.”
+
+She then moved towards the door.
+
+“Is your carriage, madam,” said Cecilia, struggling to disguise her
+inward anguish under an appearance of sullenness, “in waiting?”
+
+Mrs Delvile then came back, and holding out her hand, while her eyes
+glistened with tears, said, “To part from you thus frigidly, while
+my heart so warmly admires you, is almost more than I can endure. Oh
+gentlest Cecilia! condemn not a mother who is impelled to this severity,
+who performing what she holds to be her duty, thinks the office her
+bitterest misfortune, who forsees in the rage of her husband, and the
+resistance of her son, all the misery of domestic contention, and who
+can only secure the honour of her family by destroying its peace!--You
+will not, then, give me your hand?--”
+
+Cecilia, who had affected not to see that she waited for it, now
+coldly put it out, distantly [courtseying], and seeking to preserve
+her steadiness by avoiding to speak. Mrs Delvile took it, and as she
+repeated her adieu, affectionately pressed it to her lips; Cecilia,
+starting, and breathing short, from encreasing yet smothered agitation,
+called out “Why, why this condescension?--pray,--I entreat you,
+madam!--”
+
+“Heaven bless you, my love!” said Mrs Delvile, dropping a tear upon the
+hand she still held, “heaven bless you, and restore the tranquillity you
+so nobly deserve!”
+
+“Ah madam!” cried Cecilia, vainly striving to repress any longer the
+tears which now forced their way down her cheeks, “why will you break
+my heart with this kindness! why will you still compel me to love!--when
+now I almost wish to hate you!”--
+
+“No, hate me not,” said Mrs Delvile, kissing from her cheeks the tears
+that watered them, “hate me not, sweetest Cecilia, though in wounding
+your gentle bosom, I am almost detestable to myself. Even the cruel
+scene which awaits me with my son will not more deeply afflict me. But
+adieu,--I must now prepare for him!”
+
+She then left the room: but Cecilia, whose pride had no power to resist
+this tenderness, ran hastily after her, saying “Shall I not see you
+again, madam?”
+
+“You shall yourself decide,” answered she; “if my coming will not give
+you more pain than pleasure, I will wait upon you whenever you please.”
+
+Cecilia sighed and paused; she knew not what to desire, yet rather
+wished any thing to be done, than quietly to sit down to uninterrupted
+reflection.
+
+“Shall I postpone quitting this place,” continued Mrs Delvile, “till
+to-morrow morning, and will you admit me this afternoon, should I call
+upon you again?”
+
+“I should be sorry,” said she, still hesitating, “to detain you,”--
+
+“You will rejoice me,” cried Mrs Delvile, “by bearing me in your sight.”
+
+And she then went into her carriage.
+
+Cecilia, unfitted to attend her old friend, and unequal to the task of
+explaining to her the cruel scene in which she had just been engaged,
+then hastened to her own apartment. Her hitherto stifled emotions broke
+forth in tears and repinings: her fate was finally determined, and its
+determination was not more unhappy than humiliating; she was openly
+rejected by the family whose alliance she was known to wish; she
+was compelled to refuse the man of her choice, though satisfied his
+affections were her own. A misery so peculiar she found hard to support,
+and almost bursting with conflicting passions, her heart alternately
+swelled from offended pride, and sunk from disappointed tenderness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A PERTURBATION.
+
+Cecelia was still in this tempestuous state, when a message was brought
+her that a gentleman was below stairs, who begged to have the honour of
+seeing her. She concluded he was Delvile, and the thought of meeting him
+merely to communicate what must so bitterly afflict him, redoubled her
+distress, and she went down in an agony of perturbation and sorrow.
+
+He met her at the door, where, before he could speak, “Mr Delvile,”
+ she cried, in a hurrying manner, “why will you come? Why will you thus
+insist upon seeing me, in defiance of every obstacle, and in contempt of
+my prohibition?”
+
+“Good heavens,” cried he, amazed, “whence this reproach? Did you not
+permit me to wait upon you with the result of my enquiries? Had I
+not your consent--but why do you look thus disturbed?--Your eyes are
+red,--you have been weeping.--Oh my Cecilia! have I any share in your
+sorrow?--Those tears, which never flow weakly, tell me, have they--has
+_one_ of them been shed upon my account?”
+
+“And what,” cried she, “has been the result of your enquiries?--Speak
+quick, for I wish to know,--and in another instant I must be gone.”
+
+“How strange,” cried the astonished Delvile, “is this language! how
+strange are these looks! What new has come to pass? Has any fresh
+calamity happened? Is there yet some evil which I do not expect?”
+
+“Why will you not answer first?” cried she; “when _I_ have spoken, you
+will perhaps be less willing.”
+
+“You terrify, you shock, you amaze me! What dreadful blow awaits me? For
+what horror are you preparing me?--That which I have just experienced,
+and which tore you from me even at the foot of the altar, still remains
+inexplicable, still continues to be involved in darkness and mystery;
+for the wretch who separated us I have never been able to discover.”
+
+“Have you procured, then, no intelligence?”
+
+“No, none; though since we parted I have never rested a moment.”
+
+“Make, then, no further enquiry, for now all explanation would be
+useless. That we _were_ parted, we know, though _why_ we cannot tell:
+but that again we shall ever meet---”
+
+She, stopt; her streaming eyes cast upwards, and a deep sigh bursting
+from her heart.
+
+“Oh what,” cried Delvile, endeavouring to take her hand, which she
+hastily withdrew from him, “what does this mean? loveliest, dearest
+Cecilia, my betrothed, my affianced wife! why flow those tears which
+agony only can wring from you? Why refuse me that hand which so lately
+was the pledge of your faith? Am I not the same Delvile to whom so few
+days since you gave it? Why will you not open to him your heart? Why
+thus distrust his honour, and repulse his tenderness? Oh why, giving him
+such exquisite misery, refuse him the smallest consolation?”
+
+“What consolation,” cried the weeping Cecilia, “can I give? Alas! it is
+not, perhaps, _you_ who most want it!--”
+
+Here the door was opened by one of the Miss Charltons, who came into
+the room with a message from her grandmother, requesting to see Cecilia.
+Cecilia, ashamed of being thus surprised with Delvile, and in tears,
+waited not either to make any excuse to him, or any answer to Miss
+Charlton, but instantly hurried out of the room;--not, however, to
+her old friend, whom now less than ever she could meet, but to her own
+apartment, where a very short indulgence of grief was succeeded by the
+severest examination of her own conduct.
+
+A retrospection of this sort rarely brings much subject of exultation,
+when made with the rigid sincerity of secret impartiality: so much
+stronger is our reason than our virtue, so much higher our sense of duty
+than our performance!
+
+All she had done she now repented, all she had said she disapproved; her
+conduct, seldom equal to her notions of right, was now infinitely below
+them, and the reproaches of her judgment made her forget for a while the
+afflictions which had misled it.
+
+The sorrow to which she had openly given way in the presence of Delvile,
+though their total separation but the moment before had been finally
+decreed, she considered as a weak effusion of tenderness, injurious to
+delicacy, and censurable by propriety. “His power over my heart,” cried
+she, “it were now, indeed, too late to conceal, but his power over my
+understanding it is time to cancel. I am not to be his,--my own voice
+has ratified the renunciation, and since I made it to his mother, it
+must never, without her consent, be invalidated. Honour, therefore, to
+her, and regard for myself, equally command me to fly him, till I cease
+to be thus affected by his sight.”
+
+When Delvile, therefore, sent up an entreaty that he might be again
+admitted into her presence, she returned for answer that she was not
+well, and could not see any body.
+
+He then left the house, and, in a few minutes, she received the
+following note from him.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_. You drive me from you, Cecilia, tortured with
+suspense, and distracted with apprehension, you drive me from you,
+certain of my misery, yet leaving me to bear it as I may! I would call
+you unfeeling, but that I saw you were unhappy; I would reproach you
+with tyranny, but that your eyes when you quitted me were swollen with
+weeping! I go, therefore, I obey the harsh mandate, since my absence is
+your desire, and I will shut myself up at Biddulph's till I receive
+your commands. Yet disdain not to reflect that every instant will seem
+endless, while Cecilia must appear to me unjust, or wound my very soul
+by the recollection of her in sorrow. MORTIMER DELVILE.
+
+The mixture of fondness and resentment with which this letter was
+dictated, marked so strongly the sufferings and disordered state of the
+writer, that all the softness of Cecilia returned when she perused it,
+and left her not a wish but to lessen his inquietude, by assurances
+of unalterable regard: yet she determined not to trust herself in his
+sight, certain they could only meet to grieve over each other, and
+conscious that a participation of sorrow would but prove a reciprocation
+of tenderness. Calling, therefore, upon her duty to resist her
+inclination, she resolved to commit the whole affair to the will of Mrs
+Delvile, to whom, though under no promise, she now considered herself
+responsible. Desirous, however, to shorten the period of Delvile's
+uncertainty, she would not wait till the time she had appointed to see
+his mother, but wrote the following note to hasten their meeting.
+
+_To the Hon. Mrs Delvile_. MADAM,--Your son is now at Bury; shall I
+acquaint him of your arrival? or will you announce it yourself? Inform
+me of your desire, and I will endeavour to fulfil it. As my own Agent
+I regard myself no longer; if, as yours, I can give pleasure, or be of
+service, I shall gladly receive your commands. I have the honour to be,
+Madam, your most obedient servant, CECILIA BEVERLEY.
+
+When she had sent off this letter, her heart was more at ease, because
+reconciled with her conscience: she had sacrificed the son, she had
+resigned herself to the mother; it now only remained to heal her wounded
+pride, by suffering the sacrifice with dignity, and to recover her
+tranquility in virtue, by making the resignation without repining.
+
+Her reflections, too, growing clearer as the mist of passion was
+dispersed, she recollected with confusion her cold and sullen behaviour
+to Mrs Delvile. That lady had but done what she had believed was her
+duty, and that duty was no more than she had been taught to expect from
+her. In the beginning of her visit, and while doubtful of its success,
+she had indeed, been austere, but the moment victory appeared in view,
+she became tender, affectionate and gentle. Her justice, therefore,
+condemned the resentment to which she had given way, and she fortified
+her mind for the interview which was to follow, by an earnest desire to
+make all reparation both to Mrs Delvile and herself for that which was
+past.
+
+In this resolution she was not a little strengthened, by seriously
+considering with herself the great abatement to all her possible
+happiness, which must have been made by the humiliating circumstance
+of forcing herself into a family which held all connection with her as
+disgraceful. She desired not to be the wife even of Delvile upon such
+terms, for the more she esteemed and admired him, the more anxious she
+became for his honour, and the less could she endure being regarded
+herself as the occasion of its diminution.
+
+Now, therefore, her plan of conduct settled, with calmer spirits, though
+a heavy heart, she attended upon Mrs Charlton; but fearing to lose the
+steadiness she had just acquired before it should be called upon, if she
+trusted herself to relate the decision which had been made, she besought
+her for the present to dispense with the account, and then forced
+herself into conversation upon less interesting subjects.
+
+This prudence had its proper effect, and with tolerable tranquility she
+heard Mrs Delvile again announced, and waited upon her in the parlour
+with an air of composure.
+
+Not so did Mrs Delvile receive her; she was all eagerness and emotion;
+she flew to her the moment she appeared, and throwing her arms around
+her, warmly exclaimed “Oh charming girl! Saver of our family! preserver
+of our honour! How poor are words to express my admiration! how
+inadequate are thanks in return for such obligations as I owe you!”
+
+“You owe me none, madam,” said Cecilia, suppressing a sigh; “on my side
+will be all the obligation, if you can pardon the petulance of my
+behaviour this morning.”
+
+“Call not by so harsh a name,” answered Mrs Delvile, “the keenness of a
+sensibility by which you have yourself alone been the sufferer. You
+have had a trial the most severe, and however able to sustain, it was
+impossible you should not feel it. That you should give up any man whose
+friends solicit not your alliance, your mind is too delicate to make
+wonderful; but your generosity in submitting, unasked, the arrangement
+of that resignation to those for whose interest it is made, and your
+high sense of honour in holding yourself accountable to me, though under
+no tie, and bound by no promise, mark a greatness of mind which calls
+for reverence rather than thanks, and which I never can praise half so
+much as I admire.”
+
+Cecilia, who received this applause but as a confirmation of her
+rejection, thanked her only by courtsying; and Mrs Delvile, having
+seated herself next her, continued her speech.
+
+“My son, you have the goodness to tell me, is here,--have you seen him?”
+
+“Yes, madam,” answered she, blushing, “but hardly for a moment.”
+
+“And he knows not of my arrival?” No,--I believe he certainly does not.”
+
+“Sad then, is the trial which awaits him, and heavy for me the office I
+must perform! Do you expect to see him again?”
+
+“No,--yes,--perhaps--indeed I hardly--” She stammered, and Mrs Delvile,
+taking her hand, said “Tell me, Miss Beverley, _why_ should you see him
+again?”
+
+Cecilia was thunderstruck by this question, and, colouring yet more
+deeply, looked down, but could not answer.
+
+“Consider,” continued Mrs Delvile, “the _purpose_ of any further
+meeting; your union is impossible, you have nobly consented to
+relinquish all thoughts of it why then tear your own heart, and torture
+his, by an intercourse which seems nothing but an ill-judged invitation
+to fruitless and unavailing sorrow?”
+
+Cecilia was still silent; the truth of the expostulation her reason
+acknowledged, but to assent to its consequence her whole heart refused.
+
+“The ungenerous triumph of little female vanity,” said Mrs Delvile, “is
+far, I am sure, from your mind, of which the enlargement and liberality
+will rather find consolation from lessening than from embittering
+his sufferings. Speak to me, then, and tell me honestly, judiciously,
+candidly tell me, will it not be wiser and more right, to avoid rather
+than seek an object which can only give birth to regret? an interview
+which can excite no sensations but of misery and sadness?” Cecilia then
+turned pale, she endeavoured to speak, but could not; she wished to
+comply,--yet to think she had seen him for the last time, to remember
+how abruptly she had parted from him, and to fear she had treated him
+unkindly;--these were obstacles which opposed her concurrence, though
+both judgment and propriety demanded it.
+
+“Can you, then,” said Mrs Delvile, after a pause, “can you wish to see
+Mortimer merely to behold his grief? Can you desire he should see you,
+only to sharpen his affliction at your loss?”
+
+“O no!” cried Cecilia, to whom this reproof restored speech and
+resolution, “I am not so despicable, I am not, I hope, so unworthy!--I
+will--be ruled by you wholly; I will commit to you every thing;--yet
+_once_, perhaps,--no more!”--
+
+“Ah, my dear Miss Beverley! to meet confessedly for _once_,--what were
+that but planting a dagger in the heart of Mortimer? What were it but
+infusing poison into your own?
+
+“If you think so, madam,” said she, “I had better--I will certainly--”
+ she sighed, stammered, and stopt.
+
+“Hear me,” cried Mrs Delvile, “and rather let me try to convince than
+persuade you. Were there any possibility, by argument, by reflection, or
+even by accident, to remove the obstacles to our connection, then would
+it be well to meet, for then might discussion turn to account, and an
+interchange of sentiments be productive of some happy expedients: but
+here--”
+
+She hesitated, and Cecilia, shocked and ashamed, turned away her face,
+and cried “I know, madam, what you would say,--here all is over! and
+therefore--”
+
+“Yet suffer me,” interrupted she, “to be explicit, since we speak upon,
+this matter now for the last time. Here, then, I say, where not ONE
+doubt remains, where ALL is finally, though not happily decided, what
+can an interview produce? Mischief of every sort, pain, horror, and
+repining! To Mortimer you may think it would be kind, and grant it to
+his prayers, as an alleviation of his misery; mistaken notion! nothing
+could so greatly augment it. All his passions would be raised, all his
+prudence would be extinguished, his soul would be torn with resentment
+and regret, and force, only, would part him from you, when previously he
+knew that parting was to be eternal. To yourself--”
+
+“Talk not, madam, of me,” cried the unhappy Cecilia, “what you say of
+your son is sufficient, and I will yield---”
+
+“Yet hear me,” proceeded she, “and believe me not so unjust as to
+consider him alone; you, also, would be an equal, though a less stormy
+sufferer. You fancy, at this moment, that once more to meet him would
+soothe your uneasiness, and that to take of him a farewell, would soften
+the pain of the separation: how false such reasoning! how dangerous such
+consolation! acquainted ere you meet that you were to meet him no more,
+your heart would be all softness and grief, and at the very moment when
+tenderness should be banished from your intercourse, it would bear down
+all opposition of judgment, spirit, and dignity: you would hang upon
+every word, because every word would seem the last, every look, every
+expression would be rivetted in your memory, and his image in this
+parting distress would-be painted upon your mind, in colours that would
+eat into its peace, and perhaps never be erased.”
+
+“Enough, enough,” said Cecilia, “I will not see him,--I will not even
+desire it!”
+
+“Is this compliance or conviction? Is what I have said true, or only
+terrifying?”
+
+“Both, both! I believe, indeed, the conflict would have overpowered
+me,--I see you are right,--and I thank you, madam, for saving me from a
+scene I might so cruelly have rued.”
+
+“Oh Daughter of my mind!” cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her,
+“noble, generous, yet gentle Cecilia! what tie, what connection, could
+make you more dear to me? Who is there like you? Who half so excellent?
+So open to reason, so ingenuous in error! so rational! so just! so
+feeling, yet so wise!”
+
+“You are very good,” said Cecilia, with a forced serenity, “and I am
+thankful that your resentment for the past obstructs not your lenity for
+the present.”
+
+“Alas, my love, how shall I resent the past, when I ought myself to have
+foreseen this calamity! and I _should_ have foreseen it, had I not been
+informed you were engaged, and upon your engagement built our security.
+Else had I been more alarmed, for my own admiration would have bid me
+look forward to my son's. You were just, indeed, the woman he had least
+chance to resist, you were precisely the character to seize his very
+soul. To a softness the most fatally alluring, you join a dignity which
+rescues from their own contempt even the most humble of your admirers.
+You seem born to have all the world wish your exaltation, and no part
+of it murmur at your superiority. Were any obstacle but this insuperable
+one in the way, should nobles, nay, should princes offer their daughters
+to my election, I would reject without murmuring the most magnificent
+proposals, and take in triumph to my heart my son's nobler choice!”
+
+“Oh madam,” cried Cecilia, “talk not to me thus!--speak not such
+flattering words!--ah, rather scorn and upbraid me, tell me you
+despise my character, my family and my connections,--load, load me with
+contempt, but do not thus torture me with approbation!”
+
+“Pardon me, sweetest girl, if I have awakened those emotions you so
+wisely seek to subdue. May my son but emulate your example, and my pride
+in his virtue shall be the solace of my affliction for his misfortunes.”
+
+She then tenderly embraced her, and abruptly took her leave.
+
+Cecilia had now acted her part, and acted it to her own satisfaction;
+but the curtain dropt when Mrs Delvile left the house, nature resumed
+her rights, and the sorrow of her heart was no longer disguised or
+repressed. Some faint ray of hope had till now broke through the
+gloomiest cloud of her misery, and secretly flattered her that its
+dispersion was possible, though distant: but that ray was extinct, that
+hope was no more; she had solemnly promised to banish Delvile her sight,
+and his mother had absolutely declared that even the subject had been
+discussed for the last time.
+
+Mrs Charlton, impatient of some explanation of the morning's
+transactions, soon sent again to beg Cecilia would come to her. Cecilia
+reluctantly obeyed, for she feared encreasing her indisposition by the
+intelligence she had to communicate; she struggled, therefore, to appear
+to her with tolerable calmness, and in briefly relating what had passed,
+forbore to mingle with the narrative her own feelings and unhappiness.
+
+Mrs Charlton heard the account with the utmost concern; she accused
+Mrs Delvile of severity, and even of cruelty; she lamented the strange
+accident by which the marriage ceremony had been stopt, and regretted
+that it had not again been begun, as the only means to have rendered
+ineffectual the present fatal interposition. But the grief of Cecilia,
+however violent, induced her not to join in this regret; she mourned
+only the obstacle which had occasioned the separation, and not the
+incident which had merely interrupted the ceremony: convinced, by the
+conversations in which she had just been engaged, of Mrs Delvile's
+inflexibility, she rather rejoiced than repined that she had put it to
+no nearer trial: sorrow was all she felt; for her mind was too liberal
+to harbour resentment against a conduct which she saw was dictated by a
+sense of right; and too ductile and too affectionate to remain unmoved
+by the personal kindness which had softened the rejection, and the many
+marks of esteem and regard which had shewn her it was lamented, though
+considered as indispensable.
+
+How and by whom this affair had been betrayed to Mrs Delvile she knew
+not; but the discovery was nothing less than surprising, since, by
+various unfortunate accidents, it was known to so many, and since, in
+the horror and confusion of the mysterious prohibition to the marriage,
+neither Delvile nor herself had thought of even attempting to give
+any caution to the witnesses of that scene, not to make it known: an
+attempt, however, which must almost necessarily have been unavailing, as
+the incident was too extraordinary and too singular to have any chance
+of suppression.
+
+During this conversation, one of the servants came to inform Cecilia,
+that a man was below to enquire if there was no answer to the note he
+had brought in the forenoon.
+
+Cecilia, greatly distressed, knew not upon what to resolve; that the
+patience of Delvile should be exhausted, she did not, indeed, wonder,
+and to relieve his anxiety was now almost her only wish; she would
+therefore instantly have written to him, confessed her sympathy in his
+sufferings, and besought him to endure with fortitude an evil which
+was no longer to be withstood: but she was uncertain whether he was yet
+acquainted with the journey of his mother to Bury, and having agreed to
+commit to her the whole management of the affair, she feared it would
+be dishonourable to take any step in it without her concurrence. She
+returned, therefore, a message that she had yet no answer ready.
+
+In a very few minutes Delvile called himself, and sent up an earnest
+request for permission to see her.
+
+Here, at least, she had no perplexity; an interview she had given her
+positive word to refuse, and therefore, without a moment's hesitation,
+she bid the servant inform him she was particularly engaged, and sorry
+it was not in her power to see any company.
+
+In the greatest perturbation he left the house, and immediately wrote to
+her the following lines.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_. I entreat you to see me! if only for an instant, I
+entreat, I implore you to see me! Mrs Charlton may be present, all the
+world, if you wish it, may be present,--but deny me not admission, I
+supplicate, I conjure you!
+
+I will call in an hour; in that time you may have finished your present
+engagement. I will otherwise wait longer, and call again. You will not,
+I think, turn me from' your door, and, till I have seen you, I can only
+live in its vicinity. M. D.
+
+The man who brought this note, waited not for any answer.
+
+Cecilia read it in an agony of mind inexpressible: she saw, by its
+style, how much Delvile was irritated, and her knowledge of his temper
+made her certain his irritation proceeded from believing himself
+ill-used. She ardently wished to appease and to quiet him, and regretted
+the necessity of appearing obdurate and unfeeling, even more, at that
+moment, than the separation itself. To a mind priding in its purity,
+and animated in its affections, few sensations can excite keener misery,
+than those by which an apprehension is raised of being thought worthless
+or ungrateful by the objects of our chosen regard. To be deprived of
+their society is less bitter, to be robbed of our own tranquillity by
+any other means, is less afflicting.
+
+Yet to this it was necessary to submit, or incur the only penalty which,
+to such a mind, would be more severe, self-reproach: she had promised to
+be governed by Mrs Delvile, she had nothing, therefore, to do but obey
+her.
+
+Yet _to turn_, as he expressed himself, _from the door_, a man who,
+but for an incident the most incomprehensible, would now have been sole
+master of herself and her actions, seemed so unkind and so tyrannical,
+that she could not endure to be within hearing of his repulse: she
+begged, therefore, the use of Mrs Charlton's carriage, and determined
+to make a visit to Mrs Harrel till Delvile and his mother had wholly
+quitted Bury. She was not, indeed, quite satisfied in going to the house
+of Mr Arnott, but she had no time to weigh objections, and knew not any
+other place to which still greater might not be started.
+
+She wrote a short letter to Mrs Delvile, acquainting her with her
+purpose, and its reason, and repeating her assurances that she would
+be guided by her implicitly; and then, embracing Mrs Charlton, whom
+she left to the care of her grand-daughters, she got into a chaise,
+accompanied only by her maid, and one man and horse, and ordered the
+postilion to drive to Mr Arnott's.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A COTTAGE.
+
+The evening was already far advanced, and before she arrived at the end
+of her little journey it was quite dark. When they came within a mile
+of Mr Arnott's house, the postilion, in turning too suddenly from the
+turnpike to the cross-road, overset the carriage. The accident, however,
+occasioned no other mischief than delaying their proceeding, and
+Cecilia and her maid were helped out of the chaise unhurt. The servants,
+assisted by a man who was walking upon the road, began lifting it up;
+and Cecilia, too busy within to be attentive to what passed without,
+disregarded what went forward, till she heard her footman call for help.
+She then hastily advanced to enquire what was the matter, and found
+that the passenger who had lent his aid, had, by working in the dark,
+unfortunately slipped his foot under one of the wheels, and so much hurt
+it, that without great pain he could not put it to the ground.
+
+Cecilia immediately desired that the sufferer might be carried to his
+own home in the chaise, while she and the maid walked on to Mr Arnott's,
+attended by her servant on horseback.
+
+This little incident proved of singular service to her upon first
+entering the house; Mrs Harrel was at supper with her brother, and
+hearing the voice of Cecilia in the hall, hastened with the extremest
+surprise to enquire what had occasioned so late a visit; followed by Mr
+Arnott, whose amazement was accompanied with a thousand other sensations
+too powerful for speech. Cecilia, unprepared with any excuse, instantly
+related the adventure she had met with on the road, which quieted their
+curiosity, by turning their attention to her personal safety. They
+ordered a room to be prepared for her, entreated her to go to rest with
+all speed, and postpone any further account till the next day. With this
+request she most gladly complied, happy to be spared the embarrassment
+of enquiry, and rejoiced to be relieved from the fatigue of
+conversation. Her night was restless and miserable: to know how Delvile
+would bear her flight was never a moment from her thoughts, and to hear
+whether he would obey or oppose his mother was her incessant wish. She
+was fixt, however, to be faithful in refusing to see him, and at least
+to suffer nothing new from her own enterprize or fault.
+
+Early in the morning Mrs Harrel came to see her. She was eager to learn
+why, after invitations repeatedly refused, she was thus suddenly arrived
+without any; and she was still more eager to talk of herself, and relate
+the weary life she led thus shut up in the country, and confined to the
+society of her brother.
+
+Cecilia evaded giving any immediate answer to her questions, and Mrs
+Harrel, happy in an opportunity to rehearse her own complaints, soon
+forgot that she had asked any, and, in a very short time, was perfectly,
+though imperceptibly, contented to be herself the only subject upon
+which they conversed.
+
+But not such was the selfishness of Mr Arnott; and Cecilia, when she
+went down to breakfast, perceived with the utmost concern that he
+had passed a night as sleepless as her own. A visit so sudden, so
+unexpected, and so unaccountable, from an object that no discouragement
+could make him think of with indifference, had been a subject to him of
+conjecture and wonder that had revived all the hopes and the fears which
+had lately, though still unextinguished, lain dormant. The enquiries,
+however, which his sister had given up, he ventured not to renew, and
+thought himself but too happy in her presence, whatever might be the
+cause of her visit.
+
+He perceived, however, immediately, the sadness that hung upon her mind,
+and his own was redoubled by the sight: Mrs Harrel, also, saw that she
+looked ill, but attributed it to the fatigue and fright of the preceding
+evening, well knowing that a similar accident would have made her ill
+herself, or fancy that she was so.
+
+During breakfast, Cecilia sent for the postilion, to enquire of him how
+the man had fared, whose good-natured assistance in their distress had
+been so unfortunate to himself. He answered that he had turned out to
+be a day labourer, who lived about half a mile off. And then, partly to
+gratify her own humanity, and partly to find any other employment for
+herself and friends than uninteresting conversation, she proposed that
+they should all walk to the poor man's habitation, and offer him some
+amends for the injury he had received. This was readily assented to,
+and the postilion directed them whither to go. The place was a cottage,
+situated upon a common; they entered it without ceremony, and found a
+clean looking woman at work.
+
+Cecilia enquired for her husband, and was told that he was gone out to
+day-labour.
+
+“I am very glad to hear it,” returned she; “I hope then he has got the
+better of the accident he met with last night?”
+
+“It was not him, madam,” said the woman, “met with the accident, it was
+John;--there he is, working in the garden.”
+
+To the garden then they all went, and saw him upon the ground, weeding.
+
+The moment they approached he arose, and, without speaking, began to
+limp, for he could hardly walk; away.
+
+“I am sorry, master,” said Cecilia, “that you are so much hurt. Have you
+had anything put to your foot?”
+
+The man made no answer, but still turned away from her; a glance,
+however, of his eye, which the next instant he fixed upon the ground,
+startled her; she moved round to look at him again,--and perceived Mr
+Belfield!
+
+“Good God!” she exclaimed; but seeing him still retreat, she recollected
+in a moment how little he would be obliged to her for betraying him, and
+suffering him to go on, turned back to her party, and led the way again
+into the house.
+
+As soon as the first emotion of her surprise was over, she enquired how
+long John had belonged to this cottage, and what was his way of life.
+
+The woman answered he had only been with them a week, and that he went
+out to day-labour with her husband.
+
+Cecilia then, finding their stay kept him from his employment, and
+willing to save him the distress of being seen by Mr Arnott or Mrs
+Harrel, proposed their returning home. She grieved most sincerely at
+beholding in so melancholy an occupation a young man of such talents and
+abilities; she wished much to assist him, and began considering by what
+means it might be done, when, as they were walking from the cottage, a
+voice at some distance called out “Madam! Miss Beverley!” and, looking
+round, to her utter amazement she saw Belfield endeavouring to follow
+her.
+
+She instantly stopt, and he advanced, his hat in his hand, and his whole
+air indicating he sought not to be disguised.
+
+Surprised at this sudden change of behaviour, she then stept forward
+to meet him, accompanied by her friends: but when they came up to each
+other, she checked her desire of speaking, to leave him fully at liberty
+to make himself known, or keep concealed.
+
+He bowed with a look of assumed gaiety and ease, but the deep scarlet
+that tinged his whole face manifested his internal confusion; and in
+a voice that attempted to sound lively, though its tremulous accents
+betrayed uneasiness and distress, he exclaimed, with a forced smile,
+“Is it possible Miss Beverley can deign to notice a poor miserable
+day-labourer such as I am? how will she be justified in the beau monde,
+when even the sight of such a wretch ought to fill her with horror?
+Henceforth let hysterics be blown to the winds, and let nerves be
+discarded from the female vocabulary, since a lady so young and fair can
+stand this shock without hartshorn or fainting!”
+
+“I am happy,” answered Cecilia, “to find your spirits so good; yet
+my own, I must confess, are not raised by seeing you in this strange
+situation.”
+
+“My spirits!” cried he, with an air of defiance, “never were they
+better, never so good as at this moment. Strange as seems my situation,
+it is all that I wish; I have found out, at last, the true secret of
+happiness! that secret which so long I pursued in vain, but which always
+eluded my grasp, till the instant of despair arrived, when, slackening
+my pace, I gave it up as a phantom. Go from me, I cried, I will be
+cheated no more! thou airy bubble! thou fleeting shadow! I will live no
+longer in thy sight, since thy beams dazzle without warming me! Mankind
+seems only composed as matter for thy experiments, and I will quit the
+whole race, that thy delusions may be presented to me no more!”
+
+This romantic flight, which startled even Cecilia, though acquainted
+with his character, gave to Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott the utmost
+surprize; his appearance, and the account they had just heard of him,
+having by no means prepared them for such sentiments or such language.
+
+“Is then this great secret of happiness,” said Cecilia, “nothing, at
+last, but total seclusion from the world?”
+
+“No, madam,” answered he, “it is Labour with Independence.”
+
+Cecilia now wished much to ask some explanation of his affairs, but was
+doubtful whether he would gratify her before Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott,
+and hurt to keep him standing, though he leant upon a stick; she told
+him, therefore, she would at present detain him no longer, but endeavour
+again to see him before she quitted her friends.
+
+Mr Arnott then interfered, and desired his sister would entreat Miss
+Beverley to invite whom she pleased to his house.
+
+Cecilia thanked him, and instantly asked Belfield to call upon her in
+the afternoon.
+
+“No, madam, no,” cried he, “I have done with visits and society! I will
+not so soon break through a system with much difficulty formed, when all
+my future tranquility depends upon adhering to it. The worthlessness of
+mankind has disgusted me with the world, and my resolution in quitting
+it shall be immoveable as its baseness.”
+
+“I must not venture then,” said Cecilia, “to enquire--”
+
+“Enquire, madam,” interrupted he, with quickness, “what you please:
+there is nothing I will not answer to you,--to this lady, to this
+gentleman, to any and to every body. What can I wish to conceal, where
+I have nothing to gain or to lose? When first, indeed, I saw you, I
+involuntarily shrunk; a weak shame for a moment seized me, I felt
+fallen and debased, and I wished to avoid you: but a little recollection
+brought me back to my senses, And where, cried I, is the disgrace of
+exercising for my subsistence the strength with which I am endued?
+and why should I blush to lead the life which uncorrupted Nature first
+prescribed to man?”
+
+“Well, then,” said Cecilia, more and more interested to hear him, “if
+you will not visit us, will you at least permit us to return with you to
+some place where you can be seated?”
+
+“I will with pleasure,” cried he, “go to any place where you may be
+seated yourselves; but for me, I have ceased to regard accommodation or
+inconvenience.”
+
+They then all went back to the cottage, which was now empty, the woman
+being out at work.
+
+“Will you then, Sir,” said Cecilia, “give me leave to enquire whether
+Lord Vannelt is acquainted with your retirement, and if it will not much
+surprize and disappoint him?”
+
+“Lord Vannelt,” cried he, haughtily, “has no right to be surprised. I
+would have quitted _his_ house, if no other, not even this cottage, had
+a roof to afford me shelter!”
+
+“I am sorry, indeed, to hear it,” said Cecilia; “I had hoped he would
+have known your value, and merited your regard.”
+
+“Ill-usage,” answered he, “is as hard to relate as to be endured. There
+is commonly something pitiful in a complaint; and though oppression in
+a general sense provokes the wrath of mankind, the investigation of its
+minuter circumstances excites nothing but derision. Those who give the
+offence, by the worthy few may be hated; but those who receive it, by
+the world at large will be despised. Conscious of this, I disdained
+making any appeal; myself the only sufferer, I had a right to be
+the only judge, and, shaking off the base trammels of interest and
+subjection, I quitted the house in silent indignation, not chusing to
+remonstrate, where I desired not to be reconciled.”
+
+“And was there no mode of life,” said Cecilia, “to adopt, but living
+with Lord Vannelt, or giving up the whole world?”
+
+“I weighed every thing maturely,” answered he, “before I made my
+determination, and I found it so much, the most eligible, that I am
+certain I can never repent it. I had friends who would with pleasure
+have presented me to some other nobleman; but my whole heart revolted
+against leading that kind of life, and I would not, therefore, idly rove
+from one great man to another, adding ill-will to disgrace, and pursuing
+hope in defiance of common sense; no; when I quitted Lord Vannelt, I
+resolved to give up patronage for ever.
+
+“I retired to private lodgings to deliberate what next could be done. I
+had lived in many ways, I had been unfortunate or imprudent in all.
+The law I had tried, but its rudiments were tedious and disgusting; the
+army, too, but there found my mind more fatigued with indolence, than my
+body with action; general dissipation had then its turn, but the expence
+to which it led was ruinous, and self-reproach baffled pleasure while
+I pursued it; I have even--yes, there are few things I have left
+untried,--I have even,--for why now disguise it?--”
+
+He stopt and coloured, but in a quicker voice presently proceeded.
+
+“Trade, also, has had its share in my experiments; for that, in truth,
+I was originally destined,--but my education had ill suited me to such a
+destination, and the trader's first maxim I reversed, in lavishing when
+I ought to have accumulated.
+
+“What, then, remained for me? to run over again the same irksome round I
+had not patience, and to attempt any thing new I was unqualified: money
+I had none; my friends I could bear to burthen no longer; a fortnight I
+lingered in wretched irresolution,--a simple accident at the end of it
+happily settled me; I was walking, one morning, in Hyde Park, forming a
+thousand plans for my future life, but quarrelling with them all; when
+a gentleman met me on horseback, from whom, at my Lord Vannelt's, I had
+received particular civilities; I looked another way not to be seen
+by him, and the change in my dress since I left his Lordship's made me
+easily pass unnoticed. He had rode on, however, but a few yards,
+before, by some accident or mismanagement, he had a fall from his horse.
+Forgetting all my caution, I flew instantly to his assistance; he was
+bruised, but not otherwise hurt; I helpt him up, and he leant 'pon my
+arm; in my haste of enquiring how he had fared, I called him by his
+name. He knew me, but looked surprised at my appearance; he was speaking
+to me, however, with kindness, when seeing some gentlemen of his
+acquaintance gallopping up to him, he hastily disengaged himself from
+me, and instantly beginning to recount to them what had happened, he
+sedulously looked another way, and joining his new companions, walked
+off without taking further notice of me. For a moment I was almost
+tempted to trouble him to come back; but a little recollection told me
+how ill he deserved my resentment, and bid me transfer it for the future
+from the pitiful individual to the worthless community.
+
+“Here finished my deliberation; the disgust to the world which I had
+already conceived, this little incident confirmed; I saw it was only
+made for the great and the rich;--poor, therefore, and low, what had
+I to do in it? I determined to quit it for ever, and to end every
+disappointment, by crushing every hope.
+
+“I wrote to Lord Vannelt to send my trunks to my mother; I wrote to my
+mother that I was well, and would soon let her hear more: I then paid
+off my lodgings, and 'shaking the dust from my feet,' bid a long adieu
+to London; and, committing my route to chance, strole on into the
+country, without knowing or caring which way.
+
+“My first thought was simply to seek retirement, and to depend for my
+future repose upon nothing but a total seclusion from society: but my
+slow method of travelling gave me time for reflection, and reflection
+soon showed me the error of this notion.
+
+“Guilt, cried I, may, indeed, be avoided by solitude; but will misery?
+will regret? will deep dejection of mind? no, they will follow more
+assiduously than ever; for what is there to oppose them, where neither
+business occupies the time, nor hope the imagination? where the past
+has left nothing but resentment, and the future opens only to a dismal,
+uninteresting void? No stranger to life, I knew human nature could not
+exist on such terms; still less a stranger to books, I respected the
+voice of wisdom and experience in the first of moralists, and most
+enlightened of men, [Footnote: Dr Johnson.] and reading the letter of
+Cowley, I saw the vanity and absurdity of _panting after solitude_.
+[Footnote: Life of Cowley, p.34.]
+
+“I sought not, therefore, a cell; but, since I purposed to live for
+myself, I determined for myself also to think. Servility of imitation
+has ever been as much my scorn as servility of dependence; I resolved,
+therefore, to strike out something new, and no more to retire as every
+other man had retired, than to linger in the world as every other man
+had lingered.
+
+“The result of all you now see. I found out this cottage, and took up
+my abode in it. I am here out of the way of all society, yet avoid the
+great evil of retreat, _having nothing to do_. I am constantly, not
+capriciously employed, and the exercise which benefits my health,
+imperceptibly raises my spirits in despight of adversity. I am removed
+from all temptation, I have scarce even the power to do wrong; I have no
+object for ambition, for repining I have no time:--I have, found out, I
+repeat, the true secret of happiness, Labour with Independence.”
+
+He stopt; and Cecilia, who had listened to this narrative with a mixture
+of compassion, admiration and censure, was too much struck with its
+singularity to be readily able to answer it. Her curiosity to hear him
+had sprung wholly from her desire to assist him, and she had expected
+from his story to gather some hint upon which her services might be
+offered. But none had occurred; he professed himself fully satisfied
+with his situation; and though reason and probability contradicted the
+profession, she could not venture to dispute it with any delicacy or
+prudence.
+
+She thanked him, therefore, for his relation, with many apologies for
+the trouble she had given him, and added, “I must not express my
+concern for misfortunes which you seem to regard as conducive to your
+contentment, nor remonstrate at the step you have taken, since you have
+been led to it by choice, not necessity: but yet, you must pardon me if
+I cannot help hoping I shall some time see you happier, according to the
+common, however vulgar ideas of the rest of the world.”
+
+“No, never, never! I am sick of mankind, not from theory, but
+experience; and the precautions I have taken against mental fatigue,
+will secure me from repentance, or any desire of change; for it is not
+the active, but the indolent who weary; it is not the temperate, but the
+pampered who are capricious.”
+
+“Is your sister, Sir, acquainted with this change in your fortune and
+opinions?”
+
+“Poor girl, no! She and her unhappy mother have borne but too long with
+my enterprizes and misfortunes. Even yet they would sacrifice whatever
+they possess to enable me to play once more the game so often lost; but
+I will not abuse their affection, nor suffer them again to be slaves to
+my caprices, nor dupes to their own delusive expectations. I have sent
+them word I am happy; I have not yet told them how or where. I fear much
+the affliction of their disappointment, and, for a while, shall conceal
+from them my situation, which they would fancy was disgraceful, and
+grieve at as cruel.”
+
+“And is it not cruel?” said Cecilia, “is labour indeed so sweet? and can
+you seriously derive happiness from what all others consider as misery?”
+
+“Not sweet,” answered he, “in itself; but sweet, most sweet and salutary
+in its effects. When I work, I forget all the world; my projects for the
+future, my disappointments from the past. Mental fatigue is overpowered
+by personal; I toil till I require rest, and that rest which nature,
+not luxury demands, leads not to idle meditation, but to sound, heavy,
+necessary sleep. I awake the next morning to the same thought-exiling
+business, work again till my powers are exhausted, and am relieved again
+at night by the same health-recruiting insensibility.”
+
+“And if this,” cried Cecilia, “is the life of happiness, why have we so
+many complaints of the sufferings of the poor, and why so eternally do
+we hear of their hardships and distress?”
+
+“They have known no other life. They are strangers, therefore, to the
+felicity of their lot. Had they mingled in the world, fed high their
+fancy with hope, and looked forward with expectation of enjoyment; had
+they been courted by the great, and offered with profusion adulation
+for their abilities, yet, even when starving, been offered nothing
+else!--had they seen an attentive circle wait all its entertainment from
+their powers, yet found themselves forgotten as soon as out of sight,
+and perceived themselves avoided when no longer buffoons!--Oh had
+they known and felt provocations such as these, how gladly would their
+resentful spirits turn from the whole unfeeling race, and how would they
+respect that noble and manly labour, which at once disentangles them
+from such subjugating snares, and enables them to fly the ingratitude
+they abhor! Without the contrast of vice, virtue unloved may be lovely;
+without the experience of misery, happiness is simply a dull privation
+of evil.”
+
+“And are you so content,” cried Cecilia, “with your present situation,
+as even to think it offers you reparation for your past sufferings?”
+
+“Content!” repeated he with energy, “O more than content, I am proud of
+my present situation! I glory in chewing to the world, glory still more
+in shewing to myself, that those whom I cannot but despise I will not
+scruple to defy, and that where I have been treated unworthily, I will
+scorn to be obliged.”
+
+“But will you pardon me,” said Cecilia, “should I ask again, why in
+quitting Lord Vannelt, you concluded no one else worthy a trial?”
+
+“Because it was less my Lord Vannelt, madam, than my own situation, that
+disgusted me: for though I liked not his behaviour, I found him a man
+too generally esteemed to flatter myself better usage would await me
+in merely changing my abode, while my station was the same. I believe,
+indeed, he never meant to offend me; but I was offended the more that
+he should think me an object to receive indignity without knowing it. To
+have had this pointed out to him, would have been at once mortifying and
+vain; for delicacy, like taste, can only partially be taught, and will
+always be superficial and erring where it is not innate. Those wrongs,
+which though too trifling to resent, are too humiliating to be borne,
+speech can convey no idea of; the soul must feel, or the understanding
+can never comprehend them.”
+
+“But surely,” said Cecilia, “though people of refinement are rare, they
+yet exist; why, then, remove yourself from the possibility of meeting
+with them?”
+
+“Must I run about the nation,” cried he, “proclaiming my distress, and
+describing my temper? telling the world that though dependent I demand
+respect as well as assistance; and publishing to mankind, that though
+poor I will accept no gifts if offered with contumely? Who will listen
+to such an account? who will care for my misfortunes, but as they may
+humble me to his service? Who will hear my mortifications, but to say
+I deserve them? what has the world to do with my feelings and
+peculiarities? I know it too well to think calamity will soften it; I
+need no new lessons to instruct me that to conquer affliction is more
+wise than to relate it.”
+
+“Unfortunate as you have been,” said Cecilia, “I cannot wonder at your
+asperity; but yet, it is surely no more than justice to acknowledge,
+that hard-heartedness to distress is by no means the fault of the
+present times: on the contrary, it is scarce sooner made known, than
+every one is ready to contribute to its relief.”
+
+“And how contribute?” cried he, “by a paltry donation of money? Yes, the
+man whose only want is a few guineas, may, indeed, obtain them; but
+he who asks kindness and protection, whose oppressed spirit calls for
+consolation even more than his ruined fortune for repair, how is his
+struggling soul, if superior to his fate, to brook the ostentation of
+patronage, and the insolence of condescension? Yes, yes, the world will
+save the poor beggar who is starving; but the fallen wretch, who will
+not cringe for his support, may consume in his own wretchedness without
+pity and without help!”
+
+Cecilia now saw that the wound his sensibility had received was too
+painful for argument, and too recent immediately to be healed. She
+forbore, therefore, to detain him any longer, but expressing her best
+wishes, without venturing to hint at her services, she arose, and they
+all took their leave;--Belfield hastening, as they went, to return to
+the garden, where, looking over the hedge as they passed, they saw him
+employed again in weeding, with the eagerness of a man who pursues his
+favourite occupation.
+
+Cecilia half forgot her own anxieties and sadness, in the concern which
+she felt for this unfortunate and extraordinary young man. She wished
+much to devise some means for drawing him from a life of such hardship
+and obscurity; but what to a man thus “jealous in honour,” thus
+scrupulous in delicacy, could she propose, without more risk of offence,
+than probability of obliging? His account had, indeed, convinced her how
+much he stood in need of assistance, but it had shewn her no less how
+fastidious he would be in receiving it.
+
+Nor was she wholly without fear that an earnest solicitude to serve him,
+his youth, talents, and striking manners considered, might occasion even
+in himself a misconstruction of her motives, such as she already had
+given birth to in his forward and partial mother.
+
+The present, therefore, all circumstances weighed, seemed no season for
+her liberality, which she yet resolved to exert the first moment it was
+unopposed by propriety.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A CONTEST.
+
+The rest of the day was passed in discussing this adventure; but in the
+evening, Cecilia's interest in it was all sunk, by the reception of the
+following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+I grieve to interrupt the tranquillity of a retirement so judiciously
+chosen, and I lament the necessity of again calling to trial the virtue
+of which the exertion, though so captivating, is so painful; but alas,
+my excellent young friend, we came not hither to enjoy, but to suffer;
+and happy only are those whose sufferings have neither by folly
+been sought, nor by guilt been merited, but arising merely from the
+imperfection of humanity, have been resisted with fortitude, or endured
+with patience.
+
+I am informed of your virtuous steadiness, which corresponds with my
+expectations, while it excites my respect. All further conflict I had
+hoped to have saved you; and to the triumph of your goodness I had
+trusted for the recovery of your peace: but Mortimer has disappointed
+me, and our work is still unfinished.
+
+He avers that he is solemnly engaged to you, and in pleading to me his
+honour, he silences both expostulation and authority. From your own
+words alone will he acknowledge his dismission; and notwithstanding my
+reluctance to impose upon you this task, I cannot silence or quiet him
+without making the request.
+
+For a purpose such as this, can you, then, admit us? Can you bear with
+your own lips to confirm the irrevocable decision? You will feel, I am
+sure, for the unfortunate Mortimer, and it was earnestly my desire to
+spare you the sight of his affliction; yet such is my confidence in your
+prudence, that since I find him bent upon seeing you, I am not without
+hope, that from witnessing the greatness of your mind, the interview may
+rather calm than inflame him.
+
+This proposal you will take into consideration, and if you are able,
+upon such terms, to again meet my son, we will wait upon you together,
+where and when you will appoint; but if the gentleness of your nature
+will make the effort too severe for you, scruple not to decline it, for
+Mortimer, when he knows your pleasure, will submit to it as he ought.
+
+Adieu, most amiable and but too lovely Cecilia; whatever you determine,
+be sure of my concurrence, for nobly have you earned, and ever must you
+retain, the esteem, the affection, and the gratitude of AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+
+“Alas,” cried Cecilia, “when shall I be at rest? when cease to be
+persecuted by new conflicts! Oh why must I so often, so cruelly, though
+so reluctantly, reject and reprove the man who of all men I wish to
+accept and to please!”
+
+But yet, though repining at this hard necessity, she hesitated not a
+moment in complying with Mrs Delvile's request, and immediately sent an
+answer that she would meet her the next morning at Mrs Charlton's.
+
+She then returned to the parlour, and apologized to Mrs Harrel and
+Mr Arnott for the abruptness of her visit, and the suddenness of her
+departure. Mr Arnott heard her in silent dejection; and Mrs Harrel
+used all the persuasion in her power to prevail with her to stay, her
+presence being some relief to her solitude: but finding it ineffectual,
+she earnestly pressed her to hasten her entrance into her own house,
+that their absence might be shortened, and their meeting more sprightly.
+
+Cecilia passed the night in planning her behaviour for the next day;
+she found how much was expected from her by Mrs Delvile, who had even
+exhorted her to decline the interview if doubtful of her own strength.
+Delvile's firmness in insisting the refusal should come directly
+from herself, surprised, gratified and perplexed her in turn; she had
+imagined, that from the moment of the discovery, he would implicitly
+have submitted to the award of a parent at once so reverenced and so
+beloved, and how he had summoned courage to contend with her she could
+not conjecture: yet that courage and that contention astonished not
+more than they soothed her, since, from her knowledge of his filial
+tenderness, she considered them as the most indubitable proofs she had
+yet received of the fervour and constancy of his regard for her. But
+would he, when she had ratified the decision of his mother, forbear all
+further struggle, and for ever yield up all pretensions to her? this was
+the point upon which her uncertainty turned, and the ruling subject of
+her thoughts and meditation.
+
+To be steady, however, herself, be his conduct what it might, was
+invariably her intention, and was all her ambition: yet earnestly she
+wished the meeting over, for she dreaded to see the sorrow of Delvile,
+and she dreaded still more the susceptibility of her own heart.
+
+The next morning, to her great concern, Mr Arnott was waiting in the
+hall when she came down stairs, and so much grieved at her departure,
+that he handed her to the chaise without being able to speak to her, and
+hardly heard her thanks and compliments but by recollection after she
+was gone.
+
+She arrived at Mrs Charlton's very early, and found her old friend in
+the same state she had left her. She communicated to her the purpose of
+her return, and begged she would keep her granddaughters up stairs, that
+the conference in the parlour might be uninterrupted and unheard.
+
+She then made a forced and hasty breakfast, and went down to be ready
+to receive them. They came not till eleven o'clock, and the time of her
+waiting was passed in agonies of expectation.
+
+At length they were announced, and at length they entered the room.
+
+Cecilia, with her utmost efforts for courage, could hardly stand to
+receive them. They came in together, but Mrs Delvile, advancing before
+her son, and endeavouring so to stand as to intercept his view of her,
+with the hope that in a few instants her emotion would be less visible,
+said, in the most soothing accents, “What honour Miss Beverley does us
+by permitting this visit! I should have been sorry to have left Suffolk
+without the satisfaction of again seeing you; and my son, sensible of
+the high respect he owes you, was most unwilling to be gone, before he
+had paid you his devoirs.”
+
+Cecilia courtsied; but depressed by the cruel task which awaited her,
+had no power to speak; and Mrs Delvile, finding she still trembled, made
+her sit down, and drew a chair next to her.
+
+Mean while Delvile, with an emotion far more violent, because wholly
+unrestrained, waited impatiently till the ceremonial of the reception
+was over, and then, approaching Cecilia, in a voice of perturbation and
+resentment, said, “In this presence, at least, I hope I may be heard;
+though my letters have been unanswered, my visits refused, though
+inexorably you have flown me--”
+
+“Mortimer,” interrupted Mrs Delvile, “forget not that what I have told
+you is irrevocable; you now meet Miss Beverley for no other purpose than
+to give and to receive a mutual release of all to or engagement with
+each other.”
+
+“Pardon me, madam,” cried he, “this is a condition to which I have never
+assented. I come not to release, but to claim her! I am hers, and hers
+wholly! I protest it in the face of the world! The time, therefore, is
+now past for the sacrifice which you demand, since scarce are you more
+my mother, than I consider her as my wife.”
+
+Cecilia, amazed at this dauntless declaration, now almost lost her fear
+in her surprise; while Mrs Delvile, with an air calm though displeased,
+answered, “This is not a point to be at present discussed, and I had
+hoped you knew better what was due to your auditors. I only consented to
+this interview as a mark of your respect for Miss Beverley, to whom in
+propriety it belongs to break off this unfortunate connexion.”
+
+Cecilia, who at this call could no longer be silent, now gathered
+fortitude to say, “Whatever tie or obligation may be supposed to depend
+upon me, I have already relinquished; and I am now ready to declare--”
+
+“That you wholly give me up?” interrupted Delvile, “is that what you
+would say?--Oh how have I offended you? how have I merited a displeasure
+that can draw upon me such a sentence?--Answer, speak to me, Cecilia,
+what is it I have done?”
+
+“Nothing, Sir,” said Cecilia, confounded at this language in the
+presence of his mother, “you have done nothing,--but yet--”
+
+“Yet what?--have you conceived to me an aversion? has any dreadful and
+horrible antipathy succeeded to your esteem?--tell, tell me without
+disguise, do you hate, do you abhor me?”
+
+Cecilia sighed, and turned away her head; and Mrs Delvile indignantly
+exclaimed, “What madness and absurdity! I scarce know you under the
+influence of such irrational violence. Why will you interrupt Miss
+Beverley in the only speech you ought to hear from her? Why, at once,
+oppress her, and irritate me, by words of more passion than reason?
+Go on, charming girl, finish what so wisely, so judiciously you
+were beginning, and then you shall be released from this turbulent
+persecution.”
+
+“No, madam, she must not go on!” cried Delvile, “if she does not utterly
+abhor me, I will not suffer her to go on;--Pardon, pardon me, Cecilia,
+but your too exquisite delicacy is betraying not only my happiness, but
+your own. Once more, therefore, I conjure you to hear me, and then if,
+deliberately and unbiassed, you renounce me, I will never more distress
+you by resisting your decree.”
+
+Cecilia, abashed and changing colour, was silent, and he proceeded.
+
+“All that has past between us, the vows I have offered you of faith,
+constancy and affection, the consent I obtained from you to be legally
+mine, the bond of settlement I have had drawn up, and the high honour
+you conferred upon me in suffering me to lead you to the altar,--all
+these particulars are already known to so many, that the least
+reflection must convince you they will soon be concealed from none: tell
+me, then, if your own fame pleads not for me, and if the scruples which
+lead you to refuse, by taking another direction, will not, with much
+more propriety, urge, nay enjoin you to accept me!--You hesitate at
+least,--O Miss Beverley!--I see in that hesitation--”
+
+“Nothing, nothing!” cried she, hastily, and checking her rising
+irresolution; “there is nothing for you to see, but that every way I now
+turn I have rendered myself miserable!”
+
+“Mortimer,” said Mrs Delvile, seized with terror as she penetrated into
+the mental yielding of Cecilia, “you have now spoken to Miss Beverley;
+and unwilling as I am to obtrude upon her our difference of sentiment,
+it is necessary, since she has heard you, that I, also, should claim her
+attention.”
+
+“First let her speak!” cried Delvile, who in her apparent wavering built
+new hopes, “first let her answer what she has already deigned to listen
+to.”
+
+“No, first let her hear!” cried Mrs Delvile, “for so only can she judge
+what answer will reflect upon her most honour.”
+
+Then, solemnly turning to Cecilia, she continued: “You see here, Miss
+Beverley, a young man who passionately adores you, and who forgets in
+his adoration friends, family, and connections, the opinions in which
+he has been educated, the honour of his house, his own former views,
+and all his primitive sense of duty, both public and private!--A passion
+built on such a defalcation of principle renders him unworthy your
+acceptance; and not more ignoble for him would be a union which would
+blot his name from the injured stock whence he sprung, than indelicate
+for you, who upon such terms ought to despise him.”
+
+“Heavens, madam,” exclaimed Delvile, “what a speech!”
+
+“O never,” cried Cecilia, rising, “may I hear such another! Indeed,
+madam, there is no occasion to probe me so deeply, for I would not now
+enter your family, for all that the whole world could offer me!”
+
+“At length, then, madam,” cried Delvile, turning reproachfully to his
+mother, “are you satisfied? is your purpose now answered? and is the
+dagger you have transfixed in my heart sunk deep enough to appease you?”
+
+“O could I draw it out,” cried Mrs Delvile, “and leave upon it no stain
+of ignominy, with what joy should my own bosom receive it, to heal the
+wound I have most compulsatorily inflicted!--Were this excellent young
+creature portionless, I would not hesitate in giving my consent; every
+claim of interest would be overbalanced by her virtues, and I would not
+grieve to see you poor, where so conscious you were happy; but here to
+concede, would annihilate every hope with which hitherto I have looked
+up to my son.”
+
+“Let us now, then, madam,” said Cecilia, “break up this conference. I
+have spoken, I have heard, the decree is past, and therefore,”--
+
+“You are indeed an angel!” cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her;
+“and never can I reproach my son with what has passed, when I consider
+for what an object the sacrifice was planned. _You_ cannot be unhappy,
+you have purchased peace by the exercise of virtue, and the close of
+every day will bring to you a reward, in the sweets of a self-approving
+mind.--But we will part, since you think it right; I do wrong to
+occasion any delay.”
+
+“No, we will _not_ part!” cried Delvile, with encreasing vehemence; “if
+you force me, madam, from her, you will drive me to distraction! What is
+there in this world that can offer me a recompense? And what can pride
+even to the proudest afford as an equivalent? Her perfections you
+acknowledge, her greatness of mind is like your own; she has generously
+given me her heart,--Oh sacred and fascinating charge! Shall I, after
+such a deposite, consent to an eternal separation? Repeal, repeal your
+sentence, my Cecilia! let us live to ourselves and our consciences, and
+leave the vain prejudices of the world to those who can be paid by them
+for the loss of all besides!”
+
+“Is this conflict, then,” said Mrs Delvile, “to last for-ever? Oh
+end it, Mortimer, finish it, and make me happy! she is just, and will
+forgive you, she is noble-minded, and will honour you. Fly, then, at
+this critical moment, for in flight alone is your safety; and then will
+your father see the son of his hopes, and then shall the fond blessings
+of your idolizing mother soothe all your affliction, and soften all your
+regret!”
+
+“Oh madam!” cried Delvile, “for mercy, for humanity, forbear this cruel
+supplication!”
+
+“Nay, more than supplication, you have my commands; commands you have
+never yet disputed, and misery, ten-fold misery, will follow their
+disobedience. Hear me, Mortimer, for I speak prophetically; I know your
+heart, I know it to be formed for rectitude and duty, or destined by
+their neglect to repentance and horror.”
+
+Delvile, struck by these words, turned suddenly from them both, and
+in gloomy despondence walked to the other end of the room. Mrs Delvile
+perceived the moment of her power, and determined to pursue the blow:
+taking, therefore, the hand of Cecilia, while her eyes sparkled with the
+animation of reviving hope, “See,” she cried, pointing to her son, “see
+if I am deceived! can he bear even the suggestion of future contrition!
+Think you when it falls upon him, he will support it better? No; he
+will sink under it. And you, pure as you are of mind, and steadfast in
+principle, what would your chance be of happiness with a man who never
+erring till he knew you, could never look at you without regret, be his
+fondness what it might?”
+
+“Oh madam,” cried the greatly shocked Cecilia, “let him, then, see me no
+more!--take, take him all to yourself! forgive, console him! I will not
+have the misery of involving him in repentance, nor of incurring the
+reproaches of the mother he so much reverences!”
+
+“Exalted creature!” cried Mrs Delvile; “tenderness such as this would
+confer honour upon a monarch.” Then, calling out exultingly to her
+son, “See,” she added, “how great a woman can act, when stimulated by
+generosity, and a just sense of duty! Follow then, at least, the example
+you ought to have led, and deserve my esteem and love, or be content to
+forego them.”
+
+“And can I only deserve them,” said Delvile, in a tone of the deepest
+anguish, “by a compliance to which not merely my happiness, but
+my reason must be sacrificed? What honour do I injure that is not
+factitious? What evil threatens our union, that is not imaginary? In
+the general commerce of the world it may be right to yield to its
+prejudices, but in matters of serious importance, it is weakness to be
+shackled by scruples so frivolous, and it is cowardly to be governed by
+the customs we condemn. Religion and the laws of our country should then
+alone be consulted, and where those are neither opposed nor infringed,
+we should hold ourselves superior to all other considerations.”
+
+“Mistaken notions!” said Mrs Delvile; “and how long do you flatter
+yourself this independent happiness would endure? How long could you
+live contented by mere self-gratification, in defiance of the censure
+of mankind, the renunciation of your family, and the curses of your
+father?”
+
+“The curses of my father!” repeated he, starting and shuddering, “O no,
+he could never be so barbarous!”
+
+“He could,” said she, steadily, “nor do I doubt but he would. If now,
+however, you are affected by the prospect of his disclaiming you, think
+but what you will feel when first forbid to appear before either of us!
+and think of your remorse for involving Miss Beverley in such disgrace!”
+
+“O speak not such words!” cried he, with agonizing earnestness, “to
+disgrace her,--to be banished by you,--present not, I conjure you, such
+scenes to my imagination!”
+
+“Yet would they be unavoidable,” continued she; “nor have I said to you
+all; blinded as you now are by passion, your nobler feelings are only
+obscured, not extirpated; think, then, how they will all rise in revenge
+of your insulted dignity, when your name becomes a stranger to your
+ears, and you are first saluted by one so meanly adopted!--”
+
+“Hold, hold, madam,” interrupted he, “this is more than I can bear!”
+
+“Heavens!” still continued she, disregarding his entreaty, “what in the
+universe can pay you for that first moment of indignity! Think of it
+well ere you proceed, and anticipate your sensations, lest the shock
+should wholly overcome you. How will the blood of your wronged ancestors
+rise into your guilty cheeks, and how will your heart throb with secret
+shame and reproach, when wished joy upon your marriage by the name of
+_Mr Beverley_!”
+
+Delvile, stung to the soul, attempted not any answer, but walked about
+the room in the utmost disorder of mind. Cecilia would have retired,
+but feared irritating him to some extravagance; and Mrs Delvile, looking
+after him, added “For myself, I would still see, for I should pity
+your wife,--but NEVER would I behold my son when sunk into an object of
+compassion!”
+
+“It shall not be!” cried he, in a transport of rage; “cease, cease to
+distract me!--be content, madam,--you have conquered!”
+
+“Then you are my son!” cried she, rapturously embracing him; “now I know
+again my Mortimer! now I see the fair promise of his upright youth, and
+the flattering completion of my maternal expectations!”
+
+Cecilia, finding all thus concluded, desired nothing so much as to
+congratulate them on their reconciliation; but having only said “Let
+_me_, too,--” her voice failed her, she stopt short, and hoping she had
+been unheard, would have glided out of the room.
+
+But Delvile, penetrated and tortured, yet delighted at this sensibility,
+broke from his mother, and seizing her hand, exclaimed, “Oh Miss
+Beverley, if _you_ are not happy---”
+
+“I am! I am!” cried she, with quickness; “let me pass,--and think no
+more of me.”
+
+“That voice,--those looks,--” cried he, still holding her, “they speak
+not serenity!--Oh if I have injured your peace,--if that heart, which,
+pure as angels, deserves to be as sacred from sorrow, through my means,
+or for my sake, suffers any diminution of tranquility--”
+
+“None, none!” interrupted she, with precipitation.
+
+“I know well,” cried he, “your greatness of soul; and if this dreadful
+sacrifice gives lasting torture only to myself,--if of _your_ returning
+happiness I could be assured,--I would struggle to bear it.”
+
+“You _may_, be assured of it,” cried she, with reviving dignity, “I have
+no right to expect escaping all calamity, but while I share the common
+lot, I will submit to it without repining.”
+
+“Heaven then bless, and hovering angels watch you!” cried he, and
+letting go her hand, he ran hastily out of the room.
+
+“Oh Virtue, how bright is thy triumph!” exclaimed Mrs Delvile, flying
+up to Cecilia, and folding her in her arms; “Noble, incomparable young
+creature! I knew not that so much worth was compatible with human
+frailty!”
+
+But the heroism of Cecilia, in losing its object, lost its force; she
+sighed, she could not speak, tears gushed into her eyes, and kissing Mrs
+Delvile's hand with a look that shewed her inability to converse with
+her, she hastened, though scarce able to support herself, away, with
+intention to shut herself up in her own apartment: and Mrs Delvile,
+who perceived that her utmost fortitude was exhausted, opposed not her
+going, and wisely forbore to encrease her emotion, by following her even
+with her blessings.
+
+But when she came into the hall, she started, and could proceed no
+further; for there she beheld Delvile, who in too great agony to be
+seen, had stopt to recover some composure before he quitted the house.
+
+At the first sound of an opening door, he was hastily escaping; but
+perceiving Cecilia, and discerning her situation, he more hastily turned
+back, saying, “Is it possible?--To _me_ were you coming?”
+
+She shook her head, and made a motion with her hand to say no, and would
+then have gone on.
+
+“You are weeping!” cried he, “you are pale!--Oh Miss Beverley! is this
+your happiness!”
+
+“I am very well,--” cried she, not knowing what she answered, “I am
+quite well,--pray go,--I am very--” her words died away inarticulated.
+
+“O what a voice is that!” exclaimed he, “it pierces my very soul!”
+
+Mrs Delvile now came to the parlour door, and looked aghast at the
+situation in which she saw them: Cecilia again moved on, and reached the
+stairs, but tottered, and was obliged to cling to the banisters.
+
+“O suffer me to support you,” cried he; “you are not able to
+stand,--whither is it you would go?”
+
+“Any where,--I don't know,--” answered she, in faltering accents, “but
+if you would leave me, I should be well.”
+
+And, turning from him, she walked again towards the parlour, finding by
+her shaking frame, the impossibility of getting unaided up the stairs.
+
+“Give me your hand, my love,” said Mrs Delvile, cruelly alarmed by this
+return; and the moment they re-entered the parlour, she said impatiently
+to her son, “Mortimer, why are you not gone?”
+
+He heard her not, however; his whole attention was upon Cecilia, who,
+sinking into a chair, hid her face against Mrs Delvile: but, reviving in
+a few moments, and blushing at the weakness she had betrayed, she raised
+her head, and, with an assumed serenity, said, “I am better,--much
+better,--I was rather sick,--but it is over; and now, if you will excuse
+me, I will go to my own room.”
+
+She then arose, but her knees trembled, and her head was giddy, and
+again seating herself, she forced a faint smile, and said, “Perhaps I
+had better keep quiet.”
+
+“Can I bear this!” cried Delvile, “no, it shakes all my
+resolution!--loveliest and most beloved Cecilia! forgive my rash
+declaration, which I hear retract and forswear, and which no false
+pride, no worthless vanity shall again surprise from me!--raise, then,
+your eyes--”
+
+“Hot-headed young man!” interrupted Mrs Delvile, with an air of haughty
+displeasure, “if you cannot be rational, at least be silent. Miss
+Beverley, we will both leave him.”
+
+Shame, and her own earnestness, how restored some strength to Cecilia,
+who read with terror in the looks of Mrs Delvile the passions with which
+she was agitated, and instantly obeyed her by rising; but her son, who
+inherited a portion of her own spirit, rushed between them both and the
+door, and exclaimed, “Stay, madam, stay! I cannot let you go: I see your
+intention, I see your dreadful purpose; you will work upon the feelings
+of Miss Beverley, you will extort from her a promise to see me no more!”
+
+“Oppose not my passing!” cried Mrs Delvile, whose voice, face and manner
+spoke the encreasing disturbance of her soul; “I have but too long
+talked to you in vain; I must now take some better method for the
+security of the honour of my family.”
+
+This moment appeared to Delvile decisive; and casting off in desperation
+all timidity and restraint, he suddenly sprang forward, and snatching
+the hand of Cecilia from his mother, he exclaimed, “I cannot, I will not
+give her up!--nor now, madam, nor ever!--I protest it most solemnly! I
+affirm it by my best hopes! I swear it by all that I hold sacred!”
+
+Grief and horror next to frenzy at a disappointment thus unexpected, and
+thus peremptory, rose in the face of Mrs Delvile, who, striking her hand
+upon her forehead, cried, “My brain is on fire!” and rushed out of the
+room.
+
+Cecilia had now no difficulty to disengage herself from Delvile, who,
+shocked at the exclamation, and confounded by the sudden departure of
+his mother, hastened eagerly to pursue her: she had only flown into the
+next parlour; but, upon following her thither, what was his dread and
+his alarm, when he saw her extended, upon the floor, her face, hands and
+neck all covered with blood! “Great Heaven!” he exclaimed, prostrating
+himself by her side, “what is it you have done!--where are you
+wounded?--what direful curse have you denounced against your son?”
+
+Not able to speak, she angrily shook her head, and indignantly made a
+motion with her hand, that commanded him from her sight.
+
+Cecilia, who had followed, though half dead with terror, had yet the
+presence of mind to ring the bell. A servant came immediately; and
+Delvile, starting up from his mother, ordered him to fetch the first
+surgeon or physician he could find.
+
+The alarm now brought the rest of the servants into the room, and Mrs
+Delvile suffered herself to be raised from the ground, and seated in a
+chair; she was still silent, but shewed a disgust to any assistance
+from her son, that made him deliver her into the hands of the servants,
+while, in speechless agony, he only looked on and watched her.
+
+Neither did Cecilia, though forgetting her own sorrow, and no longer
+sensible of personal weakness, venture to approach her: uncertain what
+had happened, she yet considered herself as the ultimate cause of this
+dreadful scene, and feared to risk the effect of the smallest additional
+emotion.
+
+The servant returned with a surgeon in a few minutes: Cecilia, unable
+to wait and hear what he would say, glided hastily out of the room; and
+Delvile, in still greater agitation, followed her quick into the
+next parlour; but having eagerly advanced to speak to her, he turned
+precipitately about, and hurrying into the hall, walked in hasty steps
+up and down it, without courage to enquire what was passing.
+
+At length the surgeon came out: Delvile flew to him, and stopt him,
+but could ask no question. His countenance, however, rendered words
+unnecessary; the surgeon understood him, and said, “The lady will do
+very well; she has burst a blood vessel, but I think it will be of
+no consequence. She must be kept quiet and easy, and upon no account
+suffered to talk, or to use any exertion.”
+
+Delvile now let him go, and flew himself into a corner to return thanks
+to heaven that the evil, however great, was less than he had at first
+apprehended. He then went into the parlour to Cecilia, eagerly calling
+out, “Heaven be praised, my mother has not voluntarily cursed me!”
+
+“O now then,” cried Cecilia, “once more make her bless you! the violence
+of her agitation has already almost destroyed her, and her frame is too
+weak for this struggle of contending passions;--go to her, then, and
+calm the tumult of her spirits, by acquiescing wholly in her will, and
+being to her again the son she thinks she has lost!”
+
+“Alas!” said he, in a tone of the deepest dejection; “I have been
+preparing myself for that purpose, and waited but your commands to
+finally determine me.”
+
+“Let us both go to her instantly,” said Cecilia; “the least delay may be
+fatal.”
+
+She now led the way, and approaching Mrs Delvile, who, faint and weak,
+was seated upon an arm chair, and resting her head upon the shoulder of
+a maid servant, said, “Lean, dearest madam, upon _me_, and speak not,
+but hear us!”
+
+She then took the place of the maid, and desired her and the other
+servants to go out of the room. Delvile advanced, but his mother's eye,
+recovering, at his sight, its wonted fire, darted upon him a glance of
+such displeasure, that, shuddering with the apprehension of inflaming
+again those passions which threatened her destruction, he hastily sank
+on one knee, and abruptly exclaimed, “Look at me with less abhorrence,
+for I come but to resign myself to your will.”
+
+“Mine, also,” cried Cecilia, “that will shall be; you need not speak
+it, we know it, and here solemnly we promise that we will separate for
+ever.”
+
+“Revive, then, my mother,” said Delvile, “rely upon our plighted
+honours, and think only of your health, for your son will never more
+offend you.”
+
+Mrs Delvile, much surprised, and strongly affected, held out her hand to
+him, with a look of mingled compassion and obligation, and dropping
+her head upon the bosom of Cecilia, who with her other arm she pressed
+towards her, she burst into an agony of tears.
+
+“Go, go, Sir!” said Cecilia, cruelly alarmed, “you have said all that is
+necessary; leave Mrs Delvile now, and she will be more composed.”
+
+Delvile instantly obeyed, and then his mother, whose mouth still
+continued to fill with blood, though it gushed not from her with the
+violence it had begun, was prevailed upon by the prayers of Cecilia to
+consent to be conveyed into her room; and, as her immediate removal
+to another house might be dangerous, she complied also, though very
+reluctantly, with her urgent entreaties, that she would take entire
+possession of it till the next day.
+
+This point gained, Cecilia left her, to communicate what had passed to
+Mrs Charlton; but was told by one of the servants that Mr Delvile begged
+first to speak with her in the next room.
+
+She hesitated for a moment whether to grant this request; but
+recollecting it was right to acquaint him with his mother's intention of
+staying all night, she went to him.
+
+“How indulgent you are,” cried he, in a melancholy voice, as she opened
+the door; “I am now going post to Dr Lyster, whom I shall entreat to
+come hither instantly; but I am fearful of again disturbing my mother,
+and must therefore rely upon you to acquaint her what is become of me.”
+
+“Most certainly; I have begged her to remain here to-night, and I hope
+I shall prevail with her to continue with me till Dr Lyster's arrival;
+after which she will, doubtless, be guided either in staying longer, or
+removing elsewhere, by his advice.”
+
+“You are all goodness,” said he, with a deep sigh; “and how I shall
+support--but I mean not to return hither, at least not to this
+house,--unless, indeed, Dr Lyster's account should be alarming. I leave
+my mother, therefore, to your kindness, and only hope, only entreat,
+that your own health,--your own peace of mind--neither by attendance
+upon her--by anxiety--by pity for her son--”
+
+He stopt, and seemed gasping for breath; Cecilia turned from him to hide
+her emotion, and he proceeded with a rapidity of speech that shewed his
+terror of continuing with her any longer, and his struggle with himself
+to be gone: “The promise you have made in both our names to my mother,
+I shall hold myself bound to observe. I see, indeed, that her reason
+or her life would fall the sacrifice of further opposition: of myself,
+therefore, it is no longer time to think.--I take of you no leave--I
+cannot! yet I would fain tell you the high reverence--but it is better
+to say nothing--”
+
+“Much better,” cried Cecilia, with a forced and faint smile; “lose not,
+therefore, an instant, but hasten to this good Dr Lyster.”
+
+“I will,” answered he, going to the door; but there, stopping and
+turning round, “one thing I should yet,” he added, “wish to say,--I have
+been impetuous, violent, unreasonable,--with shame and with regret I
+recollect how impetuous, and how unreasonable: I have persecuted, where
+I ought in silence to have submitted; I have reproached, where I ought
+in candour to have approved; and in the vehemence with which I have
+pursued you, I have censured that very dignity of conduct which has
+been the basis of my admiration, my esteem, my devotion! but never can
+I forget, and never without fresh wonder remember, the sweetness with
+which you have borne with me, even when most I offended you. For this
+impatience, this violence, this inconsistency, I now most sincerely
+beg your pardon; and if, before I go, you could so far condescend as to
+pronounce my forgiveness, with a lighter heart, I think, I should quit
+you.”
+
+“Do not talk of forgiveness,” said Cecilia, “you have never offended me;
+I always knew--always was sure--always imputed--” she stopt, unable to
+proceed.
+
+Deeply penetrated by her apparent distress, he with difficulty
+restrained himself from falling at her feet; but after a moment's pause
+and recollection, he said, “I understand the generous indulgence you
+have shewn me, an indulgence I shall ever revere, and ever grieve to
+have abused. I ask you not to remember me,--far, far happier do I wish
+you than such a remembrance could make you; but I will pain the
+humanity of your disposition no longer. You will tell my mother--but
+no matter!--Heaven preserve you, my angelic Cecilia!--Miss Beverley,
+I mean, Heaven guide, protect, and bless you! And should I see you no
+more, should this be the last sad moment---”
+
+He paused, but presently recovering himself, added, “May I hear, at
+least, of your tranquillity, for that alone can have any chance to quiet
+or repress the anguish I feel here!”
+
+He then abruptly retreated, and ran out of the house.
+
+Cecilia for a while remained almost stupified with sorrow; she forgot
+Mrs Delvile, she forgot Mrs Charlton, she forgot her own design of
+apologizing to one, or assisting the other: she continued in the posture
+in which he had left her, quite without motion, and almost without
+sensibility.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A MESSAGE.
+
+From this lethargy of sadness Cecilia was soon, however, awakened by the
+return of the surgeon, who had brought with him a physician to consult
+upon Mrs Delvile's situation. Terror for the mother once more drove
+the son from her thoughts, and she waited with the most apprehensive
+impatience to hear the result of the consultation. The physician
+declined giving any positive opinion, but, having written a
+prescription, only repeated the injunction of the surgeon, that she
+should be kept extremely quiet, and on no account be suffered to talk.
+
+Cecilia, though shocked and frightened at the occasion, was yet by no
+means sorry at an order which thus precluded all conversation; unfitted
+for it by her own misery, she was glad to be relieved from all necessity
+of imposing upon herself the irksome task of finding subjects for
+discourse to which she was wholly indifferent, while obliged with
+sedulity to avoid those by which alone her mind was occupied.
+
+The worthy Mrs Charlton heard the events of the morning with the utmost
+concern, but charged her grand-daughters to assist her young friend in
+doing the honours of her house to Mrs Delvile, while she ordered another
+apartment to be prepared for Cecilia, to whom she administered all the
+consolation her friendly zeal could suggest.
+
+Cecilia, however unhappy, had too just a way of thinking to indulge in
+selfish grief, where occasion called her to action for the benefit
+of others: scarce a moment, therefore now did she allow to sorrow and
+herself, but assiduously bestowed the whole of her time upon her two
+sick friends, dividing her attention according to their own desire or
+convenience, without consulting or regarding any choice of her own.
+Choice, indeed, she had none; she loved Mrs Charlton, she revered Mrs
+Delvile; the warmest wish with which her heart glowed, was the recovery
+of both, but too deep was her affliction to receive pleasure from
+either.
+
+Two days passed thus, during which the constancy of her attendance,
+which at another time would have fatigued her, proved the only relief
+she was capable of receiving. Mrs Delvile was evidently affected by her
+vigilant tenderness, but seemed equally desirous with herself to make
+use of the prohibition to speech as an excuse for uninterrupted silence.
+She enquired not even after her son, though the eagerness of her look
+towards the door whenever it was opened, shewed either a hope, or an
+apprehension that he might enter. Cecilia wished to tell her whither
+he was gone, but dreaded trusting her voice with his name; and their
+silence, after a while, seemed so much by mutual consent, that she had
+soon as little courage as she had inclination to break it.
+
+The arrival of Dr Lyster gave her much satisfaction, for upon him
+rested her hopes of Mrs Delvile's re-establishment. He sent for her down
+stairs, to enquire whether he was expected; and hearing that he was not,
+desired her to announce him, as the smallest emotion might do mischief.
+
+She returned up stairs, and after a short preparation, said, “Your
+favourite Dr Lyster, madam, is come, and I shall be much the happier for
+having you under his care.”
+
+“Dr Lyster?” cried she, “who sent for him?”
+
+“I believe--I fancy--Mr Delvile fetched him.”
+
+“My son?--is he here, then?”
+
+“No,--he went, the moment he left you, for Dr Lyster,--and Dr Lyster is
+come by himself.”
+
+“Does he write to you?”
+
+“No, indeed!--he writes not--he comes not--dearest madam be satisfied,
+he will do neither to me ever more!”
+
+“Exemplary young man!” cried she, in a voice hardly audible, “how great
+is his loss!--unhappy Mortimer!--ill-fated, and ill-rewarded!”
+
+She sighed, and said no more; but this short conversation, the only one
+which had passed between them since her illness, agitated her so
+much, that Dr Lyster, who now came up stairs, found her in a state of
+trembling and weakness that both alarmed and surprised him. Cecilia,
+glad of an opportunity to be gone, left the room, and sent, by Dr
+Lyster's desire, for the physician and surgeon who had already attended.
+
+After they had been some time with their patient, they retired to a
+consultation, and when it was over, Dr Lyster waited upon Cecilia in
+the parlour, and assured her he had no apprehension of danger for
+Mrs Delvile, “Though, for another week,” he added, “I would have her
+continue your _patient_, as she is not yet fit to be removed. But pray
+mind that she is kept quiet; let nobody go near her, not even her own
+son. By the way he is waiting for me at the inn, so I'll just speak
+again to his mother, and be gone.”
+
+Cecilia was well pleased by this accidental information, to learn
+both the anxiety of Delvile for his mother, and the steadiness of his
+forbearance for himself. When Dr Lyster came down stairs again, “I shall
+stay,” he said, “till to-morrow, but I hope she will be able in another
+week to get to Bristol. In the mean time I shall leave her, I see, with
+an excellent nurse. But, my good young lady, in your care of her, don't
+neglect yourself; I am not quite pleased with your looks, though it is
+but an old fashioned speech to tell you so.--What have you been doing to
+yourself?”
+
+“Nothing;” said she, a little embarrassed; “but had you not better have
+some tea?”
+
+“Why yes, I think I had;--but what shall I do with my young man?”
+
+Cecilia understood the hint, but coloured, and made no answer.
+
+“He is waiting for me,” he continued, “at the inn; however, I never yet
+knew the young man I would prefer to a young woman, so if you will give
+me some tea here, I shall certainly jilt him.”
+
+Cecilia instantly rang the bell, and ordered tea.
+
+“Well now,” said he, “remember the sin of this breach of appointment
+lies wholly at your door. I shall tell him you laid violent hands on
+me; and if that is not, enough to excuse me, I shall desire he will try
+whether he could be more of a stoic with you himself.”
+
+“I think I must unorder the tea,” said she, with what gaiety she could
+assume, “if I am to be responsible for any mischief from your drinking
+it.”
+
+“No, no, you shan't be off now; but pray would it be quite out of rule
+for you to send and ask him to come to us?”
+
+“Why I believe--I think--” said she, stammering, “it's very likely he
+may be engaged.”
+
+“Well, well, I don't mean to propose any violent incongruity. You must
+excuse my blundering; I understand but little of the etiquette of young
+ladies. 'Tis a science too intricate to be learned without more study
+than we plodding men of business can well spare time for. However, when
+I have done _writing_ prescriptions, I will set about _reading_ them,
+provided you will be my instructress.”
+
+Cecilia, though ashamed of a charge in which prudery and affectation
+were implied, was compelled to submit to it, as either to send for
+Delvile, or explain her objections, was equally impossible. The Miss
+Charltons, therefore, joined them, and they went to tea.
+
+Just as they had done, a note was delivered to Dr Lyster; “see here,”
+ cried he, when he had read it, “what a fine thing it is to be a _young_
+man! Why now, Mr Mortimer understands as much of all this _etiquette_ as
+you ladies do yourselves; for he only writes a note even to ask how his
+mother does.”
+
+He then put it into Cecilia's hand.
+
+_To Dr Lyster_.
+
+Tell me, my dear Sir, how you have found my mother? I am uneasy at
+your long stay, and engaged with my friend Biddulph, or I should have
+followed you in person.
+
+M.D.
+
+“So you see,” continued the doctor, “I need not do penance for
+engaging myself to you, when this young gentleman can find such good
+entertainment for himself.”
+
+Cecilia who well knew the honourable motive of Delvile's engagement,
+with difficulty forbore speaking in his vindication. Dr Lyster
+immediately began an answer, but before he had finished it, called out,
+“Now as I am told you are a very good young woman, I think you can do no
+less than assist me to punish this gay spark, for playing the macaroni,
+when he ought to visit his sick mother.”
+
+Cecilia, much hurt for Delvile, and much confused for herself, looked
+abashed, but knew not what to answer.
+
+“My scheme,” continued the doctor, “is to tell him, that as he has found
+one engagement for tea, he may find another for supper; but that as to
+me, I am better disposed of, for you insist upon keeping me to yourself.
+Come, what says _etiquette_? may I treat myself with this puff?”
+
+“Certainly,” said Cecilia, endeavouring to look pleased, “if you will
+favour us with your company, Miss Charltons and myself will think the
+_puffing_ should rather be ours than yours.”
+
+“That, then,” said the doctor, “will not answer my purpose, for I mean
+the puff to be my own, or how do I punish him? So, suppose I tell him
+I shall not only sup with three young ladies, but be invited to a
+_tete-a-tete_ with one of them into the bargain?”
+
+The young ladies only laughed, and the doctor finished his note, and
+sent it away; and then, turning gaily to Cecilia, “Come,” he said, “why
+don't you give me this invitation? surely you don't mean to make me
+guilty of perjury?”
+
+Cecilia, but little disposed for pleasantry, would gladly now have dropt
+the subject; but Dr Lyster, turning to the Miss Charltons, said, “Young
+ladies, I call you both to witness if this is not very bad usage: this
+young woman has connived at my writing a downright falsehood, and all
+the time took me in to believe it was a truth. The only way I can think
+of to cure her of such frolics, is for both of you to leave us together,
+and so make her keep her word whether she will or no.”
+
+The Miss Charltons took the hint, and went away; while Cecilia, who
+had not at all suspected he meant seriously to speak with her, remained
+extremely perplexed to think what he had to say.
+
+“Mrs Delvile,” cried he, continuing the same air of easy good humour,
+“though I allowed her not to speak to me above twenty words, took up
+near ten of them to tell me that you had behaved to her like an angel.
+Why so she ought, cried I; what else was she sent for here to look
+so like one? I charged her, therefore, to take all that as a thing of
+course; and to prove that I really think what I say, I am now going to
+make a trial of you, that, if you are any thing less, will induce you to
+order some of your men to drive me into the street. The truth is, I have
+had a little commission given me, which in the first place I know not
+how to introduce, and which, in the second, as far as I can judge,
+appears to be absolutely superfluous.”
+
+Cecilia now felt uneasy and alarmed, and begged him to explain himself.
+He then dropt the levity with which he had begun the discourse, and
+after a grave, yet gentle preparation, expressive of his unwillingness
+to distress her, and his firm persuasion of her uncommon worthiness, he
+acquainted her that he was no stranger to her situation with respect to
+the Delvile family.
+
+“Good God!” cried she, blushing and much amazed; “and who”---
+
+“I knew it,” said he, “from the moment I attended Mr Mortimer in his
+illness at Delvile Castle. He could not conceal from me that the seat
+of his disorder was his mind; and I could not know that, without readily
+conjecturing the cause, when I saw who was his father's guest, and when
+I knew what was his father's character. He found he was betrayed to me,
+and upon my advising a journey, he understood me properly. His openness
+to counsel, and the manly firmness with which he behaved in quitting
+you, made me hope the danger was blown over. But last week, when I was
+at the Castle, where I have for some time attended Mr Delvile, who has
+had a severe fit of the gout, I found him in an agitation of spirits
+that made me apprehend it would be thrown into his stomach. I desired
+Mrs Delvile to use her influence to calm him; but she was herself in
+still greater emotion, and acquainting me she was obliged to leave
+him, desired I would spend with him every moment in my power. I have
+therefore almost lived at the Castle during her absence, and, in
+the course of our many conversations, he has acknowledged to me the
+uneasiness under which he has laboured, from the intelligence concerning
+his son, which he had just received.”
+
+Cecilia wished here to enquire _how_ received, and from whom, but had
+not the courage, and therefore he proceeded.
+
+“I was still with the father when Mr Mortimer arrived post at my house
+to fetch me hither. I was sent for home; he informed me of his errand
+without disguise, for he knew I was well acquainted with the original
+secret whence all the evil arose. I told him my distress in what
+manner to leave his father; and he was extremely shocked himself when
+acquainted with his situation. We agreed that it would be vain to
+conceal from him the indisposition of Mrs Delvile, which the delay of
+her return, and a thousand other accidents, might in some unfortunate
+way make known to him. He commissioned me, therefore, to break it to
+him, that he might consent to my journey, and at the same time to quiet
+his own mind, by assuring him all he had apprehended was wholly at an
+end.”
+
+He stopt, and looked to see how Cecilia bore these words.
+
+“It is all at an end, Sir;” said she, with firmness; “but I have not yet
+heard your commission; what, and from whom is that?”
+
+“I am thoroughly satisfied it is unnecessary;” he answered, “since the
+young man can but submit, and you can but give him up.”
+
+“But still, if there is a message, it is fit I should hear it.”
+
+“If you chase it, so it is. I told Mr Delvile whither I was coming,
+and I repeated to him his son's assurances. He was relieved, but not
+satisfied; he would not see him, and gave me for him a prohibition of
+extreme severity, and to _you_ he bid me say--”
+
+“From _him_, then, is my message?” cried Cecilia, half frightened, and
+much disappointed.
+
+“Yes,” said he, understanding her immediately, “for the son, after
+giving me his first account, had the wisdom and forbearance not once to
+mention you.”
+
+“I am very glad,” said she, with a mixture of admiration and regret, “to
+hear it. But, what, Sir, said Mr Delvile?”
+
+“He bid me tell you that either _he_, or _you_ must see his son never
+more.”
+
+“It was indeed unnecessary,” cried she, colouring with resentment, “to
+send me such a message. I meant not to see him again, he meant not to
+desire it. I return him, however, no answer, and I will make him no
+promise; to Mrs Delvile alone I hold myself bound; to him, send what
+messages he may, I shall always hold myself free. But believe me, Dr
+Lyster, if with his name, his son had inherited his character, his
+desire of our separation would be feeble, and trifling, compared with my
+own!”
+
+“I am sorry, my good young lady,” said he, “to have given you this
+disturbance; yet I admire your spirit, and doubt not but it will enable
+you to forget any little disappointment you may have suffered. And what,
+after all, have you to regret? Mortimer Delvile is, indeed, a young man
+that any woman might wish to attach; but every woman cannot have him,
+and you, of all women, have least reason to repine in missing him,
+for scarcely is there another man you may not chuse or reject at your
+pleasure.”
+
+Little as was the consolation Cecilia could draw from this speech,
+she was sensible it became not her situation to make complaints, and
+therefore, to end the conversation she proposed calling in the Miss
+Charltons.
+
+“No, no,” said he, “I must step up again to Mrs Delvile, and then
+be-gone. To-morrow morning I shall but call to see how she is, and leave
+some directions, and set off. Mr Mortimer Delvile accompanies me back:
+but he means to return hither in a week, in order to travel with his
+mother to Bristol. Mean time, I purpose to bring about a reconciliation
+between him and his father, whose prejudices are more intractable than
+any man's I ever met with.”
+
+“It will be strange indeed,” said Cecilia, “should a reconciliation
+_now_ be difficult!”
+
+“True; but it is long since he was young himself, and the softer
+affections he never was acquainted with, and only regards them in his
+son as derogatory to his whole race. However, if there were not some few
+such men, there would hardly be a family in the kingdom that could count
+a great grand-father. I am not, I must own, of his humour myself, but
+I think it rather peculiarly stranger, than peculiarly worse than most
+other peoples; and how, for example, was that of _your_ uncle a whit the
+better? He was just as fond of _his_ name, as if, like Mr Delvile, he
+could trace it from the time of the Saxons.”
+
+Cecilia strongly felt the truth of this observation, but not chusing to
+discuss it, made not any answer, and Dr Lyster, after a few good-natured
+apologies, both for his friends the Delviles and himself, went up
+stairs.
+
+“What continual disturbance,” cried she, when left alone, “keeps me
+thus for-ever from rest! no sooner is one wound closed, but another is
+opened; mortification constantly succeeds distress, and when my heart is
+spared; my pride is attacked, that not a moment of tranquility may ever
+be allowed me! Had the lowest of women won the affections of Mr Delvile,
+could his father with less delicacy or less decency have acquainted her
+with his inflexible disapprobation? To send with so little ceremony a
+message so contemptuous and so peremptory!--but perhaps it is better,
+for had he, too, like Mrs Delvile, joined kindness with rejection, I
+might still more keenly have felt the perverseness of my destiny.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A PARTING.
+
+The next morning Dr Lyster called early, and having visited Mrs Delvile,
+and again met the two gentlemen of the faculty in whose care she was to
+remain, he took his leave. But not without contriving first to speak a
+few words to Cecilia in private, in which he charged her to be careful
+of her health, and re-animate her spirits. “Don't suppose,” said he,
+“that because I am a friend of the Delvile family, I am either blind to
+your merits, or to their foibles, far from it; but then why should
+they interfere with one another? Let them keep their prejudices, which,
+though different, are not worse than their neighbours, and do you retain
+your excellencies, and draw from them the happiness they ought to give
+you. People reason and refine themselves into a thousand miseries, by
+chusing to settle that they can only be contented one way; whereas,
+there are fifty ways, if they would but look about them, that would
+commonly do as well.”
+
+“I believe, indeed, you are right,” answered Cecilia, “and I thank you
+for the admonition; I will do what I can towards studying your scheme of
+philosophy, and it is always one step to amendment, to be convinced that
+we want it.”
+
+“You are a sensible and charming girl,” said Dr Lyster, “and Mr Delvile,
+should he find a daughter-in-law descended in a right line from Egbert,
+first king of all England, won't be so well off as if he had satisfied
+himself with you. However, the old gentleman has a fair right, after
+all, to be pleased his own way, and let us blame him how we will, we
+shall find, upon sifting, it is for no other reason but because his
+humour happens to clash with our own.”
+
+“That, indeed,” said Cecilia, smiling, “is a truth incontrovertible! and
+a truth to which, for the future, I will endeavour to give more weight.
+But will you permit me now to ask one question?--Can you tell me
+from whom, how, or when the intelligence which has caused all this
+disturbance---”
+
+She hesitated, but, comprehending her readily, he answered “How they got
+at it, I never heard, for I never thought it worth while to enquire, as
+it is so generally known, that nobody I meet with seems ignorant of it.”
+
+This was another, and a cruel shock to Cecilia, and Dr Lyster,
+perceiving it, again attempted to comfort her. “That the affair is
+somewhat spread,” said he, “is now not to be helped, and therefore
+little worth thinking of; every body will agree that the choice of
+both does honour to both, and nobody need be ashamed to be successor to
+either, whenever the course of things leads Mr Mortimer and yourself
+to make another election. He wisely intends to go abroad, and will not
+return till he is his own man again. And as to you, my good young
+lady, what, after a short time given to vexation, need interrupt your
+happiness? You have the whole world before you, with youth, fortune,
+talents, beauty and independence; drive, therefore, from your head
+this unlucky affair, and remember there can hardly be a family in the
+kingdom, this one excepted, that will not rejoice in a connection with
+you.”
+
+He then good-humouredly shook hands with her, and went into his chaise.
+
+Cecilia, though not slow in remarking the ease and philosophy with
+which every one can argue upon the calamities, and moralize upon the
+misconduct of others, had still the candour and good sense to see that
+there was reason in what he urged, and to resolve upon making the best
+use in her power of the hints for consolation she might draw from his
+discourse.
+
+During the following week, she devoted herself almost wholly to Mrs
+Delvile, sharing with the maid, whom she had brought with her from the
+Castle, the fatigue of nursing her, and leaving to the Miss Charltons
+the chief care of their grandmother. For Mrs Delvile appeared every hour
+more sensible of her attention, and more desirous of her presence, and
+though neither of them spoke, each was endeared to the other by the
+tender offices of friendship which were paid and received.
+
+When this week was expired, Dr Lyster was prevailed upon to return again
+to Bury, in order to travel himself with Mrs Delvile to Bristol. “Well,”
+ cried he, taking Cecilia by the first opportunity aside, “how are you?
+Have you studied my scheme of philosophy, as you promised me?”
+
+“O yes,” said she, “and made, I flatter myself, no little proficiency.”
+
+“You are a good girl,” cried he, “a very extraordinary girl! I am sure
+you are; and upon my honour I pity poor Mortimer with all my soul! But
+he is a noble young fellow, and behaves with a courage and spirit that
+does me good to behold. To have obtained you, he would have moved heaven
+and earth, but finding you out of his reach, he submits to his fate like
+a man.”
+
+Cecilia's eyes glistened at this speech; “Yes,” said she, “he long since
+said 'tis suspence, 'tis hope, that make the misery of life,--for there
+the Passions have all power, and Reason has none. But when evils are
+irremediable, and we have neither resources to plan, nor castle-building
+to delude us, we find time for the cultivation of philosophy, and
+flatter ourselves, perhaps, that we have found inclination!”
+
+“Why you have considered this matter very deeply,” said he; “but I must
+not have you give way to these serious reflections. Thought, after all,
+has a cruel spite against happiness; I would have you, therefore, keep
+as much as you conveniently can, out of its company. Run about and
+divert yourself, 'tis all you have for it. The true art of happiness in
+this most whimsical world, seems nothing more nor less than this--Let
+those who have leisure, find employment, and those who have business,
+find leisure.”
+
+He then told her that Mr Delvile senior was much better, and no longer
+confined to his room: and that he had had the pleasure of seeing an
+entire reconciliation take place between him and his son, of whom he was
+more fond and more proud than any other father in the universe.
+
+“Think of him, however, my dear young lady,” he continued, “no more,
+for the matter I see is desperate: you must pardon my being a little
+officious, when I confess to you I could not help proposing to the old
+gentleman an expedient of my own; for as I could not drive you out of
+my head, I employed myself in thinking what might be done by way of
+accommodation. Now my scheme was really a very good one, only when
+people are prejudiced, all reasoning is thrown away upon them. I
+proposed sinking _both_ your names, since they are so at variance
+with one another, and so adopting a third, by means of a title. But Mr
+Delvile angrily declared, that though such a scheme might do very
+well for the needy Lord Ernolf, a Peer of twenty years, his own noble
+ancestors should never, by his consent, forfeit a name which so many
+centuries had rendered honourable. His son Mortimer, he added, must
+inevitably inherit the title of his grandfather, his uncle being old
+and unmarried; but yet he would rather see him a beggar, than lose his
+dearest hope that _Delvile_, Lord _Delvile_, would descend, both name
+and title, from generation to generation unsullied and uninterrupted.”
+
+“I am sorry, indeed,” said Cecilia, “that such a proposal was made, and
+I earnestly entreat that none of any sort may be repeated.”
+
+“Well, well,” said he, “I would not for the world do any mischief, but
+who would not have supposed such a proposal would have done good?”
+
+“Mr Mortimer,” he then added, “is to meet us at--for he would not, he
+said, come again to this place, upon such terms as he was here last
+week, for the whole worth of the king's dominions.”
+
+The carriage was now ready, and Mrs Delvile was prepared to depart.
+Cecilia approached to take leave of her, but Dr Lyster following, said
+“No talking! no thanking! no compliments of any sort! I shall carry off
+my patient without permitting one civil speech, and for all the rudeness
+I make her guilty of, I am willing to be responsible.”
+
+Cecilia would then have retreated, but Mrs Delvile, holding out both her
+hands, said “To every thing else, Dr Lyster, I am content to submit; but
+were I to die while uttering the words, I cannot leave this inestimable
+creature without first saying how much I love her, how I honour, and
+how I thank her! without entreating her to be careful of her health, and
+conjuring her to compleat the greatness of her conduct, by not suffering
+her spirits to sink from the exertion of her virtue. And now my love,
+God bless you!”
+
+She then embraced her, and went on; Cecilia, at a motion of Dr Lyster's,
+forbearing to follow her.
+
+“And thus,” cried she, when they were gone, “thus ends all my connection
+with this family! which it seems as if I was only to have known for the
+purpose of affording a new proof of the insufficiency of situation to
+constitute happiness. Who looks not upon mine as the perfection of
+human felicity?--And so, perhaps, it is, for it may be that Felicity and
+Humanity are never permitted to come nearer.”
+
+And thus, in philosophic sadness, by reasoning upon the universality
+of misery, she restrained, at least, all violence of sorrow, though her
+spirits were dejected, and her heart was heavy.
+
+But the next day brought with it some comfort that a little lightened
+her sadness; Mrs Charlton, almost wholly recovered, was able to go down
+stairs, and Cecilia had at least the satisfaction of seeing an happy
+conclusion to an illness of which, with the utmost concern and regret,
+she considered herself as the cause. She attended her with the most
+unremitting assiduity, and being really very thankful, endeavoured
+to appear happy, and flattered herself that, by continual effort, the
+appearance in a short time would become reality.
+
+Mrs Charlton retired early, and Cecilia accompanied her up stairs:
+and while she was with her, was informed that Mr Monckton was in the
+parlour.
+
+The various, afflicting, and uncommon scenes in which she had been
+engaged since she last saw him, had almost wholly driven him from her
+remembrance, or when at any time he recurred to it, it was only to
+attribute the discontinuance of his visits to the offence she had
+given him, in refusing to follow his advice by relinquishing her London
+expedition.
+
+Full, therefore, of the mortifying transactions which had passed since
+their parting, and fearful of his enquiries into disgraces he had nearly
+foretold, she heard him announced with chagrin, and waited upon him in
+the most painful confusion.
+
+Far different were the feelings of Mr Monckton; he read in her
+countenance the dejection of disappointment, which impressed upon his
+heart the vivacity of hope: her evident shame was to him secret triumph,
+her ill-concealed sorrow revived all his expectations.
+
+She hastily began a conversation by mentioning her debt to him, and
+apologising for not paying it the moment she was of age. He knew but
+too well how her time had been occupied, and assured her the delay was
+wholly immaterial.
+
+He then led to an enquiry into the present situation of her affairs;
+but unable to endure a disquisition, which could only be productive of
+censure and mortification, she hastily stopt it, exclaiming, “Ask me
+not, I entreat you, Sir, any detail of what has passed,--the event has
+brought me sufferings that may well make blame be dispensed with;--I
+acknowledge all your wisdom, I am sensible of my own error, but the
+affair is wholly dropt, and the unhappy connection I was forming is
+broken off for-ever!”
+
+Little now was Mr Monckton's effort in repressing his further curiosity,
+and he started other subjects with readiness, gaiety and address. He
+mentioned Mrs Charlton, for whom he had not the smallest regard; he
+talked to her of Mrs Harrel, whose very existence was indifferent to
+him; and he spoke of their common acquaintance in the country, for not
+one of whom he would have grieved, if assured of meeting no more. His
+powers of conversation were enlivened by his hopes; and his exhilarated
+spirits made all subjects seem happy to him. A weight was removed from
+his mind which had nearly borne down even his remotest hopes; the object
+of his eager pursuit seemed still within his reach, and the rival into
+whose power he had so lately almost beheld her delivered, was totally
+renounced, and no longer to be dreaded. A revolution such as this,
+raised expectations more sanguine than ever; and in quitting the house,
+he exultingly considered himself released from every obstacle to his
+views--till, just as he arrived home, he recollected his wife!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER viii.
+
+A TALE.
+
+A week passed, during which Cecilia, however sad, spent her time as
+usual with the family, denying to herself all voluntary indulgence of
+grief, and forbearing to seek consolation from solitude, or relief from
+tears. She never named Delvile, she begged Mrs Charlton never to mention
+him; she called to her aid the account she had received from Dr Lyster
+of his firmness, and endeavoured, by an emulous ambition, to fortify her
+mind from the weakness of depression and regret.
+
+This week, a week of struggle with all her feelings, was just elapsed,
+when she received by the post the following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+BRISTOL, _Oct_. 21.
+
+My sweet young friend will not, I hope, be sorry to hear of my safe
+arrival at this place: to me every account of her health and welfare,
+will ever be the intelligence I shall most covet to receive. Yet I mean
+not to ask for it in return; to chance I will trust for information, and
+I only write now to say I shall write no more.
+
+Too much for thanks is what I owe you, and what I think of you is beyond
+all power of expression. Do not, then, wish me ill, ill as I have seemed
+to merit of you, for my own heart is almost broken by the tyranny I have
+been compelled to practise upon yours. And now let me bid a long adieu
+to you, my admirable Cecilia; you shall not be tormented with a useless
+correspondence, which can only awaken painful recollections, or give
+rise to yet more painful new anxieties. Fervently will I pray for
+the restoration of your happiness, to which nothing can so greatly
+contribute as that wise, that uniform command, so feminine, yet so
+dignified, you maintain over your passions; which often I have admired,
+though never so feelingly as at this conscious moment! when my own
+health is the sacrifice of emotions most fatally unrestrained.
+
+Send to me no answer, even if you have the sweetness to wish it; every
+new proof of the generosity of your nature is to me but a new wound.
+Forget us, therefore, wholly,--alas! you have only known us for sorrow!
+forget us, dear and invaluable Cecilia! though, ever, as you have
+nobly deserved, must you be fondly and gratefully remembered by AUGUSTA
+DELVILE.
+
+The attempted philosophy, and laboured resignation of Cecilia, this
+letter destroyed: the struggle was over, the apathy was at an end, and
+she burst into an agony of tears, which finding the vent they had
+long sought, now flowed unchecked down her cheeks, sad monitors of the
+weakness of reason opposed to the anguish of sorrow!
+
+A letter at once so caressing, yet so absolute, forced its way to her
+heart, in spite of the fortitude she had flattered herself was its
+guard. In giving up Delvile she was satisfied of the propriety of seeing
+him no more, and convinced that even to talk of him would be folly
+and imprudence; but to be told that for the future they must remain
+strangers to the existence of each other--there seemed in this a
+hardship, a rigour, that was insupportable.
+
+“Oh what,” cried she, “is human nature! in its best state how imperfect!
+that a woman such as this, so noble in character, so elevated in
+sentiment, with heroism to sacrifice to her sense of duty the happiness
+of a son, whom with joy she would die to serve, can herself be thus
+governed by prejudice, thus enslaved, thus subdued by opinion!” Yet
+never, even when miserable, unjust or irrational; her grief was unmixed
+with anger, and her tears streamed not from resentment, but affliction.
+The situation of Mrs Delvile, however different, she considered to be
+as wretched as her own. She read, therefore, with sadness, but not
+bitterness, her farewell, and received not with disdain, but with
+gratitude, her sympathy. Yet though her indignation was not irritated,
+her sufferings were doubled, by a farewell so kind, yet so despotic, a
+sympathy so affectionate, yet so hopeless.
+
+In this first indulgence of grief which she had granted to her
+disappointment, she was soon interrupted by a summons down stairs to a
+gentleman.
+
+Unfit and unwilling to be seen, she begged that he might leave his name,
+and appoint a time for calling again.
+
+Her maid brought for answer, that he believed his name was unknown to
+her, and desired to see her now, unless she was employed in some matter
+of moment. She then put up her letter, and went into the parlour; and
+there, to her infinite amazement, beheld Mr Albany.
+
+“How little, Sir,” she cried, “did I expect this pleasure.”
+
+“This pleasure,” repeated he, “do you call it?--what strange abuse of
+words! what causeless trifling with honesty! is language of no purpose
+but to wound the ear with untruths? is the gift of speech only granted
+us to pervert the use of understanding? I can give you no pleasure,
+I have no power to give it any one; you can give none to me-the whole
+world could not invest you with the means!”
+
+“Well, Sir,” said Cecilia, who had little spirit to defend herself, “I
+will not vindicate the expression, but of this I will unfeignedly assure
+you, I am at least as glad to see you just now, as I should be to see
+anybody.”
+
+“Your eyes,” cried he, “are red, your voice is inarticulate;--young,
+rich, and attractive, the world at your feet; that world yet untried,
+and its falsehood unknown, how have you thus found means to anticipate
+misery? which way have you uncovered the cauldron of human woes? Fatal
+and early anticipation! that cover once removed, can never be replaced;
+those woes, those boiling woes, will pour out upon you continually,
+and only when your heart ceases to beat, will their ebullition cease to
+torture you!”
+
+“Alas!” cried Cecilia, shuddering, “how cruel, yet how true!”
+
+“Why went you,” cried he, “to the cauldron? it came not to you. Misery
+seeks not man, but man misery. He walks out in the sun, but stops
+not for a cloud; confident, he pursues his way, till the storm which,
+gathering, he might have avoided, bursts over his devoted head. Scared
+and amazed, he repents his temerity; he calls, but it is then too late;
+he runs, but it is thunder which follows him! Such is the presumption
+of man, such at once is the arrogance and shallowness of his nature! And
+thou, simple and blind! hast thou, too, followed whither Fancy has led
+thee, unheeding that thy career was too vehement for tranquility,
+nor missing that lovely companion of youth's early innocence, till,
+adventurous and unthinking, thou hast lost her for ever!”
+
+In the present weak state of Cecilia's spirits, this attack was too much
+for her; and the tears she had just, and with difficulty restrained,
+again forced their way down her cheeks, as she answered, “It is but too
+true,--I have lost her for ever!”
+
+“Poor thing,” said he, while the rigour of his countenance was
+softened into the gentlest commiseration, “so young!--looking, too, so
+innocent--'tis hard!--And is nothing left thee? no small remaining hope,
+to cheat, humanely cheat thy yet not wholly extinguished credulity?”
+
+Cecilia wept without answering.
+
+“Let me not,” said he, “waste my compassion upon nothing; compassion is
+with me no effusion of affectation; tell me, then, if thou deservest it,
+or if thy misfortunes are imaginary, and thy grief is factitious?”
+
+“Factitious,” repeated she, “Good heaven!”
+
+“Answer me, then, these questions, in which I shall comprise the only
+calamities for which sorrow has no controul, or none from human motives.
+Tell me, then, have you lost by death the friend of your bosom?”
+
+“No!”
+
+“Is your fortune dissipated by extravagance, and your power of relieving
+the distressed at an end?”
+
+“No; the power and the will are I hope equally undiminished.”
+
+“O then, unhappy girl! have you been guilty of some vice, and hangs
+remorse thus heavy on your conscience?”
+
+“No, no; thank heaven, to that misery, at least, I am a stranger!”
+
+His countenance now again resumed its severity, and, in the sternest
+manner, “Whence then,” he said, “these tears? and what is this caprice
+you dignify with the name of sorrow?--strange wantonness of indolence
+and luxury! perverse repining of ungrateful plenitude!--oh hadst thou
+known what _I_ have suffered!”--
+
+“Could I lessen what you have suffered,” said Cecilia, “I should
+sincerely rejoice; but heavy indeed must be your affliction, if mine in
+its comparison deserves to be styled caprice!”
+
+“Caprice!” repeated he, “'tis joy! 'tis extacy compared with mine!--Thou
+hast not in licentiousness wasted thy inheritance! thou hast not by
+remorse barred each avenue to enjoyment! nor yet has the cold grave
+seized the beloved of thy soul!”
+
+“Neither,” said Cecilia, “I hope, are the evils you have yourself
+sustained so irremediable?”
+
+“Yes, I have borne them all!--_have_ borne? I bear them still; I shall
+bear them while I breathe! I may rue them, perhaps, yet longer.”
+
+“Good God!” cried Cecilia, shrinking, “what a world is this! how full of
+woe and wickedness!”
+
+“Yet thou, too, canst complain,” cried he, “though happy in life's only
+blessing, Innocence! thou, too, canst murmur, though stranger to death's
+only terror, Sin! Oh yet if thy sorrow is unpolluted with guilt, be
+regardless of all else, and rejoice in thy destiny!”
+
+“But who,” cried she, deeply sighing, “shall teach me such a lesson of
+joy, when all within rises to oppose it?”
+
+“I,” cried he, “will teach it thee, for I will tell thee my own sad
+story. Then wilt thou find how much happier is thy lot, then wilt thou
+raise thy head in thankful triumph.”
+
+“O no! triumph comes not so lightly! yet if you will venture to trust
+me with some account of yourself, I shall be glad to hear it, and much
+obliged by the communication.”
+
+“I will,” he answered, “whatever I may suffer: to awaken thee from this
+dream of fancied sorrow, I will open all my wounds, and thou shalt probe
+them with fresh shame.”
+
+“No, indeed,” cried Cecilia with quickness, “I will not hear you, if the
+relation will be so painful.”
+
+“Upon _me_ this humanity is lost,” said he, “since punishment and
+penitence alone give me comfort. I will tell thee, therefore, my crimes,
+that thou mayst know thy own felicity, lest, ignorant it means nothing
+but innocence, thou shouldst lose it, unconscious of its value. Listen
+then to me, and learn what Misery is! Guilt is alone the basis of
+lasting unhappiness;--Guilt is the basis of mine, and therefore I am a
+wretch for ever!”
+
+Cecilia would again have declined hearing him, but he refused to be
+spared: and as her curiosity had long been excited to know something of
+his history, and the motives of his extraordinary conduct, she was glad
+to have it satisfied, and gave him the utmost attention.
+
+“I will not speak to you of my family,” said he; “historical accuracy
+would little answer to either of us. I am a native of the West Indies,
+and I was early sent hither to be educated. While I was yet at the
+University, I saw, I adored, and I pursued the fairest flower that ever
+put forth its sweet buds, the softest heart that ever was broken by
+ill-usage! She was poor and unprotected, the daughter of a villager;
+she was untaught and unpretending, the child of simplicity! But fifteen
+summers had she bloomed, and her heart was an easy conquest; yet, once
+made mine, it resisted all allurement to infidelity. My fellow students
+attacked her; she was assaulted by all the arts of seduction; flattery,
+bribery, supplication, all were employed, yet all failed; she was wholly
+my own; and with sincerity so attractive, I determined to marry her in
+defiance of all worldly objections.
+
+“The sudden death of my father called me hastily to Jamaica; I feared
+leaving this treasure unguarded, yet in decency could neither marry nor
+take her directly; I pledged my faith, therefore, to return to her,
+as soon as I had settled my affairs, and I left to a bosom friend the
+inspection of her conduct in my absence.
+
+“To leave her was madness,--to trust in man was madness,--Oh hateful
+race! how has the world been abhorrent to me since that time! I have
+loathed the light of the sun, I have shrunk from the commerce of my
+fellow creatures; the voice of man I have detested, his sight I have
+abominated!--but oh, more than all should I be abominated myself!
+
+“When I came to my fortune, intoxicated with sudden power, I forgot this
+fair blossom, I revelled in licentiousness and vice, and left it exposed
+and forlorn. Riot succeeded riot, till a fever, incurred by my own
+intemperance, first gave me time to think. Then was she revenged, for
+then first remorse was my portion: her image was brought back to my mind
+with frantic fondness, and bitterest contrition. The moment I recovered,
+I returned to England; I flew to claim her,--but she was lost! no one
+knew whither she was gone; the wretch I had trusted pretended to know
+least of all; yet, after a furious search, I traced her to a cottage,
+where he had concealed her himself!
+
+“When she saw me, she screamed and would have flown; I stopt her, and
+told her I came faithfully and honourably to make her my wife:--her
+own faith and honour, though sullied, were not extinguished, for she
+instantly acknowledged the fatal tale of her undoing!
+
+“Did I recompense this ingenuousness? this unexampled, this beautiful
+sacrifice to intuitive integrity? Yes! with my curses!--I loaded her
+with execrations, I reviled her in language the most opprobrious, I
+insulted her even for her confession! I invoked all evil upon her
+from the bottom of my heart--She knelt at my feet, she implored
+my forgiveness and compassion, she wept with the bitterness of
+despair,--and yet I spurned her from me!--Spurned?--let me not hide
+my shame! I barbarously struck her!--nor single was the blow!--it was
+doubled, it was reiterated!--Oh wretch, unyielding and unpitying!
+where shall hereafter be clemency for thee!--So fair a form! so young a
+culprit! so infamously seduced! so humbly penitent!
+
+“In this miserable condition, helpless and deplorable, mangled by these
+savage hands, and reviled by this inhuman tongue, I left her, in search
+of the villain who had destroyed her: but, cowardly as treacherous,
+he had absconded. Repenting my fury, I hastened to her again; the
+fierceness of my cruelty shamed me when I grew calmer, the softness of
+her sorrow melted me upon recollection: I returned, therefore, to soothe
+her,--but again she was gone! terrified with expectation of insult, she
+hid herself from all my enquiries. I wandered in search of her two long
+years to no purpose, regardless of my affairs, and of all things but
+that pursuit. At length, I thought I saw her--in London, alone, and
+walking in the streets at midnight,--I fearfully followed her,--and
+followed her into an house of infamy!
+
+“The wretches by whom she was surrounded were noisy and drinking, they
+heeded me little,--but she saw and knew me at once! She did not speak,
+nor did I,--but in two moments she fainted and fell.
+
+“Yet did I not help her; the people took their own measures to recover
+her, and when she was again able to stand, would have removed her to
+another apartment.
+
+“I then went forward, and forcing them away from her with all the
+strength of desperation, I turned to the unhappy sinner, who to chance
+only seemed to leave what became of her, and cried, From this scene of
+vice and horror let me yet rescue you! you look still unfit for such
+society, trust yourself, therefore, to me. I seized her hand, I drew,
+I almost dragged her away. She trembled, she could scarce totter, but
+neither consented nor refused, neither shed a tear, nor spoke a word,
+and her countenance presented a picture of affright, amazement, and
+horror.
+
+“I took her to a house in the country, each of us silent the whole way.
+I gave her an apartment and a female attendant, and ordered for her
+every convenience I could suggest. I stayed myself in the same house,
+but distracted with remorse for the guilt and ruin into which I had
+terrified her, I could not bear her sight.
+
+“In a few days her maid assured me the life she led must destroy her;
+that she would taste nothing but bread and water, never spoke, and never
+slept.
+
+“Alarmed by this account, I flew into her apartment; pride and
+resentment gave way to pity and fondness, and I besought her to take
+comfort. I spoke, however, to a statue, she replied not, nor seemed to
+hear me. I then humbled myself to her as in the days of her innocence
+and first power, supplicating her notice, entreating even her
+commiseration! all was to no purpose; she neither received nor repulsed
+me, and was alike inattentive to exhortation and to prayer.
+
+“Whole hours did I spend at her feet, vowing never to arise till she
+spoke to me,--all, all, in vain! she seemed deaf, mute, insensible; her
+face unmoved, a settled despair fixed in her eyes,--those eyes that had
+never looked at me but with dove-like softness and compliance!--She sat
+constantly in one chair, she never changed her dress, no persuasions
+could prevail with her to lie down, and at meals she just swallowed so
+much dry bread as might save her from dying for want of food.
+
+“What was the distraction of my soul, to find her bent upon this course
+to her last hour!--quick came that hour, but never will it be forgotten!
+rapidly it was gone, but eternally it will be remembered!
+
+“When she felt herself expiring, she acknowledged she had made a
+vow, upon entering the house, to live speechless and motionless, as a
+pennance for her offences!
+
+“I kept her loved corpse till my own senses failed me,--it was then only
+torn from me,--and I have lost all recollection of three years of my
+existence!”
+
+Cecilia shuddered at this hint, yet was not surprised by it; Mr Gosport
+had acquainted her he had been formerly confined; and his flightiness,
+wildness, florid language, and extraordinary way of life, bad long led
+her to suspect his reason had been impaired.
+
+“The scene to which my memory first leads me back,” he continued, “is
+visiting her grave; solemnly upon it I returned her vow, though not by
+one of equal severity. To her poor remains did I pledge myself, that
+the day should never pass in which I would receive nourishment, nor the
+night come in which I would take rest, till I had done, or zealously
+attempted to do, some service to a fellow-creature.
+
+“For this purpose have I wandered from city to city, from the town to
+the country, and from the rich to the poor. I go into every house where
+I can gain admittance, I admonish all who will hear me, I shame even
+those who will not. I seek the distressed where ever they are hid,
+I follow the prosperous to beg a mite to serve them. I look for the
+Dissipated in public, where, amidst their licentiousness, I check them;
+I pursue the Unhappy in private, where I counsel and endeavour to
+assist them. My own power is small; my relations, during my sufferings,
+limiting me to an annuity; but there is no one I scruple to solicit, and
+by zeal I supply ability.
+
+“Oh life of hardship and pennance! laborious, toilsome, and restless!
+but I have merited no better, and I will not repine at it; I have vowed
+that I will endure it, and I will not be forsworn.
+
+“One indulgence alone from time to time I allow myself,--'tis Music!
+which has power to delight me even to rapture! it quiets all anxiety, it
+carries me out of myself, I forget through it every calamity, even the
+bitterest anguish.
+
+“Now then, that thou hast heard me, tell me, hast _thou_ cause of
+sorrow?”
+
+“Alas,” cried Cecilia, “this indeed is a Picture of Misery to make _my_
+lot seem all happiness!”
+
+“Art thou thus open to conviction?” cried he, mildly; “and dost thou not
+fly the voice of truth! for truth and reproof are one.”
+
+“No, I would rather seek it; I feel myself wretched, however inadequate
+may be the cause; I wish to be more resigned, and if you can instruct me
+how, I shall thankfully attend to you.”
+
+“Oh yet uncorrupted creature!” cried he, “with joy will I be thy
+monitor,--joy long untasted! Many have I wished to serve, all, hitherto,
+have rejected my offices; too honest to flatter them, they had not the
+fortitude to listen to me; too low to advance them, they had not the
+virtue to bear with me. You alone have I yet found pure enough not to
+fear inspection, and good enough to wish to be better. Yet words alone
+will not content me; I must also have deeds. Nor will your purse,
+however readily opened, suffice, you must give to me also your time
+and your thoughts; for money sent by others, to others only will afford
+relief; to enlighten your own cares, you must distribute it yourself.”
+
+“You shall find me,” said she, “a docile pupil, and most glad to be
+instructed how my existence may be useful.”
+
+“Happy then,” cried he, “was the hour that brought me to this country;
+yet not in search of you did I come, but of the mutable and ill-fated
+Belfield. Erring, yet ingenious young man! what a lesson to the vanity
+of talents, to the gaiety, the brilliancy of wit, is the sight of that
+green fallen plant! not sapless by age, nor withered by disease,
+but destroyed by want of pruning, and bending, breaking by its own
+luxuriance!”
+
+“And where, Sir, is he now?
+
+“Labouring wilfully in the field, with those who labour compulsatorily;
+such are we all by nature, discontented, perverse, and changeable;
+though all have not courage to appear so, and few, like Belfield, are
+worth watching when they do. He told me he was happy; I knew it could
+not be: but his employment was inoffensive, and I left him without
+reproach. In this neighbourhood I heard of you, and found your name was
+coupled with praise. I came to see if you deserved it; I have seen, and
+am satisfied.”
+
+“You are not, then, very difficult, for I have yet done nothing. How are
+we to begin these operations you propose? You have awakened me by them
+to an expectation of pleasure, which nothing else, I believe, could just
+now have given me.”
+
+“We will work,” cried he, “together, till not a woe shall remain upon
+your mind. The blessings of the fatherless, the prayers of little
+children, shall heal all your wounds with balm of sweetest fragrance.
+When sad, they shall cheer, when complaining, they shall soothe you. We
+will go to their roofless houses, and see them repaired; we will exclude
+from their dwellings the inclemency of the weather; we will clothe them
+from cold, we will rescue them from hunger. The cries of distress shall
+be changed to notes of joy: your heart shall be enraptured, mine, too,
+shall revive--oh whither am I wandering? I am painting an Elysium!
+and while I idly speak, some fainting object dies for want of succour!
+Farewell; I will fly to the abodes of wretchedness, and come to you
+to-morrow to render them the abodes of happiness.”
+
+He then went away.
+
+This singular visit was for Cecilia most fortunately timed: it almost
+surprised her out of her peculiar grief, by the view which it opened
+to her of general calamity; wild, flighty, and imaginative as were
+his language and his counsels, their morality was striking, and their
+benevolence was affecting. Taught by him to compare her state with that
+of at least half her species, she began more candidly to weigh what was
+left with what was withdrawn, and found the balance in her favour.
+The plan he had presented to her of good works was consonant to her
+character and inclinations; and the active charity in which he proposed
+to engage her, re-animated her fallen hopes, though to far different
+subjects from those which had depressed them. Any scheme of worldly
+happiness would have sickened and disgusted her; but her mind was just
+in the situation to be impressed with elevated piety, and to adopt any
+design in which virtue humoured melancholy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A SHOCK.
+
+Cecelia passed the rest of the day in fanciful projects of beneficence;
+she determined to wander with her romantic new ally whither-so-ever
+he would lead her, and to spare neither fortune, time, nor trouble, in
+seeking and relieving the distressed. Not all her attempted philosophy
+had calmed her mind like this plan; in merely refusing indulgence
+to grief, she had only locked it up in her heart, where eternally
+struggling for vent, she was almost overpowered by restraining it; but
+now her affliction had no longer her whole faculties to itself; the hope
+of doing good, the pleasure of easing pain, the intention of devoting
+her time to the service of the unhappy, once more delighted her
+imagination,--that source of promissory enjoyment, which though often
+obstructed, is never, in youth, exhausted.
+
+She would not give Mrs Charlton the unnecessary pain of hearing the
+letter with which she had been so, much affected, but she told her of
+the visit of Albany, and pleased her with the account of their scheme.
+
+At night, with less sadness than usual, she retired to rest. In her
+sleep she bestowed riches, and poured plenty upon the land; she
+humbled the oppressor, she exalted the oppressed; slaves were raised to
+dignities, captives restored to liberty; beggars saw smiling abundance,
+and wretchedness was banished the world. From a cloud in which she was
+supported by angels, Cecilia beheld these wonders, and while enjoying
+the glorious illusion, she was awakened by her maid, with news that Mrs
+Charlton was dying!
+
+She started up, and, undressed, was running to her apartment,--when the
+maid, calling to stop her, confessed she was already dead!
+
+She had made her exit in the night, but the time was not exactly known;
+her own maid, who slept in the room with her, going early to her bedside
+to enquire how she did, found her cold and motionless, and could only
+conclude that a paralytic stroke had taken her off.
+
+Happily and in good time had Cecilia been somewhat recruited by one
+night of refreshing slumbers and flattering dreams, for the shock she
+now received promised her not soon another.
+
+She lost in Mrs Charlton a friend, whom nearly from her infancy she
+had considered as a mother, and by whom she had been cherished with
+tenderness almost unequalled. She was not a woman of bright parts, or
+much cultivation, but her heart was excellent, and her disposition was
+amiable. Cecilia had known her longer than her memory could look back,
+though the earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses
+received from her. Since she had entered into life, and found the
+difficulty of the part she had to act, to this worthy old lady alone had
+she unbosomed her secret cares. Though little assisted by her counsel,
+she was always certain of her sympathy; and while her own superior
+judgment directed her conduct, she had the relief of communicating her
+schemes, and weighing her perplexities, with a friend to whom nothing
+that concerned her was indifferent, and whose greatest wish and chief
+pleasure was the enjoyment of her conversation.
+
+If left to herself, in the present period of her life, Mrs Charlton had
+certainly not been the friend of her choice. The delicacy of her mind,
+and the refinement of her ideas, had now rendered her fastidious,
+and she would have looked out for elegancies and talents to which Mrs
+Charlton had no pretensions: but those who live in the country have
+little power of selection; confined to a small circle, they must be
+content with what it offers; and however they may idolize extraordinary
+merit when they meet with it, they must not regard it as essential to
+friendship, for in their circumscribed rotation, whatever may be their
+discontent, they can make but little change.
+
+Such had been the situation to which Mrs Charlton and Mrs Harrel owed
+the friendship of Cecilia. Greatly their superior in understanding and
+intelligence, had the candidates for her favour been more numerous, the
+election had not fallen upon either of them. But she became known to
+both before discrimination made her difficult, and when her enlightened
+mind discerned their deficiencies, they had already an interest in her
+affections, which made her see them with lenity: and though sometimes,
+perhaps, conscious she should not have chosen them from many, she
+adhered to them with sincerity, and would have changed them for none.
+
+Mrs Harrel, however, too weak for similar sentiments, forgot her
+when out of sight, and by the time they met again, was insensible to
+everything but shew and dissipation. Cecilia, shocked and surprised,
+first grieved from disappointed affection, and then lost that affection
+in angry contempt. But her fondness for Mrs Charlton had never known
+abatement, as the kindness which had excited it had never known
+allay. She had loved her first from childish gratitude; but that love,
+strengthened and confirmed by confidential intercourse, was now as
+sincere and affectionate as if it had originated from sympathetic
+admiration. Her loss, therefore, was felt with the utmost severity, and
+neither seeing nor knowing any means of replacing it, she considered it
+as irreparable, and mourned it with bitterness.
+
+When the first surprize of this cruel stroke was somewhat lessened, she
+sent an express to Mr Monckton with the news, and entreated to see him
+immediately. He came without delay, and she begged his counsel what step
+she ought herself to take in consequence of this event. Her own house
+was still unprepared for her; she had of late neglected to hasten the
+workmen, and almost forgotten her intention of entering it. It was
+necessary, however, to change her abode immediately; she was no
+longer in the house of Mrs Charlton, but of her grand-daughters and
+co-heiresses, each of whom she disliked, and upon neither of whom she
+had any claim.
+
+Mr Monckton then, with the quickness of a man who utters a thought at
+the very moment of its projection, mentioned a scheme upon which
+during his whole ride he had been ruminating; which was that she would
+instantly remove to his house, and remain there till settled to her
+satisfaction.
+
+Cecilia objected her little right of surprising Lady Margaret; but,
+without waiting to discuss it, lest new objections should arise, he
+quitted her, to fetch himself from her ladyship an invitation he meant
+to insist upon her sending.
+
+Cecilia, though heartily disliking this plan, knew not at present what
+better to adopt, and thought anything preferable to going again to
+Mrs Harrel, since that only could be done by feeding the anxiety of Mr
+Arnott.
+
+Mr Monckton soon returned with a message of his own fabrication; for
+his lady, though obliged to receive whom he pleased, took care to guard
+inviolate the independence of speech, sullenly persevering in refusing
+to say anything, or perversely saying only what he least wished to hear.
+
+Cecilia then took a hasty leave of Miss Charltons, who, little affected
+by what they had lost, and eager to examine what they had gained, parted
+from her gladly, and, with a heavy heart and weeping eyes, borrowed for
+the last time the carriage of her late worthy old friend, and for-ever
+quitting her hospitable house, sorrowfully set out for the Grove.
+
+
+
+BOOK IX.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER i.
+
+A COGITATION.
+
+Lady Margaret Monckton received Cecilia with the most gloomy coldness:
+she apologised for the liberty she had taken in making use of her
+ladyship's house, but, meeting no return of civility, she withdrew
+to the room which had been prepared for her, and resolved as much as
+possible to keep out of her sight.
+
+It now became necessary without further delay to settle her plan of
+life, and fix her place of residence. The forbidding looks of Lady
+Margaret made her hasten her resolves, which otherwise would for a while
+have given way to grief for her recent misfortune.
+
+She sent for the surveyor who had the superintendance of her estates, to
+enquire how soon her own house would be fit for her reception; and heard
+there was yet work for near two months.
+
+This answer made her very uncomfortable. To continue two months under
+the roof with Lady Margaret was a penance she could not enjoin herself,
+nor was she at all sure Lady Margaret would submit to it any better: she
+determined, therefore, to release herself from the conscious burthen of
+being an unwelcome visitor, by boarding with some creditable family at
+Bury, and devoting the two months in which she was to be kept from her
+house, to a general arrangement of her affairs, and a final settling
+with her guardians.
+
+For these purposes it would be necessary she should go to London:
+but with whom, or in what manner, she could not decide. She desired,
+therefore, another conference with Mr Monckton, who met her in the
+parlour.
+
+She then communicated to him her schemes; and begged his counsel in her
+perplexities.
+
+He was delighted at the application, and extremely well pleased with her
+design of boarding at Bury, well knowing, he could then watch and visit
+her at his pleasure, and have far more comfort in her society than even
+in his own house, where all the vigilance with which he observed her,
+was short of that with which he was himself observed by Lady Margaret.
+He endeavoured, however, to dissuade her from going to town, but her
+eagerness to pay the large sum she owed him, was now too great to be
+conquered. Of age, her fortune wholly in her power, and all attendance
+upon Mrs Charlton at an end, she had no longer any excuse for having a
+debt in the world, and would suffer no persuasion to make her begin her
+career in life, with a negligence in settling her accounts which she had
+so often censured in others. To go to London therefore she was fixed,
+and all that she desired was his advice concerning the journey.
+
+He then told her that in order to settle with her guardians, she must
+write to them in form, to demand an account of the sums that had been
+expended during her minority, and announce her intention for the future
+to take the management of her fortune into her own hands.
+
+She immediately followed his directions, and consented to remain at the
+Grove till their answers arrived.
+
+Being now, therefore, unavoidably fixed for some time at the house, she
+thought it proper and decent to attempt softening Lady Margaret in her
+favour. She exerted all her powers to please and to oblige her; but the
+exertion was necessarily vain, not only from the disposition, but the
+situation of her ladyship, since every effort made for this conciliatory
+purpose, rendered her doubly amiable in the eyes of her husband, and
+consequently to herself more odious than ever. Her jealousy, already but
+too well founded, received every hour the poisonous nourishment of fresh
+conviction, which so much soured and exasperated a temper naturally
+harsh, that her malignity and ill-humour grew daily more acrimonious.
+Nor would she have contented herself with displaying this irascibility
+by general moroseness, had not the same suspicious watchfulness which
+discovered to her the passion of her husband, served equally to make
+manifest the indifference and innocence of Cecilia; to reproach her
+therefore, she had not any pretence, though her knowledge how much she
+had to dread her, past current in her mind for sufficient reason to
+hate her. The Angry and the Violent use little discrimination; whom
+they like, they enquire not if they approve; but whoever, no matter
+how unwittingly, stands in their way, they scruple not to ill use, and
+conclude they may laudably detest.
+
+Cecilia, though much disgusted, gave not over her attempt, which she
+considered but as her due while she continued in her house. Her general
+character, also, for peevishness and haughty ill-breeding, skilfully,
+from time to time, displayed, and artfully repined at by Mr Monckton,
+still kept her from suspecting any peculiar animosity to herself, and
+made her impute all that passed to the mere rancour of ill-humour. She
+confined herself, however, as much as possible to her own apartment,
+where her sorrow for Mrs Charlton almost hourly increased, by the
+comparison she was forced upon making of her house with the Grove.
+
+That worthy old lady left her grand-daughters her co-heiresses and sole
+executrixes. She bequeathed from them nothing considerable, though
+she left some donations for the poor, and several of her friends were
+remembered by small legacies. Among them Cecilia had her picture, and
+favourite trinkets, with a paragraph in her will, that as there was no
+one she so much loved, had her fortune been less splendid, she should
+have shared with her grand-daughters whatever she had to bestow.
+
+Cecilia was much affected by this last and solemn remembrance. She more
+than ever coveted to be alone, that she might grieve undisturbed, and
+she lamented without ceasing the fatigue and the illness which, in so
+late a period, as it proved, of her life, she had herself been the means
+of occasioning to her.
+
+Mr Monckton had too much prudence to interrupt this desire of solitude,
+which indeed cost him little pain, as he considered her least in
+danger when alone. She received in about a week answers from both her
+guardians. Mr Delvile's letter was closely to the purpose, without a
+word but of business, and couched in the haughtiest terms. As he had
+never, he said, acted, he had no accounts to send in; but as he was
+going to town in a few days, he would see her for a moment in the
+presence of Mr Briggs, that a joint release might be signed, to prevent
+any future application to him.
+
+Cecilia much lamented there was any necessity for her seeing him at all,
+and looked forward to the interview as the greatest mortification she
+could suffer.
+
+Mr Briggs, though still more concise, was far kinder in his language:
+but he advised her to defer her scheme of taking the money into her own
+hands, assuring her she would be cheated, and had better leave it to
+him.
+
+When she communicated these epistles to Mr Monckton, he failed not to
+read, with an emphasis, by which his arrogant meaning was still more
+arrogantly enforced, the letter of Mr Delvile aloud. Nor was he sparing
+in comments that might render it yet more offensive. Cecilia neither
+concurred in what he said, nor opposed it, but contented herself, when
+he was silent, with producing the other letter.
+
+Mr Monckton read not this with more favour. He openly attacked the
+character of Briggs, as covetous, rapacious, and over-reaching, and
+warned her by no means to abide by his counsel, without first taking the
+opinion of some disinterested person. He then stated the various arts
+which might be practised upon her inexperience, enumerated the dangers
+to which her ignorance of business exposed her, and annotated upon
+the cheats, double dealings, and tricks of stock jobbing, to which
+he assured her Mr Briggs owed all he was worth, till, perplexed and
+confounded, she declared herself at a loss how to proceed, and earnestly
+regretted that she could not have his counsel upon the spot.
+
+This was his aim: to draw the wish from her, drew all suspicion of
+selfish views from himself: and he told her that he considered her
+present situation as so critical, the future confusion or regularity
+of her money transactions seeming to depend upon it, that he would
+endeavour to arrange his affairs for meeting her in London.
+
+Cecilia gave him many thanks for the kind intention, and determined to
+be totally guided by him in the disposal and direction of her fortune.
+
+Mean time he had now another part to act; he saw that with Cecilia
+nothing more remained to be done, and that, harbouring not a doubt of
+his motives, she thought his design in her favour did her nothing but
+honour; but he had too much knowledge of the world to believe it would
+judge him in the same manner, and too much consciousness of duplicity to
+set its judgment at defiance.
+
+To parry, therefore, the conjectures which might follow his attending
+her, he had already prepared Lady Margaret to wish herself of the party:
+for however disagreeable to him was her presence and her company, he had
+no other means to be under the same roof with Cecilia.
+
+Miss Bennet, the wretched tool of his various schemes, and the mean
+sycophant of his lady, had been employed by him to work upon her
+jealousy, by secretly informing her of his intention to go to town,
+at the same time that Cecilia went thither to meet her guardians.
+She pretended to have learned this intelligence by accident, and to
+communicate it from respectful regard; and advised her to go to London
+herself at the same time, that she might see into his designs, and be
+some check upon his pleasure.
+
+The encreasing infirmities of Lady Margaret made this counsel by no
+means palatable: but Miss Bennet, following the artful instructions
+which she received, put in her way so strong a motive, by assuring her
+how little her company was wished, that in the madness of her spite
+she determined upon the journey. And little heeding how she tormented
+herself while she had any view of tormenting Mr Monckton, she was led on
+by her false confident to invite Cecilia to her own house.
+
+Mr Monckton, in whom by long practice, artifice was almost nature, well
+knowing his wife's perverseness, affected to look much disconcerted at
+the proposal; while Cecilia, by no means thinking it necessary to extend
+her compliance to such a punishment, instantly made an apology, and
+declined the invitation.
+
+Lady Margaret, little versed in civility, and unused to the arts of
+persuasion, could not, even for a favourite project, prevail upon
+herself to use entreaty, and therefore, thinking her scheme defeated,
+looked gloomily disappointed, and said nothing more.
+
+Mr Monckton saw with delight how much this difficulty inflamed her,
+though the moment he could speak alone with Cecilia he made it his care
+to remove it.
+
+He represented to her that, however privately she might live, she was
+too young to be in London lodgings by herself, and gave an hint which
+she could not but understand, that in going or in staying with only
+servants, suspicions might soon be raised, that the plan and motive of
+her journey were different to those given out.
+
+She knew he meant to insinuate that it would be conjectured she
+designed to meet Delvile, and though colouring, vext and provoked at the
+suggestion, the idea was sufficient to frighten her into his plan.
+
+In a few days, therefore, the matter was wholly arranged, Mr Monckton,
+by his skill and address, leading every one whither he pleased, while,
+by the artful coolness of his manner, he appeared but to follow himself.
+He [set] out the day before, though earnestly wishing to accompany
+them, but having as yet in no single instance gone to town in the same
+carriage with Lady Margaret, he dared trust neither the neighbourhood
+nor the servants with so dangerous a subject for their comments.
+
+Cecilia, compelled thus to travel with only her Ladyship and Miss
+Bennet, had a journey the most disagreeable, and determined, if
+possible, to stay in London but two days. She had already fixed upon a
+house in which she could board at Bury when she returned, and there she
+meant quietly to reside till she could enter her own.
+
+Lady Margaret herself, exhilarated by a notion of having outwitted her
+husband, was in unusual good spirits, and almost in good humour.
+The idea of thwarting his designs, and being in the way of his
+entertainment, gave to her a delight she had seldom received from any
+thing; and the belief that this was effected by the superiority of her
+cunning, doubled her contentment, and raised it to exultation. She owed
+him, indeed, much provocation and uneasiness, and was happy in this
+opportunity of paying her arrears.
+
+Mean while that consummate master in every species of hypocrisy,
+indulged her in this notion, by the air of dissatisfaction with which he
+left the house. It was not that she meant by her presence to obviate any
+impropriety: early and long acquainted with the character of Cecilia,
+she well knew, that during her life the passion of her husband must be
+confined to his own breast: but conscious of his aversion to herself,
+which she resented with the bitterest ill-will, and knowing how little,
+at any time, he desired her company, she consoled herself for her
+inability to give pleasure by the power she possessed of giving pain,
+and bore with the fatigue of a journey disagreeable and inconvenient
+to her, with no other view than the hope of breaking into his plan of
+avoiding her. Little imagining that the whole time she was forwarding
+his favourite pursuit, and only acting the part which he had appointed
+her to perform.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+A SURPRIZE.
+
+Lady Margaret's town house was in Soho Square; and scarcely had Cecilia
+entered it, before her desire to speed her departure, made her send
+a note to each of her guardians, acquainting them of her arrival, and
+begging, if possible, to see them the next day.
+
+She had soon the two following answers:
+
+_To Miss Cecilia Beverley,----These November_ 8, 1779. Miss,--Received
+yours of the same date; can't come tomorrow. Will, Wednesday the
+10th.--Am, &c., Jno. Briggs.
+
+Miss Cecilia Beverley
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Mr Delvile has too many affairs of importance upon his hands, to make
+any appointment till he has deliberated how to arrange them. Mr Delvile
+will acquaint Miss Beverley when it shall be in his power to see her.
+
+St James's-square, _Nov_ 8.
+
+These characteristic letters, which at another time might have diverted
+Cecilia, now merely served to torment her. She was eager to quit town,
+she was more eager to have her meeting with Mr Delvile over, who,
+oppressive to her even when he meant to be kind, she foresaw, now he
+was in wrath, would be imperious even to rudeness. Desirous, however,
+to make one interview suffice for both, and to settle whatever business
+might remain unfinished by letters, she again wrote to Mr Briggs,
+whom she had not spirits to encounter without absolute necessity, and
+informing him of Mr Delvile's delay, begged he would not trouble himself
+to call till he heard from her again.
+
+Two days passed without any message from them; they were spent chiefly
+alone, and very uncomfortably, Mr Monckton being content to see little
+of her, while he knew she saw nothing of any body else. On the
+third morning, weary of her own thoughts, weary of Lady Margaret's
+ill-humoured looks, and still more weary of Miss Bennet's parasitical
+conversation, she determined, for a little relief to the heaviness of
+her mind, to go to her bookseller, and look over and order into the
+country such new publications as seemed to promise her any pleasure.
+
+She sent therefore, for a chair, and glad to have devised for herself
+any amusement, set out in it immediately.
+
+Upon entering the shop, she saw the Bookseller engaged in close
+conference with a man meanly dressed, and much muffled up, who
+seemed talking to him with uncommon earnestness, and just as she was
+approaching, said, “To terms I am indifferent, for writing is no
+labour to me; on the contrary, it is the first delight of my life, and
+therefore, and not for dirty pelf, I wish to make it my profession.”
+
+The speech struck Cecilia, but the voice struck her more, it was
+Belfield's! and her amazement was so great, that she stopt short to look
+at him, without heeding a man who attended her, and desired to know her
+commands.
+
+The bookseller now perceiving her, came forward, and Belfield, turning
+to see who interrupted them, started as if a spectre had crossed his
+eyes, slapped his hat over his face, and hastily went out of the shop.
+
+Cecilia checking her inclination to speak to him, from observing his
+eagerness to escape her, soon recollected her own errand, and employed
+herself in looking over new books.
+
+Her surprize, however, at a change so sudden in the condition of this
+young man, and at a declaration of a passion for writing, so opposite to
+all the sentiments which he had professed at their late meeting in
+the cottage, awakened in her a strong curiosity to be informed of his
+situation; and after putting aside some books which she desired to have
+packed up for her, she asked if the gentleman who had just left the
+shop, and who, she found by what he had said, was an Author, had written
+anything that was published with his name?
+
+“No, ma'am,” answered the Bookseller, “nothing of any consequence; he
+is known, however, to have written several things that have appeared as
+anonymous; and I fancy, now, soon, we shall see something considerable
+from him.”
+
+“He is about some great work, then?”
+
+“Why no, not exactly that, perhaps, at present; we must feel our way,
+with some little smart _jeu d'esprit_ before we undertake a great work.
+But he is a very great genius, and I doubt not will produce something
+extraordinary.”
+
+“Whatever he produces,” said Cecilia, “as I have now chanced to see him,
+I shall be glad you will, at any time, send to me.”
+
+“Certainly, ma'am; but it must be among other things, for he does not
+chuse, just now to be known; and it is a rule in our business never to
+tell people's names when they desire to be secret. He is a little out
+of cash, just now, as you may suppose by his appearance, so instead of
+buying books, he comes to sell them. However, he has taken a very good
+road to bring himself home again, for we pay very handsomely for things
+of any merit, especially if they deal smartly in a few touches of the
+times.”
+
+Cecilia chose not to risk any further questions, lest her knowledge of
+him should be suspected, but got into her chair, and returned to Lady
+Margaret's.
+
+The sight of Belfield reminded her not only of himself; the gentle
+Henrietta again took her place in her memory, whence her various
+distresses and suspences had of late driven from it everybody but
+Delvile, and those whom Delvile brought into it. But her regard for
+that amiable girl, though sunk in the busy scenes of her calamitous
+uncertainties, was only sunk in her own bosom, and ready, upon their
+removal, to revive with fresh vigour. She was now indeed more unhappy
+than even in the period of her forgetfulness, yet her mind, was no
+longer filled with the restless turbulence of hope, which still more
+than despondency unfitted it for thinking of others.
+
+This remembrance thus awakened, awakened also a desire of renewing the
+connection so long neglected. All scruples concerning Delvile had now
+lost their foundation, since the doubts from which they arose were both
+explained and removed: she was certain alike of his indifference to
+Henrietta, and his separation from herself; she knew that nothing was
+to be feared from painful or offensive rivalry, and she resolved,
+therefore, to lose no time in seeking the first pleasure to which since
+her disappointment she had voluntarily looked forward.
+
+Early in the evening, she told Lady Margaret she was going out for
+an hour or two, and sending again for a chair, was carried to
+Portland-street.
+
+She enquired for Miss Belfield, and was shewn into a parlour, where she
+found her drinking tea with her mother, and Mr Hobson, their landlord.
+
+Henrietta almost screamed at her sight, from a sudden impulse of joy
+and surprize, and, running up to her, flung her arms round her neck,
+and embraced her with the most rapturous emotion: but then, drawing
+back with a look of timidity and shame, she bashfully apologized for
+her freedom, saying, “Indeed, dearest Miss Beverley, it is no want
+of respect, but I am so very glad to see you it makes me quite forget
+myself!”
+
+Cecilia, charmed at a reception so ingenuously affectionate, soon
+satisfied her doubting diffidence by the warmest thanks that she had
+preserved so much regard for her, and by doubling the kindness with
+which she returned her caresses.
+
+“Mercy on me, madam,” cried Mrs Belfield, who during this time had
+been busily employed in sweeping the hearth, wiping some slops upon the
+table, and smoothing her handkerchief and apron, “why the girl's enough
+to smother you. Henny, how can you be so troublesome? I never saw you
+behave in this way before.”
+
+“Miss Beverley, madam,” said Henrietta, again retreating, “is so kind as
+to pardon me, and I was so much surprised at seeing her, that I hardly
+knew what I was about.”
+
+“The young ladies, ma'am,” said Mr Hobson, “have a mighty way of
+saluting one another till such time as they get husbands: and then
+I'll warrant you they can meet without any salutation at all. That's my
+remark, at least, and what I've seen of the world has set me upon making
+it.”
+
+This speech led Cecilia to check, however artless, the tenderness of
+her fervent young friend, whom she was much teized by meeting in such
+company, but who seemed not to dare understand the frequent looks which
+she gave her expressive of a wish to be alone with her.
+
+“Come, ladies,” continued the facetious Mr Hobson, “what if we were all
+to sit down, and have a good dish of tea? and suppose, Mrs Belfield,
+you was to order us a fresh round of toast and butter? do you think the
+young ladies here would have any objection? and what if we were to have
+a little more water in the tea-kettle? not forgetting a little more tea
+in the teapot. What I say is this, let us all be comfortable; that's my
+notion of things.”
+
+“And a very good notion too,” said Mrs Belfield, “for you who have
+nothing to vex you. Ah, ma'am, you have heard, I suppose, about my son?
+gone off! nobody knows where! left that lord's house, where he might
+have lived like a king, and gone out into the wide world nobody knows
+for what!”
+
+“Indeed?” said Cecilia, who, from seeing him in London concluded he was
+again with his family, “and has he not acquainted you where he is?”
+
+“No, ma'am, no,” cried Mrs Belfield, “he's never once told me where
+he is gone, nor let me know the least about the matter, for if I did I
+would not taste a dish of tea again for a twelvemonth till I saw him get
+back again to that lord's! and I believe in my heart there's never such
+another in the three kingdoms, for he has sent here after him I dare say
+a score of times. And no wonder, for I will take upon me to say he won't
+find his fellow in a hurry, Lord as he is.”
+
+“As to his being a Lord,” said Mr Hobson, “I am one of them that lay no
+great stress upon that, unless he has got a good long purse of his own,
+and then, to be sure, a Lord's no bad thing. But as to the matter of
+saying Lord such a one, how d'ye do? and Lord such a one, what do you
+want? and such sort of compliments, why in my mind, it's a mere nothing,
+in comparison of a good income. As to your son, ma'am, he did not go
+the right way to work. He should have begun with business, and gone into
+pleasure afterwards and if he had but done that, I'll be bold to say we
+might have had him at this very minute drinking tea with us over this
+fireside.”
+
+“My son, Sir,” said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, “was another sort of
+a person than a person of business: he always despised it from a child,
+and come of it what may, I am sure he was born to be a gentleman.”
+
+“As to his despising business,” said Mr Hobson, very contemptuously,
+“why so much the worse, for business is no such despiseable thing. And
+if he had been brought up behind a counter, instead of dangling after
+these same Lords, why he might have had a house of his own over his
+head, and been as good a man as myself.”
+
+“A house over his head?” said Mrs Belfield, “why he might have had what
+he would, and have done what he would, if he had but followed my advice,
+and put himself a little forward. I have told him a hundred times to ask
+some of those great people he lived amongst for a place at court, for I
+know they've so many they hardly know what to do with them, and it was
+always my design from the beginning that he should be something of a
+great man; but I never could persuade him, though, for anything I know,
+as I have often told him, if he had but had a little courage he might
+have been an Ambassador by this time. And now, all of a sudden, to be
+gone nobody knows where!”--
+
+“I am sorry, indeed,” said Cecilia, who knew not whether most to pity or
+wonder at her blind folly; “but I doubt not you will hear of him soon.”
+
+“As to being an Ambassador, ma'am,” said Mr Hobson, “it's talking quite
+out of character. Those sort of great people keep things of that kind
+for their own poor relations and cousins. What I say is this; a man's
+best way is to take care of himself. The more those great people see you
+want them, the less they like your company. Let every man be brought up
+to business, and then when he's made his fortune, he may walk with his
+hat on. Why now there was your friend, ma'am,” turning to Cecilia, “that
+shot out his brains without paying any body a souse; pray how was that
+being more genteel than standing behind a counter, and not owing a
+shilling?”
+
+“Do you think a young lady,” cried Mrs Belfield warmly, “can bear to
+hear of such a thing as standing behind a counter? I am sure if my son
+had ever done it, I should not expect any lady would so much as look at
+him, And yet, though I say it, she might look a good while, and not see
+many such persons, let her look where she pleased. And then he has such
+a winning manner into the bargain, that I believe in my heart there's
+never a lady in the land could say no to him. And yet he has such a
+prodigious shyness, I never could make him own he had so much as asked
+the question. And what lady can begin first?”
+
+“Why no,” said Mr Hobson, “that would be out of character another way.
+Now my notion is this; let every man be agreeable! and then he may ask
+what lady he pleases. And when he's a mind of a lady, he should look
+upon a frown or two as nothing; for the ladies frown in courtship as a
+thing of course; it's just like a man swearing at a coachman; why he's
+not a bit more in a passion, only he thinks he sha'n't be minded without
+it.”
+
+“Well, for my part,” said Mrs Belfield, “I am sure if I was a young
+lady, and most especially if I was a young lady of fortune, and all
+that, I should like a modest young gentleman, such as my son, for
+example, better by half than a bold swearing young fellow, that would
+make a point to have me whether I would or no.”
+
+“Ha! Ha! Ha!” cried Mr Hobson; “but the young ladies are not of that
+way of thinking; they are all for a little life and spirit. Don't I say
+right, young ladies?”
+
+Cecilia, who could not but perceive that these speeches was levelled at
+herself, felt offended and tired; and finding she had no chance of any
+private conversation with Henrietta, arose to take leave: but while
+she stopped in the passage to enquire when she could see her alone, a
+footman knocked at the door, who, having asked if Mr Belfield lodged
+there, and been answered in the affirmative; begged to know whether Miss
+Beverley was then in the house?
+
+Cecilia, much surprised, went forward, and told him who she was.
+
+“I have been, madam,” said he, “with a message to you at Mr Monckton's,
+in Soho-Square: but nobody knew where you was; and Mr Monckton came out
+and spoke to me himself, and said that all he could suppose was that you
+might be at this house. So he directed me to come here.”
+
+“And from whom, Sir, is your message?”
+
+“From the honourable Mr Delvile, madam, in St James's-Square. He desires
+to know if you shall be at home on Saturday morning, the day after
+to-morrow, and whether you can appoint Mr Briggs to meet him by twelve
+o'clock exactly, as he sha'n't be able to stay above three minutes.”
+
+Cecilia gave an answer as cold as the message; that she would be in
+Soho-Square at the time he mentioned, and acquaint Mr Briggs of his
+intention.
+
+The footman then went away; and Henrietta told her, that if she could
+call some morning she might perhaps contrive to be alone with her, and
+added, “indeed I wish much to see you, if you could possibly do me so
+great an honour; for I am very miserable, and have nobody to tell so!
+Ah, Miss Beverley! you that have so many friends, and that deserve as
+many again, you little know what a hard thing it is to have none!--but
+my brother's strange disappearing has half broke our hearts!”
+
+Cecilia was beginning a consolatory speech, in which she meant to
+give her private assurances of his health and safety, when she was
+interrupted by Mr Albany, who came suddenly into the passage.
+
+Henrietta received him with a look of pleasure, and enquired why he
+had so long been absent; but, surprised by the sight of Cecilia, he
+exclaimed, without answering her, “why didst thou fail me? why
+appoint me to a place thou wert quitting thyself?--thou thing of fair
+professions! thou inveigler of esteem! thou vain, delusive promiser of
+pleasure!”
+
+“You condemn me too hastily,” said Cecilia; “if I failed in my promise,
+it was not owing to caprice or insincerity, but to a real and bitter
+misfortune which incapacitated me from keeping it. I shall soon,
+however,--nay, I am already at your disposal, if you have any commands
+for me.”
+
+“I have always,” answered he, “commands for the rich, for I have always
+compassion for the poor.”
+
+“Come to me, then, at Mr Monckton's in Soho-Square,” cried she, and
+hastened into her chair, impatient to end a conference which she saw
+excited the wonder of the servants, and which also now drew out from
+the parlour Mr Hobson and Mrs Belfield. She then kissed her hand to
+Henrietta, and ordered the chairmen to carry her home.
+
+It had not been without difficulty that she had restrained herself from
+mentioning what she knew of Belfield, when she found his mother and
+sister in a state of such painful uncertainty concerning him. But her
+utter ignorance of his plans, joined to her undoubted knowledge of his
+wish of concealment, made her fear doing mischief by officiousness,
+and think it wiser not to betray what she had seen of him, till better
+informed of his own views and intentions. Yet, willing to shorten a
+suspence so uneasy to them, she determined to entreat Mr Monckton would
+endeavour to find him out, and acquaint him with their anxiety.
+
+That gentleman, when she returned to his house, was in a state of mind
+by no means enviable. Missing her at tea, he had asked Miss Bennet where
+she was, and hearing she had not left word, he could scarce conceal his
+chagrin. Knowing, however, how few were her acquaintances in town,
+he soon concluded she was with Miss Belfield, but, not satisfied with
+sending Mr Delvile's messenger after her, he privately employed one
+in whom he trusted for himself, to make enquiries at the house without
+saying whence he came.
+
+But though this man was returned, and he knew her safety, he still felt
+alarmed; he had flattered himself, from the length of time in which she
+had now done nothing without consulting him, she would scarce even think
+of any action without his previous concurrence. And he had hoped, by a
+little longer use, to make his counsel become necessary, which he knew
+to be a very short step from rendering it absolute.
+
+Nor was he well pleased to perceive, by this voluntary excursion,
+a struggle to cast off her sadness, and a wish to procure herself
+entertainment: it was not that he desired her misery, but he was earnest
+that all relief from it should spring from himself: and though far from
+displeased that Delvile should lose his sovereignty over her thoughts,
+he was yet of opinion that, till his own liberty was restored, he had
+less to apprehend from grief indulged, than grief allayed; one could
+but lead her to repining retirement, the other might guide her to a
+consolatory rival.
+
+He well knew, however, it was as essential to his cause to disguise his
+disappointments as his expectations, and, certain that by pleasing
+alone he had any chance of acquiring power, he cleared up when Cecilia
+returned, who as unconscious of feeling, as of owing any subjection to
+him, preserved uncontrolled the right of acting for herself, however
+desirous and glad of occasional instruction.
+
+She told him where she had been, and related her meeting Belfield, and
+the unhappiness of his friends, and hinted her wish that he could be
+informed what they suffered. Mr Monckton, eager to oblige her, went
+instantly in search of him, and returning to supper, told her he had
+traced him through the Bookseller, who had not the dexterity to parry
+his artful enquiries, and had actually appointed him to breakfast in
+Soho-Square the next morning.
+
+He had found him, he said, writing, but in high spirits and good humour.
+He had resisted, for a while, his invitation on account of his dress,
+all his clothes but the very coat which he had on being packed up and
+at his mother's: but, when laughed at by Mr Monckton for still
+retaining some foppery, he gaily protested what remained of it should
+be extinguished; and acknowledging that his shame was no part of his
+philosophy, declared he would throw it wholly aside, and, in spite of
+his degradation, renew his visits at his house.
+
+“I would not tell him,” Mr Monckton continued, “of the anxiety of his
+family; I thought it would come more powerfully from yourself, who,
+having seen, can better enforce it.”
+
+Cecilia was very thankful for this compliance with her request, and
+anticipated the pleasure she hoped soon to give Henrietta, by the
+restoration of a brother so much loved and so regretted.
+
+She sent, mean time, to Mr Briggs the message she had received from Mr
+Delvile, and had the satisfaction of an answer that he would observe the
+appointment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A CONFABULATION.
+
+The next morning, while the family was at breakfast, Belfield, according
+to his promise, made his visit.
+
+A high colour overspread his face as he entered the room, resulting from
+a sensation of grief at his fallen fortune, and shame at his altered
+appearance, which though he endeavoured to cover under an air of
+gaiety and unconcern, gave an awkwardness to his manners, and a visible
+distress to his countenance: Mr Monckton received him with pleasure, and
+Cecilia, who saw the conflict of his philosophy with his pride, dressed
+her features once more in smiles, which however faint and heartless,
+shewed her desire to reassure him. Miss Bennet, as usual when not called
+upon by the master or lady of the house, sat as a cypher; and Lady
+Margaret, always disagreeable and repulsive to the friends of her
+husband, though she was not now more than commonly ungracious, struck
+the quick-feeling and irritable Belfield, to wear an air of rude
+superiority meant to reproach him with his disgrace.
+
+This notion, which strongly affected him, made him, for one instant,
+hesitate whether he should remain another in the same room with her: but
+the friendliness of Mr Monckton, and the gentleness and good breeding of
+Cecilia, seemed so studious to make amends for her moroseness, that he
+checked his too ready indignation, and took his seat at the table. Yet
+was it some time before he could recover even the assumed vivacity which
+this suspected insult had robbed him of, sufficiently to enter into
+conversation with any appearance of ease or pleasure. But, after
+a while, soothed by the attentions of Cecilia and Mr Monckton, his
+uneasiness wore off, and the native spirit and liveliness of his
+character broke forth with their accustomed energy.
+
+“This good company, I hope,” said he, addressing himself, however, only
+to Cecilia, “will not so much _mistake the thing_ as to criticise my
+dress of this morning; since it is perfectly according to rule, and to
+rule established from time immemorial: but lest any of you should
+so much err as to fancy shabby what is only characteristic, I must
+endeavour to be beforehand with the malice of conjecture, and have the
+honour to inform you, that I am enlisted in the Grub-street regiment, of
+the third story, and under the tattered banner of scribbling volunteers!
+a race which, if it boasts not the courage of heroes, at least equals
+them in enmity. This coat, therefore, is merely the uniform of my
+corps, and you will all, I hope, respect it as emblematical of wit and
+erudition.”
+
+“We must at least respect you,” said Cecilia, “who thus gaily can sport
+with it.”
+
+“Ah, madam!” said he, more seriously, “it is not from you I ought
+to look for respect! I must appear to you the most unsteady and
+coward-hearted of beings. But lately I blushed to see you from poverty,
+though more worthily employed than when I had been seen by you in
+affluence; that shame vanquished, another equally narrow took its place,
+and yesterday I blushed again that you detected me in a new pursuit,
+though I had only quitted my former one from a conviction it was ill
+chosen. There seems in human nature a worthlessness not to be conquered!
+yet I will struggle with it to the last, and either die in the attempt,
+or dare seem that which I am, without adding to the miseries of life,
+the sting, the envenomed sting of dastardly false shame!”
+
+“Your language is wonderfully altered within this twelvemonth,” said Mr
+Monckton; “_the worthlessness of human nature_! the _miseries of
+life_! this from you! so lately the champion of human nature, and the
+panegyrist of human life!”
+
+“Soured by personal disappointment,” answered he, “I may perhaps speak
+with too much acrimony; yet, ultimately, my opinions have not much
+changed. Happiness is given to us with more liberality than we are
+willing to confess; it is judgment only that is dealt us sparingly, and
+of that we have so little, that when felicity is before us, we turn
+to the right or left, or when at the right or left, we proceed strait
+forward. It has been so with me; I have sought it at a distance, amidst
+difficulty and danger, when all that I could wish has been immediately
+within my grasp.”
+
+“It must be owned,” said Mr Monckton, “after what you have suffered from
+this world you were wont to defend, there is little reason to wonder at
+some change in your opinion.”
+
+“Yet whatever have been my sufferings,” he answered, “I have generally
+been involved in them by my own rashness or caprice. My last enterprise
+especially, from which my expectations were highest, was the most
+ill-judged of any. I considered not how little my way of life had fitted
+me for the experiment I was making, how irreparably I was enervated
+by long sedentary habits, and how insufficient for bodily strength
+was mental resolution. We may fight against partial prejudices, and by
+spirit and fortitude we may overcome them; but it will not do to war
+with the general tenor of education. We may blame, despise, regret as we
+please, but customs long established, and habits long indulged, assume
+an empire despotic, though their power is but prescriptive. Opposing
+them is vain; Nature herself, when forced aside, is not more elastic in
+her rebound.”
+
+“Will you not then,” said Cecilia, “since your experiment has failed,
+return again to your family, and to the plan of life you formerly
+settled?”
+
+“You speak of them together,” said he, with a smile, “as if you thought
+them inseparable; and indeed my own apprehension they would be
+deemed so, has made me thus fear to see my friends, since I love not
+resistance, yet cannot again attempt the plan of life they would have me
+pursue. I have given up my cottage, but my independence is as dear to me
+as ever; and all that I have gathered from experience, is to maintain
+it by those employments for which my education has fitted me, instead of
+seeking it injudiciously by the very road for which it has unqualified
+me.”
+
+“And what is this independence,” cried Mr Monckton, “which has thus
+bewitched your imagination? a mere idle dream of romance and enthusiasm;
+without existence in nature, without possibility in life. In uncivilised
+countries, or in lawless times, independence, for a while, may perhaps
+stalk abroad; but in a regular government, 'tis only the vision of a
+heated brain; one part of a community must inevitably hang upon another,
+and 'tis a farce to call either independent, when to break the chain by
+which they are linked would prove destruction to both. The soldier wants
+not the officer more than the officer the soldier, nor the tenant
+the landlord, more than the landlord the tenant. The rich owe their
+distinction, their luxuries, to the poor, as much as the poor owe their
+rewards, their necessaries, to the rich.”
+
+“Man treated as an Automaton,” answered Belfield, “and considered merely
+with respect to his bodily operations, may indeed be called dependent,
+since the food by which he lives, or, rather, without which he
+dies, cannot wholly be cultivated and prepared by his own hands: but
+considered in a nobler sense, he deserves not the degrading epithet;
+speak of him, then, as a being of feeling and understanding, with pride
+to alarm, with nerves to tremble, with honour to satisfy, and with a
+soul to be immortal!--as such, may he not claim the freedom of his own
+thoughts? may not that claim be extended to the liberty of speaking,
+and the power of being governed by them? and when thoughts, words, and
+actions are exempt from controul, will you brand him with dependency
+merely because the Grazier feeds his meat, and the Baker kneads his
+bread?”
+
+“But who is there in the whole world,” said Mr Monckton, “extensive
+as it is, and dissimilar as are its inhabitants, that can pretend to
+assert, his thoughts, words, and actions, are exempt from controul? even
+where interest, which you so much disdain, interferes not,--though where
+that is I confess I cannot tell!--are we not kept silent where we wish
+to reprove by the fear of offending? and made speak where we wish to be
+silent by the desire of obliging? do we not bow to the scoundrel as low
+as to the man of honour? are we not by mere forms kept standing when
+tired? made give place to those we despise? and smiles to those we hate?
+or if we refuse these attentions, are we not regarded as savages, and
+shut out of society?”
+
+“All these,” answered Belfield, “are so merely matters of ceremony, that
+the concession can neither cost pain to the proud, nor give pleasure to
+the vain. The bow is to the coat, the attention is to the rank, and the
+fear of offending ought to extend to all mankind. Homage such as this
+infringes not our sincerity, since it is as much a matter of course as
+the dress that we wear, and has as little reason to flatter a man as the
+shadow which follows him. I no more, therefore, hold him deceitful for
+not opposing this pantomimical parade, than I hold him to be dependent
+for eating corn he has not sown.”
+
+“Where, then, do you draw the line? and what is the boundary beyond
+which your independence must not step?”
+
+“I hold that man,” cried he, with energy, “to be independent, who treats
+the Great as the Little, and the Little as the Great, who neither exults
+in riches nor blushes in poverty, who owes no man a groat, and who
+spends not a shilling he has not earned.”
+
+“You will not, indeed, then, have a very numerous acquaintance, if this
+is the description of those with whom you purpose to associate! but is
+it possible you imagine you can live by such notions? why the Carthusian
+in his monastery, who is at least removed from temptation, is not
+mortified so severely as a man of spirit living in the world, who would
+prescribe himself such rules.”
+
+“Not merely have I prescribed,” returned Belfield, “I have already put
+them in practice; and far from finding any pennance, I never before
+found happiness. I have now adopted, though poor, the very plan of life
+I should have elected if rich; my pleasure, therefore, is become my
+business, and my business my pleasure.”
+
+“And is this plan,” cried Monckton, “nothing more than turning
+Knight-errant to the Booksellers?”
+
+“'Tis a Knight-errantry,” answered Belfield, laughing, “which, however
+ludicrous it may seem to you, requires more soul and more brains than
+any other. Our giants may, indeed, be only windmills, but they must be
+attacked with as much spirit, and conquered with as much bravery, as
+any fort or any town, in time of war [to] be demolished; and though the
+siege, I must confess, may be of less national utility, the assailants
+of the quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the
+sword.”
+
+“I suppose then,” said Monckton, archly, “if a man wants a biting
+lampoon, or an handsome panegyric, some newspaper scandal, or a sonnet
+for a lady--”
+
+“No, no,” interrupted Belfield eagerly, “if you imagine me a hireling
+scribbler for the purposes of defamation or of flattery, you as little
+know my situation as my character. My subjects shall be my own, and my
+satire shall be general. I would as much disdain to be personal with an
+anonymous pen, as to attack an unarmed man in the dark with a dagger I
+had kept concealed.”
+
+A reply of rallying incredulity was rising to the lips of Mr Monckton,
+when reading in the looks of Cecilia an entire approbation of this
+sentiment, he checked his desire of ridicule, and exclaimed, “spoken
+like a man of honour, and one whose works may profit the world!”
+
+“From my earliest youth to the present hour,” continued Belfield,
+“literature has been the favourite object of my pursuit, my recreation
+in leisure, and my hope in employment. My propensity to it, indeed,
+has been so ungovernable, that I may properly call it the source of my
+several miscarriages throughout life. It was the bar to my preferment,
+for it gave me a distaste to other studies; it was the cause of my
+unsteadiness in all my undertakings, because to all I preferred it.
+It has sunk me to distress, it has involved me in difficulties; it
+has brought me to the brink of ruin by making me neglect the means
+of living, yet never, till now, did I discern it might itself be my
+support.”
+
+“I am heartily glad, Sir,” said Cecilia, “your various enterprizes and
+struggles have at length ended in a project which promises you so much
+satisfaction. But you will surely suffer your sister and your mother
+to partake of it? for who is there that your prosperity will make so
+happy?”
+
+“You do them infinite honour, madam, by taking any interest in their
+affairs; but to own to you the truth, what to me appears prosperity,
+will to them wear another aspect. They have looked forward to my
+elevation with expectations the most improbable, and thought everything
+within my grasp, with a simplicity incredible. But though their hopes
+were absurd, I am pained by their disappointment, and I have not courage
+to meet their tears, which I am sure will not be spared when they see
+me.”
+
+“'Tis from tenderness, then,” said Cecilia, half smiling, “that you are
+cruel, and from affection to your friends that you make them believe you
+have forgotten them?”
+
+There was a delicacy in this reproach exactly suited to work upon
+Belfield, who feeling it with quickness, started up, and cried, “I
+believe I am wrong!--I will go to them this moment!”
+
+Cecilia felt eager to second the generous impulse; but Mr Monckton,
+laughing at his impetuosity, insisted he should first finish his
+breakfast.
+
+“Your friends,” said Cecilia, “can have no mortification so hard to bear
+as your voluntary absence; and if they see but that you are happy, they
+will soon be reconciled to whatever situation you may chuse.”
+
+“Happy!” repeated he, with animation, “Oh I am in Paradise! I am come
+from a region in the first rude state of nature, to civilization and
+refinement! the life I led at the cottage was the life of a savage; no
+intercourse with society, no consolation from books; my mind locked up,
+every source dried of intellectual delight, and no enjoyment in my power
+but from sleep and from food. Weary of an existence which thus levelled
+me with a brute, I grew ashamed of the approximation, and listening to
+the remonstrance of my understanding, I gave up the precipitate plan, to
+pursue one more consonant to reason. I came to town, hired a room, and
+sent for pen, ink and paper: what I have written are trifles, but the
+Bookseller has not rejected them. I was settled, therefore, in a moment,
+and comparing my new occupation with that I had just quitted, I seemed
+exalted on the sudden from a mere creature of instinct, to a rational
+and intelligent being. But when first I opened a book, after so long
+an abstinence from all mental nourishment,--Oh it was rapture! no
+half-famished beggar regaled suddenly with food, ever seized on his
+repast with more hungry avidity.”
+
+“Let fortune turn which way it will,” cried Monckton, “you may defy all
+its malice, while possessed of a spirit of enjoyment which nothing can
+subdue!”
+
+“But were you not, Sir,” said Cecilia, “as great an enthusiast the other
+day for your cottage, and for labour?”
+
+“I was, madam; but there my philosophy was erroneous: in my ardour
+to fly from meanness and from dependence, I thought in labour and
+retirement I should find freedom and happiness; but I forgot that my
+body was not seasoned for such work, and considered not that a
+mind which had once been opened by knowledge, could ill endure the
+contraction of dark and perpetual ignorance. The approach, however, of
+winter, brought me acquainted with my mistake. It grew cold, it grew
+bleak; little guarded against the inclemency of the ----, I felt its
+severity in every limb, and missed a thousand indulgencies which in
+possession I had never valued. To rise at break of day, chill, freezing,
+and comfortless! no sun abroad, no fire at home! to go out in all
+weather to work, that work rough, coarse, and laborious!--unused to such
+hardships, I found I could not bear them, and, however unwillingly, was
+compelled to relinquish the attempt.”
+
+Breakfast now being over, he again arose to take leave.
+
+“You are going, then, Sir,” said Cecilia, “immediately to your friends?”
+
+“No, madam,” answered he hesitating, “not just this moment; to-morrow
+morning perhaps,--but it is now late, and I have business for the rest
+of the day.”
+
+“Ah, Mr Monckton!” cried Cecilia, “what mischief have you done by
+occasioning this delay!”
+
+“This goodness, madam,” said Belfield, “my sister can never sufficiently
+acknowledge. But I will own, that though, just now, in a warm moment, I
+felt eager to present myself to her and my mother, I rather wish, now I
+am cooler, to be saved the pain of telling them in person my situation.
+I mean, therefore, first to write to them.”
+
+“You will not fail, then, to see them to-morrow?”
+
+“Certainly--I think not.”
+
+“Nay, but certainly you _must_ not, for I shall call upon them to-day,
+and assure them they may expect you. Can I soften your task of writing
+by giving them any message from you?”
+
+“Ah, madam, have a care!” cried he; “this condescension to a poor author
+may be more dangerous than you have any suspicion! and before you have
+power to help yourself, you may see your name prefixed to the Dedication
+of some trumpery pamphlet!”
+
+“I will run,” cried she, “all risks; remember, therefore, you will be
+responsible for the performance of my promise.”
+
+“I will be sure,” answered he, “not to forget what reflects so much
+honour upon myself.”
+
+Cecilia was satisfied by this assent, and he then went away.
+
+“A strange flighty character!” cried Mr Monckton, “yet of uncommon
+capacity, and full of genius. Were he less imaginative, wild and
+eccentric, he has abilities for any station, and might fix and
+distinguish himself almost where-ever he pleased.”
+
+“I knew not,” said Cecilia, “the full worth of steadiness and prudence
+till I knew this young man; for he has every thing else; talents the
+most striking, a love of virtue the most elevated, and manners the most
+pleasing; yet wanting steadiness and prudence, he can neither act with
+consistency nor prosper with continuance.”
+
+“He is well enough,” said Lady Margaret, who had heard the whole
+argument in sullen taciturnity, “he is well enough, I say; and there
+comes no good from young women's being so difficult.”
+
+Cecilia, offended by a speech which implied a rude desire to dispose
+of her, went up stairs to her own room; and Mr Monckton, always enraged
+when young men and Cecilia were alluded to in the same sentence, retired
+to his library.
+
+She then ordered a chair, and went to Portland-street, to fulfil what
+she had offered to Belfield, and to revive his mother and sister by the
+pleasure of the promised interview.
+
+She found them together: and her intelligence being of equal consequence
+to both, she did not now repine at the presence of Mrs Belfield.
+She made her communication with the most cautious attention to their
+characters, softening the ill she had to relate with respect to
+Belfield's present way of living, by endeavouring to awaken affection
+and joy from the prospect of the approaching meeting. She counselled
+them as much as possible to restrain their chagrin at his misfortunes,
+which he would but construe into reproach of his ill management; and
+she represented that when once he was restored to his family, he might
+almost imperceptibly be led into some less wild and more profitable
+scheme of business.
+
+When she had told all she thought proper to relate, kindly interspersing
+her account with the best advice and best comfort she could suggest,
+she made an end of her visit; for the affliction of Mrs Belfield
+upon hearing the actual situation of her son, was so clamorous and
+unappeaseable, that, little wondering at Belfield's want of courage to
+encounter it, and having no opportunity in such a storm to console the
+soft Henrietta, whose tears flowed abundantly that her brother should
+thus be fallen, she only promised before she left town to see her again,
+and beseeching Mrs Belfield to moderate her concern, was glad to leave
+the house, where her presence had no power to quiet their distress.
+
+She passed the rest of the day in sad reflections upon the meeting
+she was herself to have the next morning with Mr Delvile. She wished
+ardently to know whether his son was gone abroad, and whether Mrs
+Delvile was recovered, whose health, in her own letter, was mentioned in
+terms the most melancholy: yet neither of these enquiries could she even
+think of making, since reasonably, without them, apprehensive of some
+reproach.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A WRANGLING.
+
+Mr Monckton, the next day, as soon as breakfast was over, went out,
+to avoid showing, even to Cecilia, the anxiety he felt concerning the
+regulation of her fortune, and arrangement of her affairs. He strongly,
+however, advised her not to mention her large debt, which, though
+contracted in the innocence of the purest benevolence, would incur
+nothing but reproof and disapprobation, from all who only heard of it,
+when they heard of its inutility.
+
+At eleven o'clock, though an hour before the time appointed, while
+Cecilia was sitting in Lady Margaret's dressing room, “with sad civility
+and an aching head,” she was summoned to Mr Briggs in the parlour.
+
+He immediately began reproaching her with having eloped from him, in the
+summer, and with the various expences she had caused him from useless
+purchases and spoilt provisions. He then complained of Mr Delvile, whom
+he charged with defrauding him of his dues; but observing in the midst
+of his railing her dejection of countenance, he suddenly broke off, and
+looking at her with some concern, said, “what's the matter, Ducky? a'n't
+well? look as if you could not help it.”
+
+“O yes,” cried Cecilia, “I thank you, Sir, I am very well.”
+
+“What do you look so blank for, then?” said he, “bay? what are fretting
+for?--crossed in love?--lost your sweetheart?”
+
+“No, no, no,” cried she, with quickness.
+
+“Never mind, my chick, never mind,” said he, pinching her cheek, with
+resumed good humour, “more to be had; if one won't snap, another will;
+put me in a passion by going off from me with that old grandee, or would
+have got one long ago. Hate that old Don; used me very ill; wish I could
+trounce him. Thinks more of a fusty old parchment than the price of
+stocks. Fit for nothing but to be stuck upon an old monument for a
+Death's head.”
+
+He then told her that her accounts were all made out, and he was ready
+at any time to produce them; he approved much of her finishing wholly
+with the _old Don_, who had been a mere cypher in the executorship; but
+he advised her not to think of taking her money into her own hands, as
+he was willing to keep the charge of it himself till she was married.
+
+Cecilia, thanking him for the offer, said she meant now to make her
+acknowledgments for all the trouble he had already taken, but by no
+means purposed to give him any more.
+
+He debated the matter with her warmly, told her she had no chance to
+save herself from knaves and cheats, but by trusting to nobody but
+himself, and informing her what interest he had already made of her
+money, enquired how she would set about getting more?
+
+Cecilia, though prejudiced against him by Mr Monckton, knew not how to
+combat his arguments; yet conscious that scarce any part of the money
+to which he alluded was in fact her own, she could not yield to them.
+He was, however, so stubborn and so difficult to deal with, that she at
+length let him talk without troubling herself to answer, and privately
+determined to beg Mr Monckton would fight her battle.
+
+She was not, therefore, displeased by his interruption, though very much
+surprised by the sight of his person, when, in the midst of Mr Briggs's
+oratory, Mr Hobson entered the parlour.
+
+“I ask pardon, ma'am,” cried he, “if I intrude; but I made free to call
+upon the account of two ladies that are acquaintances of yours, that are
+quite, as one may say, at their wit's ends.”
+
+“What is the matter with them, Sir?”
+
+“Why, ma'am, no great matter, but mothers are soon frightened, and when
+once they are upon the fret, one may as well talk to the boards! they
+know no more of reasoning and arguing, than they do of a shop ledger!
+however, my maxim is this; every body in their way; one has no more
+right to expect courageousness from a lady in them cases, than one has
+from a child in arms; for what I say is, they have not the proper use of
+their heads, which makes it very excusable.”
+
+“But what has occasioned any alarm? nothing, I hope, is the matter with
+Miss Belfield?”
+
+“No, ma'am; thank God, the young lady enjoys her health very well: but
+she is taking on just in the same way as her mamma, as what can be more
+natural? Example, ma'am, is apt to be catching, and one lady's crying
+makes another think she must do the same, for a little thing serves for
+a lady's tears, being they can cry at any time: but a man is quite of
+another nature, let him but have a good conscience, and be clear of the
+world, and I'll engage he'll not wash his face without soap! that's what
+I say!”
+
+“Will, will!” cried Mr Briggs, “do it myself! never use soap; nothing
+but waste; take a little sand; does as well.”
+
+“Let every man have his own proposal;” answered Hobson; “for my part, I
+take every morning a large bowl of water, and souse my whole head in it;
+and then when I've rubbed it dry, on goes my wig, and I am quite fresh
+and agreeable: and then I take a walk in Tottenham Court Road as far as
+the Tabernacle, or thereabouts, and snuff in a little fresh country
+air, and then I come back, with a good wholesome appetite, and in a fine
+breathing heat, asking the young lady's pardon; and I enjoy my pot of
+fresh tea, and my round of hot toast and butter, with as good a relish
+as if I was a Prince.”
+
+“Pot of fresh tea,” cried Briggs, “bring a man to ruin; toast and
+butter! never suffer it in my house. Breakfast on water-gruel, sooner
+done; fills one up in a second. Give it my servants; can't eat much of
+it. Bob 'em there!” nodding significantly.
+
+“Water-gruel!” exclaimed Mr Hobson, “why I could not get it down if I
+might have the world for it! it would make me quite sick, asking the
+young lady's pardon, by reason I should always think I was preparing for
+the small-pox. My notion is quite of another nature; the first thing I
+do is to have a good fire; for what I say is this, if a man is cold in
+his fingers, it's odds if ever he gets warm in his purse! ha! ha! warm,
+you take me, Sir? I mean a pun. Though I ought to ask pardon, for I
+suppose the young lady don't know what I am a saying.”
+
+“I should indeed be better pleased, Sir,” said Cecilia, “to hear what
+you have to say about Miss Belfield.”
+
+“Why, ma'am, the thing is this; we have been expecting the young
+'Squire, as I call him, all the morning, and he has never come; so Mrs
+Belfield, not knowing where to send after him, was of opinion he might
+be here, knowing your kindness to him, and that.”
+
+“You make the enquiry at the wrong place, Sir,” said Cecilia, much
+provoked by the implication it conveyed; “if Mr Belfield is in this
+house, you must seek him with Mr Monckton.”
+
+“You take no offence, I hope, ma'am, at my just asking of the question?
+for Mrs Belfield crying, and being in that dilemma, I thought I could
+do no less than oblige her by coming to see if the young gentleman was
+here.”
+
+“What's this? what's this?” cried Mr Briggs eagerly; “who are talking
+of? hay?--who do mean? is this the sweet heart? eh, Duck?”
+
+“No, no, Sir,” cried Cecilia.
+
+“No tricks! won't be bit! who is it? will know; tell me, I say!”
+
+“_I'll_ tell Sir,” cried Mr Hobson; “it's a very handsome young
+gentleman, with as fine a person, and as genteel a way of behaviour, and
+withal, as pretty a manner of dressing himself, and that, as any lady
+need desire. He has no great head for business, as I am told, but the
+ladies don't stand much upon that topic, being they know nothing of it
+themselves.”
+
+“Has got the ready?” cried Mr Briggs, impatiently; “can cast an account?
+that's the point; can come down handsomely? eh?”
+
+“Why as to that, Sir, I'm not bound to speak to a gentleman's private
+affairs. What's my own, is my own, and what is another person's, is
+another person's; that's my way of arguing, and that's what I call
+talking to the purpose.”
+
+“Dare say he's a rogue! don't have him, chick. Bet a wager i'n't
+worth two shillings; and that will go for powder and pomatum; hate a
+plaistered pate; commonly a numscull: love a good bob-jerom.”
+
+“Why this is talking quite wide of the mark,” said Mr Hobson, “to
+suppose a young lady of fortunes would marry a man with a bob-jerom.
+What I say is, let every body follow their nature; that's the way to be
+comfortable; and then if they pay every one his own, who's a right to
+call 'em to account, whether they wear a bob-jerom, or a pig-tail down
+to the calves of their legs?”
+
+“Ay, ay,” cried Briggs, sneeringly, “or whether they stuff their gullets
+with hot rounds of toast and butter.”
+
+“And what if they do, Sir?” returned Hobson, a little angrily; “when a
+man's got above the world, where's the harm of living a little genteel?
+as to a round of toast and butter, and a few oysters, fresh opened, by
+way of a damper before dinner, no man need be ashamed of them, provided
+he pays as he goes: and as to living upon water-gruel, and scrubbing
+one's flesh with sand, one might as well be a galley-slave at once. You
+don't understand life, Sir, I see that.”
+
+“Do! do!” cried Briggs, speaking through his shut teeth; “you're out
+there! oysters!--come to ruin, tell you! bring you to jail!”
+
+“To jail, Sir?” exclaimed Hobson, “this is talking quite ungenteel! let
+every man be civil; that's what I say, for that's the way to make every
+thing agreeable but as to telling a man he'll go to jail, and that, it's
+tantamount to affronting him.”
+
+A rap at the street-door gave now a new relief to Cecilia, who began to
+grow very apprehensive lest the delight of spending money, thus warmly
+contested with that of hoarding it, should give rise to a quarrel,
+which, between two such sturdy champions for their own opinions, might
+lead to a conclusion rather more rough and violent than she desired to
+witness: but when the parlour-door opened, instead of Mr Delvile, whom
+she now fully expected, Mr Albany made his entrance.
+
+This was rather distressing, as her real business with her guardians
+made it proper her conference with them should be undisturbed: and
+Albany was not a man with whom a hint that she was engaged could be
+risked: but she had made no preparation to guard against interruption,
+as her little acquaintance in London had prevented her expecting any
+visitors.
+
+He advanced with a solemn air to Cecilia, and, looking as if hardly
+determined whether to speak with severity or gentleness, said, “once
+more I come to prove thy sincerity; now wilt thou go with me where
+sorrow calls thee? sorrow thy charity can mitigate?”
+
+“I am very much concerned,” she answered, “but indeed at present it is
+utterly impossible.”
+
+“Again,” cried he, with a look at once stern and disappointed, “again
+thou failest me? what wanton trifling! why shouldst thou thus elate a
+worn-out mind, only to make it feel its lingering credulity? or why,
+teaching me to think I had found an angel, so unkindly undeceive me?”
+
+“Indeed,” said Cecilia, much affected by this reproof, “if you knew how
+heavy a loss I had personally suffered--”
+
+“I do know it,” cried he, “and I grieved for thee when I heard it. Thou
+hast lost a faithful old friend, a loss which with every setting sun
+thou mayst mourn, for the rising sun will never repair it! but was that
+a reason for shunning the duties of humanity? was the sight of death a
+motive for neglecting the claims of benevolence? ought it not rather to
+have hastened your fulfilling them? and should not your own suffering
+experience of the brevity of life, have taught you the vanity of all
+things but preparing for its end?”
+
+“Perhaps so, but my grief at that time made me think only of myself.”
+
+“And of what else dost thou think now?”
+
+“Most probably of the same person still!” said she, half smiling, “but
+yet believe me, I have real business to transact.”
+
+“Frivolous, unmeaning, ever-ready excuses! what business is so important
+as the relief of a fellow-creature?”
+
+“I shall not, I hope, there,” answered she, with alacrity, “be backward;
+but at least for this morning I must beg to make you my Almoner.”
+
+She then took out her purse.
+
+Mr Briggs and Mr Hobson, whose quarrel had been suspended by the
+appearance of a third person, and who had stood during this short
+dialogue in silent amazement, having first lost their anger in their
+mutual consternation, now lost their consternation in their mutual
+displeasure Mr. Hobson felt offended to hear business spoken of
+slightly, and Mr Briggs felt enraged at the sight of Cecilia's ready
+purse. Neither of them, however, knew which way to interfere, the
+stem gravity of Albany, joined to a language too lofty for their
+comprehension, intimidating them both. They took, however, the relief of
+communing with one another, and Mr Hobson said in a whisper “This, you
+must know, is, I am told, a very particular old gentleman; quite what I
+call a genius. He comes often to my house, to see my lodger Miss Henny
+Belfield, though I never happen to light upon him myself, except once in
+the passage: but what I hear of him is this; he makes a practice, as
+one may say, of going about into people's houses, to do nothing but find
+fault.”
+
+“Shan't get into mine!” returned Briggs, “promise him that! don't half
+like him; be bound he's an old sharper.”
+
+Cecilia, mean time, enquired what he desired to have.
+
+“Half a guinea,” he answered.
+
+“Will that do?”
+
+“For those who have nothing,” said he, “it is much. Hereafter, you may
+assist them again. Go but and see their distresses, and you will wish to
+give them every thing.”
+
+Mr Briggs now, when actually between her fingers he saw the half
+guinea, could contain no longer; he twitched the sleeve of her gown, and
+pinching her arm, with a look of painful eagerness, said in a whisper
+“Don't give it! don't let him have it! chouse him, chouse him! nothing
+but an old bite!”
+
+“Pardon me, Sir,” said Cecilia, in a low voice, “his character is very
+well known to me.” And then, disengaging her arm from him, she presented
+her little offering.
+
+At this sight, Mr Briggs was almost outrageous, and losing in his wrath,
+all fear of the stranger, he burst forth with fury into the following
+outcries, “Be ruined! see it plainly; be fleeced! be stript! be robbed!
+won't have a gown to your back! won't have a shoe to your foot! won't
+have a rag in the world! be a beggar in the street! come to the parish!
+rot in a jail!--half a guinea at a time!--enough to break the Great
+Mogul!”
+
+“Inhuman spirit of selfish parsimony!” exclaimed Albany, “repinest thou
+at this loan, given from thousands to those who have worse than nothing?
+who pay to-day in hunger for bread they borrowed yesterday from pity?
+who to save themselves from the deadly pangs of famine, solicit but what
+the rich know not when they possess, and miss not when they give?”
+
+“Anan!” cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of
+his understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly
+unaccustomed, “what d'ye say?”
+
+“If to thyself distress may cry in vain,” continued Albany, “if thy own
+heart resists the suppliant's prayer, callous to entreaty, and hardened
+in the world, suffer, at least, a creature yet untainted, who melts
+at sorrow, and who glows with charity, to pay from her vast wealth a
+generous tax of thankfulness, that fate has not reversed her doom, and
+those whom she relieves, relieve not her!”
+
+“Anan!” was again all the wondering Mr Briggs could say.
+
+“Pray, ma'am,” said Mr Hobson, to Cecilia, “if it's no offence, was the
+Gentleman ever a player?”
+
+“I fancy not, indeed!”
+
+“I ask pardon, then, ma'am; I mean no harm; but my notion was the
+gentleman might be speaking something by heart.”
+
+“Is it but on the stage, humanity exists?” cried Albany, indignantly;
+“Oh thither hasten, then, ye monopolizers of plenty! ye selfish,
+unfeeling engrossers of wealth, which ye dissipate without enjoying,
+and of abundance, which ye waste while ye refuse to distribute! thither,
+thither haste, if there humanity exists!”
+
+“As to engrossing,” said Mr Hobson, happy to hear at last a word with
+which he was familiar, “it's what I never approved myself. My maxim is
+this; if a man makes a fair penny, without any underhand dealings, why
+he has as much a title to enjoy his pleasure as the Chief Justice, or
+the Lord Chancellor: and it's odds but he's as happy as a greater man.
+Though what I hold to be best of all, is a clear conscience, with a neat
+income of 2 or 3000 a year. That's my notion; and I don't think it's a
+bad one.”
+
+“Weak policy of short-sighted ignorance!” cried Albany, “to wish for
+what, if used, brings care, and if neglected, remorse! have you not now
+beyond what nature craves? why then still sigh for more?”
+
+“Why?” cried Mr Briggs, who by dint of deep attention began now better
+to comprehend him, “why to buy in, to be sure! ever hear of stocks, eh?
+know any thing of money?”
+
+“Still to make more and more,” cried Albany, “and wherefore? to spend in
+vice and idleness, or hoard in chearless misery! not to give succour
+to the wretched, not to support the falling; all is for self,
+however little wanted, all goes to added stores, or added luxury; no
+fellow-creature served, nor even one beggar relieved!”
+
+“Glad of it!” cried Briggs, “glad of it; would not have 'em relieved;
+don't like 'em; hate a beggar; ought to be all whipt; live upon
+spunging.”
+
+“Why as to a beggar, I must needs say,” cried Mr Hobson, “I am by no
+means an approver of that mode of proceeding; being I take 'em all for
+cheats: for what I say is this, what a man earns, he earns, and it's no
+man's business to enquire what he spends, for a free-born Englishman is
+his own master by the nature of the law, and as to his being a subject,
+why a duke is no more, nor a judge, nor the Lord High Chancellor, and
+the like of those; which makes it tantamount to nothing, being he is
+answerable to nobody by the right of Magna Charta: except in cases of
+treason, felony, and that. But as to a beggar, it's quite another thing;
+he comes and asks me for money; but what has he to shew for it? what
+does he bring me in exchange? why a long story that he i'n't worth a
+penny! what's that to me? nothing at all. Let every man have his own;
+that's my way of arguing.”
+
+“Ungentle mortals!” cried Albany, “in wealth exulting; even in
+inhumanity! think you these wretched outcasts have less sensibility
+than yourselves? think you, in cold and hunger, they lose those feelings
+which even in voluptuous prosperity from time to time disturb you? you
+say they are all cheats? 'tis but the niggard cant of avarice, to lure
+away remorse from obduracy. Think you the naked wanderer begs from
+choice? give him your wealth and try.”
+
+“Give him a whip!” cried Briggs, “sha'n't have a souse! send him to
+Bridewell! nothing but a pauper; hate 'em; hate 'em all! full of tricks;
+break their own legs, put out their arms, cut off their fingers, snap
+their own ancles,--all for what? to get at the chink! to chouse us of
+cash! ought to be well flogged; have 'em all sent to the Thames; worse
+than the Convicts.”
+
+“Poor subterfuge of callous cruelty! you cheat yourselves, to shun the
+fraud of others! and yet, how better do you use the wealth so guarded?
+what nobler purpose can it answer to you, than even a chance to snatch
+some wretch from sinking? think less how _much_ ye save, and more
+for _what_; and then consider how thy full coffers may hereafter make
+reparation, for the empty catalogue of thy virtues.”
+
+“Anan!” said Mr Briggs, again lost in perplexity and wonder.
+
+“Oh yet,” continued Albany, turning towards Cecilia, “preach not here
+the hardness which ye practice; rather amend yourselves than corrupt
+her; and give with liberality what ye ought to receive with gratitude!”
+
+“This is not my doctrine,” cried Hobson; “I am not a near man, neither,
+but as to giving at that rate, it's quite out of character. I have as
+good a right to my own savings, as to my own gettings; and what I say
+is this, who'll give to _me_? let me see that, and it's quite another
+thing: and begin who will, I'll be bound to go on with him, pound for
+pound, or pence for pence. But as to giving to them beggars, it's what
+I don't approve; I pay the poor's rate, and that's what I call charity
+enough for any man. But for the matter of living well, and spending
+one's money handsomely, and having one's comforts about one, why it's a
+thing of another nature, and I can say this for myself, and that is,
+I never grudged myself any thing in my life. I always made myself
+agreeable, and lived on the best. That's my way.”
+
+“Bad way too,” cried Briggs, “never get on with it, never see beyond
+your nose; won't be worth a plum while your head wags!” then, taking
+Cecilia apart, “hark'ee, my duck,” he added, pointing to Albany, “who is
+that Mr Bounce, eh? what is he?”
+
+“I have known him but a short time, Sir; but I think of him very
+highly.”
+
+“Is he a _good_ man? that's the point, is he a _good_ man?”
+
+“Indeed he appears to me uncommonly benevolent and charitable.”
+
+“But that i'n't the thing; is he _warm_? that's the point, is he
+_warm_?”
+
+“If you mean _passionate_,” said Cecilia, “I believe the energy of his
+manner is merely to enforce what he says.”
+
+“Don't take me, don't take me,” cried he, impatiently; “can come down
+with the ready, that's the matter; can chink the little gold boys? eh?”
+
+“Why I rather fear not by his appearance; but I know nothing of his
+affairs.”
+
+“What does come for? eh? come a courting?”
+
+“Mercy on me, no!”
+
+“What for then? only a spunging?”
+
+“No, indeed. He seems to have no wish but to assist and plead for
+others.”
+
+“All fudge! think he i'n't touched? ay, ay; nothing but a trick! only to
+get at the chink: see he's as poor as a rat, talks of nothing but giving
+money; a bad sign! if he'd got any, would not do it. Wanted to make
+us come down; warrant thought to bam us all! out there! a'n't so soon
+gulled.”
+
+A knock at the street door gave now a new interruption, and Mr Delvile
+at length appeared.
+
+Cecilia, whom his sight could not fail to disconcert, felt doubly
+distressed by the unnecessary presence of Albany and Hobson; she
+regretted the absence of Mr Monckton, who could easily have taken them
+away; for though without scruple she could herself have acquainted Mr
+Hobson she had business, she dreaded offending Albany, whose esteem she
+was ambitious of obtaining.
+
+Mr Delvile entered the room with an air stately and erect; he took off
+his hat, but deigned not to make the smallest inclination of his head,
+nor offered any excuse to Mr Briggs for being past the hour of his
+appointment: but having advanced a few paces, without looking either
+to the right or left, said, “as I have never acted, my coming may not,
+perhaps, be essential; but as my name is in the Dean's Will, and I have
+once or twice met the other executors mentioned in it, I think it a duty
+I owe to my own heirs to prevent any possible future enquiry or trouble
+to them.”
+
+This speech was directly addressed to no one, though meant to be
+attended to by every one, and seemed proudly uttered as a mere apology
+to himself for not having declined the meeting.
+
+Cecilia, though she recovered from her confusion by the help of her
+aversion to this self-sufficiency, made not any answer. Albany retired
+to a corner of the room; Mr Hobson began to believe it was time for him
+to depart; and Mr Briggs thinking only of the quarrel in which he had
+separated with Mr Delvile in the summer, stood swelling with venom,
+which he longed for an opportunity to spit out.
+
+Mr Delvile, who regarded this silence as the effect of his awe-inspiring
+presence, became rather more complacent; but casting his eyes round the
+room, and perceiving the two strangers, he was visibly surprised, and
+looking at Cecilia for some explanation, seemed to stand suspended from
+the purpose of his visit till he heard one.
+
+Cecilia, earnest to have the business concluded, turned to Mr Briggs,
+and said, “Sir, here is pen and ink: are you to write, or am I? or what
+is to be done?”
+
+“No, no,” said he, with a sneer, “give it t'other; all in our turn;
+don't come before his Grace the Right Honourable Mr Vampus.”
+
+“Before whom, Sir?” said Mr Delvile, reddening.
+
+“Before my Lord Don Pedigree,” answered Briggs, with a spiteful grin,
+“know him? eh? ever hear of such a person?”
+
+Mr Delvile coloured still deeper, but turning contemptuously from him,
+disdained making any reply.
+
+Mr Briggs, who now regarded him as a defeated man, said exultingly to Mr
+Hobson, “what do stand here for?--hay?--fall o' your marrowbones; don't
+see 'Squire High and Mighty?”
+
+“As to falling on my marrowbones,” answered Mr Hobson, “it's what I
+shall do to no man, except he was the King himself, or the like of that,
+and going to make me Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Commissioner of
+Excise. Not that I mean the gentleman any offence; but a man's a man,
+and for one man to worship another is quite out of law.”
+
+“Must, must!” cried Briggs, “tell all his old grand-dads else: keeps 'em
+in a roll; locks 'em in a closet; says his prayers to 'em; can't live
+without 'em: likes 'em better than cash!--wish had 'em here! pop 'em all
+in the sink!”
+
+“If your intention, Sir,” cried Mr Delvile, fiercely, “is only to insult
+me, I am prepared for what measures I shall take. I declined seeing you
+in my own house, that I might not be under the same restraint as when it
+was my unfortunate lot to meet you last.”
+
+“Who cares?” cried Briggs, with an air of defiance, “what can do, eh?
+poke me into a family vault? bind me o' top of an old monument? tie
+me to a stinking carcase? make a corpse of me, and call it one of your
+famous cousins?--”
+
+“For heaven's sake, Mr Briggs,” interrupted Cecilia, who saw that Mr
+Delvile, trembling with passion, scarce refrained lifting up his stick,
+“be appeased, and let us finish our business!”
+
+Albany now, hearing in Cecilia's voice the alarm with which she was
+seized, came forward and exclaimed, “Whence this unmeaning dissension?
+to what purpose this irritating abuse? Oh vain and foolish! live ye so
+happily, last ye so long, that time and peace may thus be trifled with?”
+
+“There, there!” cried Briggs, holding up his finger at Mr Delvile, “have
+it now! got old Mr Bounce upon you! give you enough of it; promise you
+that!”
+
+“Restrain,” continued Albany, “this idle wrath; and if ye have ardent
+passions, employ them to nobler uses; let them stimulate acts of virtue,
+let them animate deeds of beneficence! Oh waste not spirits that may
+urge you to good, lead you to honour, warm you to charity, in poor and
+angry words, in unfriendly, unmanly debate!”
+
+Mr Delvile, who from the approach of Albany, had given him his whole
+attention, was struck with astonishment at this address, and almost
+petrified with wonder at his language and exhortations.
+
+“Why I must own,” said Mr Hobson, “as to this matter I am much of the
+same mind myself; for quarreling's a thing I don't uphold; being it
+advances one no way; for what I say is this, if a man gets the better,
+he's only where he was before, and if he gets worsted, why it's odds but
+the laugh's against him: so, if I may make bold to give my verdict, I
+would have one of these gentlemen take the other by the hand, and so
+put an end to bad words. That's my maxim, and that's what I call being
+agreeable.”
+
+Mr Delvile, at the words _one of these gentlemen take the other by the
+hand_, looked scornfully upon Mr Hobson, with a frown that expressed his
+highest indignation, at being thus familiarly coupled with Mr Briggs.
+And then, turning from him to Cecilia, haughtily said, “Are these
+two persons,” pointing towards Albany and Hobson, “waiting here to be
+witnesses to any transaction?”
+
+“No, Sir, no,” cried Hobson, “I don't mean to intrude, I am going
+directly. So you can give me no insight, ma'am,” addressing Cecilia, “as
+to where I might light upon Mr Belfield?”
+
+“Me? no!” cried she, much provoked by observing that Mr Delvile suddenly
+looked at her.
+
+“Well, ma'am, well, I mean no harm: only I hold it that the right way to
+hear of a young gentleman, is to ask for him of a young lady: that's my
+maxim. Come, Sir,” to Mr Briggs, “you and I had like to have fallen out,
+but what I say is this; let no man bear malice; that's my way: so I hope
+we part without ill blood?”
+
+“Ay, ay;” said Mr Briggs, giving him a nod.
+
+“Well, then,” added Hobson, “I hope the good-will may go round, and that
+not only you and I, but these two good old gentlemen will also lend a
+hand.”
+
+Mr Delvile now was at a loss which way to turn for very rage; but after
+looking at every one with a face flaming with ire, he said to Cecilia,
+“If you have collected together these persons for the purpose of
+affronting me, I must beg you to remember I am not one to be affronted
+with impunity!”
+
+Cecilia, half frightened, was beginning an answer that disclaimed any
+such intention, when Albany, with the most indignant energy, called out,
+“Oh pride of heart, with littleness of soul! check this vile arrogance,
+too vain for man, and spare to others some part of that lenity thou
+nourishest for thyself, or justly bestow on thyself that contempt thou
+nourishest for others!”
+
+And with these words he sternly left the house.
+
+The thunderstruck Mr Delvile began now to fancy that all the demons
+of torment were designedly let loose upon him, and his surprise and
+resentment operated so powerfully that it was only in broken sentences
+he could express either. “Very extraordinary!--a new method of
+conduct!--liberties to which I am not much used!--impertinences I shall
+not hastily forget,--treatment that would scarce be pardonable to a
+person wholly unknown!--”
+
+“Why indeed, Sir,” said Hobson, “I can't but say it was rather a cut up;
+but the old gentleman is what one may call a genius, which makes it a
+little excusable; for he does things all his own way, and I am told it's
+the same thing who he speaks to, so he can but find fault, and that.”
+
+“Sir,” interrupted the still more highly offended Mr Delvile, “what
+_you_ may be told is extremely immaterial to _me_; and I must take the
+liberty to hint to you, a conversation of this easy kind is not what I
+am much in practice in hearing.”
+
+“Sir, I ask pardon,” said Hobson, “I meant nothing but what was
+agreeable; however, I have done, and I wish you good day. Your humble
+servant, ma'am, and I hope, Sir,” to Mr Briggs, “you won't begin bad
+words again?”
+
+“No, no,” said Briggs, “ready to make up; all at end; only don't much
+like _Spain_, that's all!” winking significantly, “nor a'n't over fond
+of a _skeleton_!”
+
+Mr Hobson now retired; and Mr Delvile and Mr Briggs, being both wearied
+and both in haste to have done, settled in about five minutes all for
+which they met, after passing more than an hour in agreeing what that
+was.
+
+Mr Briggs then, saying he had an engagement upon business, declined
+settling his own accounts till another time, but promised to see Cecilia
+again soon, and added, “be sure take care of that old Mr Bounce! cracked
+in the noddle; see that with half an eye! better not trust him! break
+out some day: do you a mischief!”
+
+He then went away: but while the parlour-door was still open, to the no
+little surprise of Cecilia, the servant announced Mr Belfield. He hardly
+entered the room, and his countenance spoke haste and eagerness. “I have
+this moment, madam,” he said, “been informed a complaint has been lodged
+against me here, and I could not rest till I had the honour of assuring
+you, that though I have been rather dilatory, I have not neglected my
+appointment, nor has the condescension of your interference been thrown
+away.”
+
+He then bowed, shut the door, and ran off Cecilia, though happy to
+understand by this speech that he was actually restored to his family,
+was sorry at these repeated intrusions in the presence of Mr Delvile,
+who was now the only one that remained.
+
+She expected every instant that he would ring for his chair, which he
+kept in waiting; but, after a pause of some continuance, to her equal
+surprise and disturbance, he made the following speech. “As it is
+probable I am now for the last time alone with you, ma'am, and as it is
+certain we shall meet no more upon business, I cannot, in justice to my
+own character, and to the respect I retain for the memory of the Dean,
+your uncle, take a final leave of the office with which he was pleased
+to invest me, without first fulfilling my own ideas of the duty it
+requires from me, by giving you some counsel relating to your future
+establishment.”
+
+This was not a preface much to enliven Cecilia; it prepared her for such
+speeches as she was least willing to hear, and gave to her the mixt and
+painful sensation of spirits depressed, with ride alarmed.
+
+“My numerous engagements,” he continued, “and the appropriation of my
+time, already settled, to their various claims, must make me brief in
+what I have to represent, and somewhat, perhaps, abrupt in coming to the
+purpose. But that you will excuse.”
+
+Cecilia disdained to humour this arrogance by any compliments or
+concessions: she was silent, therefore; and when they were both seated,
+he went on.
+
+“You are now at a time of life when it is natural for young women to
+wish for some connection: and the largeness of your fortune will remove
+from you such difficulties as prove bars to the pretensions, in this
+expensive age, of those who possess not such advantages. It would have
+been some pleasure to me, while I yet considered you as my Ward, to have
+seen you properly disposed of: but as that time is past, I can only give
+you some general advice, which you may follow or neglect as you think
+fit. By giving it, I shall satisfy myself; for the rest, I am not
+responsible.”
+
+He paused; but Cecilia felt less and less inclination to make use of the
+opportunity by speaking in her turn.
+
+“Yet though, as I just now hinted, young women of large fortunes may
+have little trouble in finding themselves establishments, they ought
+not, therefore, to trifle when proper ones are in their power, nor to
+suppose themselves equal to any they may chance to desire.”
+
+Cecilia coloured high at this pointed reprehension; but feeling her
+disgust every moment encrease, determined to sustain herself with
+dignity, and at least not suffer him to perceive the triumph of his
+ostentation and rudeness.
+
+“The proposals,” he continued, “of the Earl of Ernolf had always my
+approbation; it was certainly an ill-judged thing to neglect such an
+opportunity of being honourably settled. The clause of the name was, to
+_him_, immaterial; since his own name half a century ago was unheard of,
+and since he is himself only known by his title. He is still, however,
+I have authority to acquaint you, perfectly well disposed to renew his
+application to you.”
+
+“I am sorry, Sir,” said Cecilia coldly, “to hear it.”
+
+“You have, perhaps, some other better offer in view?”
+
+“No, Sir,” cried she, with spirit, “nor even in desire.”
+
+“Am I, then, to infer that some inferior offer has more chance of your
+approbation?”
+
+“There is no reason, Sir, to infer any thing; I am content with my
+actual situation, and have, at present, neither prospect nor intention
+of changing it.”
+
+“I perceive, but without surprise, your unwillingness to discuss
+the subject; nor do I mean to press it: I shall merely offer to your
+consideration one caution, and then relieve you from my presence. Young
+women of ample fortunes, who are early independent, are sometimes apt
+to presume they may do every thing with impunity; but they are mistaken;
+they are as liable to censure as those who are wholly unprovided for.”
+
+“I hope, Sir,” said Cecilia, staring, “this at least is a caution rather
+drawn from my situation than my behaviour?”
+
+“I mean not, ma'am, narrowly to go into, or investigate the subject;
+what I have said you may make your own use of; I have only to observe
+further, that when young women, at your time of life, are at all
+negligent of so nice a thing as reputation, they commonly live to repent
+it.”
+
+He then arose to go, but Cecilia, not more offended than amazed, said,
+“I must beg, Sir, you will explain yourself!”
+
+“Certainly this matter,” he answered, “must be immaterial to _me_: yet,
+as I have once been your guardian by the nomination of the Dean
+your uncle, I cannot forbear making an effort towards preventing any
+indiscretion: and frequent visits to a young man--”
+
+“Good God! Sir,” interrupted Cecilia, “what is it you mean?”
+
+“It can certainly, as I said before, be nothing to _me_, though I should
+be glad to see you in better hands: but I cannot suppose you have been
+led to take such steps without some serious plan; and I would advise
+you, without loss of time, to think better of what you are about.”
+
+“Should I think, Sir, to eternity,” cried Cecilia, “I could never
+conjecture what you mean!”
+
+“You may not chuse,” said he, proudly, “to understand me; but I have
+done. If it had been in my power to have interfered in your service with
+my Lord Derford, notwithstanding my reluctance to being involved in any
+fresh employment, I should have made a point of not refusing it: but
+this young man is nobody,--a very imprudent connection--”
+
+“What young man, Sir?”
+
+“Nay, _I_ know nothing of him! it is by no means likely I should: but as
+I had already been informed of your attention to him, the corroborating
+incidents of my servant's following you to his house, his friend's
+seeking him at yours, and his own waiting upon you this morning; were
+not well calculated to make me withdraw my credence to it.”
+
+“Is it, then, Mr Belfield, Sir, concerning whom you draw these
+inferences, from circumstances the most accidental and unmeaning?”
+
+“It is by no means my practice,” cried he, haughtily, and with evident
+marks of high displeasure at this speech, “to believe any thing lightly,
+or without even unquestionable authority; what once, therefore, I have
+credited, I do not often find erroneous. Mistake not, however, what I
+have said into supposing I have any objection to your marrying; on the
+contrary, it had been for the honour of my family had you been married a
+year ago I should not then have suffered the degradation of seeing a son
+of the first expectations in the kingdom upon the point of renouncing
+his birth, nor a woman of the first distinction ruined in her health,
+and broken for ever in her constitution.”
+
+The emotions of Cecilia at this speech were too powerful for
+concealment; her colour varied, now reddening with indignation, now
+turning pale with apprehension; she arose, she trembled and sat down,
+she arose again, but not knowing what to say or what to do, again sat
+down.
+
+Mr Delvile then, making a stiff bow, wished her good morning.
+
+“Go not so, Sir!” cried she, in faltering accents; “let me at least
+convince you of the mistake with regard to Mr Belfield--”
+
+“My mistakes, ma'am,” said he, with a contemptuous smile, “are perhaps
+not easily convicted: and I may possibly labour under others that
+would give you no less trouble: it may therefore be better to avoid any
+further disquisition.”
+
+“No, not better,” answered she, again recovering her courage from this
+fresh provocation; “I fear no disquisition; on the contrary, it is my
+interest to solicit one.”
+
+“This intrepidity in a young woman,” said he, ironically, “is certainly
+very commendable; and doubtless, as you are your own mistress, your
+having run out great part of your fortune, is nothing beyond what you
+have a right to do.”
+
+“Me!” cried Cecilia, astonished, “run out great part of my fortune!”
+
+“Perhaps that is another _mistake_! I have not often been so
+unfortunate; and you are not, then, in debt?”
+
+“In debt, Sir?”
+
+“Nay, I have no intention to inquire into your affairs. Good morning to
+you, ma'am.”
+
+“I beg, I entreat, Sir, that you will stop!--make me, at least,
+understand what you mean, whether you deign to hear my justification or
+not.”
+
+“O, I am mistaken, it seems! misinformed, deceived; and you have neither
+spent more than you have received, nor taken up money of Jews? your
+minority has been clear of debts? and your fortune, now you are of age,
+will be free from incumbrances?”
+
+Cecilia, who now began to understand him, eagerly answered, “do you
+mean, Sir, the money which I took up last spring?”
+
+“O no; by no means, I conceive the whole to be a _mistake_!”
+
+And he went to the door.
+
+“Hear me but a moment, Sir!” cried she hastily, following him; “since
+you know of that transaction, do not refuse to listen to its occasion; I
+took up the money for Mr Harrel; it was all, and solely for him.”
+
+“For Mr Harrel, was it?” said he, with an air of supercilious
+incredulity; “that was rather an unlucky step. Your servant, ma'am.”
+
+And he opened the door.
+
+“You will not hear me, then? you will not credit me?” cried she in the
+cruellest agitation.
+
+“Some other time, ma'am; at present my avocations are too numerous to
+permit me.”
+
+And again, stiffly bowing, he called to his servants, who were waiting
+in the hall, and put himself into his chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A SUSPICION.
+
+Cecilia was now left in a state of perturbation that was hardly to be
+endured. The contempt with which she had been treated during the whole
+visit was nothing short of insult, but the accusations with which it was
+concluded did not more irritate than astonish her.
+
+That some strange prejudice had been taken against her, even more than
+belonged to her connection with young Delvile, the message brought her
+by Dr Lyster had given her reason to suppose: what that prejudice was
+she now knew, though how excited she was still ignorant; but she found
+Mr Delvile had been informed she had taken up money of a Jew, without
+having heard it was for Mr Harrel, and that he had been acquainted with
+her visits in Portland-street, without seeming to know Mr Belfield had
+a sister. Two charges such as these, so serious in their nature, and so
+destructive of her character, filled her with horror and consternation,
+and even somewhat served to palliate his illiberal and injurious
+behaviour.
+
+But how reports thus false and thus disgraceful should be raised, and by
+what dark work of slander and malignity they had been spread, remained a
+doubt inexplicable. They could not, she was certain, be the mere rumour
+of chance, since in both the assertions there was some foundation of
+truth, however cruelly perverted, or basely over-charged.
+
+This led her to consider how few people there were not only who had
+interest, but who had power to propagate such calumnies; even her
+acquaintance with the Belfields she remembered not ever mentioning,
+for she knew none of their friends, and none of her own knew them. How,
+then, should it be circulated, that she “visited often at the house?”
+ however be invented that it was from her “attention to the young man?”
+ Henrietta, she was sure, was too good and too innocent to be guilty of
+such perfidy; and the young man himself had always shewn a modesty and
+propriety that manifested his total freedom from the vanity of such a
+suspicion, and an elevation of sentiment that would have taught him to
+scorn the boast, even if he believed the partiality.
+
+The mother, however, had neither been so modest nor so rational; she had
+openly avowed her opinion that Cecilia was in love with her son; and as
+that son, by never offering himself, had never been refused, her opinion
+had received no check of sufficient force, for a mind so gross and
+literal, to change it.
+
+This part, therefore, of the charge she gave to Mrs Belfield, whose
+officious and loquacious forwardness she concluded had induced her to
+narrate her suspicions, till, step by step, they had reached Mr Delvile.
+
+But though able, by the probability of this conjecture, to account for
+the report concerning Belfield, the whole affair of the debt remained a
+difficulty not to be solved. Mr Harrel, his wife, Mr Arnott, the Jew and
+Mr Monckton, were the only persons to whom the transaction was known;
+and though from five, a secret, in the course of so many months, might
+easily be supposed likely to transpire, those five were so particularly
+bound to silence, not only for her interest but their own, that it was
+not unreasonable to believe it as safe among them all, as if solely
+consigned to one. For herself, she had revealed it to no creature but Mr
+Monckton; not even to Delvile; though, upon her consenting to marry him,
+he had an undoubted right to be acquainted with the true state of
+her affairs; but such had been the hurry, distress, confusion and
+irresolution of her mind at that period, that this whole circumstance
+had been driven from it entirely, and she had, since, frequently
+blamed herself for such want of recollection. Mr Harrel, for a thousand
+reasons, she was certain had never named it; and had the communication
+come from his widow or from Mr Arnott, the motives would have been
+related as well as the debt, and she had been spared the reproach of
+contracting it for purposes of her own extravagance. The Jew, indeed,
+was, to her, under no obligation of secrecy, but he had an obligation
+far more binding,--he was tied to himself.
+
+A suspicion now arose in her mind which made it thrill with horror;
+“good God! she exclaimed, can Mr Monckton---”
+
+She stopt, even to herself;--she checked the idea;--she drove it hastily
+from her;--she was certain it was false and cruel,--she hated herself
+for having started it.
+
+“No,” cried she, “he is my friend, the confirmed friend of many years,
+my well-wisher from childhood, my zealous counsellor and assistant
+almost from my birth to this hour:--such perfidy from him would not even
+be human!”
+
+Yet still her perplexity was undiminished; the affair was undoubtedly
+known, and it only could be known by the treachery of some one entrusted
+with it: and however earnestly her generosity combated her rising
+suspicions, she could not wholly quell them; and Mr Monckton's strange
+aversion to the Delviles, his earnestness to break off her connexion
+with them, occurred to her remembrance, and haunted her perforce with
+surmises to his disadvantage.
+
+That gentleman, when he came home, found her in this comfortless and
+fluctuating state, endeavouring to form conjectures upon what had
+happened, yet unable to succeed, but by suggestions which one moment
+excited her abhorrence of him, and the next of herself.
+
+He enquired, with his usual appearance of easy friendliness, into what
+had passed with her two guardians, and how she had settled her affairs.
+She answered without hesitation all his questions, but her manner was
+cold and reserved, though her communication was frank.
+
+This was not unheeded by Mr Monckton, who, after a short time, begged to
+know if any thing had disturbed her.
+
+Cecilia, ashamed of her doubts, though unable to get rid of them, then
+endeavoured to brighten up, and changed the subject to the difficulties
+she had had to encounter from the obstinacy of Mr Briggs.
+
+Mr Monckton for a while humoured this evasion; but when, by her
+own exertion, her solemnity began to wear off, he repeated his
+interrogatory, and would not be satisfied without an answer.
+
+Cecilia, earnest that surmises so injurious should be removed, then
+honestly, but without comments, related the scene which had just past
+between Mr Delvile and herself.
+
+No comments were, however, wanting to explain to Mr Monckton the change
+of her behaviour. “I see,” he cried hastily, “what you cannot but
+suspect; and I will go myself to Mr Delvile, and insist upon his
+clearing me.”
+
+Cecilia, shocked to have thus betrayed what was passing within her,
+assured him his vindication required not such a step, and begged he
+would counsel her how to discover this treachery, without drawing from
+her concern at it a conclusion so offensive to himself.
+
+He was evidently, however, and greatly disturbed; he declared his own
+wonder equal to hers how the affair had been betrayed, expressed the
+warmest indignation at the malevolent insinuations against her conduct,
+and lamented with mingled acrimony and grief, that there should exist
+even the possibility of casting the odium of such villainy upon himself.
+
+Cecilia, distressed, perplexed, and ashamed at once, again endeavoured
+to appease him, and though a lurking doubt obstinately clung to her
+understanding, the purity of her own principles, and the softness of her
+heart, pleaded strongly for his innocence, and urged her to detest her
+suspicion, though to conquer it they were unequal.
+
+“It is true,” said he, with an air ingenuous though mortified, “I
+dislike the Delviles, and have always disliked them; they appear to me
+a jealous, vindictive, and insolent race, and I should have thought I
+betrayed the faithful regard I professed for you, had I concealed my
+opinion when I saw you in danger of forming an alliance with them; I
+spoke to you, therefore, with honest zeal, thoughtless of any enmity I
+might draw upon myself; but though it was an interference from which I
+hoped, by preventing the connection, to contribute to your happiness,
+it was not with a design to stop it at the expence of your character,--a
+design black, horrible, and diabolic! a design which must be formed by a
+Daemon, but which even a Daemon could never, I think, execute!”
+
+The candour of this speech, in which his aversion to the Delviles was
+openly acknowledged, and rationally justified, somewhat quieted the
+suspicions of Cecilia, which far more anxiously sought to be confuted
+than confirmed: she began, therefore, to conclude that some accident,
+inexplicable as unfortunate, had occasioned the partial discovery to Mr
+Delvile, by which her own goodness proved the source of her defamation:
+and though something still hung upon her mind that destroyed that firm
+confidence she had hitherto felt in the friendship of Mr Monckton, she
+held it utterly unjust to condemn him without proof, which she was not
+more unable to procure, than to satisfy herself with any reason why so
+perfidiously he should calumniate her.
+
+Comfortless, however, and tormented with conjectures equally vague and
+afflicting, she could only clear him to be lost in perplexity, she could
+only accuse him to be penetrated with horror. She endeavoured to suspend
+her judgment till time should develop the mystery, and only for the
+present sought to finish her business and leave London.
+
+She renewed, therefore, again, the subject of Mr Briggs, and told him
+how vain had been her effort to settle with him. Mr Monckton instantly
+offered his services in assisting her, and the next morning they went
+together to his house, where, after an obstinate battle, they gained
+a complete victory: Mr Briggs gave up all his accounts, and, in a few
+days, by the active interference of Mr Monckton, her affairs were wholly
+taken out of his hands. He stormed, and prophesied all ill to Cecilia,
+but it was not to any purpose; he was so disagreeable to her, by his
+manners, and so unintelligible to her in matters of business, that
+she was happy to have done with him; even though, upon inspecting his
+accounts, they were all found clear and exact, and his desire to retain
+his power over her fortune, proved to have no other motive than a love
+of money so potent, that to manage it, even for another, gave him a
+satisfaction he knew not how to relinquish.
+
+Mr Monckton, who, though a man of pleasure, understood business
+perfectly well, now instructed and directed her in making a general
+arrangement of her affairs. The estate which devolved to her from her
+uncle, and which was all in landed property, she continued to commit to
+the management of the steward who was employed in his life-time; and
+her own fortune from her father, which was all in the stocks, she now
+diminished to nothing by selling out to pay Mr Monckton the principal
+and interest which she owed him, and by settling with her Bookseller.
+
+While these matters were transacting, which, notwithstanding her
+eagerness to leave town, could not be brought into such a train as to
+permit her absence in less than a week, she passed her time chiefly
+alone. Her wishes all inclined her to bestow it upon Henrietta, but
+the late attack of Mr Delvile had frightened her from keeping up
+that connection, since however carefully she might confine it to the
+daughter, Mrs Belfield, she was certain, would impute it all to the son.
+
+That attack rested upon her mind, in defiance of all her endeavours
+to banish it; the contempt with which it was made seemed intentionally
+offensive, as if he had been happy to derive from her supposed ill
+conduct, a right to triumph over as well as reject her. She concluded,
+also, that Delvile would be informed of these calumnies, yet she judged
+his generosity by her own, and was therefore convinced he would not
+credit them: but what chiefly at this time encreased her sadness and
+uneasiness, was the mention of Mrs Delvile's broken constitution
+and ruined health. She had always preserved for that lady the most
+affectionate respect, and could not consider herself as the cause of her
+sufferings, without feeling the utmost concern, however conscious she
+had not wilfully occasioned them.
+
+Nor was this scene the only one by which her efforts to forget this
+family were defeated; her watchful monitor, Albany, failed not again to
+claim her promise; and though Mr Monckton earnestly exhorted her not to
+trust herself out with him, she preferred a little risk to the keenness
+of his reproaches, and the weather being good on the morning that he
+called, she consented to accompany him in his rambles: only charging her
+footman to follow where-ever they went, and not to fail enquiring for
+her if she stayed long out of his sight. These precautions were rather
+taken to satisfy Mr Monckton than herself, who, having now procured
+intelligence of the former disorder of his intellects, was fearful of
+some extravagance, and apprehensive for her safety.
+
+He took her to a miserable house in a court leading into Piccadilly,
+where, up three pair of stairs, was a wretched woman ill in bed, while a
+large family of children were playing in the room.
+
+“See here,” cried he, “what human nature can endure! look at that poor
+wretch, distracted with torture, yet lying in all this noise! unable to
+stir in her bed, yet without any assistant! suffering the pangs of acute
+disease, yet wanting the necessaries of life!”
+
+Cecilia went up to the bed-side, and enquired more particularly into the
+situation of the invalid; but finding she could hardly speak from pain,
+she sent for the woman of the house, who kept a Green Grocer's shop on
+the ground floor, and desired her to hire a nurse for her sick lodger,
+to call all the children down stairs, and to send for an apothecary,
+whose bill she promised to pay. She then gave her some money to get what
+necessaries might be wanted, and said she would come again in two days
+to see how they went on.
+
+Albany, who listened to these directions with silent, yet eager
+attention, now clasped both his hands with a look of rapture, and
+exclaimed “Virtue yet lives,--and I have found her?”
+
+Cecilia, proud of such praise, and ambitious to deserve it, chearfully
+said, “where, Sir, shall we go now?”
+
+“Home;” answered he with an aspect the most benign; “I will not wear out
+thy pity by rendering woe familiar to it.”
+
+Cecilia, though at this moment more disposed for acts of charity than
+for business or for pleasure, remembered that her fortune however large
+was not unlimited, and would not press any further bounty for objects
+she knew not, certain that occasions and claimants, far beyond her
+ability of answering, would but too frequently arise among those with
+whom she was more connected, she therefore yielded herself to his
+direction, and returned to Soho-Square.
+
+Again, however, he failed not to call the time she had appointed for
+re-visiting the invalid, to whom, with much gladness, he conducted her.
+
+The poor woman, whose disease was a rheumatic fever, was already much
+better; she had been attended by an apothecary who had given her some
+alleviating medicine; she had a nurse at her bedside, and the room being
+cleared of the children, she had had the refreshment of some sleep.
+
+She was now able to raise her head, and make her acknowledgments to her
+benefactress; but not a little was the surprise of Cecilia, when, upon
+looking in her face, she said, “Ah, madam, I have seen you before!”
+
+Cecilia, who had not the smallest recollection of her, in return desired
+to know when, or where?
+
+“When you were going to be married, madam, I was the Pew-Opener at ----
+Church.”
+
+Cecilia started with secret horror, and involuntarily retreated from the
+bed; while Albany with a look of astonishment exclaimed, “Married!--why,
+then, is it unknown?”
+
+“Ask me not!” cried she, hastily; “it is all a mistake.”
+
+“Poor thing!” cried he, “this, then, is the string thy nerves endure not
+to have touched! sooner will I expire than a breath of mine shall make
+it vibrate! Oh sacred be thy sorrow, for thou canst melt at that of the
+indigent!”
+
+Cecilia then made a few general enquiries, and heard that the poor
+woman, who was a widow, had been obliged to give up her office, from
+the frequent attacks which she suffered of the rheumatism; that she had
+received much assistance both from the Rector and the Curate of ----
+Church, but her continual illness, with the largeness of her family,
+kept her distressed in spite of all help.
+
+Cecilia promised to consider what she could do for her, and then giving
+her more money, returned to Lady Margaret's.
+
+Albany, who found that the unfortunate recollection of the Pew-Opener
+had awakened in his young pupil a melancholy train of reflections,
+seemed now to compassionate the sadness which hitherto he had reproved,
+and walking silently by her side till she came to Soho-Square, said
+in accents of kindness, “Peace light upon thy head, and dissipate thy
+woes!” and left her.
+
+“Ah when!” cried she to herself, “if thus they are to be revived
+for-ever!”
+
+Mr Monckton, who observed that something had greatly affected her, now
+expostulated warmly against Albany and his wild schemes; “You trifle
+with your own happiness,” he cried, “by witnessing these scenes of
+distress, and you will trifle away your fortune upon projects you can
+never fulfil: the very air in those miserable houses is unwholesome for
+you to breathe; you will soon be affected with some of the diseases to
+which you so uncautiously expose yourself, and while not half you give
+in charity will answer the purpose you wish, you will be plundered by
+cheats and sharpers till you have nothing left to bestow. You must be
+more considerate for yourself, and not thus governed by Albany, whose
+insanity is but partially cured, and whose projects are so boundless,
+that the whole capital of the East India Company would not suffice to
+fulfil them.”
+
+Cecilia, though she liked not the severity of this remonstrance,
+acknowledged there was some truth in it, and promised to be discreet,
+and take the reins into her own hands.
+
+There remained for her, however, no other satisfaction; and the path
+which had thus been pointed out to her, grew more and more alluring
+every step. Her old friends, the poor Hills, now occurred to her memory,
+and she determined to see herself in what manner they went on.
+
+The scene which this enquiry presented to her, was by no means
+calculated to strengthen Mr Monckton's doctrine, for the prosperity in
+which she found this little family, amply rewarded the liberality she
+had shewn to it, and proved an irresistible encouragement to similar
+actions. Mrs Hill wept for joy in recounting how well she succeeded,
+and Cecilia, delighted by the power of giving such pleasure, forgot all
+cautions and promises in the generosity which she displayed. She paid
+Mrs Roberts the arrears that were due to her, she discharged all that
+was owing for the children who had been put to school, desired they
+might still be sent to it solely at her expense, and gave the mother a
+sum of money to be laid out in presents for them all.
+
+To perform her promise with the Pew Opener was however more difficult;
+her ill health, and the extreme youth of her children making her utterly
+helpless: but these were not considerations for Cecilia to desert her,
+but rather motives for regarding her as more peculiarly an object
+of charity. She found she had once been a clear starcher, and was a
+tolerable plain work-woman; she resolved, therefore, to send her into
+the country, where she hoped to be able to get her some business, and
+knew that at least, she could help her, if unsuccessful, and see that
+her children were brought up to useful employments. The woman herself
+was enchanted at the plan, and firmly persuaded the country air would
+restore her health. Cecilia told her only to wait till she was well
+enough to travel, and promised, in the mean time, to look out some
+little habitation for her. She then gave her money to pay her bills, and
+for her journey, and writing a full direction where she would hear of
+her at Bury, took leave of her till that time.
+
+These magnificent donations and designs, being communicated to Albany,
+seemed a renovation to him of youth, spirit, and joy! while their effect
+upon Mr Monckton resembled an annihilation of all three! to see money
+thus sported away, which he had long considered as his own, to behold
+those sums which he had destined for his pleasures, thus lavishly
+bestowed upon beggars, excited a rage he could with difficulty conceal,
+and an uneasiness he could hardly endure; and he languished, he sickened
+for the time, when he might put a period to such romantic proceedings.
+
+Such were the only occupations which interrupted the solitude of
+Cecilia, except those which were given to her by actual business; and
+the moment her affairs were in so much forwardness that they could be
+managed by letters, she prepared for returning into the country. She
+acquainted Lady Margaret and Mr Monckton with her design, and gave
+orders to her servants to be ready to set off the next day.
+
+Mr Monckton made not any opposition, and refused himself the
+satisfaction of accompanying her: and Lady Margaret, whose purpose was
+now answered, and who wished to be in the country herself, determined to
+follow her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A DISTURBANCE.
+
+This matter being settled at breakfast, Cecilia, having but one day more
+to spend in London, knew not how to let it pass without taking leave of
+Henrietta, though she chose not again to expose herself to the forward
+insinuations of her mother; she sent her, therefore, a short note,
+begging to see her at Lady Margaret's, and acquainting her that the next
+day she was going out of town.
+
+Henrietta returned the following answer.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Madam,--My mother is gone to market, and I must not go out without her
+leave; I have run to the door at every knock this whole week in hopes
+you were coming, and my heart has jumpt at every coach that has gone
+through the street. Dearest lady, why did you tell me you would come? I
+should not have thought of such a great honour if you had not put it in
+my head. And now I have got the use of a room where I can often be alone
+for two or three hours together. And so I shall this morning, if it
+was possible my dear Miss Beverley could come. But I don't mean to be
+teasing, and I would not be impertinent or encroaching for the world;
+but only the thing is I have a great deal to say to you, and if you was
+not so rich a lady, and so much above me, I am sure I should love you
+better than any body in the whole world, almost; and now I dare say I
+shan't see you at all; for it rains very hard, and my mother, I know,
+will be sadly angry if I ask to go in a coach. O dear! I don't know
+what I can do! for it will half break my heart, if my dear Miss Beverley
+should go out of town, and I not see her!--I am, Madam, with the
+greatest respectfulness, your most humble servant,
+
+HENRIETTA BELFIELD.
+
+This artless remonstrance, joined to the intelligence that she could
+see her alone, made Cecilia instantly order a chair, and go herself to
+Portland-street: for she found by this letter there was much doubt if
+she could otherwise see her, and the earnestness of Henrietta made her
+now not endure to disappoint her. “She has much,” cried she, “to say to
+me, and I will no longer refuse to hear her; she shall unbosom to me
+her gentle heart, for we have now nothing to fear from each other. She
+promises herself pleasure from the communication, and doubtless it must
+be some relief to her. Oh were there any friendly bosom, in which I
+might myself confide!--happier Henrietta! less fearful of thy pride,
+less tenacious of thy dignity! thy sorrows at least seek the consolation
+of sympathy,--mine, alas! fettered by prudence, must fly it!”
+
+She was shewn into the parlour, which she had the pleasure to find
+empty; and, in an instant, the warm-hearted Henrietta was in her arms.
+“This is sweet of you indeed,” cried she, “for I did not know how to ask
+it, though it rains so hard I could not have walked to you, and I don't
+know what I should have done, if you had gone away and quite forgot me.”
+
+She then took her into the back parlour, which she said they had lately
+hired, and, as it was made but little use of, she had it almost entirely
+to herself.
+
+There had passed a sad scene, she told her, at the meeting with her
+brother, though now they were a little more comfortable; yet, her
+mother, she was sure, would never be at rest till he got into some
+higher way of life; “And, indeed, I have some hopes,” she continued,
+“that we shall be able by and bye to do something better for him; for
+he has got one friend in the world, yet; thank God, and such a noble
+friend!--indeed I believe he can do whatever he pleases for him,--that
+is I mean I believe if he was to ask any thing for him, there's nobody
+would deny him. And this is what I wanted to talk to you about.”--
+
+Cecilia, who doubted not but she meant Delvile, scarce knew how to press
+the subject, though she came with no other view: Henrietta, however, too
+eager to want solicitation, went on.
+
+“But the question is whether we shall be able to prevail upon my brother
+to accept any thing, for he grows more and more unwilling to be obliged,
+and the reason is, that being poor, he is afraid, I believe, people
+should think he wants to beg of them: though if they knew him as well
+as I do, they would not long think that, for I am sure he would a great
+deal rather be starved to death. But indeed, to say the truth, I am
+afraid he has been sadly to blame in this affair, and quarrelled when
+there was no need to be affronted; for I have seen a gentleman who knows
+a great deal better than my brother what people should do, and he says
+he took every thing wrong that was done, all the time he was at Lord
+Vannelt's.”
+
+“And how does this gentleman know it?”
+
+“O because he went himself to enquire about it; for he knows Lord
+Vannelt very well, and it was by his means my brother came acquainted
+with him. And this gentleman would not have wished my brother to be used
+ill any more than I should myself, so I am sure I may believe what he
+says. But my poor brother, not being a lord himself, thought every body
+meant to be rude to him, and because he knew he was poor, he suspected
+they all behaved disrespectfully to him. But this gentleman gave me his
+word that every body liked him and esteemed him, and if he would not
+have been so suspicious, they would all have done any thing for him in
+the world.”
+
+“You know this gentleman very well, then?”
+
+“O no, madam!” she answered hastily, “I don't know him at all! he only
+comes here to see my brother; it would be very impertinent for me to
+call him an acquaintance of mine.”
+
+“Was it before your brother, then, he held this conversation with you?”
+
+“O no, my brother would have been affronted with him, too, if he had!
+but he called here to enquire for him at the time when he was lost to
+us, and my mother quite went down upon her knees to him to beg him to
+go to Lord Vannelt's, and make excuses for him, if he had not behaved
+properly: but if my brother was to know this, he would hardly speak to
+her again! so when this gentleman came next, I begged him not to mention
+it, for my mother happened to be out, and so I saw him alone.”
+
+“And did he stay with you long?”
+
+“No, ma'am, a very short time indeed; but I asked him questions all the
+while, and kept him as long as I could, that I might hear all he had to
+say about my brother.”
+
+“Have you never seen him since?”
+
+“No, ma'am, not once! I suppose he does not know my brother is come back
+to us. Perhaps when he does, he will call.”
+
+“Do you wish him to call?”
+
+“Me?” cried she, blushing, “a little;--sometimes I do;--for my brother's
+sake.”
+
+“For your brother's sake! Ah my dear Henrietta! but tell me,--or _don't_
+tell me if you had rather not,--did I not once see you kissing a letter?
+perhaps it was from this same noble friend?”
+
+“It was not a letter, madam,” said she, looking down, “it was only the
+cover of one to my brother.”
+
+“The cover of a letter only!--and that to your brother!--is it possible
+you could so much value it?”
+
+“Ah madam! _You_, who are always used to the good and the wise, who see
+no other sort of people but those in high life, _you_ can have no notion
+how they strike those that they are new to!--but I who see them seldom,
+and who live with people so very unlike them--Oh you cannot guess how
+sweet to _me_ is every thing that belongs to them! whatever has but
+once been touched by their hands, I should like to lock up, and keep for
+ever! though if I was used to them, as you are, perhaps I might think
+less of them.”
+
+Alas! thought Cecilia, who by _them_ knew she only meant _him_, little
+indeed would further intimacy protect you!
+
+“We are all over-ready,” continued Henrietta, “to blame others, and that
+is the way I have been doing all this time myself; but I don't blame my
+poor brother now for living so with the great as I used to do, for now
+I have seen a little more of the world, I don't wonder any longer at his
+behaviour: for I know how it is, and I see that those who have had good
+educations, and kept great company, and mixed with the world,--O it
+is another thing!--they seem quite a different species!--they are so
+gentle, so soft-mannered! nothing comes from them but what is meant
+to oblige! they seem as if they only lived to give pleasure to other
+people, and as if they never thought at all of themselves!”
+
+“Ah Henrietta!” said Cecilia, shaking her head, “you have caught the
+enthusiasm of your brother, though you so long condemned it! Oh have a
+care lest, like him also, you find it as pernicious as it is alluring!”
+
+“There, is no danger for _me_, madam,” answered she, “for the people I
+so much admire are quite out of my reach. I hardly ever even see them;
+and perhaps it may so happen I may see them no more!”
+
+“The people?” said Cecilia, smiling, “are there, then, many you so much
+distinguish?”
+
+“Oh no indeed!” cried she, eagerly, “there is only one! there _can_
+be--I mean there are only a few--” she checked herself, and stopt.
+
+“Whoever you admire,” cried Cecilia, “your admiration cannot but honour:
+yet indulge it not too far, lest it should wander from your heart to
+your peace, and make you wretched for life.”
+
+“Ah madam!--I see you know who is the particular person I was thinking
+of! but indeed you are quite mistaken if you suppose any thing bad of
+me!”
+
+“Bad of you!” cried Cecilia, embracing her, “I scarce think so well of
+any one!”
+
+“But I mean, madam, if you think I forget he is so much above me. But
+indeed I never do; for I only admire him for his goodness to my brother,
+and never think of him at all, but just by way of comparing him,
+sometimes, to the other people that I see, because he makes me hate them
+so, that I wish I was never to see them again.”
+
+“His acquaintance, then,” said Cecilia, “has done you but an ill office,
+and happy it would be for you could you forget you had ever made it.”
+
+“O, I shall never do that! for the more I think of him, the more I
+am out of humour with every body else! O Miss Beverley! we have a sad
+acquaintance indeed! I'm sure I don't wonder my brother was so ashamed
+of them. They are all so rude, and so free, and put one so out of
+countenance,--O how different is this person you are thinking of! he
+would not distress anybody, or make one ashamed for all the world! _You_
+only are like him! always gentle, always obliging!--sometimes I think
+you must be his sister--once, too, I heard--but that was contradicted.”
+
+A deep sigh escaped Cecilia at this speech; she guessed too well
+what she might have heard, and she knew too well how it might be
+contradicted.
+
+“Surely, _you_ cannot be unhappy, Miss Beverley!” said Henrietta, with a
+look of mingled surprise and concern.
+
+“I have much, I own,” cried Cecilia, assuming more chearfulness, “to be
+thankful for, and I endeavour not to forget it.”
+
+“O how often do I think,” cried Henrietta, “that you, madam, are
+the happiest person in the world! with every thing at your own
+disposal,--with every body in love with you, with all the money that you
+can wish for, and so much sweetness that nobody can envy you it! with
+power to keep just what company you please, and every body proud to be
+one of the number!--Oh if I could chuse who I would be, I should sooner
+say Miss Beverley than any princess in the world!”
+
+Ah, thought Cecilia, if such is my situation,--how cruel that by one
+dreadful blow all its happiness should be thrown away!
+
+“Were I a rich lady, like you,” continued Henrietta, “and quite in my
+own power, then, indeed, I might soon think of nothing but those people
+that I admire! and that makes me often wonder that _you_, madam, who are
+just such another as himself--but then, indeed, you may see so many of
+the same sort, that just this one may not so much strike you: and for
+that reason I hope with all my heart that he will never be married as
+long as he lives, for as he must take some lady in just such high life
+as his own, I should always be afraid that she would never love him as
+she ought to do!”
+
+He need not now be single, thought Cecilia, were that all he had cause
+to apprehend!
+
+“I often think,” added Henrietta, “that the rich would be as much
+happier for marrying the poor, as the poor for marrying the rich, for
+then they would take somebody that would try to deserve their kindness,
+and now they only take those that know they have a right to it. Often
+and often have I thought so about this very gentleman! and sometimes
+when I have been in his company, and seen his civility and his
+sweetness, I have fancied I was rich and grand myself, and it has quite
+gone out of my head that I was nothing but poor Henrietta Belfield!”
+
+“Did he, then,” cried Cecilia a little alarmed, “ever seek to ingratiate
+himself into your favour?”
+
+“No, never! but when treated with so much softness, 'tis hard always
+to remember one's meanness! You, madam, have no notion of that task: no
+more had I myself till lately, for I cared not who was high, nor who was
+low: but now, indeed, I must own I have some times wished myself richer!
+yet he assumes so little, that at other times, I have almost forgot all
+distance between us, and even thought--Oh foolish thought!--
+
+“Tell it, sweet Henrietta, however!”
+
+“I will tell you, madam, every thing! for my heart has been bursting to
+open itself, and nobody have I dared trust. I have thought, then, I have
+sometimes thought,--my true affection, my faithful fondness, my glad
+obedience,--might make him, if he did but know them, happier in me than
+in a greater lady!”
+
+“Indeed,” cried Cecilia, extremely affected by this plaintive
+tenderness, “I believe it--and were I him, I could not, I think,
+hesitate a moment in my choice!”
+
+Henrietta now, hearing her mother coming in, made a sign to her to be
+silent; but Mrs Belfield had not been an instant in the passage, before
+a thundering knocking at the street-door occasioned it to be instantly
+re-opened. A servant then enquired if Mrs Belfield was at home, and
+being answered by herself in the affirmative, a chair was brought into
+the house.
+
+But what was the astonishment of Cecilia, when, in another moment, she
+heard from the next parlour the voice of Mr Delvile senior, saying,
+“Your servant, ma'am; Mrs Belfield, I presume?”
+
+There was no occasion, now, to make a sign to her of silence, for her
+own amazement was sufficient to deprive her of speech.
+
+“Yes, Sir,” answered Mrs Belfield; “but I suppose, Sir, you are some
+gentleman to my son.”
+
+“No, madam,” he returned, “my business is with yourself.”
+
+Cecilia now recovering from her surprise, determined to hasten unnoticed
+out of the house, well knowing that to be seen in it would be regarded
+as a confirmation of all that he had asserted. She whispered, therefore,
+to Henrietta, that she must instantly run away, but, upon softly opening
+the door leading to the passage, she found Mr Delvile's chairmen, and a
+footman there in waiting.
+
+She closed it again, irresolute what to do: but after a little
+deliberation, she concluded to out-stay him, as she was known to all
+his servants, who would not fail to mention seeing her; and a retreat so
+private was worse than any other risk. A chair was also in waiting for
+herself, but it was a hackney one, and she could not be known by it;
+and her footman she had fortunately dismissed, as he had business to
+transact for her journey next day.
+
+Mean-while the thinness of the partition between the two parlours made
+her hearing every word that was said unavoidable.
+
+“I am sure, Sir, I shall be very willing to oblige you,” Mrs Belfield
+answered; “but pray, Sir, what's your name?”
+
+“My name, ma'am,” he replied, in a rather elevated voice, “I am seldom
+obliged to announce myself; nor is there any present necessity I should
+make it known. It is sufficient I assure you, you are speaking to no
+very common person, and probably to one you will have little chance to
+meet with again.”
+
+“But how can I tell your business, Sir, if I don't so much as know your
+name?”
+
+“My business, madam, I mean to tell myself; your affair is only to hear
+it. I have some questions, indeed, to ask, which I must trouble you to
+answer, but they will sufficiently explain themselves to prevent
+any difficulty upon your part. There is no need, therefore, of any
+introductory ceremonial.”
+
+“Well, Sir,” said Mrs Belfield, wholly insensible of this ambiguous
+greatness, “if you mean to make your name a secret.”
+
+“Few names, I believe, ma'am,” cried he, haughtily, “have less the
+advantage of secrecy than mine! on the contrary, this is but one among
+a very few houses in this town to which my person would not immediately
+announce it. That, however, is immaterial; and you will be so good as to
+rest satisfied with my assurances, that the person with whom you are now
+conversing, will prove no disgrace to your character.”
+
+Mrs Belfield, overpowered, though hardly knowing, with what, only said
+_he was very welcome_, and begged him to sit down.
+
+“Excuse me, ma'am,” he answered, “My business is but of a moment, and my
+avocations are too many to suffer my infringing that time. You say you
+have a son; I have heard of him, also, somewhere before; pray will you
+give me leave to enquire--I don't mean to go deep into the matter,--but
+particular family occurrences make it essential for me to know,--whether
+there is not a young person of rather a capital fortune, to whom he is
+supposed to make proposals?”
+
+“Lack-a-day, no, Sir!” answered Mrs Belfield, to the infinite relief of
+Cecilia, who instantly concluded this question referred to herself.
+
+“I beg your pardon, then; good morning to you, ma'am,” said Mr Delvile,
+in a tone that spoke his disappointment; but added “And there is no such
+young person, you say, who favours his pretensions?”
+
+“Dear Sir,” cried she, “why there's nobody he'll so much as put the
+question to! there's a young lady at this very time, a great fortune,
+that has as much a mind to him, I tell him, as any man need desire to
+see; but there's no making him think it! though he has been brought up
+at the university, and knows more about all the things, or as much, as
+any body in the king's dominions.”
+
+“O, then,” cried Mr Delvile, in a voice of far more complacency, “it is
+not on the side of the young woman that the difficulty seems to rest?”
+
+“Lord, no, Sir! he might have had her again and again only for asking!
+She came after him ever so often; but being brought up, as I said, at
+the university, he thought he knew better than me, and so my preaching
+was all as good as lost upon him.”
+
+The consternation of Cecilia at these speeches could by nothing be
+equalled but by the shame of Henrietta, who, though she knew not to
+whom her mother made them, felt all the disgrace and the shock of them
+herself.
+
+“I suppose, Sir,” continued Mrs Belfield, “you know my son?”
+
+“No, ma'am, my acquaintance is--not very universal.”
+
+“Then, Sir, you are no judge how well he might make his own terms. And
+as to this young lady, she found him out, Sir, when not one of his own
+natural friends could tell where in the world he was gone! She was the
+first, Sir, to come and tell me news of him though I was his own mother!
+Love, Sir, is prodigious for quickness! it can see, I sometimes
+think, through bricks and mortar. Yet all this would not do, he was so
+obstinate not to take the hint!”
+
+Cecilia now felt so extremely provoked, she was upon the point of
+bursting in upon them to make her own vindication; but as her passions,
+though they tried her reason never conquered it, she restrained herself
+by considering that to issue forth from a room in that house, would do
+more towards strengthening what was thus boldly asserted, than all her
+protestations could have chance to destroy.
+
+“And as to young ladies themselves,” continued Mrs Belfield, “they know
+no more how to make their minds known than a baby does: so I suppose
+he'll shilly shally till somebody else will cry snap, and take her. It
+is but a little while ago that it was all the report she was to have
+young Mr Delvile, one of her guardian's sons.”
+
+“I am sorry report was so impertinent,” cried Mr Delvile, with much
+displeasure; “young Mr Delvile is not to be disposed of with so little
+ceremony; he knows better what is due to his family.”
+
+Cecilia here blushed from indignation, and Henrietta sighed from
+despondency.
+
+“Lord, Sir,” answered Mrs Belfield, “what should his family do better?
+I never heard they were any so rich, and I dare say the old gentleman,
+being her guardian, took care to put his son enough in her way, however
+it came about that they did not make a match of it: for as to old Mr
+Delvile, all the world says---”
+
+“All the world takes a very great liberty,” angrily interrupted
+Mr Delvile, “in saying any thing about him: and you will excuse my
+informing you that a person of his rank and consideration, is not
+lightly to be mentioned upon every little occasion that occurs.”
+
+“Lord, Sir,” cried Mrs Belfield, somewhat surprised at this unexpected
+prohibition, “I don't care for my part if I never mention the old
+gentleman's name again! I never heard any good of him in my life, for
+they say he's as proud as Lucifer, and nobody knows what it's of, for
+they say--”
+
+“_They_ say?” cried he, firing with rage, “and who are _they_? be so
+good as inform me that?”
+
+“Lord, every body, Sir! it's his common character.”
+
+“Then every body is extremely indecent,” speaking very loud, “to pay
+no more respect to one of the first families in England. It is a
+licentiousness that ought by no means to be suffered with impunity.”
+
+Here, the street-door being kept open by the servants in waiting, a
+new step was heard in the passage, which Henrietta immediately knowing,
+turned, with uplifted hands to Cecilia, and whispered, “How unlucky!
+it's my brother! I thought he would not have returned till night!”
+
+“Surely he will not come in here?” re-whispered Cecilia.
+
+But, at the same moment, he opened the door, and entered the room. He
+was immediately beginning an apology, and starting back, but Henrietta
+catching him by the arm, told him in a low voice, that she had made use
+of his room because she had thought him engaged for the day, but begged
+him to keep still and quiet, as the least noise would discover them.
+
+Belfield then stopt; but the embarrassment of Cecilia was extreme;
+to find herself in his room after the speeches she had heard from his
+mother, and to continue with him in it by connivance, when she knew she
+had been represented as quite at his service, distressed and provoked
+her immeasurably; and she felt very angry with Henrietta for not sooner
+informing her whose apartment she had borrowed. Yet now to remove, and
+to be seen, was not to be thought of; she kept, therefore, fixed to
+her seat, though changing colour every moment from the variety of her
+emotions.
+
+During this painful interruption she lost Mrs Belfield's next answer,
+and another speech or two from Mr Delvile, to whose own passion and
+loudness was owing Belfield's entering his room unheard: but the next
+voice that called their attention was that of Mr Hobson, who just then
+walked into the parlour.
+
+“Why what's to do here?” cried he, facetiously, “nothing but chairs and
+livery servants! Why, ma'am, what is this your rout day? Sir your most
+humble servant. I ask pardon, but I did not know you at first. But come,
+suppose we were all to sit down? Sitting's as cheap as standing, and
+what I say is this; when a man's tired, it's more agreeable.”
+
+“Have you any thing further, ma'am,” said Mr Delvile, with great
+solemnity, “to communicate to me?”
+
+“No, Sir,” said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, “it's no business of mine
+to be communicating myself to a gentleman that I don't know the name of.
+Why, Mr Hobson, how come you to know the gentleman?”
+
+“To know _me_!” repeated Mr Delvile, scornfully.
+
+“Why I can't say much, ma'am,” answered Mr Hobson, “as to my knowing the
+gentleman, being I have been in his company but once; and what I say is,
+to know a person if one leaves but a quart in a hogshead, it's two pints
+too much. That's my notion. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business
+at 'Squire Monckton's t'other morning. Every body was no-how, as one may
+say. But, Sir, if I may be so free, pray what is your private opinion of
+that old gentleman that talked so much out of the way?”
+
+“My private opinion, Sir?”
+
+“Yes, Sir; I mean if it's no secret, for as to a secret, I hold it's
+what no man has a right to enquire into, being of its own nature it's
+a thing not to be told. Now as to what I think myself, my doctrine is
+this; I am quite of the old gentleman's mind about some things, and
+about others I hold him to be quite wide of the mark. But as to talking
+in such a whisky frisky manner that nobody can understand him, why
+its tantamount to not talking at all, being he might as well hold his
+tongue. That's what _I_ say. And then as to that other article, of
+abusing a person for not giving away all his lawful gains to every
+cripple in the streets, just because he happens to have but one leg, or
+one eye, or some such matter, why it's knowing nothing of business! it's
+what _I_ call talking at random.”
+
+“When you have finished, Sir,” said Mr Delvile, “you will be so good to
+let me know.”
+
+“I don't mean to intrude, Sir; that's not my way, so if you are upon
+business--”
+
+“What else, Sir, could you suppose brought me hither? However, I by no
+means purpose any discussion. I have only a few words more to say to
+this gentlewoman, and as my time is not wholly inconsequential, I should
+not be sorry to have an early opportunity of being heard.”
+
+“I shall leave you with the lady directly, Sir; for I know business
+better than to interrupt it: but seeing chairs in the entry, my notion
+was I should see ladies in the parlour, not much thinking of gentlemen's
+going about in that manner, being I never did it myself. But I have
+nothing to offer against that; let every man have his own way; that's
+what _I_ say. Only just let me ask the lady before I go, what's the
+meaning of my seeing two chairs in the entry, and only a person for one
+in the parlour? The gentleman, I suppose, did not come in _both_; ha!
+ha! ha!”
+
+“Why now you put me in mind,” said Mrs Belfield, “I saw a chair as
+soon as I come in; and I was just going to say who's here, when this
+gentleman's coming put it out of my head.”
+
+“Why this is what I call Hocus Pocus work!” said Mr Hobson; “but I shall
+make free to ask the chairmen who they are waiting for.”
+
+Mrs Belfield, however, anticipated him; for running into the passage,
+she angrily called out, “What do you do here, Misters? do you only come
+to be out of the rain? I'll have no stand made of my entry, I can tell
+you!”
+
+“Why we are waiting for the lady,” cried one of them.
+
+“Waiting for a fiddlestick!” said Mrs Belfield; “here's no lady here,
+nor no company; so if you think I'll have my entry filled up by two
+hulking fellows for nothing, I shall shew you the difference. One's dirt
+enough of one's own, without taking people out of the streets to help
+one. Who do you think's to clean after you?”
+
+“That's no business of ours; the lady bid us wait,” answered the man.
+
+Cecilia at this dispute could with pleasure have cast herself out of the
+window to avoid being discovered; but all plan of escape was too late;
+Mrs Belfield called aloud for her daughter, and then, returning to the
+front parlour, said, “I'll soon know if there's company come to my house
+without my knowing it!” and opened a door leading to the next room!
+
+Cecilia, who had hitherto sat fixed to her chair, now hastily arose, but
+in a confusion too cruel for speech: Belfield, wondering even at his own
+situation, and equally concerned and surprised at her evident distress,
+had himself the feeling of a culprit, though without the least knowledge
+of any cause: and Henrietta, terrified at the prospect of her mother's
+anger, retreated as much as possible out of sight.
+
+Such was the situation of the discovered, abashed, perplexed, and
+embarrassed! while that of the discoverers, far different, was bold,
+delighted, and triumphant!
+
+“So!” cried Mrs Belfield, “why here's Miss Beverley!--in my son's back
+room!” winking at Mr Delvile.
+
+“Why here's a lady, sure enough!” said Mr Hobson, “and just where she
+should be, and that is with a gentleman. Ha! ha! that's the right way,
+according to my notion! that's the true maxim for living agreeable.”
+
+“I came to see Miss Belfield,” cried Cecilia, endeavouring, but vainly,
+to speak with composure, “and she brought me into this room.”
+
+“I am but this moment,” cried Belfield, with eagerness, “returned home;
+and unfortunately broke into the room, from total ignorance of the
+honour which Miss Beverley did my sister.”
+
+These speeches, though both literally true, sounded, in the
+circumstances which brought them out, so much as mere excuses, that
+while Mr Delvile haughtily marked his incredulity by a motion of his
+chin, Mrs Belfield continued winking at him most significantly, and Mr
+Hobson, with still less ceremony, laughed aloud.
+
+“I have nothing more, ma'am,” said Mr Delvile to Mrs Belfield, “to
+enquire, for the few doubts with which I came to this house are now
+entirely satisfied. Good morning to you, ma'am.”
+
+“Give me leave, Sir,” said Cecilia, advancing with more spirit, “to
+explain, in presence of those who can best testify my veracity, the real
+circumstances--”
+
+“I would by no means occasion you such unnecessary trouble, ma'am,”
+ answered he, with an air at once exulting and pompous, “the situation in
+which I see you abundantly satisfies my curiosity, and saves me from the
+apprehension I was under of being again convicted of a _mistake_!”
+
+He then made her a stiff bow, and went to his chair.
+
+Cecilia, colouring deeply at this contemptuous treatment, coldly took
+leave of Henrietta, and courtsying to Mrs Belfield, hastened into the
+passage, to get into her own.
+
+Henrietta was too much intimidated to speak, and Belfield was too
+delicate to follow her; Mr Hobson only said “The young lady seems quite
+dashed;” but Mrs Belfield pursued her with entreaties she would stay.
+
+She was too angry, however, to make any answer but by a distant bow of
+the head, and left the house with a resolution little short of a vow
+never again to enter it.
+
+Her reflections upon this unfortunate visit were bitter beyond measure;
+the situation in which she had been surprised,--clandestinely concealed
+with only Belfield and his sister--joined to the positive assertions of
+her partiality for him made by his mother, could not, to Mr Delvile, but
+appear marks irrefragable that his charge in his former conversation
+was rather mild than over-strained, and that the connection he had
+mentioned, for whatever motives denied, was incontestably formed.
+
+The apparent conviction of this part of the accusation, might also
+authorise, to one but too happy in believing ill of her, an implicit
+faith in that which regarded her having run out her fortune. His
+determination not to hear her shewed the inflexibility of his character;
+and it was evident, notwithstanding his parading pretensions of wishing
+her welfare, that his inordinate pride was inflamed, at the very
+supposition he could be mistaken or deceived for a moment.
+
+Even Delvile himself, if gone abroad, might now hear this account with
+exaggerations that would baffle all his confidence: his mother,
+too, greatly as she esteemed and loved her, might have the matter so
+represented as to stagger her good opinion;--these were thoughts the
+most afflicting she could harbour, though their probability was such
+that to banish them was impossible.
+
+To apply again to Mr Delvile to hear her vindication, was to subject
+herself to insolence, and almost to court indignity. She disdained
+even to write to him, since his behaviour called for resentment, not
+concession; and such an eagerness to be heard, in opposition to all
+discouragement, would be practising a meanness that would almost merit
+repulsion.
+
+Her first inclination was to write to Mrs Delvile, but what now, to her,
+was either her defence or accusation? She had solemnly renounced all
+further intercourse with her, she had declared against writing again,
+and prohibited her letters: and, therefore, after much fluctuation of
+opinion, her delicacy concurred with her judgment, to conclude it would
+be most proper, in a situation so intricate, to leave the matter to
+chance, and commit her character to time.
+
+In the evening, while she was at tea with Lady Margaret and Miss Bennet,
+she was suddenly called out to speak to a young woman; and found, to her
+great surprise, she was no other than Henrietta.
+
+“Ah madam!” she cried, “how angrily did you go away this morning! it
+has made me miserable ever since, and if you go out of town without
+forgiving me, I shall fret myself quite ill! my mother is gone out to
+tea, and I have run here all alone, and in the dark, and in the wet,
+to beg and pray you will forgive me, for else I don't know what I shall
+do!”
+
+“Sweet, gentle girl!” cried Cecilia, affectionately embracing her, “if
+you had excited all the anger I am capable of feeling, such softness as
+this would banish it, and make me love you more than ever!”
+
+Henrietta then said, in her excuse, that she had thought herself quite
+sure of her brother's absence, who almost always spent the whole day at
+the bookseller's, as in writing himself he perpetually wanted to consult
+other authors, and had very few books at their lodgings: but she would
+not mention that the room was his, lest Cecilia should object to
+making use of it, and she knew she had no other chance of having the
+conversation with her she had so very long wished for. She then again
+begged her pardon, and hoped the behaviour of her mother would not
+induce her to give her up, as she was shocked at it beyond measure, and
+as her brother, she assured her, was as innocent of it as herself.
+
+Cecilia heard her with pleasure, and felt for her an encreasing regard.
+The openness of her confidence in the morning had merited all her
+affection, and she gave her the warmest protestations of a friendship
+which she was certain would be lasting as her life.
+
+Henrietta then, with a countenance that spoke the lightness of her
+heart, hastily took her leave, saying she did not dare be out longer,
+lest her mother should discover her excursion. Cecilia insisted,
+however, upon her going in a chair, which she ordered her servant to
+attend, and take care himself to discharge.
+
+This visit, joined to the tender and unreserved conversation of the
+morning, gave Cecilia the strongest desire to invite her to her house in
+the country; but the terror of Mrs Belfield's insinuations, added to
+the cruel interpretations she had to expect from Mr Delvile, forbid her
+indulging this wish, though it was the only one that just now she could
+form.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A CALM.
+
+Cecilia took leave over night of the family, as she would not stay their
+rising in the morning: Mr Monckton, though certain not to sleep when she
+was going, forbearing to mark his solicitude by quitting his apartment
+at any unusual hour. Lady Margaret parted from her with her accustomed
+ungraciousness, and Miss Bennet, because in her presence, in a manner
+scarcely less displeasing.
+
+The next morning, with only her servants, the moment it was light, she
+set out. Her journey was without incident or interruption, and she went
+immediately to the house of Mrs Bayley, where she had settled to board
+till her own was finished.
+
+Mrs Bayley was a mere good sort of woman, who lived decently well with
+her servants, and tolerably well with her neighbours, upon a small
+annuity, which made her easy and comfortable, though by no means
+superior to such an addition to her little income as an occasional
+boarder might produce.
+
+Here Cecilia continued a full month: which time had no other
+employment than what she voluntarily gave to herself by active deeds of
+benevolence.
+
+At Christmas, to the no little joy of the neighbourhood, she took
+possession of her own house, which was situated about three miles from
+Bury.
+
+The better sort of people were happy to see her thus settled amongst
+them, and the poorer, who by what they already had received, knew
+well what they still might expect, regarded the day in which she
+fixed herself in her mansion, as a day to themselves of prosperity and
+triumph.
+
+As she was no longer, as hitherto, repairing to a temporary habitation,
+which at pleasure she might quit, and to which, at a certain period, she
+could have no possible claim, but to a house which was her own for
+ever, or, at least, could solely by her own choice be transferred,
+she determined, as much as was in her power, in quitting her desultory
+dwellings, to empty her mind of the transactions which had passed in
+them, and upon entering a house where she was permanently to reside,
+to make the expulsion of her past sorrows, the basis upon which to
+establish her future serenity.
+
+And this, though a work of pain and difficulty, was not impracticable;
+her sensibility, indeed, was keen, and she had suffered from it the
+utmost torture; but her feelings were not more powerful than her
+understanding was strong, and her fortitude was equal to her trials.
+Her calamities had saddened, but not weakened her mind, and the words
+of Delvile in speaking of his mother occurred to her now with all
+the conviction of experience, that “evils inevitable are always best
+supported, because known to be past amendment, and felt to give defiance
+to struggling.” [Footnote: See Vol. ii. p. 317.]
+
+A plan by which so great a revolution was to be wrought in her mind, was
+not to be effected by any sudden effort of magnanimity, but by a regular
+and even tenour of courage mingled with prudence. Nothing, therefore,
+appeared to her so indispensable as constant employment, by which a
+variety of new images might force their way in her mind to supplant
+the old ones, and by which no time might be allowed for brooding over
+melancholy retrospections.
+
+Her first effort, in this work of mental reformation, was to part with
+Fidel, whom hitherto she had almost involuntarily guarded, but whom she
+only could see to revive the most dangerous recollections. She sent him,
+therefore, to the castle, but without any message; Mrs Delvile, she was
+sure, would require none to make her rejoice in his restoration.
+
+Her next step was writing to Albany, who had given her his direction, to
+acquaint him she was now ready to put in practice their long concerted
+scheme. Albany instantly hastened to her, and joyfully accepted the
+office of becoming at once her Almoner and her Monitor. He made it his
+business to seek objects of distress, and always but too certain to find
+them, of conducting her himself to their habitations, and then leaving
+to her own liberality the assistance their several cases demanded: and,
+in the overflowing of his zeal upon these occasions, and the rapture
+of his heart in thus disposing, almost at his pleasure, of her noble
+fortune, he seemed, at times, to feel an extasy that, from its novelty
+and its excess, was almost too exquisite to be borne. He joined with the
+beggars in pouring blessings upon her head, he prayed for her with the
+poor, and he thanked her with the succoured.
+
+The pew-opener and her children failed not to keep their appointment,
+and Cecilia presently contrived to settle them in her neighbourhood:
+where the poor woman, as she recovered her strength, soon got a little
+work, and all deficiencies in her power of maintaining herself were
+supplied by her generous patroness. The children, however, she ordered
+to be coarsely brought up, having no intention to provide for them but
+by helping them to common employments.
+
+The promise, also, so long made to Mrs Harrel of an apartment in
+her house, was now performed. That lady accepted it with the utmost
+alacrity, glad to make any change in her situation, which constant
+solitude had rendered wholly insupportable. Mr Arnott accompanied her to
+the house, and spent one day there; but receiving from Cecilia,
+though extremely civil and sweet to him, no hint of any invitation for
+repeating his visit, he left it in sadness, and returned to his own in
+deep dejection. Cecilia saw with concern how he nourished his hopeless
+passion, but knew that to suffer his visits would almost authorise
+his feeding it; and while she pitied unaffectedly the unhappiness she
+occasioned, she resolved to double her own efforts towards avoiding
+similar wretchedness.
+
+This action, however, was a point of honour, not of friendship, the time
+being long since past that the society of Mrs Harrel could afford her
+any pleasure; but the promises she had so often made to Mr Harrel in
+his distresses, though extorted from her merely by the terrors of the
+moment, still were promises, and, therefore, she held herself bound to
+fulfil them.
+
+Yet far from finding comfort in this addition to her family, Mrs Harrel
+proved to her nothing more than a trouble and an incumbrance; with
+no inherent resources, she was continually in search of occasional
+supplies; she fatigued Cecilia with wonder at the privacy of her life,
+and tormented her with proposals of parties and entertainments. She
+was eternally in amazement that with powers so large, she had wishes so
+confined, and was evidently disappointed that upon coming to so ample an
+estate, she lived, with respect to herself and her family, with no more
+magnificence or shew than if Heiress to only ú500 a year.
+
+But Cecilia was determined to think and to live for herself, without
+regard to unmeaning wonder or selfish remonstrances; she had neither
+ambition for splendour, nor spirits for dissipation; the recent sorrow
+of her heart had deadened it for the present to all personal taste of
+happiness, and her only chance for regaining it, seemed through the
+medium of bestowing it upon others. She had seen, too, by Mr Harrel,
+how wretchedly external brilliancy could cover inward woe, and she
+had learned at Delvile Castle to grow sick of parade and grandeur. Her
+equipage, therefore, was without glare, though not without elegance, her
+table was plain, though hospitably plentiful, her servants were for use,
+though too numerous to be for labour. The system of her oeconomy, like
+that of her liberality, was formed by rules of reason, and her own ideas
+of right, and not by compliance with example, nor by emulation with the
+gentry in her neighbourhood.
+
+But though thus deviating in her actions from the usual customs of
+the young and rich, she was peculiarly careful not to offend them
+by singularity of manners. When she mixed with them, she was easy,
+unaffected, and well bred, and though she saw them but seldom, her good
+humour and desire of obliging kept them always her friends. The plan
+she had early formed at Mrs Harrel's she now studied daily to put in
+practice; but that part by which the useless or frivolous were to be
+excluded her house, she found could only be supported by driving from
+her half her acquaintance.
+
+Another part, also, of that project she found still less easy of
+adoption, which was solacing herself with the society of the wise, good,
+and intelligent. Few answered this description, and those few were with
+difficulty attainable. Many might with joy have sought out her liberal
+dwelling, but no one had idly waited till the moment it was at her
+disposal. All who possessed at once both talents and wealth, were
+so generally courted they were rarely to be procured; and all who to
+talents alone owed their consequence, demanded, if worth acquiring, time
+and delicacy to be obtained. Fortune she knew, however, was so often at
+war with Nature, that she doubted not shortly meeting those who would
+gladly avail themselves of her offered protection.
+
+Yet, tired of the murmurs of Mrs Harrel, she longed for some relief from
+her society, and her desire daily grew stronger to owe that relief to
+Henrietta Belfield. The more she meditated upon this wish, the less
+unattainable it appeared to her, till by frequently combating its
+difficulties, she began to consider them imaginary: Mrs Belfield, while
+her son was actually with herself, might see she took not Henrietta as
+his appendage; and Mr Delvile, should he make further enquiries, might
+hear that her real connection was with the sister, since she received
+her in the country, where the brother made no pretence to follow
+her. She considered, too, how ill she should be rewarded in giving up
+Henrietta for Mr Delvile, who was already determined to think ill of
+her, and whose prejudices no sacrifice would remove.
+
+Having hesitated, therefore, some time between the desire of present
+alleviation, and the fear of future mischief, the consciousness of her
+own innocence at length vanquished all dread of unjust censure, and she
+wrote an invitation to Henrietta enclosed in a letter to her mother.
+
+The answer of Henrietta expressed her rapture at the proposal; and that
+of Mrs Belfield made no objection but to the expence.
+
+Cecilia, therefore, sent her own maid to travel with her into Suffolk,
+with proper directions to pay for the journey.
+
+The gratitude of the delighted Henrietta at the meeting was boundless;
+and her joy at so unexpected a mark of favour made her half wild.
+Cecilia suffered it not to languish for want of kindness to support
+it; she took her to her bosom, became the soother of all her cares, and
+reposed in her, in return, every thought that led not to Delvile.
+
+There, however, she was uniformly silent; solemnly and eternally parted
+from him, far from trusting the secret of her former connexion to
+Henrietta, the whole study of her life was to drive the remembrance of
+it from herself.
+
+Henrietta now tasted a happiness to which as yet her whole life had been
+a stranger; she was suddenly removed from turbulent vulgarity to the
+enjoyment of calm elegance; and the gentleness of her disposition,
+instead of being tyrannically imposed upon, not only made her loved with
+affection, but treated with the most scrupulous delicacy. Cecilia had
+her share in all the comfort she bestowed; she had now a friend to
+oblige, and a companion to converse with. She communicated to her all
+her schemes, and made her the partner of her benevolent excursions;
+she found her disposition as amiable upon trial, as her looks and her
+manners had been engaging at first sight; and her constant presence and
+constant sweetness, imperceptibly revived her spirits, and gave a new
+interest to her existence.
+
+Meantime Mr Monckton, who returned in about a fortnight to the Grove,
+observed the encreasing influence of Albany with the most serious
+concern. The bounties of Cecilia, extensive, magnificent, unlimited,
+were the theme of every tongue, and though sometimes censured and
+sometimes admired, they were wondered at universally. He suffered her
+for a while to go on without remonstrance, hoping her enthusiasm would
+abate, as its novelty wore out: but finding that week following week was
+still distinguished by some fresh act of beneficence, he grew so alarmed
+and uneasy, he could restrain himself no longer. He spoke to her
+with warmth, he represented her conduct as highly dangerous in its
+consequence; he said she would but court impostors from every corner of
+the kingdom, called Albany a lunatic, whom she should rather avoid than
+obey; and insinuated that if a report was spread of her proceedings, a
+charity so prodigal, would excite such alarm, that no man would think
+even her large and splendid fortune, would ensure him from ruin in
+seeking her alliance.
+
+Cecilia heard this exhortation without either terror or impatience, and
+answered it with the utmost steadiness. His influence over her mind was
+no longer uncontrolled, for though her suspicions were not strengthened,
+they had never been removed, and friendship has no foe so dangerous as
+distrust! She thanked him, however, for his zeal, but assured him his
+apprehensions were groundless, since though she acted from inclination,
+she acted not without thought. Her income was very large, and she was
+wholly without family or connection; to spend it merely upon herself
+would be something still worse than extravagance, it must result from
+wilfulness the most inexcusable, as her disposition was naturally
+averse to luxury and expence. She might save indeed, but for whom? not a
+creature had such a claim upon her; and with regard to herself, she was
+so provided for it would be unnecessary. She would never, she declared,
+run in debt even for a week, but while her estate was wholly clear, she
+would spend it without restriction.
+
+To his hint of any future alliance, she only said that those who
+disapproved her conduct, would probably be those she should disapprove
+in her turn; should such an event however take place, the retrenching
+from that time all her present peculiar expences, would surely, in a
+clear ú3000 a-year, leave her rich enough for any man, without making
+it incumbent upon her at present, to deny herself the only pleasure she
+could taste, in bestowing that money which to her was superfluous, upon
+those who received it as the prolongation of their existence.
+
+A firmness so deliberate in a system he so much dreaded, greatly shocked
+Mr Monckton, though it intimidated him from opposing it; he saw she was
+too earnest, and too well satisfied she was right, to venture giving
+her disgust by controverting her arguments; the conversation, therefore,
+ended with new discontent to himself, and with an impression upon
+the mind of Cecilia, that though he was zealous and friendly, he was
+somewhat too worldly and suspicious.
+
+She went on, therefore, as before, distributing with a lavish hand
+all she could spare from her own household; careful of nothing but of
+guarding against imposition, which, though she sometimes unavoidably
+endured, her discernment, and the activity of her investigating
+diligence, saved her from suffering frequently. And the steadiness with
+which she repulsed those whom she detected in deceit, was a check upon
+tricks and fraud, though it could not wholly put a stop to them.
+
+Money, to her, had long appeared worthless and valueless; it had failed
+to procure her the establishment for which she once flattered herself
+it seemed purposely designed; it had been disdained by the Delviles,
+for the sake of whose connection she had alone ever truly rejoiced in
+possessing it; and after such a conviction of its inefficacy to secure
+her happiness, she regarded it as of little importance to herself, and
+therefore thought it almost the due of those whose distresses gave it a
+consequence to which with her it was a stranger.
+
+In this manner with Cecilia passed the first winter of her majority.
+She had sedulously filled it with occupations, and her occupations had
+proved fertile in keeping her mind from idleness, and in restoring it
+to chearfulness. Calls upon her attention so soothing, and avocations
+so various for her time, had answered the great purpose for which
+originally she had planned them, in almost forcing from her thoughts
+those sorrows which, if indulged, would have rested in them incessantly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER viii.
+
+AN ALARM.
+
+The spring was now advancing, and the weather was remarkably fine; when
+one morning, while Cecilia was walking with Mrs Harrel and Henrietta
+on the lawn before her house, to which the last dinner bell was just
+summoning them, to return, Mrs Harrel looked round and stopt at sight
+of a gentleman galloping towards them, who in less than a minute
+approached, and dismounting and leaving his horse to his servant, struck
+them all at the same instant to be no other than young Delvile!
+
+A sight so unexpected, so unaccountable, so wonderful, after an
+absence so long, and to which they were mutually bound, almost wholly
+over-powered Cecilia from surprise and a thousand other feelings, and
+she caught Mrs Harrel by the arm, not knowing what she did, as if
+for succour; while Henrietta with scarce less, though much more glad
+emotion, suddenly exclaimed, “'tis Mr Delvile!” and sprang forward to
+meet him.
+
+He had reached them, and in a voice that spoke hurry and perturbation,
+respectfully made his compliments to them all, before Cecilia recovered
+even the use of her feet: but no sooner were they restored to her, than
+she employed them with the quickest motion in her power, still leaning
+upon Mrs Harrel, to hasten into the house. Her solemn promise to Mrs
+Delvile became uppermost in her thoughts, and her surprise was soon
+succeeded by displeasure, that thus, without any preparation, he forced
+her to break it by an interview she had no means to prevent.
+
+Just as they reached the entrance into the house, the Butler came to
+tell Cecilia that dinner was upon the table. Delvile then went up to
+her, and said, “May I wait upon you for one instant before--or after you
+dine?”
+
+“I am engaged, Sir,” answered she, though hardly able to speak, “for the
+whole day.”
+
+“You will not, I hope, refuse to hear me,” cried he, eagerly, “I cannot
+write what I have to say,--”
+
+“There is no occasion that you should, Sir,” interrupted she, “since I
+should scarcely find time to read it.”
+
+She then courtsied, though without looking at him, and went into the
+house; Delvile remaining in utter dismay, not daring, however wishing,
+to follow her. But when Mrs Harrel, much surprised at behaviour so
+unusual from Cecilia, approached him with some civil speeches, he
+started, and wishing her good day, bowed, and remounted his horse:
+pursued by the soft eyes of Henrietta till wholly out of sight.
+
+They then both followed Cecilia to the dining-parlour.
+
+Had not Mrs Harrel been of this small party, the dinner would have been
+served in vain; Cecilia, still trembling with emotion, bewildered with
+conjecture, angry with Delvile for thus surprising her, angry with
+herself for so severely receiving him, amazed what had tempted him to
+such a violation of their joint agreement, and irresolute as much what
+to wish as what to think, was little disposed for eating, and with
+difficulty compelled herself to do the honours of her table.
+
+Henrietta, whom the sight of Delvile had at once delighted and
+disturbed, whom the behaviour of Cecilia had filled with wonder and
+consternation, and whom the evident inquietude and disappointment which
+that behaviour had given to Delvile, had struck with grief and terror,
+could not swallow even a morsel, but having cut her meat about her
+plate, gave it, untouched, to a servant.
+
+Mrs Harrel, however, though she had had her share in the surprise, had
+wholly escaped all other emotion; and only concluded in her own mind,
+that Cecilia could sometimes be out of humour and ill bred, as well as
+the rest of the world.
+
+While the dessert was serving, a note was brought to Henrietta, which a
+servant was waiting in great haste to have answered.
+
+Henrietta, stranger to all forms of politeness, though by nature soft,
+obliging and delicate, opened it immediately; she started as she cast
+her eye over it, but blushed, sparkled, and looked enchanted, and
+hastily rising, without even a thought of any apology, ran out of the
+room to answer it.
+
+Cecilia, whose quick eye, by a glance unavoidable, had seen the hand
+of Delvile, was filled with new amazement at the sight. As soon as the
+servants were gone, she begged Mrs Harrel to excuse her, and went to her
+own apartment.
+
+Here, in a few minutes, she was followed by Henrietta, whose countenance
+beamed with pleasure, and whose voice spoke tumultuous delight. “My
+dear, dear Miss Beverley!” she cried, “I have such a thing to tell
+you!--you would never guess it,--I don't know how to believe it
+myself,--but Mr Delvile has written to me!--he has indeed! that note was
+from him.--I have been locking it up, for fear of accidents, but I'll
+run and fetch it, that you may see it yourself.”
+
+She then ran away; leaving Cecilia much perplexed, much uneasy
+for herself, and both grieved and alarmed for the too tender, too
+susceptible Henrietta, who was thus easily the sport of every airy and
+credulous hope.
+
+“If I did not shew it you,” cried Henrietta, running back in a
+moment, “you would never think it possible, for it is to make such a
+request--that it has frightened me almost out of my wits!”
+
+Cecilia then read the note.
+
+_To Miss Belfield_.
+
+Mr Delvile presents his compliments to Miss Belfield, and begs to
+be permitted to wait upon her for a few minutes, at any time in the
+afternoon she will be so good as to appoint.
+
+“Only think,” cried the rapturous Henrietta, “it was _me_, poor simple
+_me_, of all people, that he wanted so to speak with!--I am sure I
+thought a different thought when he went away! but do, dearest Miss
+Beverley, tell me this one thing, what do you think he can have to say
+to me?”
+
+“Indeed,” replied Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, “it is impossible for
+me to conjecture.”
+
+“If _you_ can't, I am sure, then, it is no wonder _I_ can't! and I have
+been thinking of a million of things in a minute. It can't be about any
+business, because I know nothing in the world of any business; and it
+can't be about my brother, because he would go to our house in town
+about him, and there he would see him himself; and it can't be about my
+dear Miss Beverley, because then he would have written the note to her
+and it can't be about any body else, because I know nobody else of his
+acquaintance.”
+
+Thus went on the sanguine Henrietta, settling whom and what it could
+_not_ be about, till she left but the one thing to which her wishes
+pointed that it _could_ be about. Cecilia heard her with true
+compassion, certain that she was deceiving herself with imaginations
+the most pernicious; yet unable to know how to quell them, while in such
+doubt and darkness herself.
+
+This conversation was soon interrupted, by a message that a gentleman in
+the parlour begged to speak with Miss Belfield.
+
+“O dearest, dearest Miss Beverley!” cried Henrietta, with encreasing
+agitation, “what in the world shall I say to him, advise me, pray advise
+me, for I can't think of a single word!”
+
+“Impossible, my dear Henrietta, unless I knew what he would say to you!”
+
+“O but I can guess, I can guess!”--cried she, her cheeks glowing, while
+her whole frame shook, “and I sha'n't know what in the whole world to
+answer him! I know I shall behave like a fool,--I know I shall disgrace
+myself sadly!”
+
+Cecilia, truly sorry Delvile should see her in such emotion, endeavoured
+earnestly to compose her, though never less tranquil herself. But
+she could not succeed, and she went down stairs with expectations of
+happiness almost too potent for her reason.
+
+Not such were those of Cecilia; a dread of some new conflict took
+possession of her mind, that mind so long tortured with struggles, so
+lately restored to serenity!
+
+Henrietta soon returned, but not the same Henrietta she went;--the
+glow, the hope, the flutter were all over; she looked pale and wan, but
+attempting, as she entered the room, to call up a smile, she failed, and
+burst into tears.
+
+Cecilia threw her arms round her neck, and tried to console her; but,
+happy to hide her face in her bosom, she only gave the freer indulgence
+to her grief, and rather melted than comforted by her tenderness, sobbed
+aloud.
+
+Cecilia too easily conjectured the disappointment she had met, to pain
+her by asking it; she forbore even to gratify her own curiosity by
+questions that could not but lead to her mortification, and suffering
+her therefore to take her own time for what she had to communicate, she
+hung over her in silence with the most patient pity.
+
+Henrietta was very sensible of this kindness, though she knew not half
+its merit: but it was a long time before she could articulate, for
+sobbing, that _all_ Mr Delvile wanted, at last, was only to beg she
+would acquaint Miss Beverley, that he had done himself the honour of
+waiting upon her with a message from Mrs Delvile.
+
+“From Mrs Delvile?” exclaimed Cecilia, all emotion in her turn, “good
+heaven! how much, then, have I been to blame? where is he now?--where
+can I send to him?--tell me, my sweet Henrietta, this instant!”
+
+“Oh madam!” cried Henrietta, bursting into a fresh flood of tears, “how
+foolish have I been to open my silly heart to you!--he is come to pay
+his addresses to you!--I am sure he is!--”
+
+“No, no, no!” cried Cecilia, “indeed he is not!--but I must, I ought to
+see him,--where, my love, is he?”,
+
+“In the parlour,--waiting for an answer.--”
+
+Cecilia, who at any other time would have been provoked at such a delay
+in the delivery of a message so important, felt now nothing but concern
+for Henrietta, whom she hastily kissed, but instantly, however, quitted,
+and hurried to Delvile, with expectations almost equally sanguine as
+those her poor friend but the moment before had crushed.
+
+“Oh now,” thought she, “if at last Mrs Delvile herself has relented,
+with what joy will I give up all reserve, all disguise, and frankly avow
+the faithful affection of my heart!”
+
+Delvile received her not with the eagerness with which he had first
+addressed her; he looked extremely disturbed, and, even after her
+entrance, undetermined how to begin.
+
+She waited, however, his explanation in silence; and, after an
+irresolute pause, he said, with a gravity not wholly free from
+resentment, “I presumed, madam, to wait upon you from the permission of
+my mother; but I believe I have obtained it so late, that the influence
+I hoped from it is past!”
+
+“I had no means, Sir,” answered she, chearfully, “to know that you
+came from her: I should else have received her commands without any
+hesitation.”
+
+“I would thank you for the honour you do her, were it less pointedly
+exclusive. I have, however, no right of reproach! yet suffer me to ask,
+could you, madam, after such a parting, after a renunciation so absolute
+of all future claim upon you, which though extorted from me by duty, I
+was bound, having promised, to fulfil by principle,-could you imagine me
+so unsteady, so dishonourable, as to obtrude myself into your presence
+while that promise was still in force?”
+
+“I find,” cried Cecilia, in whom a secret hope every moment grew
+stronger, “I have been too hasty; I did indeed believe Mrs Delvile would
+never authorise such a visit; but as you have so much surprised me, I
+have a right to your pardon for a little doubt.”
+
+“There spoke Miss Beverley!” cried Delvile, reanimating at this little
+apology, “the same, the unaltered Miss Beverley I hoped to find!--yet
+_is_ she unaltered? am I not too precipitate? and is the tale I have
+heard about Belfield a dream? an error? a falsehood?”
+
+“But that so quick a succession of quarrels,” said Cecilia, half
+smiling, “would be endless perplexity, I, now, would be affronted that
+you can ask me such a question.”
+
+“Had I, indeed, _thought_ it a question,” cried he, “I would not have
+asked it: but never for a moment did I credit it, till the rigour of
+your repulse alarmed me. You have condescended, now, to account for
+that, and I am therefore encouraged to make known to you the purpose
+of my venturing this visit. Yet not with confidence shall I speak
+if, scarce even with hope!--it is a purpose that is the offspring of
+despair,--
+
+“One thing, Sir,” cried Cecilia, who now became frightened again, “let
+me say before you proceed; if your purpose has not the sanction of Mrs
+Delvile, as well as your visit, I would gladly be excused hearing it,
+since I shall most certainly refuse it.”
+
+“I would mention nothing,” answered he, “without her concurrence;
+she has given it me: and my father himself has permitted my present
+application.”
+
+“Good Heaven!” cried Cecilia, “is it possible!” clasping her hands
+together in the eagerness of her surprise and delight.
+
+“_Is it possible_!” repeated Delvile, with a look of rapture; “ah Miss
+Beverley!--once my own Cecilia!--do you, can you _wish_ it possible?”
+
+“No, No!” cried she, while pleasure and expectation sparkled in her
+eyes, “I wish nothing about it.--Yet tell me how it has happened,--I am
+_curious_,” added she, smiling, “though not interested in it.”
+
+“What hope would this sweetness give me,” cried he, “were my scheme
+almost any other than it is!--but you cannot,--no, it would be
+unreasonable, it would be madness to expect your compliance!--it is next
+to madness even in me to wish it,--but how shall a man who is desperate
+be prudent and circumspect?”
+
+“Spare, spare yourself,” cried the ingenuous Cecilia, “this, unnecessary
+pain!--you will find from me no unnecessary scruples.”
+
+“You know not what you say!--all noble as you are, the sacrifice I have
+to propose--”
+
+“Speak it,” cried she, “with confidence! speak it even with certainty of
+success! I will be wholly undisguised, and openly, honestly own to you,
+that no proposal, no sacrifice can be mentioned, to which I will not
+instantly agree, if first it has had the approbation of Mrs Delvile.”
+
+Delvile's gratitude and thanks for a concession never before so
+voluntarily made to him, interrupted for a while, even his power of
+explaining himself. And now, for the first time, Cecilia's sincerity was
+chearful, since now, for the first time, it seemed opposed by no duty.
+
+When still, therefore, he hesitated, she herself held out her hand to
+him, saying, “what must I do more? must I offer this pledge to you?”
+
+“For my life would I not resign it!” cried he, delightedly receiving it;
+“but oh, how soon will you withdraw it, when the only terms upon which
+I can hold it, are those of making it sign from itself its natural right
+and inheritance?”
+
+Cecilia, not comprehending him, only looked amazed, and he proceeded.
+
+“Can you, for my sake, make such a sacrifice as this? can you for a man
+who for yours is not permitted to give up his name, give up yourself the
+fortune of your late uncle? consent to such settlements as I can
+make upon you from my own? part with so splendid an income wholly and
+for-ever?--and with only your paternal L10,000 condescend to become
+mine, as if your uncle had never existed, and you had been Heiress to no
+other wealth?”
+
+This, indeed, was a stroke to Cecilia unequalled by any she had met,
+and more cruel than any she could have in reserve. At the proposal of
+parting with her uncle's fortune, which, desirable as it was, had as
+yet been only productive to her of misery, her heart, disinterested, and
+wholly careless of money, was prompt to accede to the condition; but at
+the mention of her paternal fortune, that fortune, of which, now, not
+the smallest vestige remained, horror seized all her faculties! she
+turned pale, she trembled, she involuntarily drew back her hand, and
+betrayed, by speechless agitation, the sudden agonies of her soul!
+
+Delvile, struck by this evident dismay, instantly concluded his plan
+had disgusted her. He waited some minutes in anxious expectation of an
+answer, but finding her silence continued while her emotion encreased,
+the deepest crimson dyed his face, and unable to check his chagrin,
+though not daring to confess his disappointment, he suddenly quitted
+her, and walked, in much disorder, about the room. But soon recovering
+some composure, from the assistance of pride, “Pardon, madam,” he said,
+“a trial such as no man can be vindicated in making. I have indulged a
+romantic whim, which your better judgment disapproves, and I receive but
+the mortification my presumption deserved.”
+
+“You know not then,” said Cecilia, in a faint voice, “my inability to
+comply?”
+
+“Your ability or inability, I presume, are elective?”
+
+“Oh no!--my power is lost--my fortune itself is gone!”
+
+“Impossible! utterly impossible!” cried he with vehemence.
+
+“Oh that it were!--your father knows it but too well.”
+
+“My father!”
+
+“Did he, then, never hint it to you?”
+
+“Oh distraction!” cried Delvile, “what horrible confirmation is coming!”
+ and again he walked away, as if wanting courage to hear her.
+
+Cecilia was too much shocked to force upon him her explanation; but
+presently returning to her, he said, “_you_, only, could have made this
+credible!”
+
+“Had you, then, actually heard it?”
+
+“Oh I had heard it as the most infamous of falsehoods! my heart swelled
+with indignation at so villainous a calumny, and had it not come from my
+father, my resentment at it had been inveterate!”
+
+“Alas!” cried Cecilia, “the fact is undeniable! yet the circumstances
+you may have heard with it, are I doubt not exaggerated.”
+
+“Exaggerated indeed!” he answered; “I was told you had been surprised
+concealed with Belfield in a back room, I was told that your parental
+fortune was totally exhausted, and that during your minority you had
+been a dealer with Jews!--I was told all this by my father; you may
+believe I had else not easily been made hear it!”
+
+“Yet thus far,” said she, “he told you but what is true; though--”
+
+“True!” interrupted Delvile, with a start almost frantic. “Oh never,
+then, was truth so scandalously wronged!--I denied the whole charge!-I
+disbelieved every syllable!--I pledged my own honour to prove every
+assertion false!”
+
+“Generous Delvile!” cried Cecilia, melting into tears, “this is what I
+expected from you! and, believe me, in _your_ integrity my reliance had
+been similar!”
+
+“Why does Miss Beverley weep?” cried he, softened, and approaching her,
+“and why has she given me this alarm? these things must at least
+have been misrepresented, deign, then, to clear up a mystery in which
+suspense is torture!”
+
+Cecilia, then, with what precision and clearness her agitation allowed
+her, related the whole history of her taking up the money of the Jew
+for Mr Harrel, and told, without reserve, the reason of her trying
+to abscond from his father at Mrs Belfield's. Delvile listened to her
+account with almost an agony of attention, now admiring her conduct;
+now resenting her ill usage; now compassionating her losses; but though
+variously moved by different parts, receiving from the whole the delight
+he most coveted in the establishment of her innocence.
+
+Thanks and applause the warmest, both accompanied and followed her
+narration; and then, at her request, he related in return the several
+incidents and circumstances to which he had owed the permission of this
+visit.
+
+He had meant immediately to have gone abroad; but the indisposition
+of his mother made him unwilling to leave the kingdom till her health
+seemed in a situation less precarious. That time, however, came not; the
+Winter advanced, and she grew evidently worse. He gave over, therefore,
+his design till the next Spring, when, if she were able, it was her
+desire to try the South of France for her recovery, whither he meant to
+conduct her.
+
+But, during his attendance upon her, the plan he had just mentioned
+occurred to him, and he considered how much greater would be his chance
+of happiness in marrying Cecilia with scarce any fortune at all, than
+in marrying another with the largest. He was convinced she was far other
+than expensive, or a lover of shew, and soon flattered himself she might
+be prevailed upon to concur with him, that in living together, though
+comparatively upon little, they should mutually be happier than in
+living asunder upon much.
+
+When he started this scheme to his mother, she heard it with mingled
+admiration of his disinterestedness, and regret at its occasion: yet
+the loftiness of her own mind, her high personal value for Cecilia,
+her anxiety to see her son finally settled while she lived, lest his
+disappointment should keep him single from a lasting disgust, joined to
+a dejection of spirits from an apprehension that her interference had
+been cruel, all favoured his scheme, and forbid her resistance. She
+had often protested, in their former conflicts, that had Cecilia
+been portionless, her objections had been less than to an estate so
+conditioned; and that to give to her son a woman so exalted in herself,
+she would have conquered the mere opposition of interest, though that
+of family honour she held invincible. Delvile now called upon her to
+remember those words, and ever strict in fidelity, she still promised to
+abide by them.
+
+Ah! thought Cecilia, is virtue, then, as inconsistent as vice? and can
+the same character be thus high-souled, thus nobly disinterested with
+regard to riches, whose pride is so narrow and so insurmountable, with
+respect to family prejudice!
+
+Yet such a sacrifice from Cecilia herself, whose income intitled her
+to settlements the most splendid, Mrs Delvile thought scarcely to be
+solicited; but as her son was conscious he gave up in expectation no
+less than she would give up in possession, he resolved upon making the
+experiment, and felt an internal assurance of success.
+
+This matter being finally settled with his mother, the harder task
+remained of vanquishing the father, by whom, and before whom the name of
+Cecilia was never mentioned, not even after his return from town,
+though loaded with imaginary charges against her. Mr Delvile held it
+a diminution of his own in the honour of his son, to suppose he wanted
+still fresh motives for resigning her. He kept, therefore, to himself
+the ill opinion he brought down, as a resource in case of danger, but
+a resource he disdained to make use of, unless driven to it by absolute
+necessity.
+
+But, at the new proposal of his son, the accusation held in reserve
+broke out; he called Cecilia a dabler with Jews, and said she had been
+so from the time of her uncle's death; he charged her with the grossest
+general extravagance, to which he added a most insidious attack upon her
+character, drawn from her visits at Belfield's of long standing, as well
+as the particular time when he had himself surprised her concealed with
+the young man in a back parlour: and he asserted, that most of the
+large sums she was continually taking up from her fortune, were lavished
+without scruple upon this dangerous and improper favourite.
+
+Delvile had heard this accusation with a rage scarce restrained from
+violence; confident in her innocence, he boldly pronounced the whole a
+forgery, and demanded the author of such cruel defamation. Mr Delvile,
+much offended, refused to name any authority, but consented, with an air
+of triumph, to abide by the effect of his own proposal, and gave him a
+supercilious promise no longer to oppose the marriage, if the terms he
+meant to offer to Miss Beverley, of renouncing her uncle's estate, and
+producing her father's fortune, were accepted.
+
+“O little did I credit,” said Delvile in conclusion, “that he knew
+indeed so well this last condition was impracticable! his assertions
+were without proof; I thought them prejudiced surmises; and I came in
+the full hope I should convict him of his error. My mother, too, who
+warmly and even angrily defended you, was as firmly satisfied as myself
+that the whole was a mistake, and that enquiry would prove your fortune
+as undiminished as your purity. How will she be shocked at the tale
+I have now to unfold! how irritated at your injuries from Harrel! how
+grieved that your own too great benevolence should be productive of such
+black aspersions upon your character!”
+
+“I have been,” cried Cecilia, “too facile and too unguarded; yet always,
+at the moment, I seemed but guided by common humanity. I have ever
+thought myself secure of more wealth than I could require, and regarded
+the want of money as an evil from which I was unavoidably exempted. My
+own fortune, therefore, appeared to me of small consequence, while the
+revenue of my uncle insured me perpetual prosperity.--Oh had I foreseen
+this moment--”
+
+“Would you, then, have listened to my romantic proposal?”
+
+“Would I have listened?--do you not see too plainly I could not have
+hesitated!”
+
+“Oh yet, then, most generous of human beings, yet then be mine! By our
+own oeconomy we will pay off our mortgages; by living a while abroad,
+we will clear all our estates; I will still keep the name to which my
+family is bigotted, and my gratitude for your compliance shall make you
+forget what you lose by it!”
+
+“Speak not to me such words!” cried Cecilia, hastily rising; “your
+friends will not listen to them, neither, therefore, must I.”
+
+“My friends,” cried he with energy, “are henceforth out of the question:
+my father's concurrence with a proposal he _knew_ you had not power to
+grant, was in fact a mere permission to insult you; for if, instead of
+dark charges, he had given any authority for your losses, I had myself
+spared you the shock you have so undeservedly received from hearing
+it.--But to consent to a plan which _could_ not be accepted!--to make me
+a tool to offer indignity to Miss Beverley!--He has released me from his
+power by so erroneous an exertion of it, and my own honour has a claim
+to which his commands must give place. That honour binds me to Miss
+Beverley as forcibly as my admiration, and no voice but her own shall
+determine my future destiny.”
+
+“That voice, then,” said Cecilia, “again refers you to your mother.
+Mr Delvile, indeed, has not treated me kindly; and this last mock
+concession was unnecessary cruelty; but Mrs Delvile merits my utmost
+respect, and I will listen to nothing which has not her previous
+sanction.”
+
+“But will her sanction be sufficient? and may I hope, in obtaining it,
+the security of yours?”
+
+“When I have said I will hear nothing without it, may you not almost
+infer--I will refuse nothing with it!”
+
+The acknowledgments he would now have poured forth, Cecilia would not
+hear, telling him, with some gaiety, they were yet unauthorized by Mrs
+Delvile. She insisted upon his leaving her immediately, and never again
+returning, without his mother's express approbation. With regard to his
+father, she left him totally to his own inclination; she had received
+from him nothing but pride and incivility, and determined to skew
+publicly her superior respect for Mrs Delvile, by whose discretion and
+decision she was content to abide.
+
+“Will you not, then, from time to time,” cried Delvile, “suffer me to
+consult with you?”
+
+“No, no,” answered she, “do not ask it! I have never been insincere
+with you, never but from motives not to be overcome, reserved even for
+a moment; I have told you I will put every thing into the power of
+Mrs Delvile, but I will not a second time risk my peace by any action
+unknown to her.”
+
+Delvile gratefully acknowledged her goodness, and promised to require
+nothing more. He then obeyed her by taking leave, eager himself to put
+an end to this new uncertainty, and supplicating only that her good
+wishes might follow his enterprise.
+
+And thus, again, was wholly broken the tranquility of Cecilia; new
+hopes, however faint, awakened all her affections, and strong fears, but
+too reasonable, interrupted her repose. Her destiny, once more, was
+as undecided as ever, and the expectations she had crushed, retook
+possession of her heart.
+
+The suspicions she had conceived of Mr Monckton again occurred to her;
+though unable to ascertain and unwilling to believe them, she tried to
+drive them from her thoughts. She lamented, however, with bitterness,
+her unfortunate connexion with Mr Harrel, whose unworthy impositions
+upon her kindness of temper and generosity, now proved to her an evil
+far more serious and extensive, than in the midst of her repugnance to
+them she had ever apprehended.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A SUSPENSE.
+
+Delvile had been gone but a short time, before Henrietta, her eyes still
+red, though no longer streaming, opened the parlour door, and asked if
+she might come in?
+
+Cecilia wished to be alone, yet could not refuse her.
+
+“Well, madam,” cried she, with a forced smile, and constrained air of
+bravery, “did not I guess right?”
+
+“In what?” said Cecilia, unwilling to understand her.
+
+“In what I said would happen?--I am sure you know what I mean.”
+
+Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, made no answer; she much regretted the
+circumstances which had prevented an earlier communication, and was
+uncertain whether, now, it would prove most kind or most cruel to
+acquaint her with what was in agitation, which, should it terminate in
+nothing, was unnecessarily wounding her delicacy for the openness of her
+confidence, and which, however serviceable it might prove to her in
+the end, was in the means so rough and piercing she felt the utmost
+repugnance to the experiment.
+
+“You think me, madam, too free,” said Henrietta, “in asking such a
+question; and indeed your kindness has been so great, it may well make
+me forget myself: but if it does, I am sure I deserve you should send me
+home directly, and then there is not much fear I shall soon be brought
+to my senses!”
+
+“No, my dear Henrietta, I can never think you too free; I have told
+you already every thing I thought you would have pleasure in hearing;
+whatever I have concealed, I have been fearful would only pain you.”
+
+“I have _deserved_, madam,” said she, with spirit, “to be pained, for
+I have behaved with the folly of a baby. I am very angry with myself
+indeed! I was old enough to have known better,--and I ought to have been
+wise enough.”
+
+“You must then be angry with yourself, next,” said Cecilia, anxious
+to re-encourage her, “for all the love that I bear you; since to your
+openness and frankness it was entirely owing.”
+
+“But there are some things that people should _not_ be frank in;
+however, I am only come now to beg you will tell me, madam, when it is
+to be;--and don't think I ask out of nothing but curiosity, for I have a
+very great reason for it indeed.”
+
+“What be, my dear Henrietta?--you are very rapid in your ideas!”
+
+“I will tell you, madam, what my reason is; I shall go away to my
+own home,--and so I would if it were ten times a worse home than it
+is!--just exactly the day before. Because afterwards I shall never like
+to look that gentleman in the face,--never, never!--for married ladies I
+know are not to be trusted!”
+
+“Be not apprehensive; you have no occasion. Whatever may be my fate, I
+will never be so treacherous as to betray my beloved Henrietta to _any_
+body.”
+
+“May I ask you, madam, one question?”
+
+“Certainly.”
+
+“Why did all this never happen before?”
+
+“Indeed,” cried Cecilia, much distressed, “I know not that it will
+happen now.”
+
+“Why what, dear madam, can hinder it?”
+
+“A thousand, thousand things! nothing can be less secure.”
+
+“And then I am still as much puzzled as ever. I heard, a good while ago,
+and we all heard that it was to be; and I thought that it was no wonder,
+I am sure, for I used often to think it was just what was most likely;
+but afterwards we heard it was no such thing, and from that moment I
+always believed there had been nothing at all in it.”
+
+“I must speak to you, I find, with sincerity; my affairs have long been
+in strange perplexity: I have not known myself what to expect; one day
+has perpetually reversed the prospect of another, and my mind has been
+in a state of uncertainty and disorder, that has kept it--that still
+keeps it from comfort and from rest!”
+
+“This surprises me indeed, madam! I thought _you_ were all happiness!
+but I was sure you deserved it, and I thought you had it for that
+reward. And this has been the thing that has made me behave so wrong;
+for I took it into my head I might tell you every thing, because I
+concluded it could be nothing to you; for if great people loved one
+another, I always supposed they married directly; poor people, indeed,
+must stay till they are able to settle; but what in the whole world,
+thought I, if they like one another, should hinder such a rich lady as
+Miss Beverley from marrying such a rich gentleman at once?”
+
+Cecilia now, finding there was no longer any chance for concealment,
+thought it better to give the poor Henrietta at least the gratification
+of unreserved confidence, which might somewhat sooth her uneasiness by
+proving her reliance in her faith. She frankly, therefore, confessed
+to her the whole of her situation. Henrietta wept at the recital with
+bitterness, thought Mr Delvile a monster, and Mrs Delvile herself scarce
+human; pitied Cecilia with unaffected tenderness, and wondered that the
+person could exist who had the heart to give grief to young Delvile! She
+thanked her most gratefully for reposing such trust in her; and Cecilia
+made use of this opportunity, to enforce the necessity of her struggling
+more seriously to recover her indifferency.
+
+She promised she would not fail; and forbore steadily from that time to
+name Delvile any more: but the depression of her spirits shewed she had
+suffered a disappointment such as astonished even Cecilia. Though modest
+and humble, she had conceived hopes the most romantic, and though
+she denied, even to herself, any expectations from Delvile, she
+involuntarily nourished them with the most sanguine simplicity. To
+compose and to strengthen her became the whole business of Cecilia; who,
+during her present suspense, could find no other employment in which she
+could take any interest.
+
+Mr Monckton, to whom nothing was unknown that related to Cecilia, was
+soon informed of Delvile's visit, and hastened in the utmost alarm,
+to learn its event. She had now lost all the pleasure she had formerly
+derived from confiding in him, but though averse and confused, could not
+withstand his enquiries.
+
+Unlike the tender Henrietta's was his disappointment at this relation,
+and his rage at such repeated trials was almost more than he could curb.
+He spared neither the Delviles for their insolence of mutability in
+rejecting or seeking her at their pleasure, nor herself for her easiness
+of submission in being thus the dupe of their caprices. The subject
+was difficult for Cecilia to dilate upon; she wished to clear, as he
+deserved, Delvile himself from any share in the censure, and she felt
+hurt and offended at the charge of her own improper readiness; yet shame
+and pride united in preventing much vindication of either, and she heard
+almost in silence what with pain she bore to hear at all.
+
+He now saw, with inexpressible disturbance, that whatever was his
+power to make her uneasy, he had none to make her retract, and that the
+conditional promise she had given Delvile to be wholly governed by his
+mother, she was firm in regarding to be as sacred as one made at the
+altar.
+
+Perceiving this, he dared trust his temper with no further debate; he
+assumed a momentary calmness for the purpose of taking leave of her,
+and with pretended good wishes for her happiness, whatever might be her
+determination, he stifled the reproaches with which his whole heart was
+swelling, and precipitately left her.
+
+Cecilia, affected by his earnestness, yet perplexed in all her opinions,
+was glad to be relieved from useless exhortations, and not sorry, in her
+present uncertainty, that his visit was not repeated.
+
+She neither saw nor heard from Delvile for a week, and augured nothing
+but evil from such delay. The following letter then came by the post.
+
+_To Miss Beverley. April 2d_, 1780
+
+I must write without comments, for I dare not trust myself with making
+any; I must write without any beginning address, for I know not how you
+will permit me to address you.
+
+I have lived a life of tumult since last compelled to leave you, and
+when it may subside, I am still in utter ignorance.
+
+The affecting account of the losses you have suffered through your
+beneficence to the Harrels, and the explanatory one of the calumnies you
+have sustained from your kindness to the Belfields, I related with the
+plainness which alone I thought necessary to make them felt. I then told
+the high honour I had received, in meeting with no other repulse to my
+proposal, than was owing to an inability to accede to it; and informed
+my mother of the condescending powers with which you had invested her.
+In conclusion I mentioned my new scheme, and firmly, before I would
+listen to any opposition, I declared that though wholly to their
+decision I left the relinquishing my own name or your fortune, I was not
+only by your generosity more internally yours than ever, but that since
+again I had ventured, and with permission to apply to you, I should hold
+myself hence forward unalterably engaged to you.
+
+And so I do, and so I shall! nor, after a renewal so public, will any
+prohibition but yours have force to keep me from throwing myself at your
+feet.
+
+My father's answer I will not mention; I would I could forget it! his
+prejudices are irremediable, his resolutions are inflexible. Who or what
+has worked him into an animosity so irreclaimable, I cannot conjecture,
+nor will he tell; but something darkly mysterious has part in his wrath
+and his injustice.
+
+My mother was much affected by your reference to herself. Words of the
+sweetest praise broke repeatedly from her; no other such woman, she
+said, existed; no other such instance could be found of fidelity
+so exalted! her son must have no heart but for low and mercenary
+selfishness, if, after a proof of regard so unexampled, he could bear
+to live without her! Oh how did such a sentence from lips so highly
+reverenced, animate, delight, confirm, and oblige me at once!
+
+The displeasure of my father at this declaration was dreadful; his
+charges, always as improbable as injurious, now became too horrible
+for my ears; he disbelieved you had taken up the money for Harrel, he
+discredited that you visited the Belfields for Henrietta: passion not
+merely banished his justice, but, clouded his reason, and I soon left
+the room, that at least I might not hear the aspersions he forbid me to
+answer.
+
+I left not, however, your fame to a weak champion: my mother defended it
+with all the spirit of truth, and all the confidence of similar virtue!
+yet they parted without conviction, and so mutually irritated with each
+other, that they agreed to meet no more.
+
+This was too terrible! and I instantly consolidated my resentment to
+my father, and my gratitude to my mother, into concessions and
+supplications to both; I could not, however, succeed; my mother was
+deeply offended, my father was sternly inexorable: nor here rests
+the evil of their dissention, for the violence of the conflict has
+occasioned a return more alarming than ever of the illness of my mother.
+
+All her faith in her recovery is now built upon going abroad; she is
+earnest to set off immediately; but Dr Lyster has advised her to make
+London in her way, and have a consultation of physicians before she
+departs.
+
+To this she has agreed; and we are now upon the road thither.
+
+Such is, at present, the melancholy state of my affairs. My mother
+_advised_ me to write; forgive me, therefore, that I waited not
+something more decisive to say. I could prevail upon neither party
+to meet before the journey; nor could I draw from my father the base
+fabricator of the calumnies by which he has been thus abused.
+
+Unhappily, I have nothing more to add: and whether intelligence, such
+as this, or total suspense, would be least irksome, I know not. If my
+mother bears her journey tolerably well, I have yet one more effort
+to make; and of that the success or the failure will be instantly
+communicated to Miss Beverley, by her eternally devoted, but half
+distracted.
+
+Mortimer Delvile.
+
+Scarcely could Cecilia herself decide whether this comfortless letter
+or none at all were preferable. The implacability of Mr Delvile was
+shocking, but his slandering her character was still more intolerable;
+yet the praises of the mother, and her generous vindication, joined to
+the invariable reliance of Delvile upon her innocence, conferred upon
+her an honour that offered some alleviation.
+
+The mention of a fabricator again brought Mr Monckton to her mind, and
+not all her unwillingness to think him capable of such treachery, could
+now root out her suspicions. Delvile's temper, however, she knew was too
+impetuous to be trusted with this conjecture, and her fear of committing
+injustice being thus seconded by prudence, she determined to keep to
+herself doubts that could not without danger be divulged.
+
+She communicated briefly to Henrietta, who looked her earnest curiosity,
+the continuance of her suspense; and to her own fate Henrietta became
+somewhat more reconciled, when she saw that no station in life rendered
+happiness certain or permanent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER x.
+
+A RELATION.
+
+Another week past still without any further intelligence. Cecilia was
+then summoned to the parlour, and to Delvile himself.
+
+He looked hurried and anxious; yet the glow of his face, and the
+animation of his eyes, immediately declared he at least came not to take
+leave of her.
+
+“Can you forgive,” cried he, “the dismal and unsatisfactory letter I
+wrote you? I would not disobey you twice in the same manner, and I could
+not till now have written in any other.”
+
+“The consultation with the physicians, then,” said Cecilia, “is over?”
+
+“Alas, yes; and the result is most alarming; they all agree my mother is
+in a dangerous way, and they rather forbear to oppose, than advise her
+going abroad: but upon that she is earnestly bent, and intends to set
+out without delay. I shall return to her, therefore, with all speed, and
+mean not to take any rest till I have seen her.”
+
+Cecilia expressed with tenderness her sorrow for Mrs Delvile: nor were
+her looks illiberal in including her son in her concern.
+
+“I must hasten,” he cried, “to the credentials by which I am authorised
+for coming, and I must hasten to prove if Miss Beverley has not
+flattered my mother in her appeal.”
+
+He then informed her that Mrs Delvile, apprehensive for herself, and
+softened for him by the confession of her danger, which she had extorted
+from her physicians, had tenderly resolved upon making one final effort
+for his happiness, and ill and impatient as she was, upon deferring her
+journey to wait its effect.
+
+Generously, therefore, giving up her own resentment, she wrote to Mr
+Delvile in terms of peace and kindness, lamenting their late dissention,
+and ardently expressing her desire to be reconciled to him before she
+left England. She told him the uncertainty of her recovery which had
+been acknowledged by her physicians, who had declared a calmer mind
+was more essential to her than a purer air. She then added, that such
+serenity was only to be given her, by the removal of her anxiety at the
+comfortless state of her son. She begged him, therefore, to make known
+the author of Miss Beverley's defamation, assuring him, that upon
+enquiry, he would find her character and her fame as unsullied as his
+own; and strongly representing, that after the sacrifice to which she
+had consented, their son would be utterly dishonourable in thinking of
+any other connexion. She then to this reasoning joined the most earnest
+supplication, protesting, in her present disordered state, of health,
+her life might pay the forfeiture of her continual uneasiness.
+
+“I held out,” she concluded, “while his personal dignity, and the honour
+of his name and family were endangered; but where interest alone is
+concerned, and that interest is combated by the peace of his mind, and
+the delicacy of his word, my opposition is at an end. And though our
+extensive and well founded views for a splendid alliance are abolished,
+you will agree with me hereafter, upon a closer inspection, that the
+object for whom he relinquishes them, offers in herself the noblest
+reparation.”
+
+Cecilia felt gratified, humbled, animated and depressed at once by this
+letter, of which Delvile brought her a copy. “And what,” cried she, “was
+the answer?”
+
+“I cannot in decency,” he replied, “speak my opinion of it: read it
+yourself,--and let me hear yours.”
+
+_To the Honourable Mrs Delvile_.
+
+Your extraordinary letter, madam, has extremely surprised me. I had been
+willing to hope the affair over from the time my disapprobation of it
+was formally announced. I am sorry you are so much indisposed, but I
+cannot conclude your health would be restored by my acceding to a plan
+so derogatory to my house. I disapprove it upon every account, not only
+of the name and the fortune, but the lady herself. I have reasons more
+important than those I assign, but they are such as I am bound in
+honour not to mention. After such a declaration, nobody, I presume, will
+affront me by asking them. Her defence you have only from herself,
+her accusation I have received from authority less partial. I command,
+therefore, that my son, upon pain of my eternal displeasure, may never
+speak to me on the subject again, and I hope, madam, from you the same
+complaisance to my request. I cannot explain myself further, nor is it
+necessary; it is no news, I flatter myself, to Mortimer Delvile or his
+mother, that I do nothing without reason, and I believe nothing upon
+slight grounds.
+
+A few cold compliments concerning her journey, and the re-establishment
+of her health, concluded the letter.
+
+Cecilia, having read, hastily returned it, and indignantly said, “My
+opinion, Sir, upon this letter, must surely be yours; that we had done
+wiser, long since, to have spared your mother and ourselves, those vain
+and fruitless conflicts which we ought better to have foreseen were
+liable to such a conclusion. Now, at least, let them be ended, and let
+us not pursue disgrace wilfully, after suffering from it with so much
+rigour involuntarily.”
+
+“O no,” cried Delvile, “rather let us now spurn it for ever! those
+conflicts must indeed be ended, but not by a separation still more
+bitter than all of them.”
+
+He then told her, that his mother, highly offended to observe by the
+extreme coldness of this letter, the rancour he still nourished for
+the contest preceding her leaving him, no longer now refused even her
+separate consent, for a measure which she thought her son absolutely
+engaged to take.
+
+“Good heaven!” cried Cecilia, much amazed, “this from Mrs Delvile!--a
+separate consent?”--
+
+“She has always maintained,” he answered, “an independent mind,
+always judged for herself, and refused all other arbitration: when so
+impetuously she parted us, my father's will happened to be her's, and
+thence their concurrence: my father, of a temper immoveable and stern,
+retains stubbornly the prejudices which once have taken possession
+of him; my mother, generous as fiery, and noble as proud, is open to
+conviction, and no sooner convinced, than ingenuous in acknowledging it:
+and thence their dissention. From my father I may hope forgiveness, but
+must never expect concession; from my mother I may hope all she ought
+to grant, for pardon but her vehemence,--and she has every great quality
+that can dignify human nature!”
+
+Cecilia, whose affection and reverence for Mrs Delvile were unfeigned,
+and who loved in her son this filial enthusiasm, readily concurred with
+him in praising her, and sincerely esteemed her the first among women.
+
+“Now, then,” cried he, with earnestness, “now is the time when your
+generous admiration of her is put to the test; see what she writes
+to you;--she has left to me all explanation: but I insisted upon some
+credential, lest you should believe I only owed her concurrence to a
+happy dream.”
+
+Cecilia in much trepidation took the letter, and hastily run it over.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Misery, my sweet young friend, has long been busy with us all; much have
+we owed to the clash of different interests, much to that rapacity
+which to enjoy any thing, demands every thing, and much to that general
+perverseness which labours to place happiness in what is with-held.
+Thus do we struggle on till we can struggle no longer; the felicity
+with which we trifle, at best is but temporary; and before reason and
+reflection shew its value, sickness and sorrow are commonly become
+stationary.
+
+Be it yours, my love, and my son's, to profit by the experience, while
+you pity the errors, of the many who illustrate this truth. Your mutual
+partiality has been mutually unfortunate, and must always continue
+so for the interests of both: but how blind is it to wait, in our own
+peculiar lots, for that perfection of enjoyment we can all see wanting
+in the lot of others! My expectations for my son had “outstepped the
+modesty of” probability. I looked for rank and high birth, with
+the fortune of Cecilia, and Cecilia's rare character. Alas! a new
+constellation in the heavens might as rationally have been looked for!
+
+My extravagance, however, has been all for his felicity, dearer to me
+than life,--dearer to me than all things but his own honour! Let us but
+save that, and then let wealth, ambition, interest, grandeur and pride,
+since they cannot constitute his happiness, be removed from destroying
+it. I will no longer play the tyrant that, weighing good and evil by my
+own feelings and opinions, insists upon his acting by the notions I have
+formed, whatever misery they may bring him by opposing all his own.
+
+I leave the kingdom with little reason to expect I shall return to it;
+I leave it--Oh blindness of vanity and passion!--from the effect of
+that violence with which so lately I opposed what now I am content to
+advance! But the extraordinary resignation to which you have agreed,
+shews your heart so wholly my son's, and so even more than worthy the
+whole possession of his, that it reflects upon him an honour more bright
+and more alluring, than any the most illustrious other alliance could
+now confer.
+
+I would fain see you ere I go, lest I should see you no more; fain
+ratify by word of mouth the consent that by word of mouth I so
+absolutely refused! I know not how to come to Suffolk,--is it not
+possible you can come to London? I am told you leave to me the
+arbitration of your fate, in giving you to my son, I best shew my sense
+of such an honour.
+
+Hasten then, my love, to town, that I may see you once more! wait no
+longer a concurrence thus unjustly with-held, but hasten, that I may
+bless the daughter I have so often wished to own! that I may entreat her
+forgiveness for all the pain I have occasioned her, and committing to
+her charge the future happiness of my son, fold to my maternal heart the
+two objects most dear to it!
+
+AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+
+
+
+Cecilia wept over this letter with tenderness, grief and alarm; but
+declared, had it even summoned her to follow her abroad, she could not,
+after reading it, have hesitated in complying.
+
+“O now, then,” cried Delvile, “let our long suspenses end! hear me with
+the candour; my mother has already listened to me--be mine, my Cecilia,
+at once,--and force me not, by eternal scruples, to risk another
+separation.”
+
+“Good heaven, Sir!” cried Cecilia, starting, “in such a state as Mrs
+Delvile thinks herself, would you have her journey delayed?”
+
+“No, not a moment! I would but ensure you mine, and go with her all over
+the world!”
+
+“Wild and impossible!--and what is to be done with Mr Delvile?”
+
+“It is on his account wholly I am thus earnestly precipitate. If I do
+not by an immediate marriage prevent his further interference, all I
+have already suffered may again be repeated, and some fresh contest with
+my mother may occasion another relapse.”
+
+Cecilia, who now understood him, ardently protested she would not listen
+for a moment to any clandestine expedient.
+
+He besought her to be patient; and then anxiously represented to
+her their peculiar situations. All application to his father he was
+peremptorily forbid making, all efforts to remove his prejudices their
+impenetrable mystery prevented; a public marriage, therefore, with such
+obstacles, would almost irritate him to phrenzy, by its daring defiance
+of his prohibition and authority.
+
+“Alas!” exclaimed Cecilia, “we can never do right but in parting!”
+
+“Say it not,” cried he, “I conjure you! we shall yet live, I hope, to
+prove the contrary.”
+
+“And can you, then,” cried she, reproachfully, “Oh Mr Delvile! can you
+again urge me to enter your family in secret?”
+
+“I grieve, indeed,” he answered, “that your goodness should so severely
+be tried; yet did you not condescend to commit the arbitration to my
+mother?”
+
+“True; and I thought her approbation would secure my peace of mind; but
+how could I have expected Mrs Delvile's consent to such a scheme!”
+
+“She has merely accorded it from a certainty there is no other resource.
+Believe me, therefore, my whole hope rests upon your present compliance.
+My father, I am certain, by his letter, will now hear neither petition
+nor defence; on the contrary, he will only enrage at the temerity of
+offering to confute him. But when he knows you are his daughter, his
+honour will then be concerned in yours, and it will be as much his
+desire to have it cleared, as it is now to have it censured.”
+
+“Wait at least your return, and let us try what can be done with him.”
+
+“Oh why,” cried Delvile, with much earnestness, “must I linger out month
+after month in this wretched uncertainty! If I wait I am undone! my
+father, by the orders I must unavoidably leave, will discover the
+preparations making without his consent, and he will work upon you in my
+absence, and compel you to give me up!”
+
+“Are you sure,” said she, half smiling, “he would have so much power?”
+
+“I am but too sure, that the least intimation, in his present irritable
+state of mind, reaching him of my intentions, would make him not
+scruple, in his fury, pronouncing some malediction upon my disobedience
+that _neither_ of us, I must own, could tranquilly disregard.”
+
+This was an argument that came home to Cecilia, whose deliberation upon
+it, though silent, was evidently not unfavourable.
+
+He then told her that with respect to settlements, he would instantly
+have a bond drawn up, similar to that prepared for their former intended
+union, which should be properly signed and sealed, and by which he would
+engage himself to make, upon coming to his estate, the same settlement
+upon her that was made upon his mother.
+
+“And as, instead of keeping up three houses,” he continued, “in the
+manner my father does at present, I mean to put my whole estate _out to
+nurse_, while we reside for a while abroad, or in the country, I doubt
+not but in a very few years we shall be as rich and as easy as we shall
+desire.”
+
+He told her, also, of his well-founded expectations from the Relations
+already mentioned; which the concurrence of his mother with his marriage
+would thence forward secure to him.
+
+He then, with more coherence, stated his plan at large. He purposed,
+without losing a moment, to return to London; he conjured her, in the
+name of his mother, to set out herself early the next day, that the
+following evening might be dedicated wholly to Mrs Delvile: through her
+intercession he might then hope Cecilia's compliance, and every thing on
+the morning after should be prepared for their union. The long-desired
+ceremony over, he would instantly ride post to his father, and pay him,
+at least, the respect of being the first to communicate it. He would
+then attend his mother to the Continent, and leave the arrangement
+of everything to his return. “Still, therefore, as a single man,” he
+continued, “I mean to make the journey, and I shall take care, by the
+time I return, to have all things in readiness for claiming my sweet
+Bride. Tell me, then, now, if you can reasonably oppose this plan?”
+
+“Indeed,” said Cecilia, after some hesitation, “I cannot see the
+necessity of such violent precipitancy.”
+
+“Do you not try me too much,” cried Delvile, impatiently, “to talk now
+of precipitancy! after such painful waiting, such wearisome expectation!
+I ask you not to involve your own affairs in confusion by accompanying
+me abroad; sweet to me as would be such an indulgence, I would not make
+a run-away of you in the opinion of the world. All I wish is the secret
+certainty I cannot be robbed of you, that no cruel machinations may
+again work our separation, that you are mine, unalterably mine, beyond
+the power of caprice or ill fortune.”
+
+Cecilia made no answer; tortured with irresolution, she knew not upon
+what to determine.
+
+“We might then, according to the favour or displeasure of my father,
+settle wholly abroad for the present, or occasionally visit him in
+England; my mother would be always and openly our friend--Oh be firm,
+then, I conjure you, to the promise you have given her, and deign to be
+mine on the conditions she prescribes. She will be bound to you for ever
+by so generous a concession, and even her health may be restored by the
+cessation of her anxieties. With such a wife, such a mother, what
+will be wanting for _me_! Could I lament not being richer, I must be
+rapacious indeed!--Speak, then, my Cecilia! relieve me from the agony
+of this eternal uncertainty, and tell me your word is invariable as your
+honour, and tell me my mother gives not her sanction in vain!”
+
+Cecilia sighed deeply, but, after some hesitation, said, “I little knew
+what I had promised, nor know I now what to perform!--there must ever, I
+find, be some check to human happiness! yet, since upon these terms, Mrs
+Delvile herself is content to wish me of her family--”
+
+She stopt; but, urged earnestly by Delvile, added “I must not, I think,
+withdraw the powers with which I entrusted her.”
+
+Delvile, grateful and enchanted, now forgot his haste and his business,
+and lost every wish but to re-animate her spirits: she compelled him,
+however, to leave her, that his visit might less be wondered at, and
+sent by him a message to Mrs. Delvile, that, wholly relying upon her
+wisdom, she implicitly submitted to her decree.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER xi.
+
+AN ENTERPRISE.
+
+Cecilia now had no time for afterthoughts or anxious repentance, since
+notwithstanding the hurry of her spirits, and the confusion of her mind,
+she had too much real business, to yield to pensive indulgence.
+
+Averse to all falsehood, she invented none upon this occasion; she
+merely told her guests she was summoned to London upon an affair of
+importance; and though she saw their curiosity, not being at liberty to
+satisfy it with the truth, she attempted not to appease it by fiction,
+but quietly left it to its common fare, conjecture. She would gladly
+have made Henrietta the companion of her journey, but Henrietta was the
+last to whom that journey could give pleasure. She only, therefore, took
+her maid in the chaise, and, attended by one servant on horseback, at
+six o'clock the next morning, she quitted her mansion, to enter into an
+engagement by which soon she was to resign it for ever.
+
+Disinterested as she was, she considered her situation as peculiarly
+perverse, that from the time of her coming to a fortune which most
+others regarded as enviable, she had been a stranger to peace, a
+fruitless seeker of happiness, a dupe to the fraudulent, and a prey to
+the needy! the little comfort she had received, had been merely from
+dispensing it, and now only had she any chance of being happy herself,
+when upon the point of relinquishing what all others built their
+happiness upon obtaining!
+
+These reflections only gave way to others still more disagreeable; she
+was now a second time engaged in a transaction she could not approve,
+and suffering the whole peace of her future life to hang upon an action
+dark, private and imprudent: an action by which the liberal kindness of
+her late uncle would be annulled, by which the father of her intended
+husband would be disobeyed, and which already, in a similar instance,
+had brought her to affliction and disgrace. These melancholy thoughts
+haunted her during the whole journey, and though the assurance of
+Mrs Delvile's approbation was some relief to her uneasiness, she
+involuntarily prepared herself for meeting new mortifications, and was
+tormented with an apprehension that this second attempt made her merit
+them.
+
+She drove immediately, by the previous direction of Delvile, to a
+lodging-house in Albemarle Street, which he had taken care to have
+prepared for her reception. She then sent for a chair, and went to Mrs
+Delvile's. Her being seen by the servants of that house was not very
+important, as their master was soon to be acquainted with the real
+motive of her journey.
+
+She was shewn into a parlour, while Mrs Delvile was informed of her
+arrival, and there flown to by Delvile with the most grateful eagerness.
+Yet she saw in his countenance that all was not well, and heard upon
+enquiry that his mother was considerably worse. Extremely shocked
+by this intelligence, she already began to lament her unfortunate
+enterprise. Delvile struggled, by exerting his own spirits, to restore
+hers, but forced gaiety is never exhilarating; and, full of care and
+anxiety, he was ill able to appear sprightly and easy.
+
+They were soon summoned upstairs into the apartment of Mrs Delvile, who
+was lying upon a couch, pale, weak, and much altered. Delvile led the
+way, saying, “Here, madam, comes one whose sight will bring peace and
+pleasure to you!”
+
+“This, indeed,” cried Mrs Delvile, half rising and embracing her, “is
+the form in which they are most welcome to me! virtuous, noble Cecilia!
+what honour you do my son! with what joy, should I ever recover, shall I
+assist him in paying the gratitude he owes you!”
+
+Cecilia, grieved at her situation, and affected by her kindness, could
+only answer with her tears; which, however, were not shed alone; for
+Delvile's eyes were full, as he passionately exclaimed, “This, this is
+the sight my heart has thus long desired! the wife of my choice taken
+to the bosom of the parent I revere! be yet but well, my beloved mother,
+and I will be thankful for every calamity that has led to so sweet a
+conclusion!”
+
+“Content yourself, however, my son, with one of us,” cried Mrs Delvile,
+smiling; “and content yourself, if you can, though your hard lot should
+make that one this creature of full bloom, health, and youth! Ah, my
+love,” added she, more seriously, and addressing the still weeping
+Cecilia, “should now Mortimer, in losing me, lose those cares by which
+alone, for some months past, my life has been rendered tolerable, how
+peaceably shall I resign him to one so able to recompense his filial
+patience and services!”
+
+This was not a speech to stop the tears of Cecilia, though such warmth
+of approbation quieted her conscientious scruples. Delvile now earnestly
+interfered; he told her that his mother had been ordered not to talk or
+exert herself, and entreated her to be composed, and his mother to be
+silent.
+
+“Be it _your_ business, then,” said Mrs Delvile, more gaily, “to find
+us entertainment. We will promise to be very still if you will take that
+trouble upon yourself.”
+
+“I will not,” answered he, “be rallied from my purpose; if I cannot
+entertain, it will be something to weary you, for that may incline you
+to take rest, which will he answering a better purpose.”
+
+“Mortimer,” returned she, “is this the ingenuity of duty or of love?
+and which are you just now thinking of, my health, or a conversation
+uninterrupted with Miss Beverley?”
+
+“Perhaps a little of both!” said he, chearfully, though colouring.
+
+“But you rather meant it should pass,” said Mrs Delvile, “you were
+thinking only of me? I have always observed, that where one scheme
+answers two purposes, the ostensive is never the purpose most at heart.”
+
+“Why it is but common prudence,” answered Delvile, “to feel our way a
+little before we mention what we most wish, and so cast the hazard of
+the refusal upon something rather less important.”
+
+“Admirably settled!” cried Mrs Delvile: “so my rest is but to prove Miss
+Beverley's disturbance!--Well, it is only anticipating our future way of
+life, when her disturbance, in taking the management of you to herself,
+will of course prove my rest.”
+
+She then quietly reposed herself, and Delvile discoursed with Cecilia
+upon their future plans, hopes and actions.
+
+He meant to set off from the church-door to Delvile Castle, to acquaint
+his father with his marriage, and then to return instantly to London:
+there he entreated Cecilia to stay with his mother, that, finding them
+both together, he might not exhaust her patience, by making his parting
+visit occasion another journey to Suffolk.
+
+But here Cecilia resolutely opposed him; saying, her only chance to
+escape discovery, was going instantly to her own house; and representing
+so earnestly her desire that their marriage should be unknown till his
+return to England, upon a thousand motives of delicacy, propriety, and
+fearfulness, that the obligation he owed already to a compliance which
+he saw grew more and more reluctant, restrained him both in gratitude
+and pity from persecuting her further. Neither would she consent to
+seeing him in Suffolk; which could but delay his mother's journey, and
+expose her to unnecessary suspicions; she promised, however, to write
+to him often, and as, from his mother's weakness, he must travel very
+slowly, she took a plan of his route, and engaged that he should find a
+letter from her at every great town.
+
+The bond which he had already had altered, he insisted upon leaving in
+her own custody, averse to applying to Mr Monckton, whose behaviour to
+him had before given him disgust, and in whom Cecilia herself no
+longer wished to confide. He had again applied to the same lawyer, Mr
+Singleton, to give her away; for though to his secrecy he had no tie, he
+had still less to any entire stranger. Mrs Delvile was too ill to attend
+them to church, nor would Delvile have desired from her such absolute
+defiance of his father.
+
+Cecilia now gave another sigh to her departed friend Mrs Charlton, whose
+presence upon this awful occasion would else again have soothed and
+supported her. She had no female friend in whom she could rely; but
+feeling a repugnance invincible to being accompanied only by men, she
+accepted the attendance of Mrs Delvile's own woman, who had lived many
+years in the family, and was high in the favour and confidence of her
+lady.
+
+The arrangement of these and other articles, with occasional
+interruptions from Mrs Delvile, fully employed the evening. Delvile
+would not trust again to meeting her at the church; but begged her to
+send out her servants between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, at
+which time he would himself call for her with a chair.
+
+She went away early, that Mrs Delvile might go to rest, and it was
+mutually agreed they should risk no meeting the next day. Delvile
+conjured them to part with firmness and chearfulness, and Cecilia,
+fearing her own emotion, would have retired without bidding her adieu.
+But Mrs Delvile, calling after her, said, “Take with you my blessing!”
+ and tenderly embracing her, added, “My son, as my chief nurse, claims
+a prescriptive right to govern me, but I will break from his control to
+tell my sweet Cecilia what ease and what delight she has already given
+to my mind! my best hope of recovery is founded on the pleasure I
+anticipate to witnessing your mutual happiness: but should my illness
+prove fatal, and that felicity be denied me, my greatest earthly care is
+already removed by the security I feel of Mortimer's future peace. Take
+with you, then, my blessing, for you are become one to me! long daughter
+of my affection, now wife of my darling son! love her, Mortimer, as
+she merits, and cherish her with tenderest gratitude!--banish, sweetest
+Cecilia, every apprehension that oppresses you, and receive in Mortimer
+Delvile a husband that will revere your virtues, and dignify your
+choice!”
+
+She then embraced her again, and seeing that her heart was too full for
+speech, suffered her to go without making any answer. Delvile attended
+her to her chair, scarce less moved than herself, and found only
+opportunity to entreat her punctuality the next morning.
+
+She had, indeed, no inclination to fail in her appointment, or risk
+the repetition of scenes so affecting, or situations so alarming. Mrs
+Delvile's full approbation somewhat restored to her her own, but nothing
+could remove the fearful anxiety, which still privately tormented her
+with expectations of another disappointment.
+
+The next morning she arose with the light, and calling all her courage
+to her aid, determined to consider this day as decisive of her destiny
+with regard to Delvile, and, rejoicing that at least all suspense would
+be over, to support herself with fortitude, be that destiny what it
+might.
+
+At the appointed time she sent her maid to visit Mrs Hill, and gave some
+errands to her man that carried him to a distant part of the town: but
+she charged them both to return to the lodgings by nine o'clock, at
+which hour she ordered a chaise for returning into the country.
+
+Delvile, who was impatiently watching for their quitting the house, only
+waited till they were out of sight, to present himself at the door. He
+was shewn into a parlour, where she instantly attended him; and being
+told that the clergyman, Mr Singleton, and Mrs Delvile's woman, were
+already in the church, she gave him her hand in silence, and he led her
+to the chair.
+
+The calmness of stifled hope had now taken place in Cecilia of quick
+sensations and alarm. Occupied with a firm belief she should never be
+the wife of Delvile, she only waited, with a desperate sort of patience,
+to see when and by whom she was next to be parted from him.
+
+When they arrived near the church, Delvile stopt the chair. He handed
+Cecilia out of it, and discharging the chairmen, conducted her into the
+church. He was surprised himself at her composure, but earnestly wishing
+it to last, took care not to say to her a word that should make any
+answer from her necessary.
+
+He gave her, as before, to Mr Singleton, secretly praying that not, as
+before, she might be given him in vain: Mrs Delvile's woman attended
+her; the clergyman was ready, and they all proceeded to the altar.
+
+The ceremony was begun; Cecilia, rather mechanically than with
+consciousness, appearing to listen to it but at the words, _If any man
+can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together_,
+Delvile himself shook with terror, lest some concealed person should
+again answer it, and Cecilia, with a sort of steady dismay in her
+countenance, cast her eyes round the church, with no other view than
+that of seeing from what corner the prohibiter would start.
+
+She looked, however, to no purpose; no prohibiter appeared, the ceremony
+was performed without any interruption, and she received the thanks
+of Delvile, and the congratulations of the little set, before the idea
+which had so strongly pre-occupied her imagination, was sufficiently
+removed from it to satisfy her she was really married.
+
+They then went to the vestry, where their business was not long; and
+Delvile again put Cecilia into a chair, which again he accompanied on
+foot.
+
+Her sensibility now soon returned, though still attended with
+strangeness and a sensation of incredulity. But the sight of Delvile at
+her lodgings, contrary to their agreement, wholly recovered her
+senses from the stupor which had dulled them. He came, however, but to
+acknowledge how highly she had obliged him, to see her himself restored
+to the animation natural to her, character, and to give her a million
+of charges, resulting from anxiety and tenderness. And then, fearing the
+return of her servants, he quitted her, and set out for Delvile Castle.
+
+The amazement of Cecilia was still unconquerable; to be actually united
+with Delvile! to be his with the full consent of his mother,--to have
+him her's, beyond the power of his father,--she could not reconcile it
+with possibility; she fancied it a dream,--but a dream from which she
+wished not to wake.
+
+
+
+BOOK X.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER i
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+Cecilia's journey back to the country was as safe and free from
+interruption as her journey had been to town, and all that distinguished
+them was what passed in her own mind: the doubts, apprehensions, and
+desponding suspense which had accompanied her setting out, were now
+all removed, and certainty, ease, the expectation of happiness, and the
+cessation of all perplexity, had taken their place. She had nothing left
+to dread but the inflexibility of Mr Delvile, and hardly any thing even
+to hope but the recovery of his lady.
+
+Her friends at her return expressed their wonder at her expedition,
+but their wonder at what occasioned it, though still greater, met no
+satisfaction. Henrietta rejoiced in her sight, though her absence had
+been so short; and Cecilia, whose affection with her pity increased,
+intimated to her the event for which she wished her to prepare herself,
+and frankly acknowledged she had reason to expect it would soon take
+place.
+
+Henrietta endeavoured with composure to receive this intelligence, and
+to return such a mark of confidence with chearful congratulations: but
+her fortitude was unequal to an effort so heroic, and her character was
+too simple to assume a greatness she felt not: she sighed and changed
+colour; and hastily quitted the room that she might sob aloud in
+another.
+
+Warm-hearted, tender, and susceptible, her affections were all
+undisguised: struck with the elegance of Delvile, and enchanted by his
+services to her brother, she had lost to him her heart at first without
+missing it, and, when missed, without seeking to reclaim it. The
+hopelessness of such a passion she never considered, nor asked herself
+its end, or scarce suspected its aim; it was pleasant to her at the
+time, and she looked not to the future, but fed it with visionary
+schemes, and soothed it with voluntary fancies. Now she knew all was
+over, she felt the folly she had committed, but though sensibly and
+candidly angry at her own error, its conviction offered nothing but
+sorrow to succeed it.
+
+The felicity of Cecilia, whom she loved, admired and revered, she wished
+with the genuine ardour of zealous sincerity; but that Delvile, the very
+cause and sole subject of her own personal unhappiness, should himself
+constitute that felicity, was too much for her spirits, and seemed to
+her mortified mind too cruel in her destiny.
+
+Cecilia, who in the very vehemence of her sorrow saw its innocence,
+was too just and too noble to be offended by it, or impute to the bad
+passions of envy or jealousy, the artless regret of an untutored mind.
+To be penetrated too deeply with the merit of Delvile, with her wanted
+no excuse, and she grieved for her situation with but little mixture
+of blame, and none of surprise. She redoubled her kindness and caresses
+with the hope of consoling her, but ventured to trust her no further,
+till reflection, and her natural good sense, should better enable her to
+bear an explanation.
+
+Nor was this friendly exertion any longer a hardship to her; the sudden
+removal, in her own feelings and affairs, of distress and expectation,
+had now so much lightened her heart, that she could spare without
+repining, some portion of its spirit to her dejected young friend.
+
+But an incident happened two mornings after which called back, and most
+unpleasantly, her attention to herself. She was told that Mrs Matt, the
+poor woman she had settled in Bury, begged an audience, and upon sending
+for her up stairs, and desiring to know what she could do for her,
+“Nothing, madam, just now,” she answered, “for I don't come upon my own
+business, but to tell some news to you, madam. You bid me never take
+notice of the wedding, that was to be, and I'm sure I never opened my
+mouth about it from that time to this; but I have found out who it was
+put a stop to it, and so I come to tell you.”
+
+Cecilia, extremely amazed, eagerly desired her to go on.
+
+“Why, madam, I don't know the gentlewoman's name quite right yet, but
+I can tell you where she lives, for I knew her as soon as I set eyes on
+her, when I see her at church last Sunday, and I would have followed her
+home, but she went into a coach, and I could not walk fast enough; but I
+asked one of the footmen where she lived, and he said at the great house
+at the Grove: and perhaps, madam, you may know where that is: and then
+he told me her name, but that I can't just now think of.”
+
+“Good heaven!” cried Cecilia,--“it could not be Bennet?”
+
+“Yes, ma'am, that's the very name; I know it again now I hear it.”
+
+Cecilia then hastily dismissed her, first desiring her not to mention
+the circumstance to any body.
+
+Shocked and dismayed, she now saw, but saw with horror, the removal of
+all her doubts, and the explanation of all her difficulties, in the
+full and irrefragable discovery of the perfidy of her oldest friend and
+confident.
+
+Miss Bennet herself she regarded in the affair as a mere tool, which,
+though in effect it did the work, was innocent of its mischief, because
+powerless but in the hand of its employer.
+
+“That employer,” cried she, “must be Mr Monckton! Mr Monckton whom so
+long I have known, who so willingly has been my counsellor, so ably my
+instructor! in whose integrity I have confided, upon whose friendship
+I have relied! my succour in all emergencies, my guide in all
+perplexities!--Mr _Monckton_ thus dishonourably, thus barbarously to
+betray me! to turn against me the very confidence I had reposed in his
+regard for me! and make use of my own trust to furnish the means to
+injure me!”--
+
+She was now wholly confirmed that he had wronged her with Mr Delvile;
+she could not have two enemies so malignant without provocation, and he
+who so unfeelingly could dissolve a union at the very altar, could alone
+have the baseness to calumniate her so cruelly.
+
+Evil thoughts thus awakened, stopt not merely upon facts; conjecture
+carried her further, and conjecture built upon probability. The
+officiousness of Morrice in pursuing her to London, his visiting her
+when there, and his following and watching Delvile, she now reasonably
+concluded were actions directed by Mr Monckton, whose house he had but
+just left, and whose orders, whatever they might be, she was almost
+certain he would obey. Availing himself, therefore, of the forwardness
+and suppleness which met in this young man, she doubted not but his
+intelligence had contributed to acquaint him with her proceedings.
+
+The motive of such deep concerted and accumulated treachery was next to
+be sought: nor was the search long; one only could have tempted him to
+schemes so hazardous and costly; and, unsuspicious as she was, she now
+saw into his whole design.
+
+Long accustomed to regard him as a safe and disinterested old friend,
+the respect with which, as a child, she had looked up to him, she
+had insensibly preserved when a woman. That respect had taught her to
+consider his notice as a favour, and far from suspiciously shunning, she
+had innocently courted it: and his readiness in advising and tutoring
+her, his frank and easy friendliness of behaviour, had kept his
+influence unimpaired, by preventing its secret purpose from being
+detected.
+
+But now the whole mystery was revealed; his aversion to the Delviles, to
+which hitherto she had attributed all she disapproved in his behaviour,
+she was convinced must be inadequate to stimulate him to such lengths.
+That aversion itself was by this late surmise accounted for, and no
+sooner did it occur to her, than a thousand circumstances confirmed it.
+
+The first among these was the evident ill will of Lady Margaret, which
+though she had constantly imputed to the general irascibility for which
+her character was notorious, she had often wondered to find impenetrable
+to all endeavours to please or soften her. His care of her fortune, his
+exhortations against her expences, his wish to make her live with Mr
+Briggs, all contributed to point out the selfishness of his attentions,
+which in one instance rendered visible, became obvious in every other.
+
+Yet various as were the incidents that now poured upon her memory to
+his disgrace, not one among them took its rise from his behaviour to
+herself, which always had been scrupulously circumspect, or if for a
+moment unguarded, only at a season when her own distress or confusion
+had prevented her from perceiving it. This recollection almost staggered
+her suspicions; yet so absolute seemed the confirmation they received
+from every other, that her doubt was overpowered, and soon wholly
+extinguished.
+
+She was yet ruminating on this subject, when, word was brought her that
+Mr Monckton was in the parlour.
+
+Mingled disgust and indignation made her shudder at his name, and
+without pausing a moment, she sent him word she was engaged, and could
+not possibly leave her room.
+
+Astonished by such a dismission, he left the house in the utmost
+confusion. But Cecilia could not endure to see him, after a discovery of
+such hypocrisy and villainy.
+
+She considered, however, that the matter could not rest here: he would
+demand an explanation, and perhaps, by his unparalleled address, again
+contrive to seem innocent, notwithstanding appearances were at present
+so much against him. Expecting, therefore, some artifice, and determined
+not to be duped by it, she sent again for the Pew-opener, to examine her
+more strictly.
+
+The woman was out at work in a private family, and could not come till
+the evening: but, when further questioned, the description she gave of
+Miss Bennet was too exact to be disputed.
+
+She then desired her to call again the next morning and sent a servant
+to the Grove, with her compliments to Miss Bennet, and a request that
+she might send her carriage for her the next day, at any time she
+pleased, as she wished much to speak with her.
+
+This message, she was aware, might create some suspicion, and put her
+upon her guard; but she thought, nevertheless, a sudden meeting with the
+Pew-opener, whom she meant abruptly to confront with her, would baffle
+the security of any previously settled scheme.
+
+To a conviction such as this even Mr Monckton must submit, and since he
+was lost to her as a friend, she might at least save herself the pain of
+keeping up his acquaintance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+AN INTERVIEW.
+
+The servant did not return till it was dark; and then, with a look of
+much dismay, said he had been able to meet with nobody who could either
+give or take a message; that the Grove was all in confusion, and the
+whole country in an uproar, for Mr Monckton, just as he arrived, had
+been brought home dead!
+
+Cecilia screamed with involuntary horror; a pang like remorse seized her
+mind, with the apprehension she had some share in this catastrophe,
+and innocent as she was either of his fall or his crimes, she no
+sooner heard he was no more, than she forgot he had offended her, and
+reproached herself with severity for the shame to which she meant to
+expose him the next morning.
+
+Dreadfully disturbed by this horrible incident, she entreated Mrs
+Harrel and Henrietta to sup by themselves, and going into her own room,
+determined to write the whole affair to Delvile, in a letter she should
+direct to be left at the post-office for him at Margate.
+
+And here strongly she felt the happiness of being actually his wife; she
+could now without reserve make him acquainted with all her affairs, and
+tell to the master of her heart every emotion that entered it.
+
+While engaged in this office, the very action of which quieted her,
+a letter was brought her from Delvile himself. She received it with
+gratitude and opened it with joy; he had promised to write soon, but so
+soon she had thought impossible.
+
+The reading took not much time; the letter contained but the following
+words:
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+MY CECILIA!--Be alone, I conjure you; dismiss every body, and admit me
+this moment!
+
+Great was her astonishment at this note! no name to it, no conclusion,
+the characters indistinct, the writing crooked, the words so few, and
+those few scarce legible!
+
+He desired to see her, and to see her alone; she could not hesitate in
+her compliance,--but whom could she dismiss?--her servants, if ordered
+away, would but be curiously upon the watch,--she could think of no
+expedient, she was all hurry and amazement.
+
+She asked if any one waited for an answer? The footman said no; that
+the note was given in by somebody who did not speak, and who ran out of
+sight the moment he had delivered it.
+
+She could not doubt this was Delvile himself,--Delvile who should now
+be just returned from the castle to his mother, and whom she had thought
+not even a letter would reach if directed any where nearer than Margate!
+
+All she could devise in obedience to him, was to go and wait for him
+alone in her dressing-room, giving orders that if any one called they
+might be immediately brought up to her, as she expected somebody upon
+business, with whom she must not be interrupted.
+
+This was extremely disagreeable to her; yet, contrary as it was to their
+agreement, she felt no inclination to reproach Delvile; the abruptness
+of his note, the evident hand-shaking with which it had been written,
+the strangeness of the request in a situation such as theirs,--all
+concurred to assure her he came not to her idly, and all led her to
+apprehend he came to her with evil tidings.
+
+What they might be, she had no time to conjecture; a servant, in a few
+minutes, opened the dressing-room door, and said, “Ma'am, a gentleman;”
+ and Delvile, abruptly entering, shut it himself, in his eagerness to get
+rid of him.
+
+At his sight, her prognostication of ill became stronger! she went
+forward to meet him, and he advanced to her smiling and in haste;
+but that smile did not well do its office; it concealed not a pallid
+countenance, in which every feature spoke horror; it disguised not an
+aching heart, which almost visibly throbbed with intolerable emotion!
+Yet he addressed her in terms of tenderness and peace; but his tremulous
+voice counteracted his words, and spoke that all within was tumult and
+war!
+
+Cecilia, amazed, affrighted, had no power to hasten an explanation,
+which, on his own part, he seemed unable, or fearful to begin. He talked
+to her of his happiness in again seeing her before he left the kingdom,
+entreated her to write to him continually, said the same thing two and
+three times in a breath, began with one subject, and seemed unconscious
+he wandered presently into another, and asked her questions innumerable
+about her health, journey, affairs, and ease of mind, without hearing
+from her any answer, or seeming to miss that she had none.
+
+Cecilia grew dreadfully terrified; something strange and most alarming
+she was sure must have happened, but _what_, she had no means to know,
+nor courage, nor even words to enquire.
+
+Delvile, at length, the first hurry of his spirits abating, became more
+coherent and considerate: and looking anxiously at her, said, “Why this
+silence, my Cecilia?”
+
+“I know not!” said she, endeavouring to recover herself, “but your
+coming was unexpected: I was just writing to you at Margate.”
+
+“Write still, then; but direct to Ostend; I shall be quicker than the
+post; and I would not lose a letter--a line--a word from you, for all
+the world can offer me!”
+
+“Quicker than the post?” cried Cecilia; “but how can Mrs Delvile--” she
+stopt; not knowing what she might venture to ask.
+
+“She is now on the road to Margate; I hope to be there to receive her. I
+mean but to bid you adieu, and be gone.”
+
+Cecilia made no answer; she was more and more astonished, more and more
+confounded.
+
+“You are thoughtful?” said he, with tenderness; “are you
+unhappy?--sweetest Cecilia! most excellent of human creatures! if I have
+made you unhappy--and I must!--it is inevitable!--”
+
+“Oh Delvile!” cried she, now assuming more courage, “why will you not
+speak to me openly?--something, I see, is wrong; may I not hear it? may
+I not tell you, at least, my concern that any thing has distressed you?”
+
+“You are too good!” cried he; “to deserve you is not possible, but to
+afflict you is inhuman!”
+
+“Why so?” cried she, more chearfully; “must I not share the common lot?
+or expect the whole world to be new modelled, lest I should meet in it
+any thing but happiness?”
+
+“There is not, indeed, much danger! Have you pen and ink here?”
+
+She brought them to him immediately, with paper.
+
+“You have been writing to me, you say?--I will begin a letter myself.”
+
+“To me?” cried she.
+
+He made no answer, but took up the pen, and wrote a few words, and then,
+flinging it down, said, “Fool!--I could have done this without coming!”
+
+“May I look at it?” said she; and, finding he made no opposition,
+advanced and read.
+
+_I fear to alarm you by rash precipitation,--I fear to alarm you by
+lingering suspense,--but all is not well--_
+
+“Fear nothing!” cried she, turning to him with the kindest earnestness;
+“tell me, whatever it may be!--Am I not your wife? bound by every tie
+divine and human to share in all your sorrows, if, unhappily, I cannot
+mitigate them!”
+
+“Since you allow me,” cried he, gratefully, “so sweet a claim, a claim
+to which all others yield, and which if you repent not giving me, will
+make all others nearly immaterial to me,--I will own to you that all,
+indeed, is not well! I have been hasty,--you will blame me; I deserve,
+indeed, to be blamed!--entrusted with your peace and happiness, to
+suffer rage, resentment, violence, to make me forego what I owed to such
+a deposite!--If your blame, however, stops short of repentance--but it
+cannot!”
+
+“What, then,” cried she with warmth, “must you have done? for there
+is not an action of which I believe you capable, there is not an event
+which I believe to be possible, that can ever make me repent belonging
+to you wholly!”
+
+“Generous, condescending Cecilia!” cried he; “Words such as these, hung
+there not upon me an evil the most depressing, would be almost more than
+I could bear--would make me too blest for mortality!”
+
+“But words such as these,” said she more gaily, “I might long have
+coquetted ere I had spoken, had you not drawn them from me by this
+alarm. Take, therefore, the good with the ill, and remember, if all does
+not go right, you have now a trusty friend, as willing to be the partner
+of your serious as your happiest hours.”
+
+“Shew but as much firmness as you have shewn sweetness,” cried he, “and
+I will fear to tell you nothing.”
+
+She reiterated her assurances; they then both sat down, and he began his
+account.
+
+“Immediately from your lodgings I went where I had ordered a chaise, and
+stopped only to change horses till I reached Delvile Castle. My father
+saw me with surprise, and received me with coldness. I was compelled by
+my situation to be abrupt, and told him I came, before I accompanied
+my mother abroad, to make him acquainted with an affair which I thought
+myself bound in duty and respect to suffer no one to communicate to him
+but myself. He then sternly interrupted me, and declared in high terms,
+that if this affair concerned _you_, he would not listen to it. I
+attempted to remonstrate upon this injustice, when he passionately broke
+forth into new and horrible charges against you, affirming that he had
+them from authority as indisputable as ocular demonstration. I was then
+certain of some foul play.”--
+
+“Foul play indeed!” cried Cecilia, who now knew but too well by whom she
+had been injured. “Good heaven, how have I been deceived, where most I
+have trusted!”
+
+“I told him,” continued Delvile, “some gross imposition had been
+practiced upon him, and earnestly conjured him no longer to conceal
+from me by whom. This, unfortunately, encreased his rage; imposition,
+he said, was not so easily played upon him, he left that for _me_ who so
+readily was duped; while for himself, he had only given credit to a man
+of much consideration in Suffolk, who had known you from a child, who
+had solemnly assured him he had repeatedly endeavoured to reclaim you,
+who had rescued you from the hands of Jews at his own hazard and loss,
+and who actually shewed him bonds acknowledging immense debts, which
+were signed with your own hand.”
+
+“Horrible!” exclaimed Cecilia, “I believed not such guilt and perfidy
+possible!”
+
+“I was scarce myself,” resumed Delvile, “while I heard him: I demanded
+even with fierceness his author, whom I scrupled not to execrate as he
+deserved; he coldly answered he was bound by an oath never to reveal
+him, nor should he repay his honourable attention to his family by a
+breach of his own word, were it even less formally engaged. I then
+lost all patience; to mention honour, I cried, was a farce, where
+such infamous calumnies were listened to;--but let me not shock you
+unnecessarily, you may readily conjecture what passed.”
+
+“Ah me!” cried Cecilia, “you have then quarrelled with your father!”
+
+“I have!” said he; “nor does he yet know I am married: in so much wrath
+there was no room for narration; I only pledged myself by all I held
+sacred, never to rest till I had cleared your fame, by the detection of
+this villainy, and then left him without further explanation.”
+
+“Oh return, then, to him directly!” cried Cecilia, “he is your father,
+you are bound to bear with his displeasure;--alas! had you never known
+me, you had never incurred it!”
+
+“Believe me,” he answered, “I am ill at ease under it: if you wish it,
+when you have heard me, I will go to him immediately; if not, I will
+write, and you shall yourself dictate what.”
+
+Cecilia thanked him, and begged he would continue his account.
+
+“My first step, when I left the Castle, was to send a letter to my
+mother, in which I entreated her to set out as soon as possible for
+Margate, as I was detained from her unavoidably, and was unwilling my
+delay should either retard our journey, or oblige her to travel faster.
+At Margate I hoped to be as soon as herself, if not before her.”
+
+“And why,” cried Cecilia, “did you not go to town as you had promised,
+and accompany her?”
+
+“I had business another way. I came hither.”
+
+“Directly?”
+
+“No; but soon.”
+
+“Where did you go first?”
+
+“My Cecilia, it is now you must summon your fortitude: I left my
+father without an explanation on my part;--but not till, in his rage of
+asserting his authority, he had unwarily named his informant.”
+
+“Well!”
+
+“That informant--the most deceitful of men!--was your long pretended
+friend, Mr Monckton!”
+
+“So I feared!” said Cecilia, whose blood now ran cold through her veins
+with sudden and new apprehensions.
+
+“I rode to the Grove, on hack-horses, and on a full gallop the whole
+way. I got to him early in the evening. I was shewn into his library. I
+told him my errand.--You look pale, my love? You are not well?--”
+
+Cecilia, too sick for speech, leant her head upon a table. Delvile was
+going to call for help; but she put her hand upon his arm to stop
+him, and, perceiving she was only mentally affected, he rested, and
+endeavoured by every possible means to revive her.
+
+After a while, she again raised her head, faintly saying, “I am sorry
+I interrupted you; but the conclusion I already know,--Mr Monckton is
+dead!”
+
+“Not dead,” cried he; “dangerously, indeed, wounded, but thank heaven,
+not actually dead!”
+
+“Not dead?” cried Cecilia, with recruited strength and spirits, “Oh then
+all yet may be well!--if he is not dead; he may recover!”
+
+“He may; I hope he will!”
+
+“Now, then,” she cried, “tell me all: I can bear any intelligence but of
+death by human means.”
+
+“I meant not to have gone such lengths; far from it; I hold duels in
+abhorrence, as unjustifiable acts of violence, and savage devices of
+revenge. I have offended against my own conviction,--but, transported
+with passion at his infamous charges, I was not master of my reason; I
+accused hum of his perfidy; he denied it; I told him I had it from my
+father,--he changed the subject to pour abuse upon him; I insisted on a
+recantation to clear you; he asked by what right? I fiercely answered;
+by a husband's! His countenance, then, explained at least the motives
+of his treachery,--he loves you himself! he had probably schemed to keep
+you free till his wife died, and then concluded his machinations would
+secure you his own. For this purpose, finding he was in danger of losing
+you, he was content even to blast your character, rather than suffer you
+to escape him! But the moment I acknowledged my marriage he grew more
+furious than myself; and, in short-for why relate the frenzies of rage?
+we walked out together; my travelling pistols were already charged;
+I gave him his choice of them, and, the challenge being mine, for
+insolence joined with guilt had robbed me of all forbearance, he fired
+first, but missed me: I then demanded whether he would clear your
+fame? he called out 'Fire! I will make no terms,'--I did fire,--and
+unfortunately aimed better! We had neither of us any second, all was the
+result of immediate passion; but I soon got people to him, and assisted
+in conveying him home. He was at, first believed to be dead, and I was
+seized by his servants; but he afterwards shewed signs of life, and by
+sending for my friend Biddulph, I was released. Such is the melancholy
+transaction I came to relate to you, flattering myself it would
+something less shock you from me than from another: yet my own real
+concern for the affair, the repentance with which from the moment the
+wretch fell, I was struck in being his destroyer, and the sorrow, the
+remorse, rather, which I felt, in coming to wound you with such
+black, such fearful intelligence,--you to whom all I owe is peace and
+comfort!--these thoughts gave me so much disturbance, that, in fact, I
+knew less than any other how to prepare you for such a tale.”
+
+He stopt; but Cecilia could say nothing: to censure him now would both
+be cruel and vain; yet to pretend she was satisfied with his conduct,
+would be doing violence to her judgment and veracity. She saw, too, that
+his error had sprung wholly from a generous ardor in her defence, and
+that his confidence in her character, had resisted, without wavering,
+every attack that menaced it. For this she felt truly grateful; yet
+his quarrel with his father,--the danger of his mother,--his necessary
+absence,--her own clandestine situation,--and more than all, the
+threatened death of Mr Monckton by his hands, were circumstances so full
+of dread and sadness, she knew not upon which to speak,--how to offer
+him comfort,--how to assume a countenance that looked able to receive
+any, or by what means to repress the emotions which to many ways
+assailed her. Delvile, having vainly waited some reply, then in a
+tone the most melancholy, said, “If it is yet possible you can be
+sufficiently interested in my fate to care what becomes of me, aid me
+now with your counsel, or rather with your instructions; I am scarce
+able to think for myself, and to be thought for by you, would yet be a
+consolation that would give me spirit for any thing.”
+
+Cecilia, starting from her reverie, repeated, “To care what becomes of
+you-? Oh Delvile!--make not my heart bleed by words of such unkindness!”
+
+“Forgive me,” cried he, “I meant not a reproach; I meant but to state
+my own consciousness how little I deserve from you. You talked to me of
+going to my father? do you still wish it?”
+
+“I think so!” cried she; too much disturbed to know what she said, yet
+fearing again to hurt him by making him wait her answer.
+
+“I will go then,” said he, “without doubt: too happy to be guided by
+you, which-ever way I steer. I have now, indeed much to tell him; but
+whatever may be his wrath, there is little fear, at this time, that my
+own temper cannot bear it! what next shall I do?”
+
+“What next?” repeated she; “indeed I know not!”
+
+“Shall I go immediately to Margate? or shall I first ride hither?”
+
+“If you please,” said she, much perturbed, and deeply sighing.
+
+“I please nothing but by your direction, to follow that is my only
+chance of pleasure. Which, then, shall I do?-you will not, now, refuse
+to direct me?”
+
+“No, certainly, not for the world!”
+
+“Speak to me, then, my love, and tell me;--why are you thus silent?--is
+it painful to you to counsel me?”
+
+“No, indeed!” said she, putting her hand to her head, “I will speak to
+you in a few minutes.”
+
+“Oh my Cecilia!” cried he, looking at her with much alarm, “call back
+your recollection! you know not what you say, you take no interest in
+what you answer.”
+
+“Indeed I do!” said she, sighing deeply, and oppressed beyond the
+power of thinking, beyond any power but an internal consciousness of
+wretchedness.
+
+“Sigh not so bitterly,” cried he, “if you have any compassion! sigh not
+so bitterly,--I cannot bear to hear you!”
+
+“I am very sorry indeed!” said she, sighing again, and not seeming
+sensible she spoke.
+
+“Good Heaven!” cried he, rising, “distract me not with this
+horror!--speak not to me in such broken sentences!--Do you hear me,
+Cecilia?--why will you not answer me?”
+
+She started and trembled, looked pale and affrighted, and putting both
+her hands upon her heart, said, “Oh yes!--but I have an oppression
+here,--a tightness, a fulness,--I have not room for breath!”
+
+“Oh beloved of my heart!” cried he, wildly casting himself at her feet,
+“kill me not with this terror!--call back your faculties,--awake from
+this dreadful insensibility! tell me at least you know me!--tell me I
+have not tortured you quite to madness!--sole darling of my affections!
+my own, my wedded Cecilia!--rescue me from this agony! it is more than I
+can support!”---
+
+This energy of distress brought back her scattered senses, scarce more
+stunned by the shock of all this misery, than by the restraint of her
+feelings in struggling to conceal it. But these passionate exclamations
+restoring her sensibility, she burst into tears, which happily relieved
+her mind from the conflict with which it was labouring, and which, not
+thus effected, might have ended more fatally.
+
+Never had Delvile more rejoiced in her smiles than now in these
+seasonable tears, which he regarded and blest as the preservers of her
+reason. They flowed long without any intermission, his soothing and
+tenderness but melting her to more sorrow: after a while, however, the
+return of her faculties, which at first seemed all consigned over to
+grief, was manifested by the returning strength of her mind: she blamed
+herself severely for the little fortitude she had shewn, but having now
+given vent to emotions too forcible to be wholly stiffed, she assured
+him he might depend upon her' better courage for the future, and
+entreated him to consider and settle his affairs.
+
+Not speedily, however, could Delvile himself recover. The torture he had
+suffered in believing, though only for a few moments, that the terror
+he had given to Cecilia had affected her intellects, made even a deeper
+impression upon his imagination, than the scene of fury and death, which
+had occasioned that terror: and Cecilia, who now strained every nerve
+to repair by her firmness, the pain which by her weakness she had given
+him, was sooner in a condition for reasoning and deliberation than
+himself.
+
+“Ah Delvile!” she cried, comprehending what passed within him, “do
+you allow nothing for surprize? and nothing for the hard conflict of
+endeavouring to suppress it? do you think me still as unfit to advise
+with, and as worthless, as feeble a counsellor, as during the first
+confusion of my mind?”
+
+“Hurry not your tender spirits, I beseech you,” cried he, “we have time
+enough; we will talk about business by and by.”
+
+“What time?” cried she, “what is it now o'clock?”
+
+“Good Heaven!” cried he, looking at his watch, “already past ten! you
+must turn me out, my Cecilia, or calumny will still be busy, even though
+poor Monckton is quiet.”
+
+“I _will_ turn you out,” cried she, “I am indeed most earnest to have
+you gone. But tell me your plan, and which way you mean to go?”
+
+“That;” he answered, “you shall decide for me yourself: whether to
+Delvile Castle, to finish one tale, and wholly communicate another, or
+to Margate, to hasten my mother abroad, before the news of this calamity
+reaches her.”
+
+“Go to Margate,” cried she, eagerly, “set off this very moment! you can
+write to your father from Ostend. But continue, I conjure you, on the
+continent, till we see if this unhappy man lives, and enquire, of those
+who can judge, what must follow if he should not!”
+
+“A trial,” said he, “must follow, and it will go, I fear, but hardly
+with me! the challenge was mine; his servants can all witness I went
+to him, not he to me,--Oh my Cecilia! the rashness of which I have been
+guilty, is so opposite to my principles, and, all generous as is your
+silence, I know it so opposite to yours, that never, should his blood be
+on my hands, wretch as he was, never will my heart be quiet more.”
+
+“He will live, he will live!” cried Cecilia, repressing her horror,
+“fear nothing, for he will live;--and as to his wound and his
+sufferings, his perfidy has deserved them. Go, then, to Margate; think
+only of Mrs Delvile, and save her, if possible, from hearing what has
+happened.”
+
+“I will go,--stay,--do which and whatever you bid me: but, should what I
+fear come to pass, should my mother continue ill, my father inflexible,
+should this wretched man die, and should England no longer be a country
+I shall love to dwell in,--could you, then, bear to own,--would you,
+then, consent to follow me?”
+
+“Could I?--am I not yours? may you not command me? tell me, then, you
+have only to say,--shall I accompany you at once?”
+
+Delvile, affected by her generosity, could scarce utter his thanks; yet
+he did not hesitate in denying to avail himself of it; “No, my Cecilia,”
+ he cried, “I am not so selfish. If we have not happier days, we will at
+least wait for more desperate necessity. With the uncertainty if I have
+not this man's life to answer for at the hazard of my own, to take my
+wife--my bride,--from the kingdom I must fly!--to make her a fugitive
+and an exile in the first publishing that she is mine! No, if I am not a
+destined alien for life I can never permit it. Nothing less, believe
+me, shall ever urge my consent to wound the chaste propriety of your
+character, by making you an eloper with a duelist.”
+
+They then again consulted upon their future plans; and concluded that in
+the present disordered state of their affairs, it would be best not to
+acknowledge even to Mr Delvile their marriage, to whom the news of the
+duel, and Mr Monckton's danger, would be a blow so severe, that, to add
+to it any other might half distract him.
+
+To the few people already acquainted with it, Delvile therefore
+determined to write from Ostend, re-urging his entreaties for their
+discretion and secrecy. Cecilia promised every post to acquaint him how
+Mr Monckton went on, and she then besought him to go instantly, that he
+might out-travel the ill news to his mother.
+
+He complied, and took leave of her in the tenderest manner, conjuring
+her to support her spirits, and be careful of her health. “Happiness,”
+ said he, “is much in arrears with us, and though my violence may have
+frightened it away, your sweetness and gentleness will yet attract it
+back: all that for me is in store must be received at your hands,--what
+is offered in any other way, I shall only mistake for evil! droop not,
+therefore, my generous Cecilia, but in yourself preserve me!”
+
+“I will not droop,” said she; “you will find, I hope, you have not
+intrusted yourself in ill hands.”
+
+“Peace then be with you, my love!--my comforting, my soul-reviving
+Cecilia! Peace, such as angels give, and such as may drive from your
+mind the remembrance of this bitter hour!”
+
+He then tore himself away.
+
+Cecilia, who to his blessings could almost, like the tender Belvidera,
+have exclaimed,
+
+           “O do not leave me!--stay with me and curse me!”
+
+listened to his steps till she could hear them no longer, as if the
+remaining moments of her life were to be measured by them: but then,
+remembering the danger both to herself and him of his stay, she
+endeavoured to rejoice that he was gone, and, but that her mind was in
+no state for joy, was too rational not to have succeeded.
+
+Grief and horror for what was past, apprehension and suspense for
+what was to come, so disordered her whole frame, so confused even her
+intellects, that when not all the assistance of fancy could persuade
+her she still heard the footsteps of Delvile, she went to the chair upon
+which he had been seated, and taking possession of it, sat with her arms
+crossed, silent, quiet, and erect, almost vacant of all thought, yet
+with a secret idea she was doing something right.
+
+Here she continued till Henrietta came to wish her good night; whose
+surprise and concern at the strangeness of her look and attitude, once
+more recovered her. But terrified herself at this threatened wandering
+of her reason, and certain she must all night be a stranger to rest, she
+accepted the affectionate offer of the kind-hearted girl to stay with
+her, who was too much grieved for her grief to sleep any more than
+herself.
+
+She told her not what had passed; that, she knew, would be fruitless
+affliction to her: but she was soothed by her gentleness, and her
+conversation was some security from the dangerous rambling of her ideas.
+
+Henrietta herself found no little consolation in her own private
+sorrows, that she was able to give comfort to her beloved Miss Beverley,
+from whom she had received favours and kind offices innumerable. She
+quitted her not night nor day, and in the honest pride of a little
+power to skew the gratefulness of her heart, she felt a pleasure and
+self-consequence she had never before experienced.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A SUMMONS.
+
+Cecilia's earliest care, almost at break of day, was to send to the
+Grove; from thence she heard nothing but evil; Mr Monckton was still
+alive, but with little or no hope of recovery, constantly delirious, and
+talking of Miss Beverley, and of her being married to young Delvile.
+
+Cecilia, who knew well this, at least, was no delirium, though shocked
+that he talked of it, hoped his danger less than was apprehended.
+
+The next day, however, more fatal news was brought her, though not from
+the quarter she expected it: Mr Monckton, in one of his raving fits, had
+sent for Lady Margaret to his bed side, and used her almost inhumanly:
+he had railed at her age and her infirmities with incredible fury,
+called her the cause of all his sufferings, and accused her as the
+immediate agent of Lucifer in his present wound and danger. Lady
+Margaret, whom neither jealousy nor malignity had cured of loving him,
+was dismayed and affrighted; and in hurrying out of the room upon his
+attempting, in his frenzy, to strike her, she dropt down dead in an
+apoplectic fit.
+
+“Good Heaven!” thought Cecilia, “what an exemplary punishment has this
+man! he loses his hated wife at the very moment when her death could
+no longer answer his purposes! Poor Lady Margaret! her life has been as
+bitter as her temper! married from a view of interest, ill used as a bar
+to happiness, and destroyed from the fruitless ravings of despair!”
+
+She wrote all this intelligence to Ostend, whence she received a letter
+from Delvile, acquainting her he was detained from proceeding further
+by the weakness and illness of his mother, whose sufferings from
+seasickness had almost put an end to her existence.
+
+Thus passed a miserable week; Monckton still merely alive, Delvile
+detained at Ostend, and Cecilia tortured alike by what was recently
+passed, actually present, and fearfully expected; when one morning she
+was told a gentleman upon business desired immediately to speak with
+her.
+
+She hastily obeyed the summons; the constant image of her own mind,
+Delvile, being already present to her, and a thousand wild conjectures
+upon what had brought him back, rapidly occurring to her.
+
+Her expectations, however, were ill answered, for she found an entire
+stranger; an elderly man, of no pleasant aspect or manners.
+
+She desired to know his business.
+
+“I presume, madam, you are the lady of this house?”
+
+She bowed an assent.
+
+“May I take the liberty, madam, to ask your name?'
+
+“My name, sir?”
+
+“You will do me a favour, madam, by telling it me.”
+
+“Is it possible you are come hither without already knowing it?”
+
+“I know it only by common report, madam.”
+
+“Common report, sir, I believe is seldom wrong in a matter where to be
+right is so easy.”
+
+“Have you any objection, madam, to telling me your name?”
+
+“No, sir; but your business can hardly be very important, if you are yet
+to learn whom you are to address. It will be time enough, therefore, for
+us to meet when you are elsewhere satisfied in this point.”
+
+She would then have left the room.
+
+“I beg, madam,” cried the stranger, “you will have patience; it is
+necessary, before I can open my business, that I should hear your name
+from yourself.”
+
+“Well, sir,” cried she with some hesitation, “you can scarce have come
+to this house, without knowing that its owner is Cecilia Beverley.”
+
+“That, madam, is your maiden name.”
+
+“My maiden name?” cried she, starting.
+
+“Are you not married, madam?”
+
+“Married, sir?” she repeated, while her cheeks were the colour of
+scarlet.
+
+“It is, properly, therefore, madam, the name of your husband that I mean
+to ask.”
+
+“And by what authority, sir,” cried she, equally astonished and
+offended, “do you make these extraordinary enquiries?”
+
+“I am deputed, madam, to wait upon you by Mr Eggleston, the next heir
+to this estate, by your uncle's will, if you die without children, or
+change your name when you marry. His authority of enquiry, madam,
+I presume you will allow, and he has vested it in me by a letter of
+attorney.”
+
+Cecilia's distress and confusion were now unspeakable; she knew not what
+to own or deny, she could not conjecture how she had been betrayed, and
+she had never made the smallest preparation against such an attack.
+
+“Mr Eggleston, madam,” he continued, “has been pretty credibly informed
+that you are actually married: he is very desirous, therefore, to
+know what are your intentions, for your continuing to be called _Miss_
+Beverley, as if still single, leaves him quite in the dark: but, as he
+is so deeply concerned in the affair, he expects, as a lady of honour,
+you will deal with him without prevarication.”
+
+“This demand, sir,” said Cecilia, stammering, “is so extremely--so--so
+little expected--”
+
+“The way, madam, in these cases, is to keep pretty closely to the point;
+are you married or are you not?”
+
+Cecilia, quite confounded, made no answer: to disavow her marriage, when
+thus formally called upon, was every way unjustifiable; to acknowledge
+it in her present situation, would involve her in difficulties
+innumerable.
+
+“This is not, madam, a slight thing; Mr Eggleston has a large family and
+a small fortune, and that, into the bargain, very much encumbered;
+it cannot, therefore, be expected that he will knowingly connive at
+cheating himself, by submitting to your being actually married, and
+still enjoying your estate though your husband does not take your name.”
+
+Cecilia, now, summoning more presence of mind, answered, “Mr Eggleston,
+sir, has, at least, nothing to fear from imposition: those with whom he
+has, or may have any transactions in this affair, are not accustomed to
+practice it.”
+
+“I am far from meaning any offence, madam; my commission from Mr
+Eggleston is simply this, to beg you will satisfy him upon what grounds
+you now evade the will of your late uncle, which, till cleared up,
+appears a point manifestly to his prejudice.”
+
+“Tell him, then, sir, that whatever he wishes to know shall be explained
+to him in about a week. At present I can give no other answer.”
+
+“Very well, madam; he will wait that time, I am sure, for he does not
+wish to put you to any inconvenience. But when he heard the gentleman
+was gone abroad without owning his marriage, he thought it high time to
+take some notice of the matter.”
+
+Cecilia, who by this speech found she was every way discovered, was
+again in the utmost confusion, and with much trepidation, said, “since
+you seem so well, sir, acquainted with this affair, I should be glad you
+would inform me by what means you came to the knowledge of it?”
+
+“I heard it, madam, from Mr Eggleston himself, who has long known it.”
+
+“Long, sir?--impossible! when it is not yet a fortnight--not ten days,
+or no more, that---”
+
+She stopt, recollecting she was making a confession better deferred.
+
+“That, madam,” he answered, “may perhaps bear a little contention: for
+when this business comes to be settled, it will be very essential to
+be exact as to the time, even to the very hour; for a large income per
+annum, divides into a small one per diem: and if your husband keeps his
+own name, you must not only give up your uncle's inheritance from
+the time of relinquishing yours, but refund from the very day of your
+marriage.”
+
+“There is not the least doubt of it,” answered she; “nor will the
+smallest difficulty be made.”
+
+“You will please, then, to recollect, madam, that this sum is every hour
+encreasing; and has been since last September, which made half a year
+accountable for last March. Since then there is now added---”
+
+“Good Heaven, Sir,” cried Cecilia, “what calculation are you making out?
+do you call last week last September?”
+
+“No, madam; but I call last September the month in which you were
+married.”
+
+“You will find yourself, then, sir, extremely mistaken; and Mr Eggleston
+is preparing himself for much disappointment, if he supposes me so long
+in arrears with him.”
+
+“Mr Eggleston, madam, happens to be well informed of this transaction,
+as, if there is any dispute in it, you will find. He was your immediate
+successor in the house to which you went last September in Pall-Mall;
+the woman who kept it acquainted his servants that the last lady who
+hired it stayed with her but a day, and only came to town, she found, to
+be married: and hearing, upon enquiry, this lady was Miss Beverley, the
+servants, well knowing that their master was her conditional heir, told
+him the circumstance.”
+
+“You will find all this, sir, end in nothing.”
+
+“That, madam, as I said before, remains to be proved. If a young lady at
+eight o'clock in the morning, is seen,--and she was seen, going into a
+church with a young gentleman, and one female friend; and is afterwards
+observed to come out of it, followed by a clergyman and another person,
+supposed to have officiated as father, and is seen get into a coach with
+same young gentleman, and same female friend, why the circumstances are
+pretty strong!--”
+
+“They may seem so, Sir; but all conclusions drawn from them will be
+erroneous. I was not married then, upon my honour!”
+
+“We have little, madam, to do with professions; the circumstances are
+strong enough to bear a trial, and--”
+
+“A trial!--”
+
+“We have traced, madam, many witnesses able to stand to divers
+particulars; and eight months share of such an estate as this, is well
+worth a little trouble.”
+
+“I am amazed, sir! surely Mr Eggleston never desired you to make use of
+this language to me?”
+
+“Mr Eggleston, madam, has behaved very honourably; though he knew
+the whole affair so long ago, he was persuaded Mr Delvile had private
+reasons for a short concealment; and expecting every day when they would
+be cleared up by his taking your name, he never interfered: but being
+now informed he set out last week for the continent, he has been advised
+by his friends to claim his rights.”
+
+“That claim, sir, he need not fear will be satisfied; and without any
+occasion for threats of enquiries or law suits.”
+
+“The truth, madam, is this; Mr Eggleston is at present in a little
+difficulty about some money matters, which makes it a point with him of
+some consequence to have the affair settled speedily: unless you could
+conveniently compromise the matter, by advancing a particular sum,
+till it suits you to refund the whole that is due to him, and quit the
+premises.”
+
+“Nothing, sir, is due to him! at least, nothing worth mentioning. I
+shall enter into no terms, for I have no compromise to make. As to the
+premises, I will quit them with all the expedition in my power.”
+
+“You will do well, madam; for the truth is, it will not be convenient to
+him to wait much longer.”
+
+He then went away.
+
+“When, next,” cried Cecilia, “shall I again be weak, vain, blind enough
+to form any plan with a hope of secresy? or enter, with _any_ hope, into
+a clandestine scheme! betrayed by those I have trusted, discovered
+by those I have not thought of, exposed to the cruellest alarms, and
+defenceless from the most shocking attacks!--Such has been the life I
+have led since the moment I first consented to a private engagement!--Ah
+Delvile! your mother, in her tenderness, forgot her dignity, or she
+would not have concurred in an action which to such disgrace made me
+liable!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A DELIBERATION.
+
+It was necessary, however, not to moralize, but to act; Cecilia had
+undertaken to give her answer in a week, and the artful attorney had
+drawn from her an acknowledgment of her situation, by which he might
+claim it yet sooner.
+
+The law-suit with which she was threatened for the arrears of eight
+months, alarmed her not, though it shocked her, as she was certain she
+could prove her marriage so much later.
+
+It was easy to perceive that this man had been sent with a view of
+working from her a confession, and terrifying from her some money;
+the confession, indeed, in conscience and honesty she could not wholly
+elude, but she had suffered too often by a facility in parting with
+money to be there easily duped.
+
+Nothing, however, was more true, than that she now lived upon an estate
+of which she no longer was the owner, and that all she either spent or
+received was to be accounted for and returned, since by the will of her
+uncle, unless her husband took her name, her estate on the very day of
+her marriage was to be forfeited, and entered upon by the Egglestons.
+Delvile's plan and hope of secresy had made them little weigh this
+matter, though this premature discovery so unexpectedly exposed her to
+their power.
+
+The first thought that occurred to her, was to send an express to
+Delvile, and desire his instructions how to proceed; but she dreaded his
+impetuosity of temper, and was almost certain that the instant he should
+hear she was in any uneasiness or perplexity, he would return to her, at
+all hazards, even though Mr Monckton were dead, and his mother herself
+dying. This step, therefore, she did not dare risk, preferring any
+personal hardship, to endangering the already precarious life of Mrs
+Delvile, or to hastening her son home while Mr Monckton was in so
+desperate a situation.
+
+But though what to avoid was easy to settle, what to seek was difficult
+to devise. She bad now no Mrs Charlton to receive her, not a creature in
+whom she could confide. To continue her present way of living was deeply
+involving Delvile in debt, a circumstance she had never considered, in
+the confusion and hurry attending all their plans and conversations, and
+a circumstance which, though to him it might have occurred, he could not
+in common delicacy mention.
+
+Yet to have quitted her house, and retrenched her expences, would have
+raised suspicions that must have anticipated the discovery she so much
+wished to have delayed. That wish, by the present danger of its failure,
+was but more ardent; to have her affairs and situation become
+publicly known at the present period, she felt would half distract
+her.--Privately married, parted from her husband at the very moment of
+their union, a husband by whose hand the apparent friend of her earliest
+youth was all but killed, whose father had execrated the match, whose
+mother was now falling a sacrifice to the vehemence with which she had
+opposed it, and who himself, little short of an exile, knew not yet
+if, with personal safety, he might return to his native land! To
+circumstances so dreadful, she had now the additional shock of being
+uncertain whether her own house might not be seized, before any other
+could be prepared for her reception!
+
+Yet still whither to go, what to do, or what to resolve, she was wholly
+unable to determine; and after meditating almost to madness in the
+search of some plan or expedient, she was obliged to give over the
+attempt, and be satisfied with remaining quietly where she was, till she
+had better news from Delvile of his mother, or better news to send him
+of Mr Monckton; carefully, mean time, in all her letters avoiding to
+alarm him by any hint of her distress.
+
+Yet was she not idle, either from despair or helplessness: she found her
+difficulties encreased, and she called forth more resolution to combat
+them: she animated herself by the promise she had made Delvile, and
+recovering from the sadness to which she had at first given way, she now
+exerted herself with vigour to perform it as she ought.
+
+She began by making an immediate inspection into her affairs, and
+endeavouring, where expence seemed unnecessary, to lessen it. She gave
+Henrietta to understand she feared they must soon part; and so afflicted
+was the unhappy girl at the news, that she found it the most cruel
+office she had to execute. The same intimation she gave to Mrs Harrel,
+who repined at it more openly, but with a selfishness so evident that it
+blunted the edge of pity. She then announced to Albany her inability to
+pursue, at present, their extensive schemes of benevolence; and though
+he instantly left her, to carry on his laborious plan elsewhere, the
+reverence she had now excited in him of her character, made him leave
+her with no sensation but of regret, and readily promise to return when
+her affairs were settled, or her mind more composed.
+
+These little preparations, which were all she could make, with enquiries
+after Mr Monckton, and writing to Delvile, sufficiently filled up her
+time, though her thoughts were by no means confined to them. Day after
+day passed, and Mr Monckton continued to linger rather than live; the
+letters of Delvile, still only dated from Ostend, contained the most
+melancholy complaints of the illness of his mother; and the time
+advanced when her answer would be claimed by the attorney.
+
+The thought of such another visit was almost intolerable; and within two
+days of the time that she expected it, she resolved to endeavour herself
+to prevail with Mr Eggleston to wait longer.
+
+Mr Eggleston was a gentleman whom she knew little more than by sight; he
+was no relation to her family, nor had any connection with the Dean,
+but by being a cousin to a lady he had married, and who had left him
+no children. The dean had no particular regard for him, and had rather
+mentioned him in his will as the successor of Cecilia, in case she died
+unmarried or changed her name, as a mark that he approved of her doing
+neither, than as a matter he thought probable, if even possible, to turn
+out in his favour.
+
+He was a man of a large family, the sons of which, who were extravagant
+and dissipated, had much impaired his fortune by prevailing with him to
+pay their debts, and much distressed him in his affairs by successfully
+teasing him for money.
+
+Cecilia, acquainted with these circumstances, knew but too well with
+what avidity her estate would be seized by them, and how little the sons
+would endure delay, even if the father consented to it. Yet since the
+sacrifice to which she had agreed must soon make it indisputably
+their own, she determined to deal with them openly; and acknowledged,
+therefore, in her letter, her marriage without disguise, but begged
+their patience and secresy, and promised, in a short time, the most
+honourable retribution and satisfaction.
+
+She sent this letter by a man and horse, Mr Eggleston's habitation being
+within fifteen miles of her own.
+
+The answer was from his eldest son, who acquainted her that his father
+was very ill, and had put all his affairs into the hands of Mr Carn, his
+attorney, who was a man of great credit, and would see justice done on
+all sides.
+
+If this answer, which she broke open the instant she took it into
+her hand, was in itself a cruel disappointment to her, how was that
+disappointment embittered by shame and terror, when, upon again folding
+it up, she saw it was directed to Mrs Mortimer Delvile!
+
+This was a decisive stroke; what they wrote to her, she was sure they
+would mention to all others; she saw they were too impatient for her
+estate to be moved by any representations to a delay, and that their
+eagerness to publish their right, took from them all consideration of
+what they might make her suffer. Mr Eggleston, she found, permitted
+himself to be wholly governed by his son; his son was a needy and
+profligate spendthrift, and by throwing the management of the affair
+into the hands of an attorney, craftily meant to shield himself from the
+future resentment of Delvile, to whom, hereafter, he might affect, at
+his convenience, to disapprove Mr Carn's behaviour, while Mr Carn was
+always secure, by averring he only exerted himself for the interest of
+his client.
+
+The discerning Cecilia, though but little experienced in business, and
+wholly unsuspicious by nature, yet saw into this management, and doubted
+not these excuses were already arranged. She had only, therefore, to
+save herself an actual ejectment, by quitting a house in which she was
+exposed to such a disgrace.
+
+But still whither to go she knew not! One only attempt seemed in her
+power for an honourable asylum, and that was more irksomely painful to
+her than seeking shelter in the meanest retreat: it was applying to Mr
+Delvile senior.
+
+The action of leaving her house, whether quietly or forcibly, could not
+but instantly authenticate the reports spread by the Egglestons of her
+marriage: to hope therefore for secresy any longer would be folly, and
+Mr Delvile's rage at such intelligence might be still greater to hear
+it by chance than from herself. She now lamented that Delvile had not
+at once told the tale, but, little foreseeing such a discovery as the
+present, they had mutually concluded to defer the communication till his
+return.
+
+Her own anger at the contemptuous ill treatment she had repeatedly met
+from him, she was now content not merely to suppress but to dismiss,
+since, as the wife of his son without his consent, she considered
+herself no longer as wholly innocent of incurring it. Yet, such was her
+dread of his austerity and the arrogance of his reproaches, that, by
+choice, she would have preferred an habitation with her own pensioner,
+the pew-opener, to the grandest apartment in Delvile Castle while he
+continued its lord.
+
+In her present situation, however, her choice was little to be
+consulted: the honour of Delvile was concerned in her escaping even
+temporary disgrace, and nothing, she knew, would so much gratify him, as
+any attention from her to his father. She wrote to him, therefore, the
+following letter, which she sent by an express.
+
+_To the Hon. Compton Delvile.
+
+April 29th_, 1780.
+
+SIR,--I should not, even by letter, presume thus to force myself upon
+your remembrance, did I not think it a duty I now owe your son, both to
+risk and to bear the displeasure it may unhappily occasion. After
+such an acknowledgment, all other confession would be superfluous; and
+uncertain as I am if you will ever deign to own me, more words than are
+necessary would be merely impertinent.
+
+It was the intention of your son, Sir, when he left the kingdom, to
+submit wholly to your arbitration, at his return, which should be
+resigned, his own name or my fortune: but his request for your decision,
+and his supplication for your forgiveness, are both, most unfortunately,
+prevented, by a premature and unforeseen discovery of our situation,
+which renders an immediate determination absolutely unavoidable.
+
+At this distance from him, I cannot, in time, receive his directions
+upon the measures I have to take; pardon me then, Sir, if well knowing
+my reference to him will not be more implicit than his own to you, I
+venture, in the present important crisis of my affairs, to entreat those
+commands instantly, by which I am certain of being guided ultimately.
+
+I would commend myself to your favour but that I dread exciting your
+resentment. I will detain you, therefore, only to add, that the father
+of Mr Mortimer Delvile, will ever meet the most profound respect from
+her who, without his permission, dare sign no name to the honour she now
+has in declaring herself his most humble, and most obedient servant.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Her mind was somewhat easier when this letter was written, because she
+thought it a duty, yet felt reluctance in performing it. She wished to
+have represented to him strongly the danger of Delvile's hearing her
+distress, but she knew so well his inordinate self-sufficiency, she
+feared a hint of that sort might be construed into an insult, and
+concluded her only chance that he would do any thing, was by leaving
+wholly to his own suggestions the weighing and settling what.
+
+But though nothing was more uncertain than whether she should be
+received at Delvile Castle, nothing was more fixed than that she must
+quit her own house, since the pride of Mr Delvile left not even a chance
+that his interest would conquer it. She deferred not, therefore, any
+longer making preparations for her removal, though wholly unsettled
+whither.
+
+Her first, which was also her most painful task, was to acquaint
+Henrietta with her situation: she sent, therefore, to desire to speak
+with her, but the countenance of Henrietta shewed her communication
+would not surprise her.
+
+“What is the matter with my dear Henrietta?” cried Cecilia; “who is
+it has already afflicted that kind heart which I am now compelled to
+afflict for myself?”
+
+Henrietta, in whom anger appeared to be struggling with sorrow,
+answered, “No, madam, not afflicted for _you_! it would be strange if I
+were, thinking as I think!”
+
+“I am glad,” said Cecilia, calmly, “if you are not, for I would give to
+you, were it possible, nothing but pleasure and joy.”
+
+“Ah madam!” cried Henrietta, bursting into tears, “why will you say so
+when you don't care what becomes of me! when you are going to cast me
+off!--and when you will soon be too happy ever to think of me more!”
+
+“If I am never happy till then,” said Cecilia, “sad, indeed, will be
+my life! no, my gentlest friend, you will always have your share in
+my heart; and always, to me, would have been the welcomest guest in my
+house, but for those unhappy circumstances which make our separating
+inevitable.”
+
+“Yet you suffered me, madam, to hear from any body that you was married
+and going away; and all the common servants in the house knew it before
+me.”
+
+“I am amazed!” said Cecilia; “how and which way can they have heard it?”
+
+“The man that went to Mr Eggleston brought the first news of it, for
+he said all the servants there talked of nothing else, and that their
+master was to come and take possession here next Thursday.”
+
+Cecilia started at this most unwelcome intelligence; “Yet you envy
+me,” she cried, “Henrietta, though I am forced from my house! though in
+quitting it, I am unprovided with any other, and though him for whom
+I relinquish it, is far off, without means of protecting, or power of
+returning to me!”
+
+“But you are married to him, madam!” cried she, expressively.
+
+“True, my love; but, also, I am parted from him!”
+
+“Oh how differently,” exclaimed Henrietta, “do the great think from
+the little! were _I_ married,--and _so_ married, I should want neither
+house, nor fine cloaths, nor riches, nor any thing;--I should not care
+where I lived,--every place would be paradise! I would walk to him
+barefoot if he were a thousand miles off, and I should mind nobody else
+in the world while I had him to take care of me!”
+
+Ah Delvile! thought Cecilia, what powers of fascination are yours!
+should I be tempted to repine at what I have to bear, I will think of
+this heroick girl and blush!
+
+Mrs Harrel now broke in upon them, eager to be informed of the truth or
+falsehood of the reports which were buzzed throughout the house.
+Cecilia briefly related to them both the state of her affairs, earnestly
+expressing her concern at the abrupt separation which must take place,
+and for which she had been unable to prepare them, as the circumstances
+which led to it had been wholly unforeseen by herself.
+
+Mrs Harrel listened to the account with much curiosity and surprize; but
+Henrietta wept incessantly in hearing it: the object of a passion ardent
+as it was romantic, lost to her past recovery; torn herself, probably
+for ever, from the best friend she had in the world; and obliged to
+return thus suddenly to an home she detested,--Henrietta possessed not
+the fortitude to hear evils such as these, which, to her inexperienced
+heart, appeared the severest that could be inflicted.
+
+This conversation over, Cecilia sent for her Steward, and desired him,
+with the utmost expedition, to call in all her bills, and instantly to
+go round to her tenants within twenty miles, and gather in, from those
+who were able to pay, the arrears now due to her; charging him, however,
+upon no account, to be urgent with such as seemed distressed.
+
+The bills she had to pay were collected without difficulty; she never
+owed much, and creditors are seldom hard of access; but the money she
+hoped to receive fell very short of her expectations, for the indulgence
+she had shewn to her tenants had ill prepared them for so sudden a
+demand.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A DECISION.
+
+This business effectually occupied the present and following day; the
+third, Cecilia expected her answer from Delvile Castle, and the visit
+she so much dreaded from the attorney.
+
+The answer arrived first.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+MADAM,--As my son has never apprized me of the extraordinary step which
+your letter intimates, I am too unwilling to believe him capable of so
+far forgetting what he owes his family, to ratify any such intimation by
+interfering with my counsel or opinion.--I am, Madam, &c.,
+
+COMPTON DELVILE.
+
+DELVILE CASTLE, _May 1st, 1780_.
+
+Cecilia had little right to be surprised by this letter, and she had not
+a moment to comment upon it, before the attorney arrived.
+
+“Well, madam,” said the man, as he entered the parlour, “Mr Eggleston
+has stayed your own time very patiently: he commissions me now to
+enquire if it is convenient to you to quit the premises.”
+
+“No, Sir, it is by no means convenient to me; and if Mr Eggleston will
+wait some time longer, I shall be greatly obliged to him.”
+
+“No doubt, madam, but he will, upon proper considerations.”
+
+“What, Sir, do you call proper?”
+
+“Upon your advancing to him, as I hinted before, an immediate particular
+sum from what must, by and bye, be legally restituted.”
+
+“If this is the condition of his courtesy, I will quit the house without
+giving him further trouble.”
+
+“Just as it suits you, madam. He will be glad to take possession
+to-morrow or next day.”
+
+“You did well, Sir, to commend his patience! I shall, however, merely
+discharge my servants, and settle my accounts, and be ready to make way
+for him.”
+
+“You will not take it amiss, madam, if I remind you that the account
+with Mr Eggleston must be the first that is settled.”
+
+“If you mean the arrears of this last fortnight or three weeks,
+I believe I must desire him to wait Mr Delvile's return, as I may
+otherwise myself be distressed for ready money.”
+
+“That, madam, is not likely, as it is well known you have a fortune that
+was independent of your late uncle; and as to distress for ready money,
+it is a plea Mr Eggleston can urge much more strongly.”
+
+“This is being strangely hasty, Sir!--so short a time as it is since Mr
+Eggleston could expect _any_ of this estate!”
+
+“That, madam, is nothing to the purpose; from the moment it is his, he
+has as many wants for it as any other gentleman. He desired me, however,
+to acquaint you, that if you still chose an apartment in this house,
+till Mr Delvile returns, you shall have one at your service.”
+
+“To be a _guest_ in this house, Sir,” said Cecilia, drily, “might
+perhaps seem strange to me; I will not, therefore, be so much in his
+way.”
+
+Mr Carn then informed her she might put her seal upon whatever she meant
+hereafter to claim or dispute, and took his leave.
+
+Cecilia now shut herself up in her own room, to meditate without
+interruption, before she would proceed to any action. She felt much
+inclination to send instantly for some lawyer; but when she considered
+her peculiar situation, the absence of her husband, the renunciation of
+his father, the loss of her fortune, and her ignorance upon the subject,
+she thought it better to rest quiet till Delvile's own fate, and own
+opinion could be known, than to involve herself in a lawsuit she was so
+little able to superintend.
+
+In this cruel perplexity of her mind and her affairs, her first thought
+was to board again with Mrs Bayley; but that was soon given up, for she
+felt a repugnance unconquerable to continuing in her native county, when
+deprived of her fortune, and cast out of her dwelling.
+
+Her situation, indeed, was singularly unhappy, since, by this unforeseen
+vicissitude of fortune, she was suddenly, from being an object of envy
+and admiration, sunk into distress, and threatened with disgrace; from
+being every where caressed, and by every voice praised, she blushed to
+be seen, and expected to be censured; and, from being generally regarded
+as an example of happiness, and a model of virtue, she was now in
+one moment to appear to the world, an outcast from her own house, yet
+received into no other! a bride, unclaimed by a husband! an HEIRESS,
+dispossessed of all wealth!
+
+To be first acknowledged as _Mrs Delvile_ in a state so degrading, she
+could not endure; and to escape from it, one way alone remained, which
+was going instantly abroad.
+
+Upon this, therefore, she finally determined: her former objections to
+such a step being now wholly, though unpleasantly removed, since she had
+neither estate nor affairs to demand her stay, and since all hopes of
+concealment were totally at an end. Her marriage, therefore, and its
+disgraceful consequences being published to the world, she resolved
+without delay to seek the only asylum which was proper for her, in the
+protection of the husband for whom she had given up every other.
+
+She purposed, therefore, to go immediately and privately to London,
+whence she could best settle her route for the continent: where she
+hoped to arrive before the news of her distress reached Delvile, whom
+nothing, she was certain, but her own presence, could keep there for a
+moment after hearing it.
+
+Thus decided, at length, in her plan, she proceeded to put it in
+execution with calmness and intrepidity; comforting herself that the
+conveniencies and indulgencies with which she was now parting, would
+soon be restored to her, and though not with equal power, with far more
+satisfaction. She told her steward her design of going the next morning
+to London, bid him pay instantly all her debts, and discharge all
+her servants, determining to keep no account open but that with Mr
+Eggleston, which he had made so intricate by double and undue demands,
+that she thought it most prudent and safe to leave him wholly to
+Delvile.
+
+She then packed up all her papers and letters, and ordered her maid to
+pack up her clothes.
+
+She next put her own seal upon her cabinets, draws, and many other
+things, and employed almost all her servants at once, in making complete
+inventories of what every room contained.
+
+She advised Mrs Harrel to send without delay for Mr Arnott, and return
+to his house. She had first purposed to carry Henrietta home to her
+mother herself; but another scheme for her now occurred, from which she
+hoped much future advantage to the amiable and dejected girl.
+
+She knew well, that deep as was at present her despondency, the removal
+of all possibility of hope, by her knowledge of Delvile's marriage, must
+awaken her before long from the delusive visions of her romantic fancy;
+Mr Arnott himself was in a situation exactly similar, and the knowledge
+of the same event would probably be productive of the same effect. When
+Mrs Harrel, therefore, began to repine at the solitude to which she was
+returning, Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad
+to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened
+to with pleasure, and seconded by an invitation.
+
+Henrietta, to whom all houses appeared preferable to her own home,
+joyfully accepted the offer, committing to Cecilia the communication of
+the change of her abode to Mrs Belfield.
+
+Cecilia, who in the known and tried honour of Mr Arnott would
+unreluctantly have trusted a sister, was much pleased by this little
+arrangement, from which should no good ensue, no evil, at least, was
+probable. But she hoped, through the mutual pity their mutual melancholy
+might inspire, that their minds, already not dissimilar, would be
+softened in favour of each other, and that, in conclusion, each might
+be happy in receiving the consolation each could give, and a union would
+take place, in which their reciprocal disappointment might, in time, be
+nearly forgotten.
+
+There was not, indeed, much promise of such an event in the countenance
+of Mr Arnott, when, late at night, he came for his sister, nor in the
+unbounded sorrow of Henrietta, when the moment of leave-taking arrived.
+Mr Arnott looked half dead with the shock his sister's intelligence had
+given him, and Henrietta's heart, torn asunder between friendship
+and love, was scarce able to bear a parting, which from Cecilia, she
+regarded as eternal, added to the consciousness it was occasioned by her
+going to join Delvile for life!
+
+Cecilia, who both read and pitied these conflicting emotions, was
+herself extremely hurt by this necessary separation. She tenderly
+loved Henrietta, she loved her even the more for the sympathy of their
+affections, which called forth the most forcible commiseration,--that
+which springs from fellow-feeling!
+
+“Farewell,” she cried, “my Henrietta, be but happy as you are innocent,
+and be both as I love you, and nothing will your friends have to wish
+for you, or yourself to regret.”
+
+“I must always regret,” cried the sobbing Henrietta, “that I cannot live
+with you for ever! I should regret it if I were queen of all the world,
+how much more then, when I am nothing and nobody! I do not wish _you_
+happy, madam, for I think happiness was made on purpose for you, and
+nobody else ever had it before; I only wish you health and long life,
+for the sake of those who will be made as happy as you,--for you will
+spoil them,--as you have spoilt me,--from being ever happy without you!”
+
+Cecilia re-iterated her assurances of a most faithful regard, embraced
+Mrs Harrel, spoke words of kindness to the drooping Mr Arnott, and then
+parted with them all.
+
+Having still many small matters to settle, and neither company nor
+appetite, she would eat no supper; but, in passing thro' the hall, in
+her way to her own room, she was much surprised to see all her domestics
+assembled in a body. She stopt to enquire their intention, when they
+eagerly pressed forward, humbly and earnestly entreating to know why
+they were discharged? “For no reason in the world,” cried Cecilia, “but
+because it is at present out of my power to keep you any longer.”
+
+“Don't part with _me_, madam, for that,” cried one of them, “for I will
+serve you for nothing!”
+
+“So will I!” cried another, “And I!” “And I!” was echoed by them all;
+while “no other such mistress is to be found!” “We can never bear any
+other place!” and “keep _me_, madam, at least!” was even clamorously
+urged by each of them.
+
+Cecilia, distressed and flattered at once by their unwillingness to
+quit her, received this testimony of gratitude for the kind and liberal
+treatment they had received, with the warmest thanks both for their
+services and fidelity, and assured them that when again she was settled,
+all those who should be yet unprovided with places, should be preferred
+in her house before any other claimants.
+
+Having, with difficulty, broken from them, she sent for her own man,
+Ralph, who had lived with her many years before the death of the Dean,
+and told him she meant still to continue him in her service. The man
+heard it with great delight, and promised to re-double his diligence to
+deserve her favour. She then communicated the same news to her maid, who
+had also resided with her some years, and by whom with the same, or more
+pleasure it was heard.
+
+These and other regulations employed her almost all night; yet late
+and fatigued as she went to bed, she could not close her eyes: fearful
+something was left undone, she robbed herself of the short time she had
+allowed to rest, by incessant meditation upon what yet remained to be
+executed. She could recollect, however, one only thing that had escaped
+her vigilance, which was acquainting the pew-opener, and two or three
+other poor women who had weekly pensions from her, that they must, at
+least for the present, depend no longer upon her assistance.
+
+Nothing indeed could be more painful to her than giving them such
+information, yet not to be speedy with it would double the barbarity of
+their disappointment. She even felt for these poor women, whose loss in
+her she knew would be irreparable, a compassion that drove from her mind
+almost every other subject, and determined her, in order to soften to
+them this misfortune, to communicate it herself, that she might prevent
+them from sinking under it, by reviving them with hopes of her future
+assistance.
+
+She had ordered at seven o'clock in the morning an hired chaise at the
+door, and she did not suffer it long to wait for her. She quitted her
+house with a heart full of care and anxiety, grieving at the necessity
+of making such a sacrifice, uncertain how it would turn out, and
+labouring under a thousand perplexities with respect to the measures
+she ought immediately to take. She passed, when she reached the hall,
+through a row of weeping domestics, not one of whom with dry eyes could
+see the house bereft of such a mistress. She spoke to them all with
+kindness, and as much as was in her power with chearfulness: but the
+tone of her voice gave them little reason to think the concern at this
+journey was all their own.
+
+She ordered her chaise to drive round to the pew-opener's and thence to
+the rest of her immediate dependents. She soon, however, regretted that
+she had given herself this task; the affliction of these poor pensioners
+was clamorous, was almost heart-breaking; they could live, they said, no
+longer, they were ruined for ever; they should soon be without bread
+to eat, and they might cry for help in vain, when their generous, their
+only benefactress was far away!
+
+Cecilia made the kindest efforts, to comfort and encourage them,
+assuring them the very moment her own affairs were arranged, she would
+remember them all, visit them herself, and contribute to their relief,
+with all the power she should have left. Nothing, however, could console
+them; they clung about her, almost took the horses from the chaise,
+and conjured her not to desert those who were solely cherished by her
+bounty!
+
+Nor was this all she had to suffer; the news of her intention to quit
+the county was now reported throughout the neighbourhood, and had spread
+the utmost consternation among the poor in general, and the lower close
+of her own tenants in particular, and the road was soon lined with
+women and children, wringing their hands and crying. They followed
+her carriage with supplications that she would return to them, mixing
+blessings with their lamentations, and prayers for her happiness with
+the bitterest repinings at their own loss!
+
+Cecilia was extremely affected; her liberal and ever-ready hand was
+every other instant involuntarily seeking her purse, which her many
+immediate expences, made her prudence as often check: and now first she
+felt the capital error she had committed, in living constantly to the
+utmost extent of her income, without ever preparing, though so able to
+have done it, against any unfortunate contingency.
+
+When she escaped, at last, from receiving any longer this painful
+tribute to her benevolence, she gave orders to her man to ride forward
+and stop at the Grove, that a precise and minute account of Mr Monckton,
+might be the last, as it was now become the most important, news she
+should hear in Suffolk. This he did, when to her equal surprise and
+delight, she heard that he was suddenly so much better, there were hopes
+of his recovery.
+
+Intelligence so joyful made her amends for almost every thing; yet she
+hesitated not in her plan of going abroad, as she knew not where to be
+in England, and could not endure to hurry Delvile from his sick mother,
+by acquainting him with her helpless and distressed situation. But so
+revived were her spirits by these unexpected tidings, that a gleam of
+brightest hope once more danced before her eyes, and she felt herself
+invigorated with fresh courage and new strength, sufficient to support
+her through all hardships and fatigues.
+
+Spirits and courage were indeed much wanted for the enterprize she had
+formed; but little used to travelling, and having never been out of
+England, she knew nothing of the route but by a general knowledge of
+geography, which, though it could guide her east or west, could teach
+her nothing of foreign customs, the preparations necessary for the
+journey, the impositions she should guard against, nor the various
+dangers to which she might be exposed, from total ignorance of the
+country through which she had to pass.
+
+Conscious of these deficiencies for such an undertaking, she deliberated
+without intermission how to obviate them. Yet sometimes, when to these
+hazards, those arising from her youth and sex were added, she was upon
+the point of relinquishing her scheme, as too perilous for execution,
+and resolving to continue privately in London till some change happened
+in her affairs.
+
+But though to every thing she could suggest, doubts and difficulties
+arose, she had no friend to consult, nor could devise any means by which
+they might be terminated. Her maid was her only companion, and Ralph,
+who had spent almost his whole life in Suffolk, her only guard and
+attendant. To hire immediately some French servant, used to travelling
+in his own country, seemed the first step she had to take, and so
+essential, that no other appeared feasible till it was done. But where
+to hear of such a man she could not tell, and to take one not
+well recommended, would be exposing herself to frauds and dangers
+innumerable.
+
+Yet so slow as Delvile travelled, from whom her last letter was still
+dated Ostend, she thought herself almost certain, could she once reach
+the continent, of overtaking him in his route within a day or two of her
+landing.
+
+The earnest inclination with which this scheme was seconded, made her
+every moment less willing to forego it. It seemed the only harbour for
+her after the storm she had weathered, and the only refuge she could
+properly seek while thus houseless and helpless. Even were Delvile in
+England, he had no place at present to offer her, nor could any thing be
+proposed so unexceptionable as her living with Mrs Delvile at Nice,
+till he knew his father's pleasure, and, in a separate journey home, had
+arranged his affairs either for her return, or her continuance abroad.
+
+With what regret did she now look back to the time when, in a distress
+such as this, she should have applied for, and received the advice of
+Mr Monckton as oracular! The loss of a counsellor so long, so implicitly
+relied upon, lost to her also, only by his own interested worthlessness,
+she felt almost daily, for almost daily some intricacy or embarrassment
+made her miss his assistance: and though glad, since she found him so
+undeserving, that she had escaped the snares he had spread for her,
+she grieved much that she knew no man of honest character and equal
+abilities, that would care for her sufficiently to supply his place in
+her confidence.
+
+As she was situated at present, she could think only of Mr Belfield to
+whom she could apply for any advice. Nor even to him was the application
+unexceptionable, the calumnies of Mr Delvile senior making it
+disagreeable to her even to see him. But he was at once a man of
+the world and a man of honour; he was the friend of Mortimer, whose
+confidence in him was great, and his own behaviour had uniformly shewn a
+respect far removed from impertinence or vanity, and a mind superior to
+being led to them by the influence of his gross mother. She had, indeed,
+when she last quitted his house, determined never to re-enter it; but
+determinations hasty or violent, are rarely observed, because rarely
+practicable; she had promised Henrietta to inform Mrs Belfield whither
+she was gone, and reconcile her to the absence she still hoped to make
+from home. She concluded, therefore, to go to Portland-street without
+delay, and enquire openly and at once whether, and when, she might
+speak with Mr Belfield; resolving, if tormented again by any forward
+insinuations, to rectify all mistakes by acknowledging her marriage.
+
+She gave directions accordingly to the post-boy and Ralph.
+
+With respect to her own lodgings while in town, as money was no longer
+unimportant to her, she meant from the Belfields to go to the Hills, by
+whom she might be recommended to some reputable and cheap place. To the
+Belfields, however, though very late when she arrived in town, she
+went first, unwilling to lose a moment in promoting her scheme of going
+abroad.
+
+She left her maid in the chaise, and sent Ralph on to Mrs Hill, with
+directions to endeavour immediately to procure her a lodging.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A PRATING.
+
+Cecilia was shewn into a parlour, where Mrs Belfield was very earnestly
+discoursing with Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins; and Belfield himself, to her
+great satisfaction, was already there, and reading.
+
+“Lack a-day!” cried Mrs Belfield, “if one does not always see the people
+one's talking of! Why it was but this morning, madam, I was saying to Mr
+Hobson, I wonder, says I, a young lady of such fortunes as Miss Beverley
+should mope herself up so in the country! Don't you remember it, Mr
+Hobson?”
+
+“Yes, madam,” answered Mr Hobson, “but I think, for my part, the young
+lady's quite in the right to do as she's a mind; for that's what I call
+living agreeable: and if I was a young lady to-morrow, with such fine
+fortunes, and that, it's just what I should do myself: for what I say
+is this: where's the joy of having a little money, and being a little
+matter above the world, if one has not one's own will?”
+
+“Ma'am,” said Mr Simkins, who had scarce yet raised his head from the
+profoundness of his bow upon Cecilia's entrance into the room, “if I may
+be so free, may I make bold just for to offer you this chair?”
+
+“I called, madam,” said Cecilia, seizing the first moment in her power
+to speak, “in order to acquaint you that your daughter, who is perfectly
+well, has made a little change in her situation, which she was anxious
+you should hear from myself.”
+
+“Ha! ha! stolen a match upon you, I warrant!” cried the facetious Mr
+Hobson; “a good example for you, young lady; and if you take my advice,
+you won't be long before you follow it; for as to a lady, let her be
+worth never so much, she's a mere nobody, as one may say, till she can
+get herself a husband, being she knows nothing of business, and is made
+to pay for every thing through the nose.”
+
+“Fie, Mr Hobson, fie!” said Mr Simkins, “to talk so slighting of the
+ladies before their faces! what one says in a corner, is quite of
+another nature; but for to talk so rude in their company,--I thought you
+would scorn to do such a thing.”
+
+“Sir, I don't want to be rude no more than yourself,” said Mr Hobson,
+“for what I say is, rudeness is a thing that makes nobody agreeable;
+but I don't see because of that, why a man is not to speak his mind to
+a lady as well as to a gentleman, provided he does it in a complaisant
+fashion.”
+
+“Mr Hobson,” cried Mrs Belfield, very impatiently, “you might as well
+let _me_ speak, when the matter is all about my own daughter.”
+
+“I ask pardon, ma'am,” said he, “I did not mean to stop you; for as to
+not letting a lady speak, one might as well tell a man in business not
+to look at the Daily Advertiser; why, it's morally impossible!”
+
+“But sure, madam,” cried Mrs Belfield, “it's no such thing? You can't
+have got her off already?”
+
+“I would I had!” thought Cecilia; who then explained her meaning; but in
+talking of Mrs Harrel, avoided all mention of Mr Arnott, well foreseeing
+that to hear such a man existed, and was in the same house with her
+daughter, would be sufficient authority to her sanguine expectations,
+for depending upon a union between them, and reporting it among her
+friends, his circumstance being made clear, Cecilia added, “I could
+by no means have consented voluntarily to parting so soon with Miss
+Belfield, but that my own affairs call me at present out of the
+kingdom.” And then, addressing herself to Belfield, she enquired if he
+could recommend to her a trusty foreign servant, who would be hired only
+for the time she was to spend abroad?
+
+While Belfield was endeavouring to recollect some such person, Mr Hobson
+eagerly called out “As to going abroad, madam, to be sure you're to do
+as you like, for that, as I say, is the soul of every thing; but else I
+can't say it's a thing I much approve; for my notion is this: here's a
+fine fortune, got as a man may say, out of the bowels of one's mother
+country, and this fine fortune, in default of male issue, is obliged to
+come to a female, the law making no proviso to the contrary. Well, this
+female, going into a strange country, naturally takes with her this
+fortune, by reason it's the main article she has to depend upon; what's
+the upshot? why she gets pilfered by a set of sharpers that never saw
+England in their lives, and that never lose sight of her till she has
+not a sous in the world. But the hardship of the thing is this:
+when it's all gone, the lady can come back, but will the money come
+back?--No, you'll never see it again: now this is what I call being no
+true patriot.”
+
+“I am quite ashamed for to hear you talk so, Mr Hobson!” cried Mr
+Simkins, affecting to whisper; “to go for to take a person to task at
+this rate, is behaving quite unbearable; it's enough to make the young
+lady afraid to speak before you.”
+
+“Why, Mr Simkins,” answered Mr Hobson, “truth is truth, whether one
+speaks it or not; and that, ma'am, I dare say, a young lady of your good
+sense knows as well as myself.”
+
+“I think, madam,” said Belfield, who waited their silence with great
+impatience, “that I know just such a man as you will require, and one
+upon whose honesty I believe you may rely.”
+
+“That's more,” said Mr Hobson, “than I would take upon me to say for
+any _Englishman_! where you may meet with such a _Frenchman_, I won't be
+bold to say.”
+
+“Why indeed,” said Mr Simkins, “if I might take the liberty for to put
+in, though I don't mean in no shape to go to contradicting the young
+gentleman, but if I was to make bold to speak my private opinion upon
+the head, I should be inclinable for to say, that as to putting a
+dependance upon the French, it's a thing quite dubious how it may turn
+out.”
+
+“I take it as a great favour, ma'am,” said Mrs Belfield, “that you have
+been so complaisant as to make me this visit to-night, for I was almost
+afraid you would not have done me the favour any more; for, to be sure,
+when you was here last, things went a little unlucky: but I had no
+notion, for my part, who the old gentleman was till after he was gone,
+when Mr Hobson told me it was old Mr Delvile: though, sure enough, I
+thought it rather upon the extraordinary order, that he should come here
+into my parlour, and make such a secret of his name, on purpose to ask
+me questions about my own son.”
+
+“Why I think, indeed, if I may be so free,” said Mr Simkins, “it was
+rather petickeler of the gentleman; for, to be sure, if he was so over
+curious to hear about your private concerns, the genteel thing, if I may
+take the liberty for to differ, would have been for him to say, ma'am,
+says he, I'm come to ask the favour of you just to let me a little into
+your son's goings on; and any thing, ma'am, you should take a fancy for
+to ask me upon the return, why I shall be very compliable, ma'am, says
+he, to giving of you satisfaction.”
+
+“I dare say,” answered Mrs Belfield, “he would not have said so much if
+you'd have gone down on your knees to ask him. Why he was upon the very
+point of being quite in a passion because I only asked him his name!
+though what harm that could do him, I'm sure I never could guess.
+However, as he was so mighty inquisitive about my son, if I had but
+known who he was in time, I should have made no scruple in the world to
+ask him if he could not have spoke a few words for him to some of those
+great people that could have done him some good. But the thing that I
+believe put him so out of humour, was my being so unlucky as to say,
+before ever I knew who he was, that I had heard he was not over and
+above good-natured; for I saw he did not seem much to like it at the
+time.”
+
+“If he had done the generous thing,” said Mr Simkins, “it would have
+been for him to have made the proffer of his services of his own
+free-will; and it's rather surpriseable to me he should never have
+thought of it; for what could be so natural as for him to say, I see,
+ma'am, says he, you've got a very likely young gentleman here, that's a
+little out of cash, says he, so I suppose, ma'am, says he, a place, or a
+pension, or something in that shape of life, would be no bad compliment,
+says he.”
+
+“But no such good luck as that will come to my share,” cried Mrs
+Belfield, “I can tell you that, for every thing I want to do goes quite
+contrary. Who would not have thought such a son as mine, though I say it
+before his face, could not have made his fortune long ago, living as he
+did, among all the great folks, and dining at their table just like one
+of themselves? yet, for all that, you see they let him go on his own
+way, and think of him no more than of nobody! I'm sure they might be
+ashamed to shew their faces, and so I should tell them at once, if I
+could but get sight of them.”
+
+“I don't mean, ma'am,” said Mr Simkins, “for to be finding fault with
+what you say, for I would not be unpelite in no shape; but if I might be
+so free as for to differ a little bit, I must needs say I am rather for
+going to work in anotherguess sort of a manner; and if I was as you--”
+
+“Mr Simkins,” interrupted Belfield, “we will settle this matter another
+time.” And then, turning to the wearied Cecilia, “The man, madam,” he
+said, “whom I have done myself the honour to recommend to you, I can see
+to-morrow morning; may I then tell him to wait upon you?”
+
+“I ask pardon for just putting in,” cried Mr Simkins, before Cecilia
+could answer, and again bowing down to the ground, “but I only mean to
+say I had no thought for to be impertinent, for as to what I was agoing
+to remark, is was not of no consequence in the least.”
+
+“Its a great piece of luck, ma'am,” said Mrs Belfield, “that you should
+happen to come here, of a holiday! If my son had not been at home, I
+should have been ready to cry for a week: and you might come any day the
+year through but a Sunday, and not meet with him any more than if he had
+never a home to come to.”
+
+“If Mr Belfield's home-visits are so periodical,” said Cecilia, “it must
+be rather less, than more, difficult to meet with him.”
+
+“Why you know, ma'am,” answered Mrs Belfield, “to-day is a red-letter
+day, so that's the reason of it.”
+
+“A red-letter day?”
+
+“Good lack, madam, why have not you heard that my son is turned
+book-keeper?”
+
+Cecilia, much surprised, looked at Belfield, who, colouring very high,
+and apparently much provoked by his mother's loquacity, said, “Had Miss
+Beverley not heard it even now, madam, I should probably have lost with
+her no credit.”
+
+“You can surely lose none, Sir,” answered Cecilia, “by an employment too
+little pleasant to have been undertaken from any but the most laudable
+motives.”
+
+“It is not, madam, the employment,” said he, “for which I so much blush
+as for the person employed--for _myself_! In the beginning of the winter
+you left me just engaged in another business, a business with which
+I was madly delighted, and fully persuaded I should be enchanted
+for ever;--now, again, in the beginning of the summer,--you find me,
+already, in a new occupation!”
+
+“I am sorry,” said Cecilia, “but far indeed from surprised, that you
+found yourself deceived by such sanguine expectations.”
+
+“Deceived!” cried he, with energy, “I was bewitched, I was infatuated!
+common sense was estranged by the seduction of a chimera; my
+understanding was in a ferment from the ebullition of my imagination!
+But when this new way of life lost its novelty,--novelty! that
+short-liv'd, but exquisite bliss! no sooner caught than it vanishes, no
+sooner tasted than it is gone! which charms but to fly, and comes but
+to destroy what it leaves behind!--when that was lost, reason, cool,
+heartless reason, took its place, and teaching me to wonder at the
+frenzy of my folly, brought me back to the tameness--the sadness of
+reality!”
+
+“I am sure,” cried Mrs Belfield, “whatever it has brought you back to,
+it has brought you back to no good! it's a hard case, you must needs
+think, madam, to a mother, to see a son that might do whatever he would,
+if he'd only set about it, contenting himself with doing nothing but
+scribble and scribe one day, and when he gets tired of that, thinking of
+nothing better than casting up two and two!”
+
+“Why, madam,” said Mr Hobson, “what I have seen of the world is this;
+there's nothing methodizes a man but business. If he's never so much
+upon the stilts, that's always a sure way to bring him down, by reason
+he soon finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading. Let every man
+be his own carver; but what I say is, them gentlemen that are what one
+may call geniuses, commonly think nothing of the main chance, till they
+get a tap on the shoulder with a writ; and a solid lad, that knows three
+times five is fifteen, will get the better of them in the long run. But
+as to arguing with gentlemen of that sort, where's the good of it? You
+can never bring them to the point, say what you will; all you can get
+from them, is a farrago of fine words, that you can't understand without
+a dictionary.”
+
+“I am inclinable to think,” said Mr Simkins, “that the young gentleman
+is rather of opinion to like pleasure better than business; and, to be
+sure, it's very excusable of him, because it's more agreeabler. And I
+must needs say, if I may be so free, I'm partly of the young gentleman's
+mind, for business is a deal more trouble.”
+
+“I hope, however,” said Cecilia to Belfield, “your present situation is
+less irksome to you?”
+
+“Any situation, madam, must be less irksome than that which I quitted:
+to write by rule, to compose by necessity, to make the understanding,
+nature's first gift, subservient to interest, that meanest offspring of
+art!--when weary, listless, spiritless, to rack the head for invention,
+the memory for images, and the fancy for ornament and illusion; and when
+the mind is wholly occupied by its own affections and affairs, to call
+forth all its faculties for foreign subjects, uninteresting discussions,
+or fictitious incidents!--Heavens! what a life of struggle between
+the head and the heart! how cruel, how unnatural a war between the
+intellects and the feelings!”
+
+“As to these sort of things,” said Mr Hobson, “I can't say I am much
+versed in them, by reason they are things I never much studied; but if I
+was to speak my notion, it is this; the best way to thrive in the world
+is to get money; but how is it to be got? Why by business: for business
+is to money, what fine words are to a lady, a sure road to success. Now
+I don't mean by this to be censorious upon the ladies, being they have
+nothing else to go by, for as to examining if a man knows any thing of
+the world, and that, they have nothing whereby to judge, knowing nothing
+of it themselves. So that when they are taken in by rogues and sharpers,
+the fault is all in the law, for making no proviso against their having
+money in their own hands. Let every one be trusted according to their
+headpiece and what I say is this: a lady in them cases is much to be
+pitied, for she is obligated to take a man upon his own credit, which is
+tantamount to no credit at all, being what man will speak an ill word of
+himself? you may as well expect a bad shilling to cry out don't take me!
+That's what I say, and that's my way of giving my vote.”
+
+Cecilia, quite tired of these interruptions, and impatient to be gone,
+now said to Belfield, “I should be much obliged to you, Sir, if you
+could send to me the man you speak of tomorrow morning. I wished, also
+to consult you with regard to the route I ought to take. My purpose is
+to go to Nice, and as I am very desirous to travel expeditiously, you
+may perhaps be able to instruct me what is the best method for me to
+pursue.”
+
+“Come, Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins,” cried Mrs Belfield, with a look of
+much significance and delight, “suppose you two and I was to walk into
+the next room? There's no need for us to hear all the young lady may
+have a mind to say.”
+
+“She has nothing to say, madam,” cried Cecilia, “that the whole world
+may not hear. Neither is it my purpose to talk, but to listen, if Mr
+Belfield is at leisure to favour me with his advice.”
+
+“I must always be at leisure, and always be proud, madam,” Belfield
+began, when Hobson, interrupting him, said, “I ask pardon, Sir, for
+intruding, but I only mean to wish the young lady good night. As to
+interfering with business, that's not my way, for it's not the right
+method, by reason--”
+
+“We will listen to your reason, Sir,” cried Belfield, “some other time;
+at present we will give you all credit for it unheard.”
+
+“Let every man speak his own maxim, Sir,” cried Hobson; “for that's what
+I call fair arguing: but as to one person's speaking, and then making an
+answer for another into the bargain, why it's going to work no-how; you
+may as well talk to a counter, and think because you make a noise upon
+it with your own hand, it gives you the reply.”
+
+“Why, Mr Hobson,” cried Mrs Belfield, “I am quite ashamed of you for
+being so dull! don't you see my son has something to say to the lady
+that you and I have no business to be meddling with?”
+
+“I'm sure, ma'am, for my part,” said Mr Simkins, “I'm very agreeable to
+going away, for as to putting the young lady to the blush, it's what I
+would not do in no shape.”
+
+“I only mean,” said Mr Hobson, when he was interrupted by Mrs Belfield,
+who, out of all patience, now turned him out of the room by the
+shoulders, and, pulling Mr Simkins after, followed herself, and shut
+the door, though Cecilia, much provoked, desired she would stay, and
+declared repeatedly that all her business was public.
+
+Belfield, who had, looked ready to murder them all during this short
+scene, now approached Cecilia, and with an air of mingled spirit and
+respect, said, “I am much grieved, much confounded, madam, that your
+ears should be offended by speeches so improper to reach them; yet if
+it is possible I can have the honour of being of any use to you, in me,
+still, I hope, you feel you may confide. I am too distant from you in
+situation to give you reason to apprehend I can form any sinister views
+in serving you; and, permit me to add, I am too near you in mind, ever
+to give you the pain of bidding me remember that distance.”
+
+Cecilia then, extremely unwilling to shock a sensibility not more
+generous than jealous, determined to continue her enquiries, and, at
+the same time, to prevent any further misapprehension, by revealing her
+actual situation.
+
+“I am sorry, Sir,” she answered, “to have occasioned this disturbance;
+Mrs Belfield, I find, is wholly unacquainted with the circumstance which
+now carries me abroad, or it would not have happened.”
+
+Here a little noise in the passage interrupting her, she heard Mrs
+Belfield, though in a low voice, say, “Hush, Sir, hush! you must not
+come in just now; you've caught me, I confess, rather upon the listening
+order; but to tell you the truth, I did not know what might be going
+forward. However, there's no admittance now, I assure you, for my son's
+upon particular business with a lady, and Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins and
+I, have all been as good as turned out by them but just now.”
+
+Cecilia and Belfield, though they heard this speech with mutual
+indignation, had no time to mark or express it, as it was answered
+without in a voice at once loud and furious, “_You_, madam, may be
+content to listen here; pardon me if I am less humbly disposed!” And the
+door was abruptly opened by young Delvile!
+
+Cecilia, who half screamed from excess of astonishment, would scarcely,
+even by the presence of Belfield and his mother, have been restrained
+from flying to meet him, had his own aspect invited such a mark of
+tenderness; but far other was the case; when the door was open, he stopt
+short with a look half petrified, his feet seeming rooted to the spot
+upon which they stood.
+
+“I declare I ask pardon, ma'am,” cried Mrs Belfield, “but the
+interruption was no fault of mine, for the gentleman would come in;
+and--”
+
+“It is no interruption, madam;” cried Belfield, “Mr Delvile does me
+nothing but honour.”
+
+“I thank you, Sir!” said Delvile, trying to recover and come forward,
+but trembling violently, and speaking with the most frigid coldness.
+
+They were then, for a few instants, all silent; Cecilia, amazed by his
+arrival, still more amazed by his behaviour, feared to speak lest
+he meant not, as yet, to avow his marriage, and felt a thousand
+apprehensions that some new calamity had hurried him home: while
+Belfield was both hurt by his strangeness, and embarrassed for the sake
+of Cecilia; and his mother, though wondering at them all, was kept quiet
+by her son's looks.
+
+Delvile then, struggling for an appearance of more ease, said, “I seem
+to have made a general confusion here:--pray, I beg”--
+
+“None at all, Sir,” said Belfield, and offered a chair to Cecilia.
+
+“No, Sir,” she answered, in a voice scarce audible, “I was just going.”
+ And again rang the bell.
+
+“I fear I hurry you, madam?” cried Delvile, whose whole frame was now
+shaking with uncontrollable emotion; “you are upon business--I ought to
+beg your pardon--my entrance, I believe, was unseasonable.”--
+
+“Sir!” cried she, looking aghast at this speech.
+
+“I should have been rather surprised,” he added, “to have met you here,
+so late,--so unexpectedly,--so deeply engaged--had I not happened to see
+your servant in the street, who told me the honour I should be likely to
+have by coming.”
+
+“Good God!--” exclaimed she, involuntarily; but, checking herself as
+well as she could, she courtsied to Mrs Belfield, unable to speak to
+her, and avoiding even to look at Belfield, who respectfully hung back,
+she hastened out of the room: accompanied by Mrs Belfield, who again
+began the most voluble and vulgar apologies for the intrusion she had
+met with.
+
+Delvile also, after a moment's pause, followed, saying, “Give me leave,
+madam, to see you to your carriage.”
+
+Cecilia then, notwithstanding Mrs Belfield still kept talking, could no
+longer refrain saying, “Good heaven, what does all this mean?”
+
+“Rather for _me_ is that question,” he answered, in such agitation he
+could not, though he meant it, assist her into the chaise, “for mine, I
+believe, is the greater surprise!”
+
+“What surprise?” cried she, “explain, I conjure you!”
+
+“By and bye I will,” he answered; “go on postilion.”
+
+“Where, Sir?”
+
+“Where you came from, I suppose.”
+
+“What, Sir, back to Rumford?”
+
+“Rumford!” exclaimed he, with encreasing disorder, “you came then from
+Suffolk hither?--from Suffolk to this very house?”
+
+“Good heaven!” cried Cecilia, “come into the chaise, and let me speak
+and hear to be understood!”
+
+“Who is that now in it?”
+
+“My Maid.”
+
+“Your maid?--and she waits for you thus at the door?”--
+
+“What, what is it you mean?”
+
+“Tell the man, madam, whither to go.”
+
+“I don't know myself--any where you please--do you order him.”
+
+“I order him!--you came not hither to receive orders from _me_!--where
+was it you had purposed to rest?”
+
+“I don't know--I meant to go to Mrs Hill's--I have no place taken.”--
+
+“No place taken!” repeated he, in a voice faultering between passion
+and grief; “you purposed, then, to stay here?--I have perhaps driven you
+away?”
+
+“Here!” cried Cecilia, mingling, in her turn, indignation with surprise,
+“gracious heaven! what is it you mean to doubt?”
+
+“Nothing!” cried he, with emphasis, “I never have had, I never _will_
+have a doubt! I will know, I will have _conviction_ for every thing!
+Postilion, drive to St James's-square!--to Mr Delvile's. There, madam, I
+will wait upon you.”
+
+“No! stay, postilion!” called out Cecilia, seized with terror
+inexpressible; “let me get out, let me speak with you at once!”
+
+“It cannot be; I will follow you in a few minutes--drive on, postilion!”
+
+“No, no!--I will not go--I dare not leave you--unkind Delvile!--what is
+it you suspect.”
+
+“Cecilia,” cried he, putting his hand upon the chaise-door, “I have
+ever believed you spotless as an angel! and, by heaven! I believe you so
+still, in spite of appearances--in defiance of every thing!--Now then be
+satisfied;--I will be with you very soon. Meanwhile, take this letter,
+I was just going to send to you.--Postilion, drive on, or be at your
+peril!”
+
+The man waited no further orders, nor regarded the prohibition of
+Cecilia, who called out to him without ceasing; but he would not listen
+to her till he got to the end of the street; he then stopt, and she
+broke the seal of her letter, and read, by the light of the lamps,
+enough to let her know that Delvile had written it upon the road from
+Dover to London, to acquaint her his mother was now better, and had
+taken pity of his suspense and impatience, and insisted upon his coming
+privately to England, to satisfy himself fully about Mr Monckton,
+communicate his marriage to his father, and give those orders towards
+preparing for its being made public, which his unhappy precipitation in
+leaving the kingdom had prevented.
+
+This letter, which, though written but a few hours before she received
+it, was full of tenderness, gratitude and anxiety for her happiness,
+instantly convinced her that his strange behaviour had been wholly
+the effect of a sudden impulse of jealousy; excited by so unexpectedly
+finding her in town, at the very house where his father had assured
+him she had an improper connexion, and alone, so suspiciously, with
+the young man affirmed to be her favourite. He knew nothing of the
+ejectment, nothing of any reason for her leaving Suffolk, every thing
+had the semblance of no motive but to indulge a private and criminal
+inclination.
+
+These thoughts, which confusedly, yet forcibly, rushed upon her mind,
+brought with them at once an excuse for his conduct, and an alarm for
+his danger; “He must think,” she cried, “I came to town only to meet Mr
+Belfield!” then, opening the chaise-door herself, she jumpt out, and ran
+back into Portland-street, too impatient to argue with the postilion to
+return with her, and stopt not till she came to Mrs Belfield's house.
+
+She knocked at the door with violence; Mrs Belfield came to it herself;
+“Where,” cried she, hastily entering as she spoke, “are the gentlemen?”
+
+“Lack-a-day! ma'am,” answered Mrs Belfield, “they are both gone out.”
+
+“Gone out?--where to?--which way?”
+
+“I am sure I can't tell, ma'am, no more than you can; but I am sadly
+afraid they'll have a quarrel before they've done.”
+
+“Oh heaven!” cried Cecilia, who now doubted not a second duel, “tell me,
+shew me, which way they went?”
+
+“Why, ma'am, to let you into the secret,” answered Mrs Belfield, “only I
+beg you'll take no notice of it to my son, but, seeing them so much out
+of sorts, I begged the favour of Mr Simkins, as Mr Hobson was gone out
+to his club, just to follow them, and see what they were after.”
+
+Cecilia was much rejoiced this caution had been taken, and determined to
+wait his return. She would have sent for the chaise to follow her; but
+Mrs Belfield kept no servant, and the maid of the house was employed in
+preparing the supper.
+
+When Mr Simkins came back, she learnt, after various interruptions from
+Mrs Belfield, and much delay from his own slowness and circumlocution,
+that he had pursued the two gentlemen to the * * coffee-house.
+
+She hesitated not a moment in resolving to follow them: she feared the
+failure of any commission, nor did she know whom to entrust with
+one: and the danger was too urgent for much deliberation. She begged,
+therefore, that Mr. Simkins would walk with her to the chaise; but
+hearing that the coffee-house was another way, she desired Mrs Belfield
+to let the servant run and order it to Mrs Roberts, in Fetterlane, and
+then eagerly requested Mr Simkins to accompany her on foot till they met
+with an hackney-coach.
+
+They then set out, Mr Simkins feeling proud and happy in being allowed
+to attend her, while Cecilia, glad of any protection, accepted his offer
+of continuing with her, even after she met with an hackney-coach.
+
+When she arrived at the coffee-house, she ordered the coachman to desire
+the master of it to come and speak with her.
+
+He came, and she hastily called out, “Pray, are two gentlemen here?”
+
+“Here are several gentlemen here, madam.”
+
+“Yes, yes,--but are two upon any business--any particular business--”
+
+“Two gentlemen, madam, came about half an hour ago, and asked for a room
+to themselves.”
+
+“And where are they now?--are they up stairs?--down stairs?--where are
+they?”
+
+“One of them went away in about ten minutes, and the other soon after.”
+
+Bitterly chagrined and disappointed, she knew not what step to take
+next; but, after some consideration, concluded upon obeying Delvile's
+own directions, and proceeding to St James's-square, where alone, now,
+she seemed to have any chance of meeting with him. Gladly, however, she
+still consented to be accompanied by Mr Simkins, for her dread of being
+alone, at so late an hour, in an hackney-coach, was invincible. Whether
+Delvile himself had any authority for directing her to his father's,
+or whether, in the perturbation of his new--excited and agonising
+sensations of jealousy, he had forgotten that any authority was
+necessary, she knew not; nor could she now interest herself in the
+doubt: a second scene, such as had so lately passed with Mr Monckton,
+occupied all her thoughts: she knew the too great probability that
+the high spirit of Belfield would disdain making the explanation which
+Delvile in his present agitation might require, and the consequence of
+such a refusal must almost inevitably be fatal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A PURSUIT.
+
+The moment the porter came to the door, Cecilia eagerly called out from
+the coach, “Is Mr Delvile here?”
+
+“Yes, madam,” he answered, “but I believe he is engaged.”
+
+“Oh no matter for any engagement!” cried she, “on the door,--I must speak
+to him this moment!”
+
+“If you will please to step into the parlour, madam, I will tell
+his gentleman you are here; but he will be much displeased if he is
+disturbed without notice.”
+
+“Ah heaven!” exclaimed she, “what Mr Delvile are you talking of?”
+
+“My master, madam.”
+
+Cecilia, who had got out of the coach, now hastily returned to it,
+and was some time in too great agony to answer either the porter, who
+desired some message, or the coachman, who asked whither he was to
+drive. To see Mr Delvile, unprotected by his son, and contrary to his
+orders, appeared to her insupportable; yet to what place could she go?
+where was she likely to meet with Delvile? how could he find her if she
+went to Mrs Hill's? and in what other house could she at present claim
+admittance?
+
+After a little recovering from this cruel shock, she ventured, though in
+a faultering voice, to enquire whether young Mr Delvile had been there?
+
+“Yes, madam,” the porter answered; “we thought he was abroad, but he
+called just now, and asked if any lady had been at the house. He would
+not even stay to go up to my master, and we have not dared tell him of
+his arrival.”
+
+This a little revived her; to hear that he had actually been enquiring
+for her, at least assured her of his safety from any immediate violence,
+and she began to hope she might now possibly meet with him time
+enough to explain all that had past in his absence, and occasioned her
+seemingly strange and suspicious situation at Belfield's. She compelled
+herself, therefore, to summon courage for seeing his father, since, as
+he had directed her to the house, she concluded he would return there to
+seek her, when he had wandered elsewhere to no purpose.
+
+She then, though with much timidity and reluctance, sent a message to Mr
+Delvile to entreat a moment's audience.
+
+An answer was brought her that he saw no company so late at night.
+
+Losing now all dread of his reproaches, in her superior dread of missing
+Delvile, she called out earnestly to the man, “Tell him, Sir, I beseech
+him not to refuse me! tell him I have something to communicate that
+requires his immediate attention!”
+
+The servant obeyed; but soon returning, said his master desired him to
+acquaint her he was engaged every moment he stayed in town, and must
+positively decline seeing her.
+
+“Go to him again,” cried the harassed Cecilia, “assure him I come not
+from myself, but by the desire of one he most values: tell him I entreat
+but permission to wait an hour in his house, and that I have no other
+place in the world whither I can go!”
+
+Mr Delvile's own gentleman brought, with evident concern, the answer
+to this petition; which was, that while the Honourable Mr Delvile was
+himself alive, he thought the desire of any other person concerning his
+house, was taking with him a very extraordinary liberty; and that he was
+now going to bed, and had given orders to his servants to carry him no
+more messages whatsoever, upon pain of instant dismission.
+
+Cecilia now seemed totally destitute of all resource, and for a few
+dreadful minutes, gave herself up to utter despondency: nor, when she
+recovered her presence of mind, could she form any better plan than that
+of waiting in the coach to watch the return of Delvile.
+
+She told the coachman, therefore, to drive to a corner of the square,
+begging Mr Simkins to have patience, which he promised with much
+readiness, and endeavoured to give her comfort, by talking without
+cessation.
+
+She waited here near half an hour. She then feared the disappointment of
+Delvile in not meeting her at first, had made him conclude she meant
+not to obey his directions, and had perhaps urged him to call again upon
+Belfield, whom he might fancy privy to her non-appearance. This was
+new horror to her, and she resolved at all risks to drive to
+Portland-street, and enquire if Belfield himself was returned home. Yet,
+lest they should mutually be pursuing each other all night, she stopt
+again at Mr Delvile's, and left word with the porter, that if young Mr
+Delvile should come home, he would hear of the person he was enquiring
+for at Mrs Roberts's in Fetter-lane. To Belfield's she did not dare
+to direct him; and it was her intention, if there she procured no new
+intelligence, to leave the same message, and then go to Mrs Roberts
+without further delay. To make such an arrangement with a servant who
+knew not her connection with his young master, was extremely repugnant
+to her; but the exigence was too urgent for scruples, and there was
+nothing to which she would not have consented, to prevent the fatal
+catastrophe she apprehended.
+
+When she came to Belfield's, not daring to enter the house, she sent in
+Mr Simkins, to desire that Mrs Belfield would be so good as to step to
+the coach door.
+
+“Is your son, madam,” she cried, eagerly, “come home? and is any body
+with him?”
+
+“No, ma'am; he has never once been across the threshold since that
+gentleman took him out; and I am half out of my wits to think”--
+
+“Has that gentleman,” interrupted Cecilia, “been here anymore?”
+
+“Yes, ma'am, that's what I was going to tell you; he came again just
+now, and said”--
+
+“Just now?--good heaven!--and which way is he gone?”
+
+“Why he is after no good, I am afraid, for he was in a great passion,
+and would hardly hear any thing I said.”
+
+“Pray, pray answer me quick!--where, which way did he go?”
+
+“Why, he asked me if I knew whither my son was come from the * *
+coffee-house; why, says I, I'm sure I can't tell, for if it had not been
+for Mr Simkins, I should not so much as have known he ever went to the
+* * coffee-house; however, I hope he a'n't come away, because if he is,
+poor Miss Beverley will have had all that trouble for nothing; for she's
+gone after him in a prodigious hurry; and upon my only saying that, he
+seemed quite beside himself, and said, if I don't meet with your son at
+the * * coffee-house myself, pray, when he comes in, tell him I shall be
+highly obliged to him to call there; and then he went away, in as great
+a pet as ever you saw.”
+
+Cecilia listened to this account with the utmost terror and misery; the
+suspicions of Delvile would now be aggravated, and the message he
+had left for Belfield, would by him be regarded as a defiance. Again,
+however, to the * * coffee-house she instantly ordered the coach, an
+immediate explanation from herself seeming the only possible chance for
+preventing the most horrible conclusion to this unfortunate and eventful
+evening.
+
+She was still accompanied by Mr Simkins, and, but that she attended to
+nothing he said, would not inconsiderably have been tormented by his
+conversation. She sent him immediately into the coffee-room, to enquire
+if either of the gentlemen were then in the house.
+
+He returned to her with a waiter, who said, “One of them, madam, called
+again just now, but he only stopt to write a note, which he left to be
+given to the gentleman who came with him at first. He is but this moment
+gone, and I don't think he can be at the bottom of the street.”
+
+“Oh drive then, gallop after him!”--cried Cecilia; “coachman! go this
+moment!”
+
+“My horses are tired,” said the man, “they have been out all day, and
+they will gallop no further, if I don't stop and give them a drink.”
+
+Cecilia, too full of hope and impatience for this delay, forced open
+the door herself, and without saying another word, jumped out of the
+carriage, with intention to run down the street; but the coachman
+immediately seizing her, protested she should not stir till he was paid.
+
+In the utmost agony of mind at an hindrance by which she imagined
+Delvile would be lost to her perhaps for ever, she put her hand in her
+pocket, in order to give up her purse for her liberty; but Mr Simkins,
+who was making a tiresome expostulation with the coachman, took it
+himself, and declaring he would not see the lady cheated, began a
+tedious calculation of his fare.
+
+“O pay him any thing!” cried she, “and let us be gone! an instant's
+delay may be fatal!”
+
+Mr Simkins, too earnest to conquer the coachman to attend to her
+distress, continued his prolix harangue concerning a disputed shilling,
+appealing to some gathering spectators upon the justice of his cause;
+while his adversary, who was far from sober, still held Cecilia, saying
+the coach had been hired for the lady, and he would be paid by herself.
+
+“Good God!” cried the agitated Cecilia,--“give him my purse at
+once!--give him every thing he desires!”--
+
+The coachman, at this permission, encreased his demands, and Mr Simkins,
+taking the number of his coach, protested he would summons him to the
+Court of Conscience the next morning. A gentleman, who then came out
+of the coffee-house, offered to assist the lady, but the coachman, who
+still held her arm, swore he would have his right.
+
+“Let me go! let me pass!” cried she, with encreasing eagerness and
+emotion; “detain me at your peril!--release me this moment--only let me
+run to the end of the street,--good God! good Heaven! detain me not for
+mercy!”
+
+Mr Simkins, humbly desiring her not to be in haste, began a formal
+apology for his conduct; but the inebriety of the coachman became
+evident; a mob was collecting; Cecilia, breathless with vehemence and
+terror, was encircled, yet struggled in vain to break away; and the
+stranger gentleman, protesting, with sundry compliments, he would
+himself take care of her, very freely seized her hand.
+
+This moment, for the unhappy Cecilia, teemed with calamity; she was
+wholly overpowered; terror for Delvile, horror for herself, hurry,
+confusion, heat and fatigue, all assailing her at once, while all means
+of repelling them were denied her, the attack was too strong for her
+fears, feelings, and faculties, and her reason suddenly, yet totally
+failing her, she madly called out, “He will be gone! he will be gone!
+and I must follow him to Nice!”
+
+The gentleman now retreated; but Mr Simkins, who was talking to the mob,
+did not hear her; and the coachman, too much intoxicated to perceive her
+rising frenzy, persisted in detaining her.
+
+“I am going to France!” cried she, still more wildly, “why do you stop
+me? he will die if I do not see him, he will bleed to death!”
+
+The coachman, still unmoved, began to grow very abusive; but the
+stranger, touched by compassion, gave up his attempted gallantry, and Mr
+Simkins, much astonished, entreated her not to be frightened: she was,
+however, in no condition to listen to him; with a strength hitherto
+unknown to her, she forcibly disengaged herself from her persecutors;
+yet her senses were wholly disordered; she forgot her situation, her
+intention, and herself; the single idea of Delvile's danger took sole
+possession of her brain, though all connection with its occasion was
+lost, and the moment she was released, she fervently clasped her hands,
+exclaiming, “I will yet heal his wound, even at the hazard of my life!”
+ and springing forward, was almost instantly out of sight.
+
+Mr Simkins now, much alarmed, and earnestly calling after her, entered
+into a compromise with the coachman, that he might attend her; but the
+length of his negociation defeated its purpose, and before he was
+at liberty to follow her, all trace was lost by which he might have
+overtaken her. He stopt every passenger he met to make enquiries, but
+though they led him on some way, they led him on in vain; and, after
+a useless and ill-managed pursuit, he went quietly to his own home,
+determining to acquaint Mrs Belfield with what had happened the next
+morning.
+
+Mean while the frantic Cecilia escaped both pursuit and insult by the
+velocity of her own motion. She called aloud upon Delvile as she flew to
+the end of the street. No Delvile was there!--she turned the corner;
+yet saw nothing of him; she still went on, though unknowing whither,
+the distraction of her mind every instant growing greater, from the
+inflammation of fatigue, heat, and disappointment. She was spoken to
+repeatedly; she was even caught once or twice by her riding habit; but
+she forced herself along by her own vehement rapidity, not hearing what
+was said, nor heeding what was thought. Delvile, bleeding by the arm of
+Belfield, was the image before her eyes, and took such full possession
+of her senses, that still, as she ran on, she fancied it in view. She
+scarce touched the ground; she scarce felt her own motion; she seemed
+as if endued with supernatural speed, gliding from place to place, from
+street to street; with no consciousness of any plan, and following no
+other direction than that of darting forward where-ever there was most
+room, and turning back when she met with any obstruction; till quite
+spent and exhausted, she abruptly ran into a yet open shop, where,
+breathless and panting, she sunk upon the floor, and, with a look
+disconsolate and helpless, sat for some time without speaking.
+
+The people of the house, concluding at first she was a woman of the
+town, were going roughly to turn her out; but soon seeing their mistake,
+by the evident distraction of her air and manner, they enquired of some
+idle people who, late as it was, had followed her, if any of them knew
+who she was, or whence she came?
+
+They could give no account of her, but supposed she was broke loose from
+Bedlam.
+
+Cecilia then, wildly starting up, exclaimed, “No, no,--I am not mad,--I
+am going to Nice--to my husband.”
+
+“She's quite crazy,” said the man of the house, who was a Pawn-Broker;
+“we had better get rid of her before she grows mischievous--”
+
+“She's somebody broke out from a private mad house, I dare say,” said a
+man who had followed her into the shop; “and if you were to take care of
+her a little while, ten to one but you'll get a reward for it.”
+
+“She's a gentlewoman, sure enough,” said the mistress of the house,
+“because she's got such good things on.”
+
+And then, under pretence of trying to find some direction to her upon
+a letter, or paper, she insisted upon searching her pockets: here,
+however, she was disappointed in her expectations: her purse was in the
+custody of Mr Simkins, but neither her terror nor distress had saved her
+from the daring dexterity of villainy, and her pockets, in the mob,
+had been rifled of whatever else they contained. The woman therefore
+hesitated some time whether to take charge of her or, not: but being
+urged by the man who made the proposal, and who said they might depend
+upon seeing her soon advertised, as having escaped from her keepers,
+they ventured to undertake her.
+
+Mean while she endeavoured again to get out, calling aloud upon Delvile
+to rescue her, but so wholly bereft of sense and recollection, she could
+give no account who she was, whence she came, or whither she wished to
+go.
+
+They then carried her up stairs, and attempted to make her lie down
+upon a bed; but supposing she refused because it was not of straw, they
+desisted; and, taking away the candle, locked the door, and all went to
+rest.
+
+In this miserable condition, alone and raving, she was left to pass
+the night! in the early part of it, she called upon Delvile without
+intermission, beseeching him to come to her defence in one moment, and
+deploring his death the next; but afterwards, her strength being wholly
+exhausted by these various exertions and fatigues, she threw herself
+upon the floor, and lay for some minutes quite still. Her head then
+began to grow cooler, as the fever into which terror and immoderate
+exercise had thrown her abated, and her memory recovered its functions.
+
+This was, however, only a circumstance of horror to her: she found
+herself shut up in a place of confinement, without light, without
+knowledge where she was, and not a human being near her!
+
+Yet the same returning reason which enabled her to take this view of
+her own situation, brought also to her mind that in which she had left
+Delvile;--under all the perturbation of new-kindled jealousy, just
+calling upon Belfield,--Belfield, tenacious of his honour even more than
+himself,--to satisfy doubts of which the very mention would be received
+as a challenge!
+
+“Oh yet, oh yet,” cried she, “let me fly and overtake them!--I may find
+them before morning, and to-night it must surely have been too late for
+this work of death!”
+
+She then arose to feel for the door, and succeeded; but it was locked,
+and no effort she could make enabled her to open it.
+
+Her agony was unspeakable; she called out with violence upon the people
+of the house, conjured them to set her at liberty, offered any reward
+for their assistance, and threatened them with a prosecution if
+detained.
+
+Nobody, however, came near her: some slept on notwithstanding all the
+disturbance she could make, and others; though awakened by her cries,
+concluded them the ravings of a mad woman, and listened not to what she
+said.
+
+Her head was by no means in a condition to bear this violence of
+distress; every pulse was throbbing, every vein seemed bursting, her
+reason, so lately returned, could not bear the repetition of such a
+shock, and from supplicating for help with all the energy of feeling
+and understanding, she soon continued the cry from mere vehemence of
+distraction.
+
+Thus dreadfully passed the night; and in the morning, when the woman of
+the house came to see after her, she found her raving with such frenzy,
+and desperation, that her conscience was perfectly at ease in the
+treatment she had given her, being now firmly satisfied she required the
+strictest confinement.
+
+She still, however, tried to get away; talked of Delvile without
+cessation, said she should be too late to serve him, told the woman she
+desired but to prevent murder, and repeatedly called out, “Oh beloved of
+my heart! wait but a moment, and I will snatch thee from destruction!”
+
+Mrs Wyers, this woman, now sought no longer to draw from her whence she
+came, or who she was, but heard her frantic exclamations without any
+emotion, contentedly concluding that her madness was incurable: and
+though she was in a high fever, refused all sustenance, and had every
+symptom of an alarming and dangerous malady, she was fully persuaded
+that her case was that of decided insanity, and had not any notion of
+temporary or accidental alienation of reason.
+
+All she could think of by way of indulgence to her, was to bring her
+a quantity of straw, having heard that mad people were fond of it; and
+putting it in a heap in one corner of the room, she expected to see her
+eagerly fly at it.
+
+Cecilia, however, distracted as she was, was eager for nothing but to
+escape, which was constantly her aim, alike when violent or when quiet.
+Mrs Wyers, finding this, kept her closely confined, and the door always
+locked, whether absent or present.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+AN ENCOUNTER.
+
+Two whole days passed thus; no enquiries reached Mrs Wyers, and she
+found in the news-papers no advertisement. Meanwhile Cecilia grew worse
+every moment, tasted neither drink nor food, raved incessantly, called
+out twenty times in a breath, “Where is he? which way is he gone?”
+ and implored the woman by the most pathetic remonstrances, to save her
+unhappy Delvile, _dearer to her than life, more precious than peace or
+rest_!
+
+At other times she talked of her marriage, of the displeasure of his
+family, and of her own remorse; entreated the woman not to betray her,
+and promised to spend the remnant of her days in the heaviness of sorrow
+and contrition.
+
+Again her fancy roved, and Mr Monckton took sole possession of it. She
+reproached him for his perfidy, she bewailed that he was massacred, she
+would not a moment out-live him, and wildly declared _her last remains
+should moulder in his hearse_! And thus, though naturally and commonly
+of a silent and quiet disposition, she was now not a moment still, for
+the irregular starts of a terrified and disordered imagination, were
+changed into the constant ravings of morbid delirium.
+
+The woman, growing uneasy from her uncertainty of pay for her trouble,
+asked the advice of some of her friends what was proper for her to do;
+and they counselled her to put an advertisement into the papers herself
+the next morning.
+
+The following, therefore, was drawn up and sent to the printer of the
+Daily Advertiser.
+
+MADNESS.
+
+Whereas a crazy young lady, tall, fair complexioned, with blue eyes and
+light hair, ran into the Three Blue Balls, in----street, on Thursday
+night, the 2nd instant, and has been kept there since out of charity.
+She was dressed in a riding habit. Whoever she belongs to is desired to
+send after her immediately. She has been treated with the utmost care
+and tenderness. She talks much of some person by the name of Delvile.
+
+N.B.--She had no money about her.
+
+May, 1780.
+
+This had but just been sent off, when Mr Wyers, the man of the house,
+coming up stairs, said, “Now we shall have two of them, for here's
+the crazy old gentleman below, that says he has just heard in the
+neighbourhood of what has happened to us, and he desires to see the poor
+lady.”
+
+“It's as well let him come up, then,” answered Mrs Wyers, “for he goes
+to all sort of places and people, and ten to one but he'll bustle about
+till he finds out who she is.”
+
+Mr Wyers then went down stairs to send him up.
+
+He came instantly. It was Albany, who in his vagrant rambles, having
+heard an unknown mad lady was at this pawn-broker's, came, with his
+customary eagerness to visit and serve the unhappy, to see what could be
+done for her.
+
+When he entered the room, she was sitting upon the bed, her eyes
+earnestly fixed upon the window, from which she was privately indulging
+a wish to make her escape. Her dress was in much disorder, her fine hair
+was dishevelled, and the feathers of her riding hat were broken and half
+falling down, some shading her face, others reaching to her shoulder.
+
+“Poor lady!” cried Albany, approaching her, “how long has she been in
+this state?”
+
+She started at the sound of a new voice, she looked round,--but what was
+the astonishment of Albany to see who it was!--He stept back,-he came
+forward,--he doubted his own senses,--he looked at her earnestly,--he
+turned from her to look at the woman of the house,--he cast his eyes
+round the room itself, and then, lifting up his hands, “O sight of woe!”
+ he cried, “the generous and good! the kind reliever of distress! the
+benign sustainer of misery!--is _This_ Cecilia!”--
+
+Cecilia, imperfectly recollecting, though not understanding him, sunk
+down at his feet, tremblingly called out, “Oh, if he is yet to be saved,
+if already he is not murdered,--go to him! fly after him! you will
+presently overtake him, he is only in the next street, I left him there
+myself, his sword drawn, and covered with human blood!”
+
+“Sweet powers of kindness and compassion!” cried the old man, “look upon
+this creature with pity! she who raised the depressed, she who cheared
+the unhappy! she whose liberal hand turned lamentations into joy! who
+never with a tearless eye could hear the voice of sorrow!--is _This_ she
+herself!--can _This_ be Cecilia!”
+
+“O do not wait to talk!” cried she, “go to him now, or you will never
+see him more! the hand of death is on him,--cold, clay-cold is its
+touch! he is breathing his last--Oh murdered Delvile! massacred husband
+of my heart! groan not so piteously! fly to him, and weep over him!--fly
+to him and pluck the poniard from his wounded bosom!”
+
+“Oh sounds of anguish and horror!” cried the melted moralist, tears
+running quick down his rugged cheeks; “melancholy indeed is this
+sight, humiliating to morality! such is human strength, such human
+felicity!--weak as our virtues, frail as our guilty natures!”
+
+“Ah,” cried she, more wildly, “no one will save me now! I am married,
+and no one will listen to me! ill were the auspices under which I gave
+my hand! Oh it was a work of darkness, unacceptable and offensive! it
+has been sealed, therefore, with blood, and to-morrow it will be signed
+with murder!”
+
+“Poor distracted creature!” exclaimed he, “thy pangs I have felt, but
+thy innocence I have forfeited!--my own wounds bleed afresh,--my own
+brain threatens new frenzy.”--
+
+Then, starting up, “Good woman,” he added, “kindly attend her,--I will
+seek out her friends, put her into bed, comfort, sooth, compose her.--I
+will come to you again, and as soon as I can.”
+
+He then hurried away.
+
+“Oh hour of joy!” cried Cecilia, “he is gone to rescue him! oh blissful
+moment! he will yet be snatched from slaughter!”
+
+The woman lost not an instant in obeying the orders she had received;
+she was put into bed, and nothing was neglected, as far as she had
+power and thought, to give a look of decency and attention to her
+accommodations.
+
+He had not left them an hour, when Mary, the maid who had attended
+her from Suffolk, came to enquire for her lady. Albany, who was now
+wandering over the town in search of some of her friends, and who
+entered every house where he imagined she was known, had hastened to
+that of Mrs Hill the first of any, as he was well acquainted with her
+obligations to Cecilia; there, Mary herself, by the directions which
+her lady had given Mrs Belfield, had gone; and there, in the utmost
+astonishment and uneasiness, had continued till Albany brought news of
+her.
+
+She was surprised and afflicted beyond measure, not only at the state of
+her mind, and her health, but to find her in a bed and an apartment so
+unsuitable to her rank of life, and so different to what she had ever
+been accustomed. She wept bitterly while she enquired at the bed-side
+how her lady did, but wept still more, when, without answering, or
+seeming to know her, Cecilia started up, and called out, “I must be
+removed this moment! I must go to St James's-square,--if I stay an
+instant longer, the passing-bell will toll, and then how shall I be in
+time for the funeral?”
+
+Mary, alarmed and amazed, turned hastily from her to the woman of the
+house, who calmly said, the lady was only in a raving fit, and must not
+be minded.
+
+Extremely frightened at this intelligence, she entreated her to be quiet
+and lie still. But Cecilia grew suddenly so violent, that force only
+could keep her from rising; and Mary, unused to dispute her commands,
+prepared to obey them.
+
+Mrs Wyers now in her turn opposed in vain; Cecilia was peremptory, and
+Mary became implicit, and, though not without much difficulty, she
+was again dressed in her riding habit. This operation over, she moved
+towards the door, the temporary strength of delirium giving, her a
+hardiness that combated fever, illness, fatigue, and feebleness. Mary,
+however averse and fearful, assisted her, and Mrs Wyers, compelled by
+the obedience of her own servant, went before them to order a chair.
+
+Cecilia, however, felt her weakness when she attempted to move down
+stairs; her feet tottered, and her head became dizzy; she leaned it
+against Mary, who called aloud for more help, and made her sit down till
+it came. Her resolution, however, was not to be altered; a stubbornness,
+wholly foreign to her genuine character, now made her stern and
+positive; and Mary, who thought her submission indispensable, cried, but
+did not offer to oppose her.
+
+Mr and Mrs Wyers both came up to assist in supporting her, and Mr Wyers
+offered to carry her in his arms; but she would not consent; when she
+came to the bottom of the stairs, her head grew worse, she again lent
+it upon Mary, but Mr Wyers was obliged to hold them both. She still,
+however, was firm in her determination, and was making another effort to
+proceed, when Delvile rushed hastily into the shop.
+
+He had just encountered Albany; who, knowing his acquaintance, though
+ignorant of his marriage, with Cecilia, had informed him where to seek
+her.
+
+He was going to make enquiry if he was come to the right house, when
+he perceived her,--feeble, shaking, leaning upon one person, and half
+carried by another!--he started back, staggered, gasped for breath,--but
+finding they were proceeding, advanced with trepidation, furiously
+calling out, “Hold! stop!--what is it you are doing? Monsters of savage
+barbarity, are you murdering my wife?”
+
+The well-known voice no sooner struck the ears of Cecilia, than
+instantly recollecting it, she screamed, and, is suddenly endeavouring
+to spring forward, fell to the ground.
+
+Delvile had vehemently advanced to catch her in his arms and save her
+fall, which her unexpected quickness had prevented her attendants from
+doing; but the sight of her changed complection, and the wildness of her
+eyes and air, again made him start,--his blood froze through his veins,
+and he stood looking at her, cold and almost petrified.
+
+Her own recollection of him seemed lost already; and exhausted by the
+fatigue she had gone through in dressing and coming down stairs, she
+remained still and quiet, forgetting her design of proceeding, and
+forming no new one for returning.
+
+Mary, to whom, as to all her fellow servants, the marriage of Cecilia
+had been known, before she left the country, now desired from Delvile
+directions what was to be done.
+
+Delvile, starting suddenly at this call from the deepest horror into the
+most desperate rage, fiercely exclaimed, “Inhuman wretches! unfeeling,
+execrable wretches, what is it you have done to her? how came she
+hither?--who brought her?--who dragged her?--by what infamous usage has
+she been sunk into this state?”
+
+“Indeed, sir, I don't know!” cried Mary.
+
+“I assure you, sir,” said Mrs Wyers, “the lady--”
+
+“Peace!” cried he, furiously, “I will not hear your falsehoods!--peace,
+and begone!”--
+
+Then, casting himself upon the ground by her side, “Oh my Cecilia,”
+ he cried, “where hast thou been thus long? how have I lost thee? what
+dreadful calamity has befallen thee?--answer me, my love! raise your
+sweet head and answer me!--oh speak!--say to me any thing; the bitterest
+words will be mercy to this silence!”---
+
+Cecilia then, suddenly looking up, called out with great quickness, “Who
+are you?”
+
+“Who am I!” cried he, amazed and affrighted.
+
+“I should be glad you would go away,” cried she, in a hurrying manner,
+“for you are quite unknown to me.”
+
+Delvile, unconscious of her insanity, and attributing to resentment
+this aversion and repulse, hastily moved from her, mournfully answering,
+“Well indeed may you disclaim me, refuse all forgiveness, load me with
+hatred and reproach, and consign me to eternal anguish! I have merited
+severer punishment still; I have behaved like a monster, and I am
+abhorrent to myself!”
+
+Cecilia now, half rising, and regarding him with mingled terror and
+anger, eagerly exclaimed, “If you do not mean to mangle and destroy me,
+begone this instant.”
+
+“To mangle you!” repeated Delvile, shuddering, “how horrible!--but I
+deserve it!--look not, however, so terrified, and I will tear myself
+away from you. Suffer me but to assist in removing you from this place,
+and I will only watch you at a distance, and never see you more till you
+permit me to approach you.”
+
+“Why, why,” cried Cecilia, with a look of perplexity and impatience,
+“will you not tell me your name, and where you come from?”
+
+“Do you not know me?” said he, struck with new horror; “or do you only
+mean to kill me by the question?”
+
+“Do you bring me any message from Mr Monckton?”
+
+“From Mr Monckton?--no; but he lives and will recover.”
+
+“I thought you had been Mr Monckton yourself.”
+
+“Too cruel, yet justly cruel Cecilia!--is then Delvile utterly
+renounced?--the guilty, the unhappy Delvile!--is he cast off for ever?
+have you driven him wholly from your heart? do you deny him even a place
+in your remembrance?”
+
+“Is your name, then, Delvile?”
+
+“O what is it you mean? Is it me or my name you thus disown?”
+
+“'Tis a name,” cried she, sitting up, “I well remember to have heard,
+and once I loved it, and three times I called upon it in the dead of
+night. And when I was cold and wretched, I cherished it; and when I was
+abandoned and left alone, I repeated it and sung to it.”
+
+“All-gracious powers!” cried Delvile, “her reason is utterly gone!”
+ And, hastily rising, he desperately added, “what is death to this
+blow?--Cecilia, I am content to part with thee!”
+
+Mary now, and Mrs Wyers, poured upon him eagerly an account of her
+illness, and insanity, her desire of removal, and their inability to
+control her.
+
+Delvile, however, made no answer; he scarce heard them: the deepest
+despair took possession of his mind, and, rooted to the spot where he
+stood, he contemplated iii dreadful stillness the fallen and altered
+object of his best hopes and affections; already in her faded cheeks
+and weakened frame, his agonising terror read the quick impending
+destruction of all his earthly happiness! the sight was too much for
+his fortitude, and almost for his understanding; and when his woe became
+utterable, he wrung his hands, and groaning aloud, called out, “Art thou
+gone so soon! my wife! my Cecilia! have I lost thee already?”
+
+Cecilia, with utter insensibility to what was passing, now suddenly, and
+with a rapid yet continued motion, turned her head from side to side,
+her eyes wildly glaring, and yet apparently regarding nothing.
+
+“Dreadful! dreadful!” exclaimed Delvile, “what a sight is this!” and
+turning from her to the people of the house, he angrily said, “why is
+she here upon the floor? could you not even allow her a bed? Who attends
+her? Who waits upon her? Why has nobody sent for help?--Don't answer
+me,--I will not hear you, fly this moment for a physician,--bring two,
+bring three--bring all you can find?”
+
+Then, still looking from Cecilia, whose sight he could no longer
+support, he consulted with Mary whither she should be conveyed: and, as
+the night was far advanced, and no place was prepared for her elsewhere,
+they soon agreed that she could only be removed up stairs.
+
+Delvile now attempted to carry her in his arms; but trembling and
+unsteady, he had not strength to sustain her; yet not enduring to behold
+the helplessness he could not assist, he conjured them to be careful
+and gentle, and, committing her to their trust, ran out himself for a
+physician.
+
+Cecilia resisted them with her utmost power, imploring them not to bury
+her alive, and averring she had received intelligence they meant to
+entomb her with Mr Monckton.
+
+They put her, however, to bed, but her raving grew still more wild and
+incessant.
+
+Delvile soon returned with a physician, but had not courage to attend
+him to her room. He waited for him at the foot of the stairs, where,
+hastily stopping him,
+
+“Well, sir,” he cried, “is it not all over? is it not impossible she can
+live?”
+
+“She is very ill, indeed, sir,” he answered, “but I have given
+directions which perhaps---”
+
+“_Perhaps_!” interrupted Delvile, shuddering, “do not stab me with such
+a word!”
+
+“She is very delirious,” he continued, “but as her fever is very high,
+that is not so material. If the orders I have given take effect, and the
+fever is got under, all the rest will be well of course.”
+
+He then went away; leaving Delvile as much thunderstruck by answers
+so alarming, as if he had consulted him in full hope, and without even
+suspicion of her danger.
+
+The moment he recovered from this shock, he flew out of the house for
+more advice.
+
+He returned and brought with him two physicians. They confirmed the
+directions already given, but would pronounce nothing decisively of her
+situation.
+
+Delvile, half mad with the acuteness of his misery, charged them all
+with want of skill, and wrote instantly into the country for Dr Lyster.
+
+He went out himself in search of a messenger to ride off express, though
+it was midnight, with his letter; and then, returning, he was hastening
+to her room, but, while yet at the door, hearing her still raving, his
+horror conquered his eagerness, and, hurrying down stairs, he spent the
+remnant of the long and seemingly endless night in the shop.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A TRIBUTE.
+
+Mean while Cecilia went through very severe discipline, sometimes
+strongly opposing it, at other times scarce sensible what was done to
+her.
+
+The whole of the next day passed in much the same manner, neither did
+the next night bring any visible alteration. She had now nurses and
+attendants even more than sufficient, for Delvile had no relief but from
+calling in more help. His terror of again seeing her encreased with his
+forbearance; the interview which had already past had almost torn him
+asunder, and losing all courage for attempting to enter her room, he now
+spent almost all his time upon the stairs which led to it. Whenever she
+was still, he seated himself at her chamber door, where, if he could
+hear her breathe or move, a sudden hope of her recovery gave to him a
+momentary extasy that recompensed all his sufferings. But the instant
+she spoke, unable to bear the sound of so loved a voice uttering nothing
+but the incoherent ravings of lightheadedness, he hastened down stairs,
+and flying out of the house, walked in the neighbouring streets, till he
+could again gather courage to enquire or to listen how she went on.
+
+The following morning, however, Dr Lyster came, and every hope revived.
+He flew to embrace him, told him instantly his marriage with Cecilia,
+and besought him by some superior effort of his extraordinary abilities
+to save him the distraction of her loss.
+
+“My good friend,” cried the worthy Doctor, “what is this you ask of me?
+and how can this poor young lady herself want advice more than you do?
+Do you think these able physicians actually upon the spot, with all
+the experience of full practice in London to assist their skill, want a
+petty Doctor out of the country to come and teach them what is right?”
+
+“I have more reliance upon you,” cried Delvile, than upon the whole
+faculty; come, therefore, and prescribe for her,--take some new course
+“--
+
+“Impossible, my good Sir, impossible! I must not lose my wits from
+vanity, because you have lost yours from affliction. I could not refuse
+to come to you when you wrote to me with such urgency, and I will now go
+and see the young lady, as a _friend_, with all my heart. I am sorry for
+you at my soul, Mr Mortimer! She is a lovely young creature, and has an
+understanding, for her years and sex, unequalled.”
+
+“Never mention her to me!” cried the impatient Delvile, “I cannot bear
+it! Go up to her, dear Doctor, and if you want a consultation, send, if
+you please, for every physician in town.”
+
+Dr Lyster desired only that those who had already attended might
+be summoned; and then, giving up to his entreaties the accustomed
+ceremonial of waiting for them, he went to Cecilia.
+
+Delvile did not dare accompany him; and so well was he acquainted with
+his plainness and sincerity, that though he expected his return with
+eagerness, he no sooner heard him upon the stairs, than fearing to know
+his opinion, he hastily snatched up his hat, and rushed vehemently out
+of the house to avoid him.
+
+He continued to walk about the streets, till even the dread of ill
+news was less horrible to him than this voluntary suspense, and then he
+returned to the house.
+
+He found Dr Lyster in a small back parlour, which Mrs Wyers, finding she
+should now be well paid, had appropriated for Delvile's use.
+
+Delvile, putting his hand upon the Doctor's shoulder, said, “Well, my
+dear Dr Lyster, _you_, still, I hope”--
+
+“I would I could make you easy!” interrupted the Doctor; “yet, if you
+are rational, one comfort, at all events, I can give you; the crisis
+seems approaching, and either she will recover, or before to-morrow
+morning”---
+
+“Don't go on, Sir!” cried Delvile, with mingled rage and horror, “I
+will not have her days limited! I sent not for you to give me such an
+account!”
+
+And again he flew out of the house, leaving Dr Lyster unaffectedly
+concerned for him, and too kind-hearted and too wise to be offended at
+the injustice of immoderate sorrow.
+
+In a few minutes, however, from the effect rather of despair than
+philosophy, Delvile grew more composed, and waited upon Dr Lyster to
+apologize for his behaviour. He received his hearty forgiveness, and
+prevailed upon him to continue in town till the whole was decided.
+
+About noon, Cecilia, from the wildest rambling and most perpetual
+agitation, sunk suddenly into a state of such utter insensibility,
+that she appeared unconscious even of her existence; and but that she
+breathed, she might already have passed for being dead.
+
+When Delvile heard this, he could no longer endure even his post upon
+the stairs; he spent his whole time in wandering about the streets, or
+stopping in Dr Lyster's parlour to enquire if all was over.
+
+That humane physician, not more alarmed at the danger of Cecilia, than
+grieved at the situation of Delvile, thought the present fearful crisis
+at least offered an opportunity of reconciling him with his father. He
+waited, therefore, upon that gentleman in St James's-square, and openly
+informed him of the dangerous state of Cecilia, and the misery of his
+son.
+
+Mr Delvile, though he would gladly, to have annulled an alliance he held
+disgraceful to his family, have received intelligence that Cecilia was
+no more, was yet extremely disconcerted to hear of sufferings to which
+his own refusal of an asylum he was conscious had largely contributed;
+and after a haughty struggle between tenderness and wrath, he begged the
+advice of Dr Lyster how his son might be drawn from such a scene.
+
+Dr Lyster, who well knew Delvile was too desperate to be tractable,
+proposed surprising him into an interview by their returning together:
+Mr Delvile, however apprehensive and relenting, conceded most
+unwillingly to a measure he held beneath him, and, when he came to the
+shop, could scarce be persuaded to enter it. Mortimer, at that time,
+was taking a solitary ramble; and Dr Lyster, to complete the work he
+had begun of subduing the hard pride of his father, contrived, under
+pretence of waiting for him, to conduct him to the room of the invalide.
+
+Mr Delvile, who knew not whither he was going, at first sight of the bed
+and the attendants, was hastily retreating; but the changed and livid
+face of Cecilia caught his eye, and, struck with sudden consternation,
+he involuntarily stopt.
+
+“Look at the poor young lady!” cried Dr Lyster; “can you wonder a sight
+such as this should make Mr Mortimer forget every thing else?”
+
+She was wholly insensible, but perfectly quiet; she seemed to
+distinguish nothing, and neither spoke nor moved.
+
+Mr Delvile regarded her with the utmost horror: the refuge he so
+implacably refused her on the night when her intellects were disordered,
+he would now gladly have offered at the expence of almost similar
+sufferings, to have relieved himself from those rising pangs which
+called him author of this scene of woe. His pride, his pomp, his ancient
+name, were now sunk in his estimation; and while he considered himself
+the destroyer of this unhappy young creature, he would have sacrificed
+them all to have called himself her protector. Little is the boast of
+insolence when it is analysed by the conscience! bitter is the agony
+of self-reproach, where misery follows hardness of heart! yet, when the
+first painful astonishment from her situation abated, the remorse she
+excited being far stronger than the pity, he gave an angry glance at Dr
+Lyster for betraying him into such a sight, and hastily left the room.
+
+Delvile, who was now impatiently waiting to see Dr Lyster in the little
+parlour, alarmed at the sound of a new step upon the stairs, came out to
+enquire who had been admitted. When he saw his father, he shrunk back;
+but Mr Delvile, no longer supported by pride, and unable to recover from
+the shock he had just received, caught him in his arms, and said “Oh
+come home to me, my son! this is a place to destroy you!”
+
+“Ah, Sir,” cried Delvile, “think not of me now!--you must shew me no
+kindness; I am not in a state to bear it!” And, forcibly breaking from
+him, he hurried out of the house.
+
+Mr Delvile, all the father awakened in his bosom, saw his departure
+with more dread than anger; and returned himself to St James's-square,
+tortured with parental fears, and stung by personal remorse, lamenting
+his own inflexibility, and pursued by the pale image of Cecilia.
+
+She was still in this unconscious state, and apparently as free from
+suffering as from enjoyment, when a new voice was suddenly heard
+without, exclaiming, “Oh where is she? where is she? where is my dear
+Miss Beverley?” and Henrietta Belfield ran wildly into the room.
+
+The advertisement in the news-papers had at once brought her to town,
+and directed her to the house: the mention that the lost lady _talked
+much of a person by the name of Delvile_, struck her instantly to mean
+Cecilia; the description corresponded with this idea, and the account of
+the dress confirmed it: Mr Arnott, equally terrified with herself, had
+therefore lent her his chaise to learn the truth of this conjecture, and
+she had travelled all night.
+
+Flying up to the bedside, “Who is this?” she cried, “this is not Miss
+Beverley?” and then screaming with unrestrained horror, “Oh mercy!
+mercy!” she called out, “yes, it is indeed! and nobody would know
+her!--her own mother would not think her her child!”
+
+“You must come away, Miss Belfield,” said Mary, “you must indeed,--the
+doctors all say my lady must not be disturbed.”
+
+“Who shall take me away?” cried she, angrily, “nobody Mary! not all the
+doctors in the world! Oh sweet Miss Beverley! I will lie down by your
+side,--I will never quit you while you live,--and I wish, I wish I could
+die to save your precious life!”
+
+Then, leaning over her, and wringing her hands, “Oh I shall break my
+heart,” she cried, “to see her in this condition! Is this the so happy
+Miss Beverley, that I thought every body born to give joy to? the
+Miss Beverley that seemed queen of the whole world! yet so good and so
+gentle, so kind to the meanest person! excusing every body's faults but
+her own, and telling them how they might mend, and trying to make them
+as good as herself!--Oh who would know her! who would know her! what
+have they done to you, my beloved Miss Beverley? how have they altered
+and disfigured you in this wicked and barbarous manner?”
+
+In the midst of this simple yet pathetic testimony, to the worth and
+various excellencies of Cecilia, Dr Lyster came into the room. The women
+all flocked around him, except Mary, to vindicate themselves from any
+share in permitting this new comer's entrance and behaviour; but Mary
+only told him who she was, and said, that if her lady was well enough to
+know her, there was nobody she was certain she would have been so glad
+to see.
+
+“Young lady,” said the doctor, “I would advise you to walk into another
+room till you are a little more composed.”
+
+“Every body, I find, is for hurrying me away,” cried the sobbing
+Henrietta, whose honest heart swelled with its own affectionate
+integrity; “but they might all save themselves the trouble, for go I
+will not!”
+
+“This is very wrong,” said the doctor, “and must not be suffered: do you
+call it friendship to come about a sick person in this manner?”
+
+“Oh my Miss Beverley!” cried Henrietta, “do you hear how they all
+upbraid me? how they all want to force me away from you, and to hinder
+me even from looking at you! Speak for me, sweet lady! speak for me
+yourself! tell them the poor Henrietta will not do you any harm; tell
+them she only wishes just to sit by you, and to see you!--I will hold by
+this dear hand,--I will cling to it till the last minute; and you will
+not, I know you will not, give orders to have it taken away from me!”
+
+Dr Lyster, though his own good nature was much affected by this fond
+sorrow, now half angrily represented to her the impropriety of indulging
+it: but Henrietta, unused to disguise or repress her feelings, grew only
+the more violent, the more she was convinced of Cecilia's danger: “Oh
+look but at her,” she exclaimed, “and take me from her if you can!
+see how her sweet eyes are fixed! look but what a change in her
+complexion!--She does not see me, she does not know me,--she does not
+hear me! her hand seems quite lifeless already, her face is all fallen
+away!--Oh that I had died twenty deaths before I had lived to see this
+sight!--poor wretched Henrietta, thou bast now no friend left in the
+world! thou mayst go and lie down in some corner, and no one will come
+and say to thee a word of comfort!”
+
+“This must not be!” said Dr Lyster, “you must take her away.”
+
+“You shall not!” cried she, desperately, “I will stay with her till she
+has breathed her last, and I will stay with her still longer! and if she
+was to speak to you this moment, she would tell you that she chose it.
+She loved the poor Henrietta, and loved to have her near her; and when
+she was ill, and in much distress, she never once bid me leave her room.
+Is it not true, my sweet Miss Beverley? do you not know it to be true?
+Oh look not so dreadfully! turn to your unhappy Henrietta; sweetest,
+best of ladies! will you not speak to her once more? will you not say to
+her one single word?”
+
+Dr Lyster now grew very angry, and telling her such violence might have
+fatal consequences, frightened her into more order, and drew her away
+himself. He had then the kindness to go with her into another room,
+where, when her first vehemence was spent, his remonstrances and
+reasoning brought her to a sense of the danger she might occasion, and
+made her promise not to return to the room till she had gained strength
+to behave better.
+
+When Dr Lyster went again to Delvile, he found him greatly alarmed
+by his long stay; he communicated to him briefly what had passed, and
+counselled him to avoid encreasing his own grief by the sight of
+what was suffered by this unguarded and ardent girl. Delvile readily
+assented, for the weight of his own woe was too heavy to bear any
+addition.
+
+Henrietta now, kept in order by Dr Lyster, contented herself with only
+sitting on the bed, without attempting to speak, and with no other
+employment than alternately looking at her sick friend, and covering
+her streaming eyes with her handkerchief; from time to time quitting the
+room wholly, for the relief of sobbing at liberty and aloud in another.
+
+But, in the evening, while Delvile and Dr Lyster were taking one of
+their melancholy rambles, a new scene was acted in the apartment of
+the still senseless Cecilia. Albany suddenly made his entrance into it,
+accompanied by three children, two girls and one boy, from the ages of
+four to six, neatly dressed, clean, and healthy.
+
+“See here!”' cried he, as he came in, “see here what I've brought
+you! raise, raise your languid head, and look this way! you think me
+rigid,--an enemy to pleasure, austere, harsh, and a forbidder of joy:
+look at this sight, and see the contrary! who shall bring you comfort,
+joy, pleasure, like this? three innocent children, clothed and fed by
+your bounty!”
+
+Henrietta and Mary, who both knew him well, were but little surprised at
+anything he said or did, and the nurses presumed not to interfere but by
+whispers.
+
+Cecilia, however, observed nothing that passed; and Albany, somewhat
+astonished, approached nearer to the bed; “Wilt thou not speak?” he
+cried.
+
+“She can't, Sir,” said one of the women; “she has been speechless many
+hours.”
+
+The air of triumph with which he had entered the room was now changed
+into disappointment and consternation. For some minutes he thoughtfully
+and sorrowfully contemplated her, and then, with a deep sigh, said, “How
+will the poor rue this day!” Then, turning to the children, who, awed by
+this scene, were quiet from terror. “Alas!” he said, “ye helpless babes,
+ye know not what you have lost: presumptuously we came; unheeded we must
+return! I brought you to be seen by your benefactress, but she is going
+where she will find many such.”
+
+He then led them away; but, suddenly coming back, “I may see her,
+perhaps, no more! shall I not, then, pray for her? Great and aweful is
+the change she is making; what are human revolutions, how pitiful, how
+insignificant, compared with it!--Come, little babies, come; with gifts
+has she often blessed _you_, with wishes bless _her_! Come, let us kneel
+round her bed; let us all pray for her together; lift up your innocent
+hands, and for all of you I will speak.”
+
+He then made the children obey his injunctions, and having knelt
+himself, while Henrietta and Mary instantly did the same, “Sweet
+flower!” he cried, “untimely cropt in years, yet in excellence mature!
+early decayed in misery, yet fragrant in innocence! Gentle be thy exit,
+for unsullied have been thy days; brief be thy pains, for few have been
+thy offences! Look at her sweet babes, and bear her in your remembrance;
+often will I visit you and revive the solemn scene. Look at her ye,
+also, who are nearer to your end--Ah! will you bear it like her!”
+
+He paused; and the nurses and Mrs Wyers, struck by this call, and moved
+by the general example, crept to the bed, and dropt on their knees,
+almost involuntarily.
+
+“She departs,” resumed Albany, “the envy of the world! while yet no
+guilt had seized her soul, and no remorse had marred her peace. She was
+the hand-maid of charity, and pity dwelt in her bosom! her mouth
+was never open but to give comfort; her foot-steps were followed by
+blessings! Oh happy in purity, be thine the song of triumph!--softly
+shalt thou sink to temporary sleep,--sublimely shalt thou rise to life
+that wakes for ever!”
+
+He then got up, took the children by their little hands, and went away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER x.
+
+A TERMINATION.
+
+Dr Lyster and Delvile met them at the entrance into the house. Extremely
+alarmed lest Cecilia had received any disturbance, they both hastened
+up stairs, but Delvile proceeded only to the door. He stopt there and
+listened; but all was silent; the prayers of Albany had struck an awe
+into every one; and Dr Lyster soon returned to tell him there was no
+alteration in his patient.
+
+“And he has not disturbed her?” cried Delvile.
+
+“No, not at all.”
+
+“I think, then,” said he, advancing, though trembling, “I will yet see
+her once more.”
+
+“No, no, Mr Mortimer,” cried the doctor, “why should you give yourself
+so unnecessary a shock?”
+
+“The shock,” answered he, “is over!--tell me, however, is there any
+chance I may hurt _her_?”
+
+“I believe not; I do not think, just now, she will perceive you.”
+
+“Well, then,--I may grieve, perhaps, hereafter, that once more--that
+one glance!”--He stopt, irresolute the doctor would again have dissuaded
+him, but, after a little hesitation, he assured him he was prepared for
+the worst, and forced himself into the room.
+
+When again, however, he beheld Cecilia,--senseless, speechless,
+motionless, her features void of all expression, her cheeks without
+colour, her eyes without meaning,--he shrunk from the sight, he leant
+upon Dr Lyster, and almost groaned aloud.
+
+The doctor would have conducted him out of the apartment; but,
+recovering from this first agony, he turned again to view her, and
+casting up his eyes, fervently ejaculated, “Oh merciful powers! Take,
+or destroy her! let her not linger thus, rather let me lose her
+for ever!--O far rather would I see her dead, glad in this dreadful
+condition!”
+
+Then, advancing to the bed side, and yet more earnestly looking at her,
+“I pray not now,” he cried, “for thy life! inhumanly as I have treated
+thee, I am not yet so hardened as to wish thy misery lengthened no;
+quick be thy restoration, or short as pure thy passage to eternity!--Oh
+my Cecilia! lovely, however altered! sweet even in the arms of death and
+insanity! and dearer to my tortured heart in this calamitous state, than
+in all thy pride of health and beauty!”--
+
+He stopt, and turned from her, yet could not tear himself away; he came
+back, he again looked at her, he hung over her in anguish unutterable;
+he kissed each burning hand, he folded to his bosom her feeble form,
+and, recovering his speech, though almost bursting with sorrow, faintly
+articulated, “Is all over? no ray of reason left? no knowledge of thy
+wretched Delvile?--no, none! the hand of death is on her, and she
+is utterly gone!--sweet suffering excellence! loved, lost, expiring
+Cecilia!--but I will not repine! peace and kindred angels are watching
+to receive thee, and if thou art parted from thyself, it were impious
+to lament thou shouldst be parted from me.--Yet in thy tomb will be
+deposited all that to me could render existence supportable, every
+frail chance of happiness, every sustaining hope, and all alleviation of
+sorrow!”--
+
+Dr Lyster now again approaching, thought he perceived some change in
+his patient, and peremptorily forced him away from her: then returning
+himself, he found that her eyes were shut, and she was dropt asleep.
+
+This was an omen the most favourable he could hope. He now seated
+himself by the bedside, and determined not to quit her till the expected
+crisis was past. He gave the strictest orders for the whole house to be
+kept quiet, and suffered no one in the room either to speak or move.
+
+Her sleep was long and heavy; yet, when she awoke, her sensibility
+was evidently returned. She started, suddenly raised her head from the
+pillow, looked round her, and called out, “where am I now?”
+
+“Thank Heaven!” cried Henrietta, and was rushing forward, when Dr
+Lyster, by a stern and angry look, compelled her again to take her seat.
+
+He then spoke to her himself, enquired how she did, and found her quite
+rational.
+
+Henrietta, who now doubted not her perfect recovery, wept as violently
+for joy as she had before wept for grief; and Mary, in the same belief,
+ran instantly to Delvile, eager to carry to him the first tidings that
+her mistress had recovered her reason.
+
+Delvile, in the utmost emotion, then returned to the chamber; but
+stood at some distance from the bed, waiting Dr Lyster's permission to
+approach it.
+
+Cecilia was quiet and composed, her recollection seemed restored,
+and her intellects sound: hut she was faint and weak, and contentedly
+silent, to avoid the effort of speaking.
+
+Dr Lyster encouraged this stillness, and suffered not anyone, not even
+Delvile, to advance to her. After a short time, however, she again, and
+very calmly, began to talk to him. She now first knew him, and seemed
+much surprised by his attendance. She could not tell, she said, what
+of late had happened to her, nor could guess where she was, or by what
+means she came into such a place. Dr Lyster desired her at present
+not to think upon the subject, and promised her a full account of
+everything, when she was stronger, and more fit for conversing.
+
+This for a while silenced her. But, after a short pause, “Tell me,” she
+said, “Dr Lyster, have I no friend in this place but you?”
+
+“Yes, yes, you have several friends here,” answered the Doctor, “only I
+keep them in order, lest they should hurry or disturb you.”
+
+She seemed much pleased by this speech; but soon after said, “You must
+not, Doctor, keep them in order much longer, for the sight of them, I
+think, would much revive me.”
+
+“Ah, Miss Beverley!” cried Henrietta, who could not now restrain
+herself, “may not _I_, among the rest, come and speak to you?”
+
+“Who is that?” said Cecilia, in a voice of pleasure, though very feeble;
+“is it my ever-dear Henrietta?”
+
+“Oh this is joy indeed!” cried she, fervently kissing her cheeks and
+forehead, “joy that I never, never expected to have more!”
+
+“Come, come,” cried Dr Lyster, “here's enough of this; did I not do well
+to keep such people off?”
+
+“I believe you did,” said Cecilia, faintly smiling; “my too kind
+Henrietta, you must be more tranquil!”
+
+“I will, I will indeed, madam!--my dear, dear Miss Beverley, I will
+indeed!--now once you have owned me, and once again I hear your sweet
+voice, I will do any thing, and every thing, for I am made happy for my
+whole life!”
+
+“Ah, sweet Henrietta!” cried Cecilia, giving her her hand, “you must
+suppress these feelings, or our Doctor here will soon part us. But tell
+me, Doctor, is there no one else that you can let me see?”
+
+Delvile, who had listened to this scene in the unspeakable perturbation
+of that hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair, was now
+springing forward; but Dr Lyster, fearful of the consequences, hastily
+arose, and with a look and air not to be disputed, took hold of his arm,
+and led him out of the room. He then represented to him strongly the
+danger of agitating or disturbing her, and charged him to keep from her
+sight till better able to bear it; assuring him at the same time that he
+might now reasonably hope her recovery.
+
+Delvile, lost in transport, could make no answer, but flew into his
+arms, and almost madly embraced him; he then hastened out of sight to
+pour forth fervent thanks, and hurrying back with equal speed, again
+embraced the Doctor, and while his manly cheeks were burnt with tears of
+joy, he could not yet articulate the glad tumult of his soul.
+
+The worthy Dr Lyster, who heartily partook of his happiness, again urged
+him to be discreet; and Delvile, no longer intractable and desperate,
+gratefully concurred in whatever he commanded. Dr Lyster then returned
+to Cecilia, and to relieve her mind from any uneasy suspense, talked to
+her openly of Delvile, gave her to understand he was acquainted with
+her marriage, and told her he had prohibited their meeting till each was
+better able to support it.
+
+Cecilia by this delay seemed half gratified, and half disappointed;
+but the rest of the physicians, who had been summoned upon this happy
+change, now appearing, the orders were yet more strictly enforced for
+keeping her quiet.
+
+She submitted, therefore, peaceably; and Delvile, whose gladdened heart
+still throbbed with speechless rapture, contentedly watched at her
+chamber door, and obeyed implicitly whatever was said to him.
+
+She now visibly, and almost hourly grew better; and, in a short time,
+her anxiety to know all that was passed, and by what means she became so
+ill, and confined in a house of which she had not any knowledge, obliged
+Dr Lyster to make himself master of these particulars, that he might
+communicate them to her with a calmness that Delvile could not attain.
+
+Delvile himself, happy to be spared the bitter task of such a relation,
+informed him all he knew of the story, and then entreated him to narrate
+to her also the motives of his own strange, and he feared unpardonable
+conduct, and the scenes which had followed their parting.
+
+He came, he said, to England, ignorant of all that had past in his
+absence, intending merely to wait upon his father, and communicate his
+marriage, before he gave directions to his lawyer for the settlements
+and preparations which were to precede its further publication. He
+meant, also, to satisfy himself, of the real situation of Mr Monckton,
+and then, after an interview with Cecilia, to have returned to his
+mother, and waited at Nice till he might publicly claim his wife.
+
+To this purpose he had written in his letter, which he meant to have put
+in the Post-office in London himself; and he had but just alighted from
+his chaise, when he met Ralph, Cecilia's servant, in the street.
+
+Hastily stopping him, he enquired if he had left his place? “No,”
+ answered Ralph, “I am only come up to town with my lady.”
+
+“With your lady?” cried the astonished Delvile, is your lady then in
+town?”
+
+“Yes, sir, she is at Mrs Belfield's.”
+
+“At Mrs Belfield's?--is her daughter returned home?
+
+“No, sir, we left her in the country.”
+
+He was then going on with a further account, but, in too much confusion
+of mind to hear him Delvile abruptly wished him good night, and marched
+on himself towards Belfield's.
+
+The pleasure with which he would have heard that Cecilia was so near to
+him, was totally lost in his perplexity to account for her journey. Her
+letters had never hinted at such a purpose,--the news reached him
+only by accident,--it was ten o'clock at night,--yet she was at
+Belfield's--though the sister was away,--though the mother was
+professedly odious to her!--In an instant, all he had formerly heard,
+all he had formerly disregarded, rushed suddenly upon his memory, and
+he began to believe he had been deluded, that his father was right, and
+that Belfield had some strange and improper influence over her heart.
+
+The suspicion was death to him; he drove it from him, he concluded
+the whole was some error: his reason as powerfully as his tenderness
+vindicated her innocence; and though he arrived at the house in much
+disorder, he yet arrived with a firm persuasion of an honourable
+explanation.
+
+The door was open,--a chaise was at it in waiting,--Mrs Belfield was
+listening in the passage; these appearances were strange, and encreased
+his agitation. He asked for her son in a voice scarce audible,--she told
+him he was engaged with a lady, and must not be disturbed.
+
+That fatal answer, at a moment so big with the most horrible surmises,
+was decisive: furiously, therefore, he forced himself past her, and
+opened the door:--but when he saw them together,--the rest of the family
+confessedly excluded, his rage turned to horror, and he could hardly
+support himself.
+
+“O Dr Lyster!” he continued, “ask of the sweet creature if these
+circumstances offer any extenuation for the fatal jealousy which seized
+me? never by myself while I live will it be forgiven, but she, perhaps,
+who is all softness, all compassion, and all peace, may some time hence
+think my sufferings almost equal to my offence.”
+
+He then proceeded in his narration.
+
+When he had so peremptorily ordered her chaise to St James's-square, he
+went back to the house, and desired Belfield to walk out with him. He
+complied, and they were both silent till they came to a Coffee-house,
+where they asked for a private room. The whole way they went, his heart,
+secretly satisfied of the purity of Cecilia, smote him for the situation
+in which he had left her; yet, having unfortunately gone so far as to
+make his suspicions apparent, he thought it necessary to his character
+that their abolition should be equally public.
+
+When they were alone, “Belfield,” he said, “to obviate any imputation of
+impertinence in my enquiries, I deny not, what I presume you have been
+told by herself, that I have the nearest interest in whatever concerns
+the lady from whom we are just now parted: I must beg, therefore, an
+explicit account of the purpose of your private conversation with her.”
+
+“Mr Delvile,” answered Belfield, with mingled candour and spirit, “I am
+not commonly much disposed to answer enquiries thus cavalierly put to
+me; yet here, as I find myself not the principal person concerned, I
+think I am bound in justice to speak for the absent who is. I assure
+you, therefore, most solemnly, that your interest in Miss Beverley I
+never heard but by common report, that our being alone together was by
+both of us undesigned and undesired, that the honour she did our house
+in calling at it, was merely to acquaint my mother with my sister's
+removal to Mrs Harrel's, and that the part which I had myself in her
+condescension, was simply to be consulted upon a journey which she has
+in contemplation to the South of France. And now, sir, having given you
+this peaceable satisfaction, you will find me extremely at your service
+to offer any other.”
+
+Delvile instantly held out his hand to him; “What you assert,” he said,
+“upon your honour, requires no other testimony. Your gallantry and
+your probity are equally well known to me; with either, therefore, I am
+content, and by no means require the intervention of both.”
+
+They then parted; and now, his doubts removed, and his punctilio
+satisfied, he flew to St James's-square, to entreat the forgiveness of
+Cecilia for the alarm he had occasioned her, and to hear the reason of
+her sudden journey, and change of measures. But when he came there, to
+find that his father, whom he had concluded was at Delvile Castle,
+was in the house, while Cecilia had not even enquired for him at the
+door,--“Oh let me not,” he continued, “even to myself, let me not trace
+the agony of that moment!--where to seek her I knew not, why she was in
+London I could not divine, for what purpose she had given the postilion
+a new direction I could form no idea. Yet it appeared that she wished to
+avoid me, and once more, in the frenzy of my disappointment, I supposed
+Belfield a party in her concealment. Again, therefore, I sought him,--at
+his own house,--at the coffee-house where I had left him,--in vain,
+wherever I came, I just missed him, for, hearing of my search, he went
+with equal restlessness, from place to place to meet me. I rejoice we
+both failed; a repetition of my enquiries in my then irritable state,
+must inevitably have provoked the most fatal resentment.
+
+“I will not dwell upon the scenes that followed,--my laborious search,
+my fruitless wanderings, the distraction of my suspense, the excess of
+my despair!--even Belfield, the fiery Belfield, when I met with him the
+next day, was so much touched by my wretchedness, that he bore with
+all my injustice; feeling, noble young man! never will I lose the
+remembrance of his high-souled patience.
+
+“And now, Dr Lyster, go to my Cecilia; tell her this tale, and try,
+for you have skill sufficient, to soften, yet not wound her with my
+sufferings. If then she can bear to see me, to bless me with the sound
+of her sweet voice, no longer at war with her intellects, to hold out
+to me her loved hand, in token of peace and forgiveness.--Oh, Dr Lyster!
+preserver of _my_ life in hers! give to me but that exquisite moment,
+and every past evil will be for ever obliterated!”
+
+“You must be calmer, Sir,” said the Doctor, “before I make the attempt.
+These heroicks are mighty well for sound health, and strong nerves, but
+they will not do for an invalide.”
+
+He went, however, to Cecilia, and gave her this narration, suppressing
+whatever he feared would most affect her, and judiciously enlivening the
+whole by his strictures. Cecilia was much easier for this removal of her
+perplexities, and, as her anguish and her terror had been unmixed with
+resentment, she had now no desire but to reconcile Delvile with himself.
+
+Dr Lyster, however, by his friendly authority, obliged her for some
+time to be content with this relation; but when she grew better, her
+impatience became stronger, and he feared opposition would be as hurtful
+as compliance.
+
+Delvile, therefore, was now admitted; yet slowly and with trepidation he
+advanced, terrified for her, and fearful of himself, filled with remorse
+for the injuries she had sustained, and impressed with grief and horror
+to behold her so ill and altered.
+
+Supported by pillows, she sat almost upright. The moment she saw him,
+she attempted to bend forward and welcome him, calling out in a tone of
+pleasure, though faintly, “Ah! dearest Delvile! is it you?” but too
+weak for the effort she had made, she sunk back upon her pillow, pale,
+trembling, and disordered.
+
+Dr Lyster would then have interfered to postpone their further
+conversation; but Delvile was no longer master of himself or his
+passions: he darted forward, and kneeling at the bed side, “Sweet
+injured excellence!” he cried, “wife of my heart! sole object of my
+chosen affection! dost thou yet live? do I hear thy loved voice?--do I
+see thee again?--art thou my Cecilia? and have I indeed not lost thee?”
+ then regarding her more fixedly, “Alas,” he cried, “art thou indeed my
+Cecilia! so pale, so emaciated!--Oh suffering angel! and couldst thou
+then call upon Delvile, the guilty, but heart-broken Delvile, thy
+destroyer, thy murderer, and yet not call to execrate him?”
+
+Cecilia, extremely affected, could not utter a word; she held out to
+him her hand, she looked at him with gentleness and kindness, but tears
+started into her eyes, and trickled in large drops down her colourless
+cheeks.
+
+“Angelic creature!” cried Delvile, his own tears overflowing, while he
+pressed to his lips the kind token of her pardon, “can you give to me
+again a hand so ill deserved? can you look with such compassion on the
+author of your woes? on the wretch, who for an instant could doubt the
+purity of a mind so seraphic!”
+
+“Ah, Delvile!” cried she, a little reviving, “think no more of what is
+past!--to see you,--to be yours,--drives all evil from my remembrance!”
+
+“I am not worthy this joy!” cried he, rising, kneeling, and rising
+again; “I know not how to sustain it! a forgiveness such as this,--when
+I believed You must hate me for ever! when repulse and aversion were
+all I dared expect,--when my own inhumanity had bereft thee of thy
+reason,--when the grave, the pitiless grave, was already open to receive
+thee.”--
+
+“Too kind, too feeling Delvile!” cried the penetrated Cecilia, “relieve
+your loaded heart from these bitter recollections; mine is lightened
+already,--lightened, I think, of every thing but its affection for
+_you_!”
+
+“Oh words of transport and extacy!” cried the enraptured Delvile, “oh
+partner of my life! friend, solace, darling of my bosom! that so lately
+I thought expiring! that I folded to my bleeding heart in the agony of
+eternal separation!”--
+
+“Come away, Sir, come away,” cried Dr Lyster, who now saw that Cecilia
+was greatly agitated, “I will not be answerable for the continuation of
+this scene;” and taking him by the arm, he awakened him from his frantic
+rapture, by assuring him she would faint, and forced him away from her.
+
+Soon after he was gone, and Cecilia became more tranquil, Henrietta,
+who had wept with bitterness in a corner of the room during this scene,
+approached her, and, with an attempted smile, though in a voice hardly
+audible, said, “Ah, Miss Beverley, you will, at last, then be happy!
+happy as all your goodness deserves. And I am sure I should rejoice in
+it if I was to die to make you happier!”
+
+Cecilia, who but too well knew her full meaning, tenderly embraced her,
+but was prevented by Dr Lyster from entering into any discourse with
+her.
+
+The first meeting, however, with Delvile being over, the second was
+far more quiet, and in a very short time, he would scarcely quit her a
+moment, Cecilia herself receiving from his sight a pleasure too great
+for denial, yet too serene for danger.
+
+The worthy Dr Lyster, finding her prospect of recovery thus fair,
+prepared for leaving London: but, equally desirous to do good out of his
+profession as in it, he first, at the request of Delvile, waited upon
+his father, to acquaint him with his present situation, solicit his
+directions for his future proceedings, and endeavour to negociate a
+general reconciliation.
+
+Mr Delvile, to whose proud heart social joy could find no avenue, was
+yet touched most sensibly by the restoration of Cecilia. Neither his
+dignity nor his displeasure had been able to repress remorse, a feeling
+to which, with all his foibles, he had not been accustomed. The view of
+her distraction had dwelt upon his imagination, the despondency of his
+son had struck him with fear and horror. He had been haunted by self
+reproach, and pursued by vain regret; and those concessions he had
+refused to tenderness and entreaty, he now willingly accorded to change
+repentance for tranquility. He sent instantly for his son, whom even
+with tears he embraced, and felt his own peace restored as he pronounced
+his forgiveness.
+
+New, however, to kindness, he retained it not long, and a stranger to
+generosity, he knew not how to make her welcome: the extinction of his
+remorse abated his compassion for Cecilia, and when solicited to receive
+her, he revived the charges of Mr Monckton.
+
+Cecilia, informed of this, determined to write to that gentleman
+herself, whose long and painful illness, joined to his irrecoverable
+loss of her, she now hoped might prevail with him to make reparation for
+the injuries he had done her.
+
+_To Mr Monckton_.
+
+I write not, Sir, to upbraid you; the woes which have followed your ill
+offices, and which you may some time hear, will render my reproaches
+superfluous. I write but to beseech that what is past may content you;
+and that, however, while I was single, you chose to misrepresent me to
+the Delvile family, you will have so much honour, since I am now become
+one of it, as to acknowledge my innocence of the crimes laid to my
+charge.
+
+In remembrance of my former long friendship, I send you my good wishes;
+and in consideration of my hopes from your recantation, I send you, Sir,
+if you think it worth acceptance, my forgiveness.
+
+CECILIA DELVILE.
+
+Mr Monckton, after many long and painful struggles between useless rage,
+and involuntary remorse, at length sent the following answer.
+
+_To Mrs Mortimer Delvile_.
+
+Those who could ever believe you guilty, must have been eager to think
+you so. I meant but your welfare at all times, and to have saved you
+from a connection I never thought equal to your merit. I am grieved,
+but not surprised, to hear of your injuries; from the alliance you
+have formed, nothing else could be expected: if my testimony to your
+innocence can, however, serve to mitigate them, I scruple not to declare
+I believe it without taint.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Delvile sent by Dr Lyster this letter to his father, whose rage at the
+detection of the perfidy which had deceived him, was yet inferior to
+what he felt that his family was mentioned so injuriously.
+
+His conference with Dr Lyster was long and painful, but decisive: that
+sagacious and friendly man knew well how to work upon, his passions,
+and so effectually awakened them by representing the disgrace of his own
+family from the present situation of Cecilia, that before he quitted his
+house he was authorised to invite her to remove to it.
+
+When he returned from his embassy, he found Delvile in her room, and
+each waiting with impatience the event of his negociation.
+
+The Doctor with much alacrity gave Cecilia the invitation with which he
+had been charged; but Delvile, jealous for her dignity, was angry and
+dissatisfied his father brought it not himself, and exclaimed with much
+mortification, “Is this all the grace accorded me?”
+
+“Patience, patience, Sir,” answered the Doctor; “when you have thwarted
+any body in their first hope and ambition, do you expect they will send
+you their compliments and many thanks for the disappointment? Pray let
+the good gentleman have his way in some little matters, since you have
+taken such effectual care to put out of his reach the power of having it
+in greater.”
+
+“O far from starting obstacles,” cried Cecilia, “let us solicit a
+reconciliation with whatever concessions he may require. The misery of
+DISOBEDIENCE we have but too fatally experienced; and thinking as we
+think of filial ties and parental claims, how can we ever hope happiness
+till forgiven and taken into favour?”
+
+“True, my Cecilia,” answered Delvile, “and generous and condescending
+as true; and if _you_ can thus sweetly comply, I will gratefully forbear
+making any opposition. Too much already have you suffered from the
+impetuosity of my temper, but I will try to curb it in future by the
+remembrance of your injuries.”
+
+“The whole of this unfortunate business,” said Dr Lyster, “has been the
+result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. Your uncle, the Dean, began it, by his
+arbitrary will, as if an ordinance of his own could arrest the course of
+nature! and as if _he_ had power to keep alive, by the loan of a name,
+a family in the male branch already extinct. Your father, Mr Mortimer,
+continued it with the same self-partiality, preferring the wretched
+gratification of tickling his ear with a favourite sound, to the solid
+happiness of his son with a rich and deserving wife. Yet this,
+however, remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so
+wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you
+will also owe their termination: for all that I could say to Mr Delvile,
+either of reasoning or entreaty,--and I said all I could suggest, and I
+suggested all a man need wish to hear,--was totally thrown away, till
+I pointed out to him his _own_ disgrace, in having a _daughter-in-law_
+immured in these mean lodgings!
+
+“Thus, my dear young lady, the terror which drove you to this house, and
+the sufferings which have confined you in it, will prove, in the event,
+the source of your future peace: for when all my best rhetorick failed
+to melt Mr Delvile, I instantly brought him to terms by coupling his
+name with a pawnbroker's! And he could not with more disgust hear his
+son called Mr Beverley, than think of his son's wife when he hears of
+the _Three Blue Balls_! Thus the same passions, taking but different
+directions, _do_ mischief and _cure_ it alternately.
+
+“Such, my good young friends, is the MORAL of your calamities. You have
+all, in my opinion, been strangely at cross purposes, and trifled, no
+one knows why, with the first blessings of life. My only hope is that
+now, having among you thrown away its luxuries, you will have known
+enough of misery to be glad to keep its necessaries.”
+
+This excellent man was yet prevailed upon by Delvile to stay and assist
+in removing the feeble Cecilia to St James's-square.
+
+Henrietta, for whom Mr Arnott's equipage and servants had still remained
+in town, was then, though with much difficulty, persuaded to go back to
+Suffolk: but Cecilia, however fond of her society, was too sensible of
+the danger and impropriety of her present situation, to receive from it
+any pleasure.
+
+Mr Delvile's reception of Cecilia was formal and cold: yet, as she now
+appeared publicly in the character of his son's wife, the best
+apartment in his house had been prepared for her use, his domestics were
+instructed to wait upon her with the utmost respect, and Lady Honoria
+Pemberton, who was accidentally in town, offered from curiosity, what
+Mr Delvile accepted from parade, to be herself in St James's-square, in
+order to do honour to his daughter-in-law's first entrance.
+
+When Cecilia was a little recovered from the shock of the first
+interview, and the fatigue of her removal, the anxious Mortimer would
+instantly have had her conveyed to her own apartment; but, willing to
+exert herself, and hoping to oblige Mr Delvile, she declared she was
+well able to remain some time longer in the drawing-room.
+
+“My good friends,” said Dr Lyster, “in the course of my long practice,
+I have found it impossible to study the human frame, without a little
+studying the human mind; and from all that I have yet been able to make
+out, either by observation, reflection, or comparison, it appears to me
+at this moment, that Mr Mortimer Delvile has got the best wife, and that
+you, Sir, have here the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husband
+or any father in the three kingdoms belonging to his Majesty can either
+have or desire.”
+
+Cecilia smiled; Mortimer looked his delighted concurrence; Mr Delvile
+forced himself to make a stiff inclination of the head; and Lady Honoria
+gaily exclaimed, “Dr Lyster, when you say the _best_ and the most
+_faultless_, you should always add the rest of the company excepted.”
+
+“Upon my word,” cried the Doctor, “I beg your ladyship's pardon; but
+there is a certain unguarded warmth comes across a man now and then,
+that drives _etiquette_ out of his head, and makes him speak truth
+before he well knows where he is.”
+
+“O terrible!” cried she, “this is sinking deeper and deeper. I had hoped
+the town air would have taught you better things; but I find you have
+visited at Delvile Castle till you are fit for no other place.”
+
+“Whoever, Lady Honoria,” said Mr Delvile, much offended, “is fit for
+Delvile Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every other
+place may by no means be fit for him.”
+
+“O yes, Sir,” cried she, giddily, “every possible place will be fit for
+him, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr Lyster?”
+
+“Why, when a man has the honour to see your ladyship,” answered he,
+good-humouredly, “he is apt to think too much of the person, to care
+about the place.”
+
+“Come, I begin to have some hopes of you,” cried she, “for I see, for a
+Doctor, you have really a very pretty notion of a compliment: only you
+have one great fault still; you look the whole time as if you said it
+for a joke.”
+
+“Why, in fact, madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both in
+word and look for upwards of fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick a
+reformation to demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow.
+However, give me but a little time and a little encouragement, and, with
+such a tutress, 'twill be hard if I do not, in a very few lessons,
+learn the right method of seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion of
+twisting words from meaning.”
+
+“But pray,” cried she, “upon those occasions, always remember to look
+serious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If you
+are tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvile Castle; 'tis an
+expedient I commonly make use of myself when I am afraid of being too
+frisky: and it always succeeds, for the very recollection of it gives me
+the head-ache in a moment. Upon my word, Mr Delvile, you must have the
+constitution of five men, to have kept such good health, after living so
+long at that horrible place. You can't imagine how you've surprised me,
+for I have regularly expected to hear of your death at the end of every
+summer: and, I assure you, once, I was very near buying mourning.”
+
+“The estate which descends to a man from his own ancestors, Lady
+Honoria,” answered Mr Delvile, “will seldom be apt to injure his health,
+if he is conscious of committing no misdemeanour which has degraded
+their memory.”
+
+“How vastly odious this new father of yours is!” said Lady Honoria, in a
+whisper to Cecilia; “what could ever induce you to give up your charming
+estate for the sake of coming into this fusty old family! I would really
+advise you to have your marriage annulled. You have only, you know, to
+take an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you are
+an Heiress, and the Delviles are all so violent, it will easily be
+credited. And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to
+marry my little Lord Derford.”
+
+“Would you only, then,” said Cecilia, “have me regain my freedom in
+order to part with it?”
+
+“Certainly,” answered Lady Honoria, “for you can do nothing at all
+without being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackled
+than a wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know,
+has nothing to do but just to manage her husband.”
+
+“And that,” said Cecilia, smiling, “you consider as a trifle?”
+
+“Yes, if you do but marry a man you don't care for.”
+
+“You are right, then, indeed, to recommend to me my Lord Derford!”
+
+“O yes, he will make the prettiest husband in the world; you may fly
+about yourself as wild as a lark, and keep him the whole time as tame as
+a jack-daw: and though he may complain of you to your friends, he will
+never have the courage to find fault to your face. But as to Mortimer,
+you will not be able to govern him as long as you live; for the moment
+you have put him upon the fret, you'll fall into the dumps yourself,
+hold out your hand to him, and, losing the opportunity of gaining some
+material point, make up at the first soft word.”
+
+“You think, then, the quarrel more amusing than the reconciliation?”
+
+“O, a thousand times! for while you are quarrelling, you may say any
+thing, and demand any thing, but when you are reconciled, you ought to
+behave pretty, and seem contented.”
+
+“Those who presume to have any pretensions to your ladyship,” said
+Cecilia, “would be made happy indeed should they hear your principles!”
+
+“O, it would not signify at all,” answered she, “for one's fathers, and
+uncles, and those sort of people, always make connexions for one, and
+not a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by our
+conduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for they
+give us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the world
+while we are single, but how we can dance a minuet, or play a lesson
+upon the harpsichord.”
+
+“And what else,” said Mr Delvile, who advanced, and heard this last
+speech, “need a young lady of rank desire to be known for? your ladyship
+surely would not have her degrade herself by studying like an artist or
+professor?”
+
+“O no, Sir, I would not have her study at all; it's mighty well for
+children, but really after sixteen, and when one is come out, one
+has quite fatigue enough in dressing, and going to public places,
+and ordering new things, without all that torment of first and second
+position, and E upon the first line, and F upon the first, space!”
+
+“Your ladyship must, however, pardon me for hinting,” said Mr Delvile,
+“that a young lady of condition, who has a proper sense of her dignity,
+cannot be seen too rarely, or known too little.”
+
+“O but I hate dignity!” cried she carelessly, “for it's the dullest
+thing in the world. I always thought it was owing to that you were so
+little amusing;--really I beg your pardon, Sir, I meant to say so little
+talkative.”
+
+“I can easily credit that your ladyship spoke hastily,” answered he,
+highly piqued, “for I believe, indeed, a person of a family such as
+mine, will hardly be supposed to have come into the world for the office
+of amusing it!”
+
+“O no, Sir,” cried she, with pretended innocence, “nobody, I am sure,
+ever saw you with such a thought.” Then, turning to Cecilia, she added
+in a whisper, “You cannot imagine, my dear Mrs Mortimer, how I detest
+this old cousin of mine! Now pray tell me honestly if you don't hate him
+yourself?”
+
+“I hope,” said Cecilia, “to have no reason.”
+
+“Lord, how you are always upon your guard! If I were half as cautious,
+I should die of the vapours in a month; the only thing that keeps me
+at all alive, is now and then making people angry; for the folks at our
+house let me go out so seldom, and then send me with such stupid
+old chaperons, that giving them a little torment is really the only
+entertainment I can procure myself. O--but I had almost forgot to tell
+you a most delightful thing!”
+
+“What is it?”
+
+“Why you must know I have the greatest hopes in the world that my father
+will quarrel with old Mr Delvile!”
+
+“And is that such a delightful thing!”
+
+“O yes; I have lived upon the very idea this fortnight; for then, you
+know, they'll both be in a passion, and I shall see which of them looks
+frightfullest.”
+
+“When Lady Honoria whispers,” cried Mortimer, “I always suspect some
+mischief.”
+
+“No indeed,” answered her ladyship, “I was merely congratulating Mrs
+Mortimer about her marriage. Though really, upon second thoughts, I
+don't know whether I should not rather condole with her, for I have long
+been convinced she has a prodigious antipathy to you. I saw it the whole
+time I was at Delvile Castle, where she used to change colour at the
+very sound of your name; a symptom I never perceived when I talked to
+her of my Lord Derford, who would certainly have made her a thousand
+times a better husband.”
+
+“If you mean on account of his title, Lady Honoria,” said Mr Delvile;
+“your ladyship must be strangely forgetful of the connections of your
+family, not to remember that Mortimer, after the death of his uncle
+and myself, must inevitably inherit one far more honourable than a
+new-sprung-up family, like my Lord Ernolf's, could offer.”
+
+“Yes, Sir; but then, you know, she would have kept her estate, which
+would have been a vastly better thing than an old pedigree of new
+relations. Besides, I don't find that any body cares for the noble blood
+of the Delviles but themselves; and if she had kept her fortune, every
+body, I fancy, would have cared for _that_.”
+
+“Every body, then,” said Mr Delvile, “must be highly mercenary and
+ignoble, or the blood of an ancient and honourable house, would
+be thought contaminated by the most distant hint of so degrading a
+comparison.”
+
+“Dear Sir, what should we all do with birth if it was not for wealth?
+it would neither take us to Ranelagh nor the Opera; nor buy us caps nor
+wigs, nor supply us with dinners nor bouquets.”
+
+“Caps and wigs, dinners and bouquets!” interrupted Mr Delvile; “your
+ladyship's estimate of wealth is really extremely minute.”
+
+“Why, you know, Sir, as to caps and wigs, they are very serious things,
+for we should look mighty droll figures to go about bare-headed; and
+as to dinners, how would the Delviles have lasted all these thousand
+centuries if they had disdained eating them?”
+
+“Whatever may be your ladyship's satisfaction,” said Mr Delvile,
+angrily, “in depreciating a house that has the honour of being nearly
+allied with your own, you will not, I hope at least, instruct this
+lady,” turning to Cecilia, “to adopt a similar contempt of its antiquity
+and dignity.”
+
+“This lady,” cried Mortimer, “will at least, by condescending to become
+one of it, secure us from any danger that such contempt may spread
+further.”
+
+“Let me but,” said Cecilia, looking gratefully at him, “be as secure
+from exciting as I am from feeling contempt, and what can I have to
+wish?”
+
+“Good and excellent young lady!” said Dr Lyster, “the first of blessings
+indeed is yours in the temperance of your own mind. When you began your
+career in life, you appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to possess
+more than your share of the good things of this world; such a union of
+riches, beauty, independence, talents, education and virtue, seemed
+a monopoly to raise general envy and discontent; but mark with what
+scrupulous exactness the good and bad is ever balanced! You have had
+a thousand sorrows to which those who have looked up to you have been
+strangers, and for which not all the advantages you possess have been
+equivalent. There is evidently throughout this world, in things as
+well as persons, a levelling principle, at war with pre-eminence, and
+destructive of perfection.”
+
+“Ah!” cried Mortimer, in a low voice to Cecilia, “how much higher
+must we all rise, or how much lower must you fall, ere any levelling
+principle will approximate us with YOU!”
+
+He then entreated her to spare her strength and spirits by returning to
+her own apartment, and the conversation was broken up.
+
+“Pray permit me, Mrs Mortimer,” cried Lady Honoria, in taking leave,
+“to beg that the first guest you invite to Delvile Castle may be me.
+You know my partiality to it already. I shall be particularly happy in
+waiting upon you in tempestuous weather! We can all stroll out together,
+you know, very sociably; and I sha'n't be much in your way, for if there
+should happen to be a storm, you can easily lodge me under some great
+tree, and while you amuse yourselves with a _tete-a-tete_, give me the
+indulgence of my own reflections. I am vastly fond of thinking, and
+being alone, you know,--especially in thunder and lightning!”
+
+She then ran away; and they all separated: Cecilia was conveyed up
+stairs, and the worthy Dr Lyster, loaded with acknowledgments of every
+kind, set out for the country.
+
+Cecilia, still weak, and much emaciated, for some time lived almost
+wholly in her own room, where the grateful and solicitous attendance of
+Mortimer, alleviated the pain both of her illness and confinement: but
+as soon as her health permitted travelling, he hastened with her abroad.
+
+Here tranquility once more made its abode the heart of Cecilia; that
+heart so long torn with anguish, suspense and horrour! Mrs Delvile
+received her with the most rapturous fondness, and the impression of her
+sorrows gradually wore away, from her kind and maternal cares, and from
+the watchful affection and delighted tenderness of her son.
+
+The Egglestons now took entire possession of her estate, and Delvile, at
+her entreaty, forbore shewing any personal resentment of their conduct,
+and put into the hands of a lawyer the arrangement of the affair.
+
+They continued abroad some months, and the health of Mrs Delvile was
+tolerably re-established. They were then summoned home by the death of
+Lord Delvile, who bequeathed to his nephew Mortimer his town house, and
+whatever of his estate was not annexed to his title, which necessarily
+devolved to his brother.
+
+The sister of Mrs Delvile, a woman of high spirit and strong passions,
+lived not long after him; but having, in her latter days, intimately
+connected herself with Cecilia, she was so much charmed with her
+character, and so much dazzled by her admiration of the extraordinary
+sacrifice she had made, that, in a fit of sudden enthusiasm, she altered
+her will, to leave to her, and to her sole disposal, the fortune which,
+almost from his infancy, she had destined for her nephew. Cecilia,
+astonished and penetrated, opposed the alteration; but even her sister,
+now Lady Delvile, to whom she daily became dearer, earnestly supported
+it; while Mortimer, delighted to restore to her through his own family,
+any part of that power and independence of which her generous and pure
+regard for himself had deprived her, was absolute in refusing that the
+deed should be revoked.
+
+Cecilia, from this flattering transaction, received a further conviction
+of the malignant falsehood of Mr Monckton, who had always represented
+to her the whole of the Delvile family as equally poor in their
+circumstances, and illiberal in their minds. The strong spirit of
+active benevolence which had ever marked her character, was now again
+displayed, though no longer, as hitherto, unbounded. She had learnt
+the error of profusion, even in charity and beneficence; and she had a
+motive for oeconomy, in her animated affection for Mortimer.
+
+She soon sent for Albany, whose surprise that she still existed, and
+whose rapture at her recovered prosperity, now threatened his senses
+from the tumult of his joy, with nearly the same danger they had lately
+been menaced by terror. But though her donations were circumscribed by
+prudence, and their objects were selected with discrimination, she
+gave to herself all her former benevolent pleasure, in solacing his
+afflictions, while she softened his asperity, by restoring to him his
+favourite office of being her almoner and monitor.
+
+She next sent to her own pensioners, relieved those distresses which her
+sudden absence had occasioned, and renewed and continued the salaries
+she had allowed them. All who had nourished reasonable expectations from
+her bounty she remembered, though she raised no new claimants but with
+oeconomy and circumspection. But neither Albany nor the old pensioners
+felt the satisfaction of Mortimer, who saw with new wonder the virtues
+of her mind, and whose admiration of her excellencies, made his
+gratitude perpetual for the happiness of his lot.
+
+The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,
+with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding Mr
+Arnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soon
+endeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in either
+by Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
+
+Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, took
+the earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation;
+she married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and,
+quickly forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again,
+with new hopes, new connections,--new equipages and new engagements!
+
+Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, though
+deprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar,
+she was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and so
+solitary his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her to
+town, and returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And there
+the gentle gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from the
+worthy Mr Arnott the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the wound
+of his early and hopeless passion.
+
+The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whose
+mutable and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginning
+than progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from public
+life to retirement, soured with the world, and discontented with
+himself, till vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship of
+Delvile, he consented to accept his good offices in again entering the
+army; and, being fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopes
+were revived by ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view of
+future honour.
+
+The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, still
+lived in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain of
+his wound and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led on
+by a vain belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he had
+indulged without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded by
+inclination. Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly suffered
+nothing to stop his course; and though when he began his career he would
+have started at the mention of actual dishonour, long before it was
+concluded, neither treachery nor perjury were regarded by him as
+stumbling blocks.
+
+All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk in
+interest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of the
+chace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,
+illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, that
+even in worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joins
+dishonour to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
+
+The upright mind of Cecilia, her purity, her virtue, and the moderation
+of her wishes, gave to her in the warm affection of Lady Delvile, and
+the unremitting fondness of Mortimer, all the happiness human life seems
+capable of receiving:--yet human it was, and as such imperfect! she knew
+that, at times, the whole family must murmur at her loss of fortune, and
+at times she murmured herself to be thus portionless, tho' an HEIRESS.
+Rationally, however, she surveyed the world at large, and finding that
+of the few who had any happiness, there were none without some misery,
+she checked the rising sigh of repining mortality, and, grateful with
+general felicity, bore partial evil with chearfullest resignation.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3)
+       Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+Author: Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7152]
+This file was first posted on March 18, 2003
+Last Updated: June 11, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECILIA, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CECILIA
+
+OR
+
+Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+by
+
+FRANCES BURNEY
+
+VOL. III.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII. _Continued_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+AN EVENT.
+
+Scarce less unhappy in her decision than in her uncertainty, and every
+way dissatisfied with her situation, her views and herself, Cecilia
+was still so distressed and uncomfortable, when Delvile called the next
+morning, that he could not discover what her determination had been, and
+fearfully enquired his doom with hardly any hope of finding favour.
+
+But Cecilia was above affectation, and a stranger to art. "I would not,
+Sir," she said, "keep you an instant in suspense, when I am no longer in
+suspense myself. I may have appeared trifling, but I have been nothing
+less, and you would readily exculpate me of caprice, if half the
+distress of my irresolution was known to you. Even now, when I hesitate
+no more, my mind is so ill at ease, that I could neither wonder nor be
+displeased should you hesitate in your turn."
+
+"You hesitate no more?" cried he, almost breathless at the sound of
+those words, "and is it possible--Oh my Cecilia!--is it possible your
+resolution is in my favour?"
+
+"Alas!" cried she, "how little is your reason to rejoice! a dejected and
+melancholy gift is all you can receive!"
+
+"Ere I take it, then," cried he, in a voice that spoke joy; pain, and
+fear all at once in commotion, "tell me if your reluctance has its
+origin in _me_, that I may rather even yet relinquish you, than merely
+owe your hand to the selfishness of persecution?"
+
+"Your pride," said she, half smiling, "has some right to be alarmed,
+though I meant not to alarm it. No! it is with myself only I am at
+variance, with my own weakness and want of judgment that I quarrel,--in
+_you_ I have all the reliance that the highest opinion of your honour
+and integrity can give me."
+
+This was enough for the warm heart of Delvile, not only to restore
+peace, but to awaken rapture. He was almost as wild with delight, as he
+had before been with apprehension, and poured forth his acknowledgments
+with so much fervour of gratitude, that Cecilia imperceptibly grew
+reconciled to herself, and before she missed her dejection, participated
+in his contentment.
+
+She quitted him as soon as she had power, to acquaint Mrs Charlton with
+what had passed, and assist in preparing her to accompany them to the
+altar; while Delvile flew to his new acquaintance, Mr Singleton, the
+lawyer, to request him to supply the place of Mr Monckton in giving her
+away.
+
+All was now hastened with the utmost expedition, and to avoid
+observation, they agreed to meet at the church; their desire of secrecy,
+however potent, never urging them to wish the ceremony should be
+performed in a place less awful.
+
+When the chairs, however, came, which were to carry the two ladies
+thither, Cecilia trembled and hung back. The greatness of her
+undertaking, the hazard of all her future happiness, the disgraceful
+secrecy of her conduct, the expected reproaches of Mrs Delvile, and
+the boldness and indelicacy of the step she was about to take, all so
+forcibly struck, and so painfully wounded her, that the moment she was
+summoned to set out, she again lost her resolution, and regretting the
+hour that ever Delvile was known to her, she sunk into a chair, and gave
+up her whole soul to anguish and sorrow.
+
+The good Mrs Charlton tried in vain to console her; a sudden horror
+against herself had now seized her spirits, which, exhausted by long
+struggles, could rally no more.
+
+In this situation she was at length surprised by Delvile, whose uneasy
+astonishment that she had failed in her appointment, was only to be
+equalled by that with which he was struck at the sight of her tears. He
+demanded the cause with the utmost tenderness and apprehension; Cecilia
+for some time could not speak, and then, with a deep sigh, "Ah!" she
+cried, "Mr Delvile! how weak are we all when unsupported by our own
+esteem! how feeble, how inconsistent, how changeable, when our courage
+has any foundation but duty!"
+
+Delvile, much relieved by finding her sadness sprung not from any new
+affliction, gently reproached her breach of promise, and earnestly
+entreated her to repair it. "The clergyman," cried he, "is waiting; I
+have left him with Mr Singleton in the vestry; no new objections have
+started, and no new obstacles have intervened; why, then, torment
+ourselves with discussing again the old ones, which we have already
+considered till every possible argument upon them is exhausted?
+Tranquillize, I conjure you, your agitated spirits, and if the truest
+tenderness, the most animated esteem, and the gratefullest admiration,
+can soften your future cares, and ensure your future peace, every
+anniversary of this day will recompense my Cecilia for every pang she
+now suffers!"
+
+Cecilia, half soothed and half ashamed, finding she had in fact nothing
+new to say or to object, compelled herself to rise, and, penetrated
+by his solicitations, endeavoured to compose her mind, and promised to
+follow him.
+
+He would not trust her, however, from his sight, but seizing the very
+instant of her renewed consent, he dismissed the chairs, and ordering
+a hackney-coach, preferred any risk to that of her again wavering, and
+insisted upon accompanying her in it himself.
+
+Cecilia had now scarce time to breathe, before she found herself at the
+porch of----church. Delvile hurried her out of the carriage, and then
+offered his arm to Mrs Charlton. Not a word was spoken by any of the
+party till they went into the vestry, where Delvile ordered Cecilia
+a glass of water, and having hastily made his compliments to the
+clergyman, gave her hand to Mr Singleton, who led her to the altar.
+
+The ceremony was now begun; and Cecilia, finding herself past all power
+of retracting, soon called her thoughts from wishing it, and turned her
+whole attention to the awful service; to which though she listened with
+reverence, her full satisfaction in the object of her vows, made
+her listen without terror. But when the priest came to that solemn
+adjuration, _If any man can shew any just cause why they may not
+lawfully be joined together_, a conscious tear stole into her eye, and
+a sigh escaped from Delvile that went to her heart: but, when the priest
+concluded the exhortation with _let him now speak, or else hereafter
+for-ever hold his peace_, a female voice at some distance, called out in
+shrill accents, "I do!"
+
+The ceremony was instantly stopt. The astonished priest immediately shut
+up the book to regard the intended bride and bridegroom; Delvile started
+with amazement to see whence the sound proceeded; and Cecilia, aghast,
+and struck with horror, faintly shriekt, and caught hold of Mrs
+Charlton.
+
+The consternation was general, and general was the silence, though all
+of one accord turned round towards the place whence the voice issued: a
+female form at the same moment was seen rushing from a pew, who glided
+out of the church with the quickness of lightning.
+
+Not a word was yet uttered, every one seeming rooted to the spot on
+which he stood, and regarding in mute wonder the place this form had
+crossed.
+
+Delvile at length exclaimed, "What can this mean?"
+
+"Did you not know the woman, Sir?" said the clergyman.
+
+"No, Sir, I did not even see her."
+
+"Nor you, madam?" said he, addressing Cecilia.
+
+"No, Sir," she answered, in a voice that scarce articulated the two
+syllables, and changing colour so frequently, that Delvile, apprehensive
+she would faint, flew to her, calling out, "Let _me_ support you!"
+
+She turned from him hastily, and still, holding by Mrs Charlton, moved
+away from the altar.
+
+"Whither," cried Delvile, fearfully following her, "whither are you
+going?"
+
+She made not any answer; but still, though tottering as much from
+emotion as Mrs Charlton from infirmity, she walked on.
+
+"Why did you stop the ceremony, Sir?" cried Delvile, impatiently
+speaking to the clergyman.
+
+"No ceremony, Sir," he returned, "could proceed with such an
+interruption."
+
+"It has been wholly accidental," cried he, "for we neither of us
+know the woman, who could not have any right or authority for the
+prohibition." Then yet more anxiously pursuing Cecilia, "why,"
+he continued, "do you thus move off?--Why leave the ceremony
+unfinished?--Mrs Charlton, what is it you are about?--Cecilia, I beseech
+you return, and let the service go on!"
+
+Cecilia, making a motion with her hand to forbid his following her,
+still silently proceeded, though drawing along with equal difficulty Mrs
+Charlton and herself.
+
+"This is insupportable!" cried Delvile, with vehemence, "turn, I conjure
+you!--my Cecilia!--my wife!--why is it you thus abandon me?--Turn,
+I implore you, and receive my eternal vows!--Mrs Charlton, bring her
+back,--Cecilia, you _must_ not go!--"
+
+He now attempted to take her hand, but shrinking from his touch, in an
+emphatic but low voice, she said, "Yes, Sir, I must!--an interdiction
+such as this!--for the world could I not brave it!"
+
+She then made an effort to somewhat quicken her pace.
+
+"Where," cried Delvile, half frantic, "where is this infamous woman?
+This wretch who has thus wantonly destroyed me!"
+
+And he rushed out of the church in pursuit of her.
+
+The clergyman and Mr Singleton, who had hitherto been wondering
+spectators, came now to offer their assistance to Cecilia. She declined
+any help for herself, but gladly accepted their services for Mrs
+Charlton, who, thunderstruck by all that had past, seemed almost robbed
+of her faculties. Mr Singleton proposed calling a hackney coach, she
+consented, and they stopt for it at the church porch.
+
+The clergyman now began to enquire of the pew-opener, what she knew of
+the woman, who she was, and how she had got into the church? She knew of
+her, she answered, nothing, but that she had come in to early prayers,
+and she supposed she had hid herself in a pew when they were over, as
+she had thought the church entirely empty.
+
+An hackney coach now drew up, and while the gentlemen were assisting Mrs
+Charlton into it, Delvile returned.
+
+"I have pursued and enquired," cried he, "in vain, I can neither
+discover nor hear of her.--But what is all this? Whither are you
+going?--What does this coach do here?--Mrs Charlton, why do you get into
+it?--Cecilia, what are you doing?"
+
+Cecilia turned away from him in silence. The shock she had received,
+took from her all power of speech, while amazement and terror deprived
+her even of relief from tears. She believed Delvile to blame, though she
+knew not in what, but the obscurity of her fears served only to render
+them more dreadful.
+
+She was now getting into the coach herself, but Delvile, who could
+neither brook her displeasure, nor endure her departure, forcibly caught
+her hand, and called out, "You are _mine_, you are my _wife_!--I will
+part with you no more, and go whithersoever you will, I will follow and
+claim you!"
+
+"Stop me not!" cried she, impatiently though faintly, "I am sick, I am
+ill already,--if you detain me any longer, I shall be unable to support
+myself!"
+
+"Oh then rest on _me_!" cried he, still holding her; "rest but upon me
+till the ceremony is over!--you will drive me to despair and to madness
+if you leave me in this barbarous manner!"
+
+A crowd now began to gather, and the words bride and bridegroom reached
+the ears of Cecilia; who half dead with shame, with fear, and with
+distress, hastily said "You are determined to make me miserable!" and
+snatching away her hand, which Delvile at those words could no longer
+hold, she threw herself into the carriage.
+
+Delvile, however, jumped in after her, and with an air of authority
+ordered the coachman to Pall-Mall, and then drew up the glasses, with a
+look of fierceness at the mob.
+
+Cecilia had neither spirits nor power to resist him; yet, offended by
+his violence, and shocked to be thus publickly pursued by him, her looks
+spoke a resentment far more mortifying than any verbal reproach.
+
+"Inhuman Cecilia!" cried he, passionately, "to desert me at the very
+altar!--to cast me off at the instant the most sacred rites were uniting
+us!--and then thus to look at me!--to treat me with this disdain at a
+time of such distraction!--to scorn me thus injuriously at the moment
+you unjustly abandon me!"
+
+"To how dreadful a scene," said Cecilia, recovering from her
+consternation, "have you exposed me! to what shame, what indignity, what
+irreparable disgrace!"
+
+"Oh heaven!" cried he with horror, "if any crime, any offence of mine
+has occasioned this fatal blow, the whole world holds not a wretch so
+culpable as myself, nor one who will sooner allow the justice of your
+rigour! my veneration for you has ever equalled my affection, and could
+I think it was through _me_ you have suffered any indignity, I should
+soon abhor myself, as you seem to abhor me. But what is it I have done?
+How have I thus incensed you? By what action, by what guilt, have I
+incurred this displeasure?
+
+"Whence," cried she, "came that voice which still vibrates in my ear?
+The prohibition could not be on _my_ account, since none to whom I am
+known have either right or interest in even wishing it."
+
+"What an inference is this! over _me_, then, do you conclude this woman
+had any power?"
+
+Here they stopt at the lodgings. Delvile handed both the ladies out.
+Cecilia, eager to avoid his importunities, and dreadfully disturbed,
+hastily past him, and ran up stairs; but Mrs Charlton refused not his
+arm, on which she lent till they reached the drawing-room.
+
+Cecilia then rang the bell for her servant, and gave orders that a
+post-chaise might be sent for immediately.
+
+Delvile now felt offended in his turn; but suppressing his vehemence, he
+gravely and quietly said "Determined as you are to leave me, indifferent
+to my peace, and incredulous of my word, deign, at least, before we
+part, to be more explicit in your accusation, and tell me if indeed it
+is possible you can suspect that the wretch who broke off the ceremony,
+had ever from me received provocation for such an action?"
+
+"I know not what to suspect," said Cecilia, "where every thing is thus
+involved in obscurity; but I must own I should have some difficulty to
+think those words the effect of chance, or to credit that their speaker
+was concealed without design."
+
+"You are right, then, madam," cried he, resentfully, "to discard me! to
+treat me with contempt, to banish me without repugnance, since I see
+you believe me capable of duplicity, and imagine I am better informed
+in this affair than I appear to be. You have said I shall make you
+miserable,--no, madam, no! your happiness and misery depend not upon one
+you hold so worthless!"
+
+"On whatever they depend," said Cecilia, "I am too little at ease for
+discussion. I would no more be daring than superstitious, but none of
+our proceedings have prospered, and since their privacy has always been
+contrary both to my judgment and my principles, I know not how to repine
+at a failure I cannot think unmerited. Mrs Charlton, our chaise is
+coming; you will be ready, I hope, to set off in it directly?"
+
+Delvile, too angry to trust himself to speak, now walked about the room,
+and endeavoured to calm himself; but so little was his success, that
+though silent till the chaise was announced, when he heard that dreaded
+sound, and saw Cecilia steady in her purpose of departing, he was so
+much shocked and afflicted, that, clasping his hands in a transport of
+passion and grief, he exclaimed. "This, then, Cecilia, is your faith!
+this is the felicity you bid me hope! this is the recompense of my
+sufferings, and the performing of your engagement!"
+
+Cecilia, struck by these reproaches, turned back; but while she
+hesitated how to answer them, he went on, "You are insensible to my
+misery, and impenetrable to my entreaties; a secret enemy has had power
+to make me odious in your sight, though for her enmity I can assign no
+cause, though even her existence was this morning unknown to me!
+Ever ready to abandon, and most willing to condemn me, you have more
+confidence in a vague conjecture, than in all you have observed of the
+whole tenour of my character. Without knowing why, you are disposed to
+believe me criminal, without deigning to say wherefore, you are eager
+to banish me your presence. Yet scarce could a consciousness of guilt
+itself, wound me so forcibly, so keenly, as your suspecting I am
+guilty!"
+
+"Again, then," cried Cecilia, "shall I subject myself to a scene of such
+disgrace and horror? No, never!--The punishment of my error shall at
+least secure its reformation. Yet if I merit your reproaches, I deserve
+not your regard; cease, therefore, to profess any for me, or make them
+no more."
+
+"Shew but to them," cried he, "the smallest sensibility, shew but for
+me the most distant concern, and I will try to bear my disappointment
+without murmuring, and submit to your decrees as to those from which
+there is no appeal: but to wound without deigning even to look at what
+you destroy,--to shoot at random those arrows that are pointed with
+poison,--to see them fasten on the heart, and corrode its vital
+functions, yet look on without compunction, or turn away with cold
+disdain,--Oh where is the candour I thought lodged in Cecilia! where the
+justice, the equity, I believed a part of herself!"
+
+"After all that has past," said Cecilia, sensibly touched by his
+distress, "I expected not these complaints, nor that, from me, any
+assurances would be wanted; yet, if it will quiet your mind, if it will
+better reconcile you to our separation---"
+
+"Oh fatal prelude!" interrupted he, "what on earth can quiet my mind
+that leads to our separation?--Give to me no condescension with any such
+view,--preserve your indifference, persevere in your coldness,
+triumph still in your power of inspiring those feelings you can never
+return,--all, every thing is more supportable than to talk of our
+separation!"
+
+"Yet how," cried she, "parted, torn asunder as we have been, how is it
+now to be avoided?"
+
+"Trust in my honour! Shew me but the confidence which I will venture to
+say I deserve, and then will that union no longer be impeded, which in
+future, I am certain, will never be repented!"
+
+"Good heaven, what a request! faith so implicit would be frenzy."
+
+"You doubt, then, my integrity? You suspect---"
+
+"Indeed I do not; yet in a case of such importance, what ought to guide
+me but my own reason, my own conscience, my own sense of right? Pain me
+not, therefore, with reproaches, distress me no more with entreaties,
+when I solemnly declare that no earthly consideration shall ever
+again make me promise you my hand, while the terror of Mrs Delvile's
+displeasure has possession of my heart. And now adieu."
+
+"You give me, then, up?"
+
+"Be patient, I beseech you; and attempt not to follow me; 'tis a step I
+cannot permit."
+
+"Not follow you? And who has power to prevent me?"
+
+"_I_ have, Sir, if to incur my endless resentment is of any consequence
+to you."
+
+She then, with an air of determined steadiness, moved on; Mrs Charlton,
+assisted by the servants, being already upon the stairs.
+
+"O tyranny!" cried he, "what submission is it you exact!--May I not even
+enquire into the dreadful mystery of this morning?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+"And may I not acquaint you with it, should it be discovered?"
+
+"I shall not be sorry to hear it. Adieu."
+
+She was now half way down the stairs; when, losing all forbearance, he
+hastily flew after her, and endeavouring to stop her, called out, "If
+you do not hate and detest me,--if I am not loathsome and abhorrent to
+you, O quit me not thus insensibly!--Cecilia! my beloved Cecilia!--speak
+to me, at least, one word of less severity! Look at me once more, and
+tell me we part not for-ever!"
+
+Cecilia then turned round, and while a starting tear shewed her
+sympathetic distress, said, "Why will you thus oppress me with
+entreaties I ought not to gratify?--Have I not accompanied you to the
+altar,--and can you doubt what I have thought of you?"
+
+"_Have_ thought?--Oh Cecilia!--is it then all over?"
+
+"Pray suffer me to go quietly, and fear not I shall go too happily!
+Suppress your own feelings, rather than seek to awaken mine. Alas! there
+is little occasion!--Oh Mr Delvile! were our connection opposed by no
+duty, and repugnant to no friends, were it attended by no impropriety,
+and carried on with no necessity of disguise,--you would not thus charge
+me with indifference, you would not suspect me of insensibility,--Oh no!
+the choice of my heart would then be its glory, and all I now blush to
+feel, I should openly and with pride acknowledge!"
+
+She then hurried to the chaise, Delvile pursuing her with thanks and
+blessings, and gratefully assuring her, as he handed her into it, that
+he would obey all her injunctions, and not even attempt to see her,
+till he could bring her some intelligence concerning the morning's
+transaction.
+
+The chaise then drove off.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A CONSTERNATION.
+
+The journey was melancholy and tedious: Mrs Charlton, extremely fatigued
+by the unusual hurry and exercise both of mind and body which she had
+lately gone through, was obliged to travel very slowly, and to lie upon
+the road. Cecilia, however, was in no haste to proceed: she was going to
+no one she wished to see, she was wholly without expectation of meeting
+with any thing that could give her pleasure. The unfortunate expedition
+in which she had been engaged, left her now nothing but regret, and only
+promised her in future sorrow and mortification.
+
+Mrs Charlton, after her return home, still continued ill, and Cecilia,
+who constantly attended her, had the additional affliction of imputing
+her indisposition to herself. Every thing she thought conspired to
+punish the error she had committed; her proceedings were discovered,
+though her motives were unknown; the Delvile family could not fail to
+hear of her enterprize, and while they attributed it to her temerity,
+they would exult in its failure: but chiefly hung upon her mind the
+unaccountable prohibition of her marriage. Whence that could proceed
+she was wholly without ability to divine, yet her surmizes were not more
+fruitless than various. At one moment she imagined it some frolic of
+Morrice, at another some perfidy of Monckton, and at another an idle
+and unmeaning trick of some stranger to them all. But none of these
+suppositions carried with them any air of probability; Morrice, even if
+he had watched their motions and pursued them to the church, which his
+inquisitive impertinence made by no means impossible, could yet hardly
+have either time or opportunity to engage any woman in so extraordinary
+an undertaking; Mr Monckton, however averse to the connection, she
+considered as a man of too much honour to break it off in a manner so
+alarming and disgraceful; and mischief so wanton in any stranger, seemed
+to require a share of unfeeling effrontery, which could fall to the lot
+of so few as to make this suggestion unnatural and incredible.
+
+Sometimes she imagined that Delvile might formerly have been affianced
+to some woman, who having accidentally discovered his intentions,
+took this desperate method of rendering them abortive: but this was a
+short-lived thought, and speedily gave way to her esteem for his general
+character, and her confidence in the firmness of his probity.
+
+All, therefore, was dark and mysterious; conjecture was baffled, and
+meditation was useless. Her opinions were unfixed, and her heart was
+miserable; she could only be steady in believing Delvile as unhappy as
+herself, and only find consolation in believing him, also, as blameless.
+
+Three days passed thus, without incident or intelligence; her time
+wholly occupied in attending Mrs Charlton; her thoughts all engrossed
+upon her own situation: but upon the fourth day she was informed that a
+lady was in the parlour, who desired to speak with her.
+
+She presently went down stairs,--and, upon entering the room, perceived
+Mrs Delvile!
+
+Seized with astonishment and fear, she stopt short, and, looking aghast,
+held by the door, robbed of all power to receive so unexpected and
+unwelcome a visitor, by an internal sensation of guilt, mingled with a
+dread of discovery and reproach.
+
+Mrs Delvile, addressing her with the coldest politeness, said, "I fear
+I have surprised you; I am sorry I had not time to acquaint you of my
+intention to wait upon you."
+
+Cecilia then, moving from the door, faintly answered, "I cannot, madam,
+but be honoured by your notice, whenever you are pleased to confer it."
+
+They then sat down; Mrs Delvile preserving an air the most formal and
+distant, and Cecilia half sinking with apprehensive dismay.
+
+After a short and ill-boding silence, "I mean not," said Mrs Delvile,
+"to embarrass or distress you; I will not, therefore, keep you in
+suspense of the purport of my visit. I come not to make enquiries,
+I come not to put your sincerity to any trial, nor to torture your
+delicacy; I dispense with all explanation, for I have not one doubt to
+solve: I _know_ what has passed, I _know_ that my son loves you."
+
+Not all her secret alarm, nor all the perturbation of her fears, had
+taught Cecilia to expect so direct an attack, nor enabled her to bear
+the shock of it with any composure: she could not speak, she could
+not look at Mrs Delvile; she arose, and walked to the window, without
+knowing what she was doing.
+
+Here, however, her distress was not likely to diminish; for the first
+sight she saw was Fidel, who barked, and jumped up at the window to lick
+her hands.
+
+"Good God! Fidel here!" exclaimed Mrs Delvile, amazed.
+
+Cecilia, totally overpowered, covered her glowing face with both her
+hands, and sunk into a chair.
+
+Mrs Delvile for a few minutes was silent; and then, following her, said,
+"Imagine not I am making any discovery, nor suspect me of any design
+to develop your sentiments. That Mortimer could love in vain I never,
+believed; that Miss Beverley, possessing so much merit, could be blind
+to it in another, I never thought possible. I mean not, therefore, to
+solicit any account or explanation, but merely to beg your patience
+while I talk to you myself, and your permission to speak to you with
+openness and truth."
+
+Cecilia, though relieved by this calmness from all apprehension of
+reproach, found in her manner a coldness that convinced her of the loss
+of her affection, and in the introduction to her business a solemnity
+that assured her what she should decree would be unalterable. She
+uncovered her face to shew her respectful attention, but she could not
+raise it up, and could not utter a word.
+
+Mrs Delvile then seated herself next her, and gravely continued her
+discourse.
+
+"Miss Beverley, however little acquainted with the state of our family
+affairs, can scarcely have been uninformed that a fortune such as hers
+seems almost all that family can desire; nor can she have failed to
+observe, that her merit and accomplishments have no where been more felt
+and admired: the choice therefore of Mortimer she could not doubt would
+have our sanction, and when she honoured his proposals with her favour,
+she might naturally conclude she gave happiness and pleasure to all his
+friends."
+
+Cecilia, superior to accepting a palliation of which she felt herself
+undeserving, now lifted up her head, and forcing herself to speak,
+said "No, madam, I will not deceive you, for I have never been deceived
+myself: I presumed not to expect your approbation,--though in missing it
+I have for ever lost my own!"
+
+"Has Mortimer, then," cried she with eagerness, "been strictly
+honourable? has he neither beguiled nor betrayed you?"
+
+"No, madam," said she, blushing, "I have nothing to reproach him with."
+
+"Then he is indeed my son!" cried Mrs Delvile, with emotion; "had he
+been treacherous to you, while disobedient to us, I had indisputably
+renounced him."
+
+Cecilia, who now seemed the only culprit, felt herself in a state of
+humiliation not to be borne; she collected, therefore, all her courage,
+and said, "I have cleared Mr Delvile; permit me, madam, now, to say
+something for myself."
+
+"Certainly; you cannot oblige me more than by speaking without
+disguise."
+
+"It is not in the hope of regaining your good opinion,--that, I see, is
+lost!--but merely--"
+
+"No, not lost," said Mrs Delvile, "but if once it was yet higher, the
+fault was my own, in indulging an expectation of perfection to which
+human nature is perhaps unequal."
+
+Ah, then, thought Cecilia, all is over! the contempt I so much feared is
+incurred, and though it may be softened, it can never be removed!
+
+"Speak, then, and with sincerity," she continued, "all you wish me to
+hear, and then grant me your attention in return to the purpose of my
+present journey."
+
+"I have little, madam," answered the depressed Cecilia, "to say; you
+tell me you already know all that has past; I will not, therefore,
+pretend to take any merit from revealing it: I will only add, that my
+consent to this transaction has made me miserable almost from the moment
+I gave it; that I meant and wished to retract as soon as reflection
+pointed out to me my error, and that circumstances the most perverse,
+not blindness to propriety, nor stubbornness in wrong, led me to make,
+at last, that fatal attempt, of which the recollection, to my last hour,
+must fill me with regret and shame."
+
+"I wonder not," said Mrs Delvile, "that in a situation where delicacy
+was so much less requisite than courage, Miss Beverley should feel
+herself distressed and unhappy. A mind such as hers could never err
+with impunity; and it is solely from a certainty of her innate sense of
+right, that I venture to wait upon her now, and that I have any hope
+to influence _her_ upon whose influence alone our whole family must in
+future depend. Shall I now proceed, or is there any thing you wish to
+say first?"
+
+"No, madam, nothing."
+
+"Hear me, then, I beg of you, with no predetermination to disregard me,
+but with an equitable resolution to attend to reason, and a candour that
+leaves an opening to conviction. Not easy, indeed, is such a task, to
+a mind pre-occupied with an intention to be guided by the dictates of
+inclination,---"
+
+"You wrong me, indeed, madam!" interrupted Cecilia, greatly hurt, "my
+mind harbours no such intention, it has no desire but to be guided by
+duty, it is wretched with a consciousness of having failed in it! I
+pine, I sicken to recover my own good opinion; I should then no longer
+feel unworthy of yours; and whether or not I might be able to regain it,
+I should at least lose this cruel depression that now sinks me in your
+presence!"
+
+"To regain it," said Mrs Delvile, "were to exercise but half your power,
+which at this moment enables you, if such is your wish, to make me think
+of you more highly than one human being ever thought of another. Do you
+condescend to hold this worth your while?"
+
+Cecilia started at the question; her heart beat quick with struggling
+passions; she saw the sacrifice which was to be required, and her pride,
+her affronted pride, arose high to anticipate the rejection; but the
+design was combated by her affections, which opposed the indignant
+rashness, and told her that one hasty speech might separate her from
+Delvile for ever. When this painful conflict was over, of which Mrs
+Delvile patiently waited the issue, she answered, with much hesitation,
+"To regain your good opinion, madam, greatly, truly as I value it,--is
+what I now scarcely dare hope."
+
+"Say not so," cried she, "since, if you hope, you cannot miss it. I
+purpose to point out to you the means to recover it, and to tell you
+how greatly I shall think myself your debtor if you refuse not to employ
+them."
+
+She stopt; but Cecilia hung back; fearful of her own strength, she dared
+venture at no professions; yet, how either to support, or dispute her
+compliance, she dreaded to think.
+
+"I come to you, then," Mrs Delvile solemnly resumed, "in the name of Mr
+Delvile, and in the name of our whole family; a family as ancient as
+it is honourable, as honourable as it is ancient. Consider me as its
+representative, and hear in me its common voice, common opinion, and
+common address.
+
+"My son, the supporter of our house, the sole guardian of its name, and
+the heir of our united fortunes, has selected you, we know, for the lady
+of his choice, and so fondly has, fixed upon you his affections, that
+he is ready to relinquish us all in preference to subduing them. To
+yourself alone, then, can we apply, and I come to you--"
+
+"O hold, madam, hold!" interrupted Cecilia, whose courage now revived
+from resentment, "I know, what you would say; you come to tell me of
+your disdain; you come to reproach my presumption, and to kill me with
+your contempt! There is little occasion for such a step; I am depressed,
+I am self-condemned already; spare me, therefore, this insupportable
+humiliation, wound me not with your scorn, oppress me not with your
+superiority! I aim at no competition, I attempt no vindication, I
+acknowledge my own littleness as readily as you can despise it, and
+nothing but indignity could urge me to defend it!"
+
+"Believe me," said Mrs Delvile, "I meant not to hurt or offend you, and
+I am sorry if I have appeared to you either arrogant or assuming. The
+peculiar and perilous situation of my family has perhaps betrayed me
+into offensive expressions, and made me guilty myself of an ostentation
+which in others has often disgusted me. Ill, indeed, can we any of us
+bear the test of experiment, when tried upon those subjects which call
+forth our particular propensities. We may strive to be disinterested,
+we may struggle to be impartial, but self will still predominate, still
+shew us the imperfection of our natures, and the narrowness of our
+souls. Yet acquit me, I beg, of any intentional insolence, and imagine
+not that in speaking highly of my own family, I, mean to depreciate
+yours: on the contrary, I know it to be respectable, I know, too, that
+were it the lowest in the kingdom, the first might envy it that it gave
+birth to such a daughter."
+
+Cecilia, somewhat soothed by this speech, begged her pardon for having
+interrupted her, and she proceeded.
+
+"To your family, then, I assure you, whatever may be the pride of our
+own, _you_ being its offspring, we would not object. With your merit we
+are all well acquainted, your character has our highest esteem, and
+your fortune exceeds even our most sanguine desires. Strange at once
+and afflicting! that not all these requisites for the satisfaction of
+prudence, nor all these allurements for the gratification of happiness,
+can suffice to fulfil or to silence the claims of either! There are yet
+other demands to which we must attend, demands which ancestry and blood
+call upon us aloud to ratify! Such claimants are not to be neglected
+with impunity; they assert their rights with the authority of
+prescription, they forbid us alike either to bend to inclination, or
+stoop to interest, and from generation to generation their injuries
+will call out for redress, should their noble and long unsullied name be
+voluntarily consigned to oblivion!"
+
+Cecilia, extremely struck by these words, scarce wondered, since so
+strong and so established were her opinions, that the obstacle to her
+marriage, though but one, should be considered as insuperable.
+
+"Not, therefore, to _your_ name are we averse," she continued, "but
+simply to our own more partial. To sink that, indeed, in _any_
+other, were base and unworthy:--what, then, must be the shock of my
+disappointment, should Mortimer Delvile, the darling of my hopes, the
+last survivor of his house, in whose birth I rejoiced as the promise of
+its support, in whose accomplishments I gloried, as the revival of its
+lustre,--should _he_, should, _my_ son be the first to abandon it! to
+give up the name he seemed born to make live, and to cause in effect its
+utter annihilation!--Oh how should I know my son when an alien to his
+family! how bear to think I had cherished in my bosom the betrayer of
+its dearest interests, the destroyer of its very existence!"
+
+Cecilia, scarce more afflicted than offended, now hastily answered, "Not
+for me, madam, shall he commit this crime, not on _my_ account shall he
+be reprobated by his family! Think of him, therefore, no more, with any
+reference to me, for I would not be the cause of unworthiness or guilt
+in him to be mistress of the universe!"
+
+"Nobly said!" cried Mrs Delvile, her eyes sparkling with joy, and her
+cheeks glowing with pleasure, "now again do I know Miss Beverley! now
+again see the refined, the excellent young woman, whose virtues taught
+me to expect the renunciation even of her own happiness, when found to
+be incompatible with her duty!"
+
+Cecilia now trembled and turned pale; she scarce knew herself what she
+had said, but, she found by Mrs Delvile's construction of her words,
+they had been regarded as her final relinquishing of her son. She
+ardently wished to quit the room before she was called upon to confirm
+the sentence, but, she had not courage to make the effort, nor to rise,
+speak, or move.
+
+"I grieve, indeed," continued Mrs Delvile, whose coldness and austerity
+were changed into mildness and compassion, "at the necessity I have been
+under to draw from you a concurrence so painful: but no other resource
+was in my power. My influence with Mortimer, whatever it may be, I have
+not any right to try, without obtaining your previous consent, since I
+regard him myself as bound to you in honour, and only to be released by
+your own virtuous desire. I will leave you, however, for my presence,
+I see, is oppressive to you. Farewell; and when you _can_ forgive me, I
+think you _will_."
+
+"I have nothing, madam," said Cecilia, coldly, "to forgive; you have
+only asserted your own dignity, and I have nobody to blame but myself,
+for having given you occasion."
+
+"Alas," cried Mrs Delvile, "if worth and nobleness of soul on your part,
+if esteem and tenderest affection on mine, were all which that dignity
+which offends you requires, how should I crave the blessing of such a
+daughter! how rejoice in joining my son to excellence so like his own,
+and ensuring his happiness while I stimulated his virtue!"
+
+"Do not talk to me of affection, madam," said Cecilia, turning away from
+her; "whatever you had for me is past,--even your esteem is gone,--you
+may pity me, indeed, but your pity is mixed with contempt, and I am not
+so abject as to find comfort from exciting it."
+
+"O little," cried Mrs Delvile, looking at her with the utmost
+tenderness, "little do you see the state of my heart, for never have you
+appeared to me so worthy as at this moment! In tearing you from my son,
+I partake all the wretchedness I give, but your own sense of duty must
+something plead for the strictness with which I act up to mine."
+
+She then moved towards the door.
+
+"Is your carriage, madam," said Cecilia, struggling to disguise her
+inward anguish under an appearance of sullenness, "in waiting?"
+
+Mrs Delvile then came back, and holding out her hand, while her eyes
+glistened with tears, said, "To part from you thus frigidly, while
+my heart so warmly admires you, is almost more than I can endure. Oh
+gentlest Cecilia! condemn not a mother who is impelled to this severity,
+who performing what she holds to be her duty, thinks the office her
+bitterest misfortune, who forsees in the rage of her husband, and the
+resistance of her son, all the misery of domestic contention, and who
+can only secure the honour of her family by destroying its peace!--You
+will not, then, give me your hand?--"
+
+Cecilia, who had affected not to see that she waited for it, now
+coldly put it out, distantly [courtseying], and seeking to preserve
+her steadiness by avoiding to speak. Mrs Delvile took it, and as she
+repeated her adieu, affectionately pressed it to her lips; Cecilia,
+starting, and breathing short, from encreasing yet smothered agitation,
+called out "Why, why this condescension?--pray,--I entreat you,
+madam!--"
+
+"Heaven bless you, my love!" said Mrs Delvile, dropping a tear upon the
+hand she still held, "heaven bless you, and restore the tranquillity you
+so nobly deserve!"
+
+"Ah madam!" cried Cecilia, vainly striving to repress any longer the
+tears which now forced their way down her cheeks, "why will you break
+my heart with this kindness! why will you still compel me to love!--when
+now I almost wish to hate you!"--
+
+"No, hate me not," said Mrs Delvile, kissing from her cheeks the tears
+that watered them, "hate me not, sweetest Cecilia, though in wounding
+your gentle bosom, I am almost detestable to myself. Even the cruel
+scene which awaits me with my son will not more deeply afflict me. But
+adieu,--I must now prepare for him!"
+
+She then left the room: but Cecilia, whose pride had no power to resist
+this tenderness, ran hastily after her, saying "Shall I not see you
+again, madam?"
+
+"You shall yourself decide," answered she; "if my coming will not give
+you more pain than pleasure, I will wait upon you whenever you please."
+
+Cecilia sighed and paused; she knew not what to desire, yet rather
+wished any thing to be done, than quietly to sit down to uninterrupted
+reflection.
+
+"Shall I postpone quitting this place," continued Mrs Delvile, "till
+to-morrow morning, and will you admit me this afternoon, should I call
+upon you again?"
+
+"I should be sorry," said she, still hesitating, "to detain you,"--
+
+"You will rejoice me," cried Mrs Delvile, "by bearing me in your sight."
+
+And she then went into her carriage.
+
+Cecilia, unfitted to attend her old friend, and unequal to the task of
+explaining to her the cruel scene in which she had just been engaged,
+then hastened to her own apartment. Her hitherto stifled emotions broke
+forth in tears and repinings: her fate was finally determined, and its
+determination was not more unhappy than humiliating; she was openly
+rejected by the family whose alliance she was known to wish; she
+was compelled to refuse the man of her choice, though satisfied his
+affections were her own. A misery so peculiar she found hard to support,
+and almost bursting with conflicting passions, her heart alternately
+swelled from offended pride, and sunk from disappointed tenderness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A PERTURBATION.
+
+Cecelia was still in this tempestuous state, when a message was brought
+her that a gentleman was below stairs, who begged to have the honour of
+seeing her. She concluded he was Delvile, and the thought of meeting him
+merely to communicate what must so bitterly afflict him, redoubled her
+distress, and she went down in an agony of perturbation and sorrow.
+
+He met her at the door, where, before he could speak, "Mr Delvile,"
+she cried, in a hurrying manner, "why will you come? Why will you thus
+insist upon seeing me, in defiance of every obstacle, and in contempt of
+my prohibition?"
+
+"Good heavens," cried he, amazed, "whence this reproach? Did you not
+permit me to wait upon you with the result of my enquiries? Had I
+not your consent--but why do you look thus disturbed?--Your eyes are
+red,--you have been weeping.--Oh my Cecilia! have I any share in your
+sorrow?--Those tears, which never flow weakly, tell me, have they--has
+_one_ of them been shed upon my account?"
+
+"And what," cried she, "has been the result of your enquiries?--Speak
+quick, for I wish to know,--and in another instant I must be gone."
+
+"How strange," cried the astonished Delvile, "is this language! how
+strange are these looks! What new has come to pass? Has any fresh
+calamity happened? Is there yet some evil which I do not expect?"
+
+"Why will you not answer first?" cried she; "when _I_ have spoken, you
+will perhaps be less willing."
+
+"You terrify, you shock, you amaze me! What dreadful blow awaits me? For
+what horror are you preparing me?--That which I have just experienced,
+and which tore you from me even at the foot of the altar, still remains
+inexplicable, still continues to be involved in darkness and mystery;
+for the wretch who separated us I have never been able to discover."
+
+"Have you procured, then, no intelligence?"
+
+"No, none; though since we parted I have never rested a moment."
+
+"Make, then, no further enquiry, for now all explanation would be
+useless. That we _were_ parted, we know, though _why_ we cannot tell:
+but that again we shall ever meet---"
+
+She, stopt; her streaming eyes cast upwards, and a deep sigh bursting
+from her heart.
+
+"Oh what," cried Delvile, endeavouring to take her hand, which she
+hastily withdrew from him, "what does this mean? loveliest, dearest
+Cecilia, my betrothed, my affianced wife! why flow those tears which
+agony only can wring from you? Why refuse me that hand which so lately
+was the pledge of your faith? Am I not the same Delvile to whom so few
+days since you gave it? Why will you not open to him your heart? Why
+thus distrust his honour, and repulse his tenderness? Oh why, giving him
+such exquisite misery, refuse him the smallest consolation?"
+
+"What consolation," cried the weeping Cecilia, "can I give? Alas! it is
+not, perhaps, _you_ who most want it!--"
+
+Here the door was opened by one of the Miss Charltons, who came into
+the room with a message from her grandmother, requesting to see Cecilia.
+Cecilia, ashamed of being thus surprised with Delvile, and in tears,
+waited not either to make any excuse to him, or any answer to Miss
+Charlton, but instantly hurried out of the room;--not, however, to
+her old friend, whom now less than ever she could meet, but to her own
+apartment, where a very short indulgence of grief was succeeded by the
+severest examination of her own conduct.
+
+A retrospection of this sort rarely brings much subject of exultation,
+when made with the rigid sincerity of secret impartiality: so much
+stronger is our reason than our virtue, so much higher our sense of duty
+than our performance!
+
+All she had done she now repented, all she had said she disapproved; her
+conduct, seldom equal to her notions of right, was now infinitely below
+them, and the reproaches of her judgment made her forget for a while the
+afflictions which had misled it.
+
+The sorrow to which she had openly given way in the presence of Delvile,
+though their total separation but the moment before had been finally
+decreed, she considered as a weak effusion of tenderness, injurious to
+delicacy, and censurable by propriety. "His power over my heart," cried
+she, "it were now, indeed, too late to conceal, but his power over my
+understanding it is time to cancel. I am not to be his,--my own voice
+has ratified the renunciation, and since I made it to his mother, it
+must never, without her consent, be invalidated. Honour, therefore, to
+her, and regard for myself, equally command me to fly him, till I cease
+to be thus affected by his sight."
+
+When Delvile, therefore, sent up an entreaty that he might be again
+admitted into her presence, she returned for answer that she was not
+well, and could not see any body.
+
+He then left the house, and, in a few minutes, she received the
+following note from him.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_. You drive me from you, Cecilia, tortured with
+suspense, and distracted with apprehension, you drive me from you,
+certain of my misery, yet leaving me to bear it as I may! I would call
+you unfeeling, but that I saw you were unhappy; I would reproach you
+with tyranny, but that your eyes when you quitted me were swollen with
+weeping! I go, therefore, I obey the harsh mandate, since my absence is
+your desire, and I will shut myself up at Biddulph's till I receive
+your commands. Yet disdain not to reflect that every instant will seem
+endless, while Cecilia must appear to me unjust, or wound my very soul
+by the recollection of her in sorrow. MORTIMER DELVILE.
+
+The mixture of fondness and resentment with which this letter was
+dictated, marked so strongly the sufferings and disordered state of the
+writer, that all the softness of Cecilia returned when she perused it,
+and left her not a wish but to lessen his inquietude, by assurances
+of unalterable regard: yet she determined not to trust herself in his
+sight, certain they could only meet to grieve over each other, and
+conscious that a participation of sorrow would but prove a reciprocation
+of tenderness. Calling, therefore, upon her duty to resist her
+inclination, she resolved to commit the whole affair to the will of Mrs
+Delvile, to whom, though under no promise, she now considered herself
+responsible. Desirous, however, to shorten the period of Delvile's
+uncertainty, she would not wait till the time she had appointed to see
+his mother, but wrote the following note to hasten their meeting.
+
+_To the Hon. Mrs Delvile_. MADAM,--Your son is now at Bury; shall I
+acquaint him of your arrival? or will you announce it yourself? Inform
+me of your desire, and I will endeavour to fulfil it. As my own Agent
+I regard myself no longer; if, as yours, I can give pleasure, or be of
+service, I shall gladly receive your commands. I have the honour to be,
+Madam, your most obedient servant, CECILIA BEVERLEY.
+
+When she had sent off this letter, her heart was more at ease, because
+reconciled with her conscience: she had sacrificed the son, she had
+resigned herself to the mother; it now only remained to heal her wounded
+pride, by suffering the sacrifice with dignity, and to recover her
+tranquility in virtue, by making the resignation without repining.
+
+Her reflections, too, growing clearer as the mist of passion was
+dispersed, she recollected with confusion her cold and sullen behaviour
+to Mrs Delvile. That lady had but done what she had believed was her
+duty, and that duty was no more than she had been taught to expect from
+her. In the beginning of her visit, and while doubtful of its success,
+she had indeed, been austere, but the moment victory appeared in view,
+she became tender, affectionate and gentle. Her justice, therefore,
+condemned the resentment to which she had given way, and she fortified
+her mind for the interview which was to follow, by an earnest desire to
+make all reparation both to Mrs Delvile and herself for that which was
+past.
+
+In this resolution she was not a little strengthened, by seriously
+considering with herself the great abatement to all her possible
+happiness, which must have been made by the humiliating circumstance
+of forcing herself into a family which held all connection with her as
+disgraceful. She desired not to be the wife even of Delvile upon such
+terms, for the more she esteemed and admired him, the more anxious she
+became for his honour, and the less could she endure being regarded
+herself as the occasion of its diminution.
+
+Now, therefore, her plan of conduct settled, with calmer spirits, though
+a heavy heart, she attended upon Mrs Charlton; but fearing to lose the
+steadiness she had just acquired before it should be called upon, if she
+trusted herself to relate the decision which had been made, she besought
+her for the present to dispense with the account, and then forced
+herself into conversation upon less interesting subjects.
+
+This prudence had its proper effect, and with tolerable tranquility she
+heard Mrs Delvile again announced, and waited upon her in the parlour
+with an air of composure.
+
+Not so did Mrs Delvile receive her; she was all eagerness and emotion;
+she flew to her the moment she appeared, and throwing her arms around
+her, warmly exclaimed "Oh charming girl! Saver of our family! preserver
+of our honour! How poor are words to express my admiration! how
+inadequate are thanks in return for such obligations as I owe you!"
+
+"You owe me none, madam," said Cecilia, suppressing a sigh; "on my side
+will be all the obligation, if you can pardon the petulance of my
+behaviour this morning."
+
+"Call not by so harsh a name," answered Mrs Delvile, "the keenness of a
+sensibility by which you have yourself alone been the sufferer. You
+have had a trial the most severe, and however able to sustain, it was
+impossible you should not feel it. That you should give up any man whose
+friends solicit not your alliance, your mind is too delicate to make
+wonderful; but your generosity in submitting, unasked, the arrangement
+of that resignation to those for whose interest it is made, and your
+high sense of honour in holding yourself accountable to me, though under
+no tie, and bound by no promise, mark a greatness of mind which calls
+for reverence rather than thanks, and which I never can praise half so
+much as I admire."
+
+Cecilia, who received this applause but as a confirmation of her
+rejection, thanked her only by courtsying; and Mrs Delvile, having
+seated herself next her, continued her speech.
+
+"My son, you have the goodness to tell me, is here,--have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes, madam," answered she, blushing, "but hardly for a moment."
+
+"And he knows not of my arrival?" No,--I believe he certainly does not."
+
+"Sad then, is the trial which awaits him, and heavy for me the office I
+must perform! Do you expect to see him again?"
+
+"No,--yes,--perhaps--indeed I hardly--" She stammered, and Mrs Delvile,
+taking her hand, said "Tell me, Miss Beverley, _why_ should you see him
+again?"
+
+Cecilia was thunderstruck by this question, and, colouring yet more
+deeply, looked down, but could not answer.
+
+"Consider," continued Mrs Delvile, "the _purpose_ of any further
+meeting; your union is impossible, you have nobly consented to
+relinquish all thoughts of it why then tear your own heart, and torture
+his, by an intercourse which seems nothing but an ill-judged invitation
+to fruitless and unavailing sorrow?"
+
+Cecilia was still silent; the truth of the expostulation her reason
+acknowledged, but to assent to its consequence her whole heart refused.
+
+"The ungenerous triumph of little female vanity," said Mrs Delvile, "is
+far, I am sure, from your mind, of which the enlargement and liberality
+will rather find consolation from lessening than from embittering
+his sufferings. Speak to me, then, and tell me honestly, judiciously,
+candidly tell me, will it not be wiser and more right, to avoid rather
+than seek an object which can only give birth to regret? an interview
+which can excite no sensations but of misery and sadness?" Cecilia then
+turned pale, she endeavoured to speak, but could not; she wished to
+comply,--yet to think she had seen him for the last time, to remember
+how abruptly she had parted from him, and to fear she had treated him
+unkindly;--these were obstacles which opposed her concurrence, though
+both judgment and propriety demanded it.
+
+"Can you, then," said Mrs Delvile, after a pause, "can you wish to see
+Mortimer merely to behold his grief? Can you desire he should see you,
+only to sharpen his affliction at your loss?"
+
+"O no!" cried Cecilia, to whom this reproof restored speech and
+resolution, "I am not so despicable, I am not, I hope, so unworthy!--I
+will--be ruled by you wholly; I will commit to you every thing;--yet
+_once_, perhaps,--no more!"--
+
+"Ah, my dear Miss Beverley! to meet confessedly for _once_,--what were
+that but planting a dagger in the heart of Mortimer? What were it but
+infusing poison into your own?
+
+"If you think so, madam," said she, "I had better--I will certainly--"
+she sighed, stammered, and stopt.
+
+"Hear me," cried Mrs Delvile, "and rather let me try to convince than
+persuade you. Were there any possibility, by argument, by reflection, or
+even by accident, to remove the obstacles to our connection, then would
+it be well to meet, for then might discussion turn to account, and an
+interchange of sentiments be productive of some happy expedients: but
+here--"
+
+She hesitated, and Cecilia, shocked and ashamed, turned away her face,
+and cried "I know, madam, what you would say,--here all is over! and
+therefore--"
+
+"Yet suffer me," interrupted she, "to be explicit, since we speak upon,
+this matter now for the last time. Here, then, I say, where not ONE
+doubt remains, where ALL is finally, though not happily decided, what
+can an interview produce? Mischief of every sort, pain, horror, and
+repining! To Mortimer you may think it would be kind, and grant it to
+his prayers, as an alleviation of his misery; mistaken notion! nothing
+could so greatly augment it. All his passions would be raised, all his
+prudence would be extinguished, his soul would be torn with resentment
+and regret, and force, only, would part him from you, when previously he
+knew that parting was to be eternal. To yourself--"
+
+"Talk not, madam, of me," cried the unhappy Cecilia, "what you say of
+your son is sufficient, and I will yield---"
+
+"Yet hear me," proceeded she, "and believe me not so unjust as to
+consider him alone; you, also, would be an equal, though a less stormy
+sufferer. You fancy, at this moment, that once more to meet him would
+soothe your uneasiness, and that to take of him a farewell, would soften
+the pain of the separation: how false such reasoning! how dangerous such
+consolation! acquainted ere you meet that you were to meet him no more,
+your heart would be all softness and grief, and at the very moment when
+tenderness should be banished from your intercourse, it would bear down
+all opposition of judgment, spirit, and dignity: you would hang upon
+every word, because every word would seem the last, every look, every
+expression would be rivetted in your memory, and his image in this
+parting distress would-be painted upon your mind, in colours that would
+eat into its peace, and perhaps never be erased."
+
+"Enough, enough," said Cecilia, "I will not see him,--I will not even
+desire it!"
+
+"Is this compliance or conviction? Is what I have said true, or only
+terrifying?"
+
+"Both, both! I believe, indeed, the conflict would have overpowered
+me,--I see you are right,--and I thank you, madam, for saving me from a
+scene I might so cruelly have rued."
+
+"Oh Daughter of my mind!" cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her,
+"noble, generous, yet gentle Cecilia! what tie, what connection, could
+make you more dear to me? Who is there like you? Who half so excellent?
+So open to reason, so ingenuous in error! so rational! so just! so
+feeling, yet so wise!"
+
+"You are very good," said Cecilia, with a forced serenity, "and I am
+thankful that your resentment for the past obstructs not your lenity for
+the present."
+
+"Alas, my love, how shall I resent the past, when I ought myself to have
+foreseen this calamity! and I _should_ have foreseen it, had I not been
+informed you were engaged, and upon your engagement built our security.
+Else had I been more alarmed, for my own admiration would have bid me
+look forward to my son's. You were just, indeed, the woman he had least
+chance to resist, you were precisely the character to seize his very
+soul. To a softness the most fatally alluring, you join a dignity which
+rescues from their own contempt even the most humble of your admirers.
+You seem born to have all the world wish your exaltation, and no part
+of it murmur at your superiority. Were any obstacle but this insuperable
+one in the way, should nobles, nay, should princes offer their daughters
+to my election, I would reject without murmuring the most magnificent
+proposals, and take in triumph to my heart my son's nobler choice!"
+
+"Oh madam," cried Cecilia, "talk not to me thus!--speak not such
+flattering words!--ah, rather scorn and upbraid me, tell me you
+despise my character, my family and my connections,--load, load me with
+contempt, but do not thus torture me with approbation!"
+
+"Pardon me, sweetest girl, if I have awakened those emotions you so
+wisely seek to subdue. May my son but emulate your example, and my pride
+in his virtue shall be the solace of my affliction for his misfortunes."
+
+She then tenderly embraced her, and abruptly took her leave.
+
+Cecilia had now acted her part, and acted it to her own satisfaction;
+but the curtain dropt when Mrs Delvile left the house, nature resumed
+her rights, and the sorrow of her heart was no longer disguised or
+repressed. Some faint ray of hope had till now broke through the
+gloomiest cloud of her misery, and secretly flattered her that its
+dispersion was possible, though distant: but that ray was extinct, that
+hope was no more; she had solemnly promised to banish Delvile her sight,
+and his mother had absolutely declared that even the subject had been
+discussed for the last time.
+
+Mrs Charlton, impatient of some explanation of the morning's
+transactions, soon sent again to beg Cecilia would come to her. Cecilia
+reluctantly obeyed, for she feared encreasing her indisposition by the
+intelligence she had to communicate; she struggled, therefore, to appear
+to her with tolerable calmness, and in briefly relating what had passed,
+forbore to mingle with the narrative her own feelings and unhappiness.
+
+Mrs Charlton heard the account with the utmost concern; she accused
+Mrs Delvile of severity, and even of cruelty; she lamented the strange
+accident by which the marriage ceremony had been stopt, and regretted
+that it had not again been begun, as the only means to have rendered
+ineffectual the present fatal interposition. But the grief of Cecilia,
+however violent, induced her not to join in this regret; she mourned
+only the obstacle which had occasioned the separation, and not the
+incident which had merely interrupted the ceremony: convinced, by the
+conversations in which she had just been engaged, of Mrs Delvile's
+inflexibility, she rather rejoiced than repined that she had put it to
+no nearer trial: sorrow was all she felt; for her mind was too liberal
+to harbour resentment against a conduct which she saw was dictated by a
+sense of right; and too ductile and too affectionate to remain unmoved
+by the personal kindness which had softened the rejection, and the many
+marks of esteem and regard which had shewn her it was lamented, though
+considered as indispensable.
+
+How and by whom this affair had been betrayed to Mrs Delvile she knew
+not; but the discovery was nothing less than surprising, since, by
+various unfortunate accidents, it was known to so many, and since, in
+the horror and confusion of the mysterious prohibition to the marriage,
+neither Delvile nor herself had thought of even attempting to give
+any caution to the witnesses of that scene, not to make it known: an
+attempt, however, which must almost necessarily have been unavailing, as
+the incident was too extraordinary and too singular to have any chance
+of suppression.
+
+During this conversation, one of the servants came to inform Cecilia,
+that a man was below to enquire if there was no answer to the note he
+had brought in the forenoon.
+
+Cecilia, greatly distressed, knew not upon what to resolve; that the
+patience of Delvile should be exhausted, she did not, indeed, wonder,
+and to relieve his anxiety was now almost her only wish; she would
+therefore instantly have written to him, confessed her sympathy in his
+sufferings, and besought him to endure with fortitude an evil which
+was no longer to be withstood: but she was uncertain whether he was yet
+acquainted with the journey of his mother to Bury, and having agreed to
+commit to her the whole management of the affair, she feared it would
+be dishonourable to take any step in it without her concurrence. She
+returned, therefore, a message that she had yet no answer ready.
+
+In a very few minutes Delvile called himself, and sent up an earnest
+request for permission to see her.
+
+Here, at least, she had no perplexity; an interview she had given her
+positive word to refuse, and therefore, without a moment's hesitation,
+she bid the servant inform him she was particularly engaged, and sorry
+it was not in her power to see any company.
+
+In the greatest perturbation he left the house, and immediately wrote to
+her the following lines.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_. I entreat you to see me! if only for an instant, I
+entreat, I implore you to see me! Mrs Charlton may be present, all the
+world, if you wish it, may be present,--but deny me not admission, I
+supplicate, I conjure you!
+
+I will call in an hour; in that time you may have finished your present
+engagement. I will otherwise wait longer, and call again. You will not,
+I think, turn me from' your door, and, till I have seen you, I can only
+live in its vicinity. M. D.
+
+The man who brought this note, waited not for any answer.
+
+Cecilia read it in an agony of mind inexpressible: she saw, by its
+style, how much Delvile was irritated, and her knowledge of his temper
+made her certain his irritation proceeded from believing himself
+ill-used. She ardently wished to appease and to quiet him, and regretted
+the necessity of appearing obdurate and unfeeling, even more, at that
+moment, than the separation itself. To a mind priding in its purity,
+and animated in its affections, few sensations can excite keener misery,
+than those by which an apprehension is raised of being thought worthless
+or ungrateful by the objects of our chosen regard. To be deprived of
+their society is less bitter, to be robbed of our own tranquillity by
+any other means, is less afflicting.
+
+Yet to this it was necessary to submit, or incur the only penalty which,
+to such a mind, would be more severe, self-reproach: she had promised to
+be governed by Mrs Delvile, she had nothing, therefore, to do but obey
+her.
+
+Yet _to turn_, as he expressed himself, _from the door_, a man who,
+but for an incident the most incomprehensible, would now have been sole
+master of herself and her actions, seemed so unkind and so tyrannical,
+that she could not endure to be within hearing of his repulse: she
+begged, therefore, the use of Mrs Charlton's carriage, and determined
+to make a visit to Mrs Harrel till Delvile and his mother had wholly
+quitted Bury. She was not, indeed, quite satisfied in going to the house
+of Mr Arnott, but she had no time to weigh objections, and knew not any
+other place to which still greater might not be started.
+
+She wrote a short letter to Mrs Delvile, acquainting her with her
+purpose, and its reason, and repeating her assurances that she would
+be guided by her implicitly; and then, embracing Mrs Charlton, whom
+she left to the care of her grand-daughters, she got into a chaise,
+accompanied only by her maid, and one man and horse, and ordered the
+postilion to drive to Mr Arnott's.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A COTTAGE.
+
+The evening was already far advanced, and before she arrived at the end
+of her little journey it was quite dark. When they came within a mile
+of Mr Arnott's house, the postilion, in turning too suddenly from the
+turnpike to the cross-road, overset the carriage. The accident, however,
+occasioned no other mischief than delaying their proceeding, and
+Cecilia and her maid were helped out of the chaise unhurt. The servants,
+assisted by a man who was walking upon the road, began lifting it up;
+and Cecilia, too busy within to be attentive to what passed without,
+disregarded what went forward, till she heard her footman call for help.
+She then hastily advanced to enquire what was the matter, and found
+that the passenger who had lent his aid, had, by working in the dark,
+unfortunately slipped his foot under one of the wheels, and so much hurt
+it, that without great pain he could not put it to the ground.
+
+Cecilia immediately desired that the sufferer might be carried to his
+own home in the chaise, while she and the maid walked on to Mr Arnott's,
+attended by her servant on horseback.
+
+This little incident proved of singular service to her upon first
+entering the house; Mrs Harrel was at supper with her brother, and
+hearing the voice of Cecilia in the hall, hastened with the extremest
+surprise to enquire what had occasioned so late a visit; followed by Mr
+Arnott, whose amazement was accompanied with a thousand other sensations
+too powerful for speech. Cecilia, unprepared with any excuse, instantly
+related the adventure she had met with on the road, which quieted their
+curiosity, by turning their attention to her personal safety. They
+ordered a room to be prepared for her, entreated her to go to rest with
+all speed, and postpone any further account till the next day. With this
+request she most gladly complied, happy to be spared the embarrassment
+of enquiry, and rejoiced to be relieved from the fatigue of
+conversation. Her night was restless and miserable: to know how Delvile
+would bear her flight was never a moment from her thoughts, and to hear
+whether he would obey or oppose his mother was her incessant wish. She
+was fixt, however, to be faithful in refusing to see him, and at least
+to suffer nothing new from her own enterprize or fault.
+
+Early in the morning Mrs Harrel came to see her. She was eager to learn
+why, after invitations repeatedly refused, she was thus suddenly arrived
+without any; and she was still more eager to talk of herself, and relate
+the weary life she led thus shut up in the country, and confined to the
+society of her brother.
+
+Cecilia evaded giving any immediate answer to her questions, and Mrs
+Harrel, happy in an opportunity to rehearse her own complaints, soon
+forgot that she had asked any, and, in a very short time, was perfectly,
+though imperceptibly, contented to be herself the only subject upon
+which they conversed.
+
+But not such was the selfishness of Mr Arnott; and Cecilia, when she
+went down to breakfast, perceived with the utmost concern that he
+had passed a night as sleepless as her own. A visit so sudden, so
+unexpected, and so unaccountable, from an object that no discouragement
+could make him think of with indifference, had been a subject to him of
+conjecture and wonder that had revived all the hopes and the fears which
+had lately, though still unextinguished, lain dormant. The enquiries,
+however, which his sister had given up, he ventured not to renew, and
+thought himself but too happy in her presence, whatever might be the
+cause of her visit.
+
+He perceived, however, immediately, the sadness that hung upon her mind,
+and his own was redoubled by the sight: Mrs Harrel, also, saw that she
+looked ill, but attributed it to the fatigue and fright of the preceding
+evening, well knowing that a similar accident would have made her ill
+herself, or fancy that she was so.
+
+During breakfast, Cecilia sent for the postilion, to enquire of him how
+the man had fared, whose good-natured assistance in their distress had
+been so unfortunate to himself. He answered that he had turned out to
+be a day labourer, who lived about half a mile off. And then, partly to
+gratify her own humanity, and partly to find any other employment for
+herself and friends than uninteresting conversation, she proposed that
+they should all walk to the poor man's habitation, and offer him some
+amends for the injury he had received. This was readily assented to,
+and the postilion directed them whither to go. The place was a cottage,
+situated upon a common; they entered it without ceremony, and found a
+clean looking woman at work.
+
+Cecilia enquired for her husband, and was told that he was gone out to
+day-labour.
+
+"I am very glad to hear it," returned she; "I hope then he has got the
+better of the accident he met with last night?"
+
+"It was not him, madam," said the woman, "met with the accident, it was
+John;--there he is, working in the garden."
+
+To the garden then they all went, and saw him upon the ground, weeding.
+
+The moment they approached he arose, and, without speaking, began to
+limp, for he could hardly walk; away.
+
+"I am sorry, master," said Cecilia, "that you are so much hurt. Have you
+had anything put to your foot?"
+
+The man made no answer, but still turned away from her; a glance,
+however, of his eye, which the next instant he fixed upon the ground,
+startled her; she moved round to look at him again,--and perceived Mr
+Belfield!
+
+"Good God!" she exclaimed; but seeing him still retreat, she recollected
+in a moment how little he would be obliged to her for betraying him, and
+suffering him to go on, turned back to her party, and led the way again
+into the house.
+
+As soon as the first emotion of her surprise was over, she enquired how
+long John had belonged to this cottage, and what was his way of life.
+
+The woman answered he had only been with them a week, and that he went
+out to day-labour with her husband.
+
+Cecilia then, finding their stay kept him from his employment, and
+willing to save him the distress of being seen by Mr Arnott or Mrs
+Harrel, proposed their returning home. She grieved most sincerely at
+beholding in so melancholy an occupation a young man of such talents and
+abilities; she wished much to assist him, and began considering by what
+means it might be done, when, as they were walking from the cottage, a
+voice at some distance called out "Madam! Miss Beverley!" and, looking
+round, to her utter amazement she saw Belfield endeavouring to follow
+her.
+
+She instantly stopt, and he advanced, his hat in his hand, and his whole
+air indicating he sought not to be disguised.
+
+Surprised at this sudden change of behaviour, she then stept forward
+to meet him, accompanied by her friends: but when they came up to each
+other, she checked her desire of speaking, to leave him fully at liberty
+to make himself known, or keep concealed.
+
+He bowed with a look of assumed gaiety and ease, but the deep scarlet
+that tinged his whole face manifested his internal confusion; and in
+a voice that attempted to sound lively, though its tremulous accents
+betrayed uneasiness and distress, he exclaimed, with a forced smile,
+"Is it possible Miss Beverley can deign to notice a poor miserable
+day-labourer such as I am? how will she be justified in the beau monde,
+when even the sight of such a wretch ought to fill her with horror?
+Henceforth let hysterics be blown to the winds, and let nerves be
+discarded from the female vocabulary, since a lady so young and fair can
+stand this shock without hartshorn or fainting!"
+
+"I am happy," answered Cecilia, "to find your spirits so good; yet
+my own, I must confess, are not raised by seeing you in this strange
+situation."
+
+"My spirits!" cried he, with an air of defiance, "never were they
+better, never so good as at this moment. Strange as seems my situation,
+it is all that I wish; I have found out, at last, the true secret of
+happiness! that secret which so long I pursued in vain, but which always
+eluded my grasp, till the instant of despair arrived, when, slackening
+my pace, I gave it up as a phantom. Go from me, I cried, I will be
+cheated no more! thou airy bubble! thou fleeting shadow! I will live no
+longer in thy sight, since thy beams dazzle without warming me! Mankind
+seems only composed as matter for thy experiments, and I will quit the
+whole race, that thy delusions may be presented to me no more!"
+
+This romantic flight, which startled even Cecilia, though acquainted
+with his character, gave to Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott the utmost
+surprize; his appearance, and the account they had just heard of him,
+having by no means prepared them for such sentiments or such language.
+
+"Is then this great secret of happiness," said Cecilia, "nothing, at
+last, but total seclusion from the world?"
+
+"No, madam," answered he, "it is Labour with Independence."
+
+Cecilia now wished much to ask some explanation of his affairs, but was
+doubtful whether he would gratify her before Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott,
+and hurt to keep him standing, though he leant upon a stick; she told
+him, therefore, she would at present detain him no longer, but endeavour
+again to see him before she quitted her friends.
+
+Mr Arnott then interfered, and desired his sister would entreat Miss
+Beverley to invite whom she pleased to his house.
+
+Cecilia thanked him, and instantly asked Belfield to call upon her in
+the afternoon.
+
+"No, madam, no," cried he, "I have done with visits and society! I will
+not so soon break through a system with much difficulty formed, when all
+my future tranquility depends upon adhering to it. The worthlessness of
+mankind has disgusted me with the world, and my resolution in quitting
+it shall be immoveable as its baseness."
+
+"I must not venture then," said Cecilia, "to enquire--"
+
+"Enquire, madam," interrupted he, with quickness, "what you please:
+there is nothing I will not answer to you,--to this lady, to this
+gentleman, to any and to every body. What can I wish to conceal, where
+I have nothing to gain or to lose? When first, indeed, I saw you, I
+involuntarily shrunk; a weak shame for a moment seized me, I felt
+fallen and debased, and I wished to avoid you: but a little recollection
+brought me back to my senses, And where, cried I, is the disgrace of
+exercising for my subsistence the strength with which I am endued?
+and why should I blush to lead the life which uncorrupted Nature first
+prescribed to man?"
+
+"Well, then," said Cecilia, more and more interested to hear him, "if
+you will not visit us, will you at least permit us to return with you to
+some place where you can be seated?"
+
+"I will with pleasure," cried he, "go to any place where you may be
+seated yourselves; but for me, I have ceased to regard accommodation or
+inconvenience."
+
+They then all went back to the cottage, which was now empty, the woman
+being out at work.
+
+"Will you then, Sir," said Cecilia, "give me leave to enquire whether
+Lord Vannelt is acquainted with your retirement, and if it will not much
+surprize and disappoint him?"
+
+"Lord Vannelt," cried he, haughtily, "has no right to be surprised. I
+would have quitted _his_ house, if no other, not even this cottage, had
+a roof to afford me shelter!"
+
+"I am sorry, indeed, to hear it," said Cecilia; "I had hoped he would
+have known your value, and merited your regard."
+
+"Ill-usage," answered he, "is as hard to relate as to be endured. There
+is commonly something pitiful in a complaint; and though oppression in
+a general sense provokes the wrath of mankind, the investigation of its
+minuter circumstances excites nothing but derision. Those who give the
+offence, by the worthy few may be hated; but those who receive it, by
+the world at large will be despised. Conscious of this, I disdained
+making any appeal; myself the only sufferer, I had a right to be
+the only judge, and, shaking off the base trammels of interest and
+subjection, I quitted the house in silent indignation, not chusing to
+remonstrate, where I desired not to be reconciled."
+
+"And was there no mode of life," said Cecilia, "to adopt, but living
+with Lord Vannelt, or giving up the whole world?"
+
+"I weighed every thing maturely," answered he, "before I made my
+determination, and I found it so much, the most eligible, that I am
+certain I can never repent it. I had friends who would with pleasure
+have presented me to some other nobleman; but my whole heart revolted
+against leading that kind of life, and I would not, therefore, idly rove
+from one great man to another, adding ill-will to disgrace, and pursuing
+hope in defiance of common sense; no; when I quitted Lord Vannelt, I
+resolved to give up patronage for ever.
+
+"I retired to private lodgings to deliberate what next could be done. I
+had lived in many ways, I had been unfortunate or imprudent in all.
+The law I had tried, but its rudiments were tedious and disgusting; the
+army, too, but there found my mind more fatigued with indolence, than my
+body with action; general dissipation had then its turn, but the expence
+to which it led was ruinous, and self-reproach baffled pleasure while
+I pursued it; I have even--yes, there are few things I have left
+untried,--I have even,--for why now disguise it?--"
+
+He stopt and coloured, but in a quicker voice presently proceeded.
+
+"Trade, also, has had its share in my experiments; for that, in truth,
+I was originally destined,--but my education had ill suited me to such a
+destination, and the trader's first maxim I reversed, in lavishing when
+I ought to have accumulated.
+
+"What, then, remained for me? to run over again the same irksome round I
+had not patience, and to attempt any thing new I was unqualified: money
+I had none; my friends I could bear to burthen no longer; a fortnight I
+lingered in wretched irresolution,--a simple accident at the end of it
+happily settled me; I was walking, one morning, in Hyde Park, forming a
+thousand plans for my future life, but quarrelling with them all; when
+a gentleman met me on horseback, from whom, at my Lord Vannelt's, I had
+received particular civilities; I looked another way not to be seen
+by him, and the change in my dress since I left his Lordship's made me
+easily pass unnoticed. He had rode on, however, but a few yards,
+before, by some accident or mismanagement, he had a fall from his horse.
+Forgetting all my caution, I flew instantly to his assistance; he was
+bruised, but not otherwise hurt; I helpt him up, and he leant 'pon my
+arm; in my haste of enquiring how he had fared, I called him by his
+name. He knew me, but looked surprised at my appearance; he was speaking
+to me, however, with kindness, when seeing some gentlemen of his
+acquaintance gallopping up to him, he hastily disengaged himself from
+me, and instantly beginning to recount to them what had happened, he
+sedulously looked another way, and joining his new companions, walked
+off without taking further notice of me. For a moment I was almost
+tempted to trouble him to come back; but a little recollection told me
+how ill he deserved my resentment, and bid me transfer it for the future
+from the pitiful individual to the worthless community.
+
+"Here finished my deliberation; the disgust to the world which I had
+already conceived, this little incident confirmed; I saw it was only
+made for the great and the rich;--poor, therefore, and low, what had
+I to do in it? I determined to quit it for ever, and to end every
+disappointment, by crushing every hope.
+
+"I wrote to Lord Vannelt to send my trunks to my mother; I wrote to my
+mother that I was well, and would soon let her hear more: I then paid
+off my lodgings, and 'shaking the dust from my feet,' bid a long adieu
+to London; and, committing my route to chance, strole on into the
+country, without knowing or caring which way.
+
+"My first thought was simply to seek retirement, and to depend for my
+future repose upon nothing but a total seclusion from society: but my
+slow method of travelling gave me time for reflection, and reflection
+soon showed me the error of this notion.
+
+"Guilt, cried I, may, indeed, be avoided by solitude; but will misery?
+will regret? will deep dejection of mind? no, they will follow more
+assiduously than ever; for what is there to oppose them, where neither
+business occupies the time, nor hope the imagination? where the past
+has left nothing but resentment, and the future opens only to a dismal,
+uninteresting void? No stranger to life, I knew human nature could not
+exist on such terms; still less a stranger to books, I respected the
+voice of wisdom and experience in the first of moralists, and most
+enlightened of men, [Footnote: Dr Johnson.] and reading the letter of
+Cowley, I saw the vanity and absurdity of _panting after solitude_.
+[Footnote: Life of Cowley, p.34.]
+
+"I sought not, therefore, a cell; but, since I purposed to live for
+myself, I determined for myself also to think. Servility of imitation
+has ever been as much my scorn as servility of dependence; I resolved,
+therefore, to strike out something new, and no more to retire as every
+other man had retired, than to linger in the world as every other man
+had lingered.
+
+"The result of all you now see. I found out this cottage, and took up
+my abode in it. I am here out of the way of all society, yet avoid the
+great evil of retreat, _having nothing to do_. I am constantly, not
+capriciously employed, and the exercise which benefits my health,
+imperceptibly raises my spirits in despight of adversity. I am removed
+from all temptation, I have scarce even the power to do wrong; I have no
+object for ambition, for repining I have no time:--I have, found out, I
+repeat, the true secret of happiness, Labour with Independence."
+
+He stopt; and Cecilia, who had listened to this narrative with a mixture
+of compassion, admiration and censure, was too much struck with its
+singularity to be readily able to answer it. Her curiosity to hear him
+had sprung wholly from her desire to assist him, and she had expected
+from his story to gather some hint upon which her services might be
+offered. But none had occurred; he professed himself fully satisfied
+with his situation; and though reason and probability contradicted the
+profession, she could not venture to dispute it with any delicacy or
+prudence.
+
+She thanked him, therefore, for his relation, with many apologies for
+the trouble she had given him, and added, "I must not express my
+concern for misfortunes which you seem to regard as conducive to your
+contentment, nor remonstrate at the step you have taken, since you have
+been led to it by choice, not necessity: but yet, you must pardon me if
+I cannot help hoping I shall some time see you happier, according to the
+common, however vulgar ideas of the rest of the world."
+
+"No, never, never! I am sick of mankind, not from theory, but
+experience; and the precautions I have taken against mental fatigue,
+will secure me from repentance, or any desire of change; for it is not
+the active, but the indolent who weary; it is not the temperate, but the
+pampered who are capricious."
+
+"Is your sister, Sir, acquainted with this change in your fortune and
+opinions?"
+
+"Poor girl, no! She and her unhappy mother have borne but too long with
+my enterprizes and misfortunes. Even yet they would sacrifice whatever
+they possess to enable me to play once more the game so often lost; but
+I will not abuse their affection, nor suffer them again to be slaves to
+my caprices, nor dupes to their own delusive expectations. I have sent
+them word I am happy; I have not yet told them how or where. I fear much
+the affliction of their disappointment, and, for a while, shall conceal
+from them my situation, which they would fancy was disgraceful, and
+grieve at as cruel."
+
+"And is it not cruel?" said Cecilia, "is labour indeed so sweet? and can
+you seriously derive happiness from what all others consider as misery?"
+
+"Not sweet," answered he, "in itself; but sweet, most sweet and salutary
+in its effects. When I work, I forget all the world; my projects for the
+future, my disappointments from the past. Mental fatigue is overpowered
+by personal; I toil till I require rest, and that rest which nature,
+not luxury demands, leads not to idle meditation, but to sound, heavy,
+necessary sleep. I awake the next morning to the same thought-exiling
+business, work again till my powers are exhausted, and am relieved again
+at night by the same health-recruiting insensibility."
+
+"And if this," cried Cecilia, "is the life of happiness, why have we so
+many complaints of the sufferings of the poor, and why so eternally do
+we hear of their hardships and distress?"
+
+"They have known no other life. They are strangers, therefore, to the
+felicity of their lot. Had they mingled in the world, fed high their
+fancy with hope, and looked forward with expectation of enjoyment; had
+they been courted by the great, and offered with profusion adulation
+for their abilities, yet, even when starving, been offered nothing
+else!--had they seen an attentive circle wait all its entertainment from
+their powers, yet found themselves forgotten as soon as out of sight,
+and perceived themselves avoided when no longer buffoons!--Oh had
+they known and felt provocations such as these, how gladly would their
+resentful spirits turn from the whole unfeeling race, and how would they
+respect that noble and manly labour, which at once disentangles them
+from such subjugating snares, and enables them to fly the ingratitude
+they abhor! Without the contrast of vice, virtue unloved may be lovely;
+without the experience of misery, happiness is simply a dull privation
+of evil."
+
+"And are you so content," cried Cecilia, "with your present situation,
+as even to think it offers you reparation for your past sufferings?"
+
+"Content!" repeated he with energy, "O more than content, I am proud of
+my present situation! I glory in chewing to the world, glory still more
+in shewing to myself, that those whom I cannot but despise I will not
+scruple to defy, and that where I have been treated unworthily, I will
+scorn to be obliged."
+
+"But will you pardon me," said Cecilia, "should I ask again, why in
+quitting Lord Vannelt, you concluded no one else worthy a trial?"
+
+"Because it was less my Lord Vannelt, madam, than my own situation, that
+disgusted me: for though I liked not his behaviour, I found him a man
+too generally esteemed to flatter myself better usage would await me
+in merely changing my abode, while my station was the same. I believe,
+indeed, he never meant to offend me; but I was offended the more that
+he should think me an object to receive indignity without knowing it. To
+have had this pointed out to him, would have been at once mortifying and
+vain; for delicacy, like taste, can only partially be taught, and will
+always be superficial and erring where it is not innate. Those wrongs,
+which though too trifling to resent, are too humiliating to be borne,
+speech can convey no idea of; the soul must feel, or the understanding
+can never comprehend them."
+
+"But surely," said Cecilia, "though people of refinement are rare, they
+yet exist; why, then, remove yourself from the possibility of meeting
+with them?"
+
+"Must I run about the nation," cried he, "proclaiming my distress, and
+describing my temper? telling the world that though dependent I demand
+respect as well as assistance; and publishing to mankind, that though
+poor I will accept no gifts if offered with contumely? Who will listen
+to such an account? who will care for my misfortunes, but as they may
+humble me to his service? Who will hear my mortifications, but to say
+I deserve them? what has the world to do with my feelings and
+peculiarities? I know it too well to think calamity will soften it; I
+need no new lessons to instruct me that to conquer affliction is more
+wise than to relate it."
+
+"Unfortunate as you have been," said Cecilia, "I cannot wonder at your
+asperity; but yet, it is surely no more than justice to acknowledge,
+that hard-heartedness to distress is by no means the fault of the
+present times: on the contrary, it is scarce sooner made known, than
+every one is ready to contribute to its relief."
+
+"And how contribute?" cried he, "by a paltry donation of money? Yes, the
+man whose only want is a few guineas, may, indeed, obtain them; but
+he who asks kindness and protection, whose oppressed spirit calls for
+consolation even more than his ruined fortune for repair, how is his
+struggling soul, if superior to his fate, to brook the ostentation of
+patronage, and the insolence of condescension? Yes, yes, the world will
+save the poor beggar who is starving; but the fallen wretch, who will
+not cringe for his support, may consume in his own wretchedness without
+pity and without help!"
+
+Cecilia now saw that the wound his sensibility had received was too
+painful for argument, and too recent immediately to be healed. She
+forbore, therefore, to detain him any longer, but expressing her best
+wishes, without venturing to hint at her services, she arose, and they
+all took their leave;--Belfield hastening, as they went, to return to
+the garden, where, looking over the hedge as they passed, they saw him
+employed again in weeding, with the eagerness of a man who pursues his
+favourite occupation.
+
+Cecilia half forgot her own anxieties and sadness, in the concern which
+she felt for this unfortunate and extraordinary young man. She wished
+much to devise some means for drawing him from a life of such hardship
+and obscurity; but what to a man thus "jealous in honour," thus
+scrupulous in delicacy, could she propose, without more risk of offence,
+than probability of obliging? His account had, indeed, convinced her how
+much he stood in need of assistance, but it had shewn her no less how
+fastidious he would be in receiving it.
+
+Nor was she wholly without fear that an earnest solicitude to serve him,
+his youth, talents, and striking manners considered, might occasion even
+in himself a misconstruction of her motives, such as she already had
+given birth to in his forward and partial mother.
+
+The present, therefore, all circumstances weighed, seemed no season for
+her liberality, which she yet resolved to exert the first moment it was
+unopposed by propriety.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A CONTEST.
+
+The rest of the day was passed in discussing this adventure; but in the
+evening, Cecilia's interest in it was all sunk, by the reception of the
+following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+I grieve to interrupt the tranquillity of a retirement so judiciously
+chosen, and I lament the necessity of again calling to trial the virtue
+of which the exertion, though so captivating, is so painful; but alas,
+my excellent young friend, we came not hither to enjoy, but to suffer;
+and happy only are those whose sufferings have neither by folly
+been sought, nor by guilt been merited, but arising merely from the
+imperfection of humanity, have been resisted with fortitude, or endured
+with patience.
+
+I am informed of your virtuous steadiness, which corresponds with my
+expectations, while it excites my respect. All further conflict I had
+hoped to have saved you; and to the triumph of your goodness I had
+trusted for the recovery of your peace: but Mortimer has disappointed
+me, and our work is still unfinished.
+
+He avers that he is solemnly engaged to you, and in pleading to me his
+honour, he silences both expostulation and authority. From your own
+words alone will he acknowledge his dismission; and notwithstanding my
+reluctance to impose upon you this task, I cannot silence or quiet him
+without making the request.
+
+For a purpose such as this, can you, then, admit us? Can you bear with
+your own lips to confirm the irrevocable decision? You will feel, I am
+sure, for the unfortunate Mortimer, and it was earnestly my desire to
+spare you the sight of his affliction; yet such is my confidence in your
+prudence, that since I find him bent upon seeing you, I am not without
+hope, that from witnessing the greatness of your mind, the interview may
+rather calm than inflame him.
+
+This proposal you will take into consideration, and if you are able,
+upon such terms, to again meet my son, we will wait upon you together,
+where and when you will appoint; but if the gentleness of your nature
+will make the effort too severe for you, scruple not to decline it, for
+Mortimer, when he knows your pleasure, will submit to it as he ought.
+
+Adieu, most amiable and but too lovely Cecilia; whatever you determine,
+be sure of my concurrence, for nobly have you earned, and ever must you
+retain, the esteem, the affection, and the gratitude of AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+
+"Alas," cried Cecilia, "when shall I be at rest? when cease to be
+persecuted by new conflicts! Oh why must I so often, so cruelly, though
+so reluctantly, reject and reprove the man who of all men I wish to
+accept and to please!"
+
+But yet, though repining at this hard necessity, she hesitated not a
+moment in complying with Mrs Delvile's request, and immediately sent an
+answer that she would meet her the next morning at Mrs Charlton's.
+
+She then returned to the parlour, and apologized to Mrs Harrel and
+Mr Arnott for the abruptness of her visit, and the suddenness of her
+departure. Mr Arnott heard her in silent dejection; and Mrs Harrel
+used all the persuasion in her power to prevail with her to stay, her
+presence being some relief to her solitude: but finding it ineffectual,
+she earnestly pressed her to hasten her entrance into her own house,
+that their absence might be shortened, and their meeting more sprightly.
+
+Cecilia passed the night in planning her behaviour for the next day;
+she found how much was expected from her by Mrs Delvile, who had even
+exhorted her to decline the interview if doubtful of her own strength.
+Delvile's firmness in insisting the refusal should come directly
+from herself, surprised, gratified and perplexed her in turn; she had
+imagined, that from the moment of the discovery, he would implicitly
+have submitted to the award of a parent at once so reverenced and so
+beloved, and how he had summoned courage to contend with her she could
+not conjecture: yet that courage and that contention astonished not
+more than they soothed her, since, from her knowledge of his filial
+tenderness, she considered them as the most indubitable proofs she had
+yet received of the fervour and constancy of his regard for her. But
+would he, when she had ratified the decision of his mother, forbear all
+further struggle, and for ever yield up all pretensions to her? this was
+the point upon which her uncertainty turned, and the ruling subject of
+her thoughts and meditation.
+
+To be steady, however, herself, be his conduct what it might, was
+invariably her intention, and was all her ambition: yet earnestly she
+wished the meeting over, for she dreaded to see the sorrow of Delvile,
+and she dreaded still more the susceptibility of her own heart.
+
+The next morning, to her great concern, Mr Arnott was waiting in the
+hall when she came down stairs, and so much grieved at her departure,
+that he handed her to the chaise without being able to speak to her, and
+hardly heard her thanks and compliments but by recollection after she
+was gone.
+
+She arrived at Mrs Charlton's very early, and found her old friend in
+the same state she had left her. She communicated to her the purpose of
+her return, and begged she would keep her granddaughters up stairs, that
+the conference in the parlour might be uninterrupted and unheard.
+
+She then made a forced and hasty breakfast, and went down to be ready
+to receive them. They came not till eleven o'clock, and the time of her
+waiting was passed in agonies of expectation.
+
+At length they were announced, and at length they entered the room.
+
+Cecilia, with her utmost efforts for courage, could hardly stand to
+receive them. They came in together, but Mrs Delvile, advancing before
+her son, and endeavouring so to stand as to intercept his view of her,
+with the hope that in a few instants her emotion would be less visible,
+said, in the most soothing accents, "What honour Miss Beverley does us
+by permitting this visit! I should have been sorry to have left Suffolk
+without the satisfaction of again seeing you; and my son, sensible of
+the high respect he owes you, was most unwilling to be gone, before he
+had paid you his devoirs."
+
+Cecilia courtsied; but depressed by the cruel task which awaited her,
+had no power to speak; and Mrs Delvile, finding she still trembled, made
+her sit down, and drew a chair next to her.
+
+Mean while Delvile, with an emotion far more violent, because wholly
+unrestrained, waited impatiently till the ceremonial of the reception
+was over, and then, approaching Cecilia, in a voice of perturbation and
+resentment, said, "In this presence, at least, I hope I may be heard;
+though my letters have been unanswered, my visits refused, though
+inexorably you have flown me--"
+
+"Mortimer," interrupted Mrs Delvile, "forget not that what I have told
+you is irrevocable; you now meet Miss Beverley for no other purpose than
+to give and to receive a mutual release of all to or engagement with
+each other."
+
+"Pardon me, madam," cried he, "this is a condition to which I have never
+assented. I come not to release, but to claim her! I am hers, and hers
+wholly! I protest it in the face of the world! The time, therefore, is
+now past for the sacrifice which you demand, since scarce are you more
+my mother, than I consider her as my wife."
+
+Cecilia, amazed at this dauntless declaration, now almost lost her fear
+in her surprise; while Mrs Delvile, with an air calm though displeased,
+answered, "This is not a point to be at present discussed, and I had
+hoped you knew better what was due to your auditors. I only consented to
+this interview as a mark of your respect for Miss Beverley, to whom in
+propriety it belongs to break off this unfortunate connexion."
+
+Cecilia, who at this call could no longer be silent, now gathered
+fortitude to say, "Whatever tie or obligation may be supposed to depend
+upon me, I have already relinquished; and I am now ready to declare--"
+
+"That you wholly give me up?" interrupted Delvile, "is that what you
+would say?--Oh how have I offended you? how have I merited a displeasure
+that can draw upon me such a sentence?--Answer, speak to me, Cecilia,
+what is it I have done?"
+
+"Nothing, Sir," said Cecilia, confounded at this language in the
+presence of his mother, "you have done nothing,--but yet--"
+
+"Yet what?--have you conceived to me an aversion? has any dreadful and
+horrible antipathy succeeded to your esteem?--tell, tell me without
+disguise, do you hate, do you abhor me?"
+
+Cecilia sighed, and turned away her head; and Mrs Delvile indignantly
+exclaimed, "What madness and absurdity! I scarce know you under the
+influence of such irrational violence. Why will you interrupt Miss
+Beverley in the only speech you ought to hear from her? Why, at once,
+oppress her, and irritate me, by words of more passion than reason?
+Go on, charming girl, finish what so wisely, so judiciously you
+were beginning, and then you shall be released from this turbulent
+persecution."
+
+"No, madam, she must not go on!" cried Delvile, "if she does not utterly
+abhor me, I will not suffer her to go on;--Pardon, pardon me, Cecilia,
+but your too exquisite delicacy is betraying not only my happiness, but
+your own. Once more, therefore, I conjure you to hear me, and then if,
+deliberately and unbiassed, you renounce me, I will never more distress
+you by resisting your decree."
+
+Cecilia, abashed and changing colour, was silent, and he proceeded.
+
+"All that has past between us, the vows I have offered you of faith,
+constancy and affection, the consent I obtained from you to be legally
+mine, the bond of settlement I have had drawn up, and the high honour
+you conferred upon me in suffering me to lead you to the altar,--all
+these particulars are already known to so many, that the least
+reflection must convince you they will soon be concealed from none: tell
+me, then, if your own fame pleads not for me, and if the scruples which
+lead you to refuse, by taking another direction, will not, with much
+more propriety, urge, nay enjoin you to accept me!--You hesitate at
+least,--O Miss Beverley!--I see in that hesitation--"
+
+"Nothing, nothing!" cried she, hastily, and checking her rising
+irresolution; "there is nothing for you to see, but that every way I now
+turn I have rendered myself miserable!"
+
+"Mortimer," said Mrs Delvile, seized with terror as she penetrated into
+the mental yielding of Cecilia, "you have now spoken to Miss Beverley;
+and unwilling as I am to obtrude upon her our difference of sentiment,
+it is necessary, since she has heard you, that I, also, should claim her
+attention."
+
+"First let her speak!" cried Delvile, who in her apparent wavering built
+new hopes, "first let her answer what she has already deigned to listen
+to."
+
+"No, first let her hear!" cried Mrs Delvile, "for so only can she judge
+what answer will reflect upon her most honour."
+
+Then, solemnly turning to Cecilia, she continued: "You see here, Miss
+Beverley, a young man who passionately adores you, and who forgets in
+his adoration friends, family, and connections, the opinions in which
+he has been educated, the honour of his house, his own former views,
+and all his primitive sense of duty, both public and private!--A passion
+built on such a defalcation of principle renders him unworthy your
+acceptance; and not more ignoble for him would be a union which would
+blot his name from the injured stock whence he sprung, than indelicate
+for you, who upon such terms ought to despise him."
+
+"Heavens, madam," exclaimed Delvile, "what a speech!"
+
+"O never," cried Cecilia, rising, "may I hear such another! Indeed,
+madam, there is no occasion to probe me so deeply, for I would not now
+enter your family, for all that the whole world could offer me!"
+
+"At length, then, madam," cried Delvile, turning reproachfully to his
+mother, "are you satisfied? is your purpose now answered? and is the
+dagger you have transfixed in my heart sunk deep enough to appease you?"
+
+"O could I draw it out," cried Mrs Delvile, "and leave upon it no stain
+of ignominy, with what joy should my own bosom receive it, to heal the
+wound I have most compulsatorily inflicted!--Were this excellent young
+creature portionless, I would not hesitate in giving my consent; every
+claim of interest would be overbalanced by her virtues, and I would not
+grieve to see you poor, where so conscious you were happy; but here to
+concede, would annihilate every hope with which hitherto I have looked
+up to my son."
+
+"Let us now, then, madam," said Cecilia, "break up this conference. I
+have spoken, I have heard, the decree is past, and therefore,"--
+
+"You are indeed an angel!" cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her;
+"and never can I reproach my son with what has passed, when I consider
+for what an object the sacrifice was planned. _You_ cannot be unhappy,
+you have purchased peace by the exercise of virtue, and the close of
+every day will bring to you a reward, in the sweets of a self-approving
+mind.--But we will part, since you think it right; I do wrong to
+occasion any delay."
+
+"No, we will _not_ part!" cried Delvile, with encreasing vehemence; "if
+you force me, madam, from her, you will drive me to distraction! What is
+there in this world that can offer me a recompense? And what can pride
+even to the proudest afford as an equivalent? Her perfections you
+acknowledge, her greatness of mind is like your own; she has generously
+given me her heart,--Oh sacred and fascinating charge! Shall I, after
+such a deposite, consent to an eternal separation? Repeal, repeal your
+sentence, my Cecilia! let us live to ourselves and our consciences, and
+leave the vain prejudices of the world to those who can be paid by them
+for the loss of all besides!"
+
+"Is this conflict, then," said Mrs Delvile, "to last for-ever? Oh
+end it, Mortimer, finish it, and make me happy! she is just, and will
+forgive you, she is noble-minded, and will honour you. Fly, then, at
+this critical moment, for in flight alone is your safety; and then will
+your father see the son of his hopes, and then shall the fond blessings
+of your idolizing mother soothe all your affliction, and soften all your
+regret!"
+
+"Oh madam!" cried Delvile, "for mercy, for humanity, forbear this cruel
+supplication!"
+
+"Nay, more than supplication, you have my commands; commands you have
+never yet disputed, and misery, ten-fold misery, will follow their
+disobedience. Hear me, Mortimer, for I speak prophetically; I know your
+heart, I know it to be formed for rectitude and duty, or destined by
+their neglect to repentance and horror."
+
+Delvile, struck by these words, turned suddenly from them both, and
+in gloomy despondence walked to the other end of the room. Mrs Delvile
+perceived the moment of her power, and determined to pursue the blow:
+taking, therefore, the hand of Cecilia, while her eyes sparkled with the
+animation of reviving hope, "See," she cried, pointing to her son, "see
+if I am deceived! can he bear even the suggestion of future contrition!
+Think you when it falls upon him, he will support it better? No; he
+will sink under it. And you, pure as you are of mind, and steadfast in
+principle, what would your chance be of happiness with a man who never
+erring till he knew you, could never look at you without regret, be his
+fondness what it might?"
+
+"Oh madam," cried the greatly shocked Cecilia, "let him, then, see me no
+more!--take, take him all to yourself! forgive, console him! I will not
+have the misery of involving him in repentance, nor of incurring the
+reproaches of the mother he so much reverences!"
+
+"Exalted creature!" cried Mrs Delvile; "tenderness such as this would
+confer honour upon a monarch." Then, calling out exultingly to her
+son, "See," she added, "how great a woman can act, when stimulated by
+generosity, and a just sense of duty! Follow then, at least, the example
+you ought to have led, and deserve my esteem and love, or be content to
+forego them."
+
+"And can I only deserve them," said Delvile, in a tone of the deepest
+anguish, "by a compliance to which not merely my happiness, but
+my reason must be sacrificed? What honour do I injure that is not
+factitious? What evil threatens our union, that is not imaginary? In
+the general commerce of the world it may be right to yield to its
+prejudices, but in matters of serious importance, it is weakness to be
+shackled by scruples so frivolous, and it is cowardly to be governed by
+the customs we condemn. Religion and the laws of our country should then
+alone be consulted, and where those are neither opposed nor infringed,
+we should hold ourselves superior to all other considerations."
+
+"Mistaken notions!" said Mrs Delvile; "and how long do you flatter
+yourself this independent happiness would endure? How long could you
+live contented by mere self-gratification, in defiance of the censure
+of mankind, the renunciation of your family, and the curses of your
+father?"
+
+"The curses of my father!" repeated he, starting and shuddering, "O no,
+he could never be so barbarous!"
+
+"He could," said she, steadily, "nor do I doubt but he would. If now,
+however, you are affected by the prospect of his disclaiming you, think
+but what you will feel when first forbid to appear before either of us!
+and think of your remorse for involving Miss Beverley in such disgrace!"
+
+"O speak not such words!" cried he, with agonizing earnestness, "to
+disgrace her,--to be banished by you,--present not, I conjure you, such
+scenes to my imagination!"
+
+"Yet would they be unavoidable," continued she; "nor have I said to you
+all; blinded as you now are by passion, your nobler feelings are only
+obscured, not extirpated; think, then, how they will all rise in revenge
+of your insulted dignity, when your name becomes a stranger to your
+ears, and you are first saluted by one so meanly adopted!--"
+
+"Hold, hold, madam," interrupted he, "this is more than I can bear!"
+
+"Heavens!" still continued she, disregarding his entreaty, "what in the
+universe can pay you for that first moment of indignity! Think of it
+well ere you proceed, and anticipate your sensations, lest the shock
+should wholly overcome you. How will the blood of your wronged ancestors
+rise into your guilty cheeks, and how will your heart throb with secret
+shame and reproach, when wished joy upon your marriage by the name of
+_Mr Beverley_!"
+
+Delvile, stung to the soul, attempted not any answer, but walked about
+the room in the utmost disorder of mind. Cecilia would have retired,
+but feared irritating him to some extravagance; and Mrs Delvile, looking
+after him, added "For myself, I would still see, for I should pity
+your wife,--but NEVER would I behold my son when sunk into an object of
+compassion!"
+
+"It shall not be!" cried he, in a transport of rage; "cease, cease to
+distract me!--be content, madam,--you have conquered!"
+
+"Then you are my son!" cried she, rapturously embracing him; "now I know
+again my Mortimer! now I see the fair promise of his upright youth, and
+the flattering completion of my maternal expectations!"
+
+Cecilia, finding all thus concluded, desired nothing so much as to
+congratulate them on their reconciliation; but having only said "Let
+_me_, too,--" her voice failed her, she stopt short, and hoping she had
+been unheard, would have glided out of the room.
+
+But Delvile, penetrated and tortured, yet delighted at this sensibility,
+broke from his mother, and seizing her hand, exclaimed, "Oh Miss
+Beverley, if _you_ are not happy---"
+
+"I am! I am!" cried she, with quickness; "let me pass,--and think no
+more of me."
+
+"That voice,--those looks,--" cried he, still holding her, "they speak
+not serenity!--Oh if I have injured your peace,--if that heart, which,
+pure as angels, deserves to be as sacred from sorrow, through my means,
+or for my sake, suffers any diminution of tranquility--"
+
+"None, none!" interrupted she, with precipitation.
+
+"I know well," cried he, "your greatness of soul; and if this dreadful
+sacrifice gives lasting torture only to myself,--if of _your_ returning
+happiness I could be assured,--I would struggle to bear it."
+
+"You _may_, be assured of it," cried she, with reviving dignity, "I have
+no right to expect escaping all calamity, but while I share the common
+lot, I will submit to it without repining."
+
+"Heaven then bless, and hovering angels watch you!" cried he, and
+letting go her hand, he ran hastily out of the room.
+
+"Oh Virtue, how bright is thy triumph!" exclaimed Mrs Delvile, flying
+up to Cecilia, and folding her in her arms; "Noble, incomparable young
+creature! I knew not that so much worth was compatible with human
+frailty!"
+
+But the heroism of Cecilia, in losing its object, lost its force; she
+sighed, she could not speak, tears gushed into her eyes, and kissing Mrs
+Delvile's hand with a look that shewed her inability to converse with
+her, she hastened, though scarce able to support herself, away, with
+intention to shut herself up in her own apartment: and Mrs Delvile,
+who perceived that her utmost fortitude was exhausted, opposed not her
+going, and wisely forbore to encrease her emotion, by following her even
+with her blessings.
+
+But when she came into the hall, she started, and could proceed no
+further; for there she beheld Delvile, who in too great agony to be
+seen, had stopt to recover some composure before he quitted the house.
+
+At the first sound of an opening door, he was hastily escaping; but
+perceiving Cecilia, and discerning her situation, he more hastily turned
+back, saying, "Is it possible?--To _me_ were you coming?"
+
+She shook her head, and made a motion with her hand to say no, and would
+then have gone on.
+
+"You are weeping!" cried he, "you are pale!--Oh Miss Beverley! is this
+your happiness!"
+
+"I am very well,--" cried she, not knowing what she answered, "I am
+quite well,--pray go,--I am very--" her words died away inarticulated.
+
+"O what a voice is that!" exclaimed he, "it pierces my very soul!"
+
+Mrs Delvile now came to the parlour door, and looked aghast at the
+situation in which she saw them: Cecilia again moved on, and reached the
+stairs, but tottered, and was obliged to cling to the banisters.
+
+"O suffer me to support you," cried he; "you are not able to
+stand,--whither is it you would go?"
+
+"Any where,--I don't know,--" answered she, in faltering accents, "but
+if you would leave me, I should be well."
+
+And, turning from him, she walked again towards the parlour, finding by
+her shaking frame, the impossibility of getting unaided up the stairs.
+
+"Give me your hand, my love," said Mrs Delvile, cruelly alarmed by this
+return; and the moment they re-entered the parlour, she said impatiently
+to her son, "Mortimer, why are you not gone?"
+
+He heard her not, however; his whole attention was upon Cecilia, who,
+sinking into a chair, hid her face against Mrs Delvile: but, reviving in
+a few moments, and blushing at the weakness she had betrayed, she raised
+her head, and, with an assumed serenity, said, "I am better,--much
+better,--I was rather sick,--but it is over; and now, if you will excuse
+me, I will go to my own room."
+
+She then arose, but her knees trembled, and her head was giddy, and
+again seating herself, she forced a faint smile, and said, "Perhaps I
+had better keep quiet."
+
+"Can I bear this!" cried Delvile, "no, it shakes all my
+resolution!--loveliest and most beloved Cecilia! forgive my rash
+declaration, which I hear retract and forswear, and which no false
+pride, no worthless vanity shall again surprise from me!--raise, then,
+your eyes--"
+
+"Hot-headed young man!" interrupted Mrs Delvile, with an air of haughty
+displeasure, "if you cannot be rational, at least be silent. Miss
+Beverley, we will both leave him."
+
+Shame, and her own earnestness, how restored some strength to Cecilia,
+who read with terror in the looks of Mrs Delvile the passions with which
+she was agitated, and instantly obeyed her by rising; but her son, who
+inherited a portion of her own spirit, rushed between them both and the
+door, and exclaimed, "Stay, madam, stay! I cannot let you go: I see your
+intention, I see your dreadful purpose; you will work upon the feelings
+of Miss Beverley, you will extort from her a promise to see me no more!"
+
+"Oppose not my passing!" cried Mrs Delvile, whose voice, face and manner
+spoke the encreasing disturbance of her soul; "I have but too long
+talked to you in vain; I must now take some better method for the
+security of the honour of my family."
+
+This moment appeared to Delvile decisive; and casting off in desperation
+all timidity and restraint, he suddenly sprang forward, and snatching
+the hand of Cecilia from his mother, he exclaimed, "I cannot, I will not
+give her up!--nor now, madam, nor ever!--I protest it most solemnly! I
+affirm it by my best hopes! I swear it by all that I hold sacred!"
+
+Grief and horror next to frenzy at a disappointment thus unexpected, and
+thus peremptory, rose in the face of Mrs Delvile, who, striking her hand
+upon her forehead, cried, "My brain is on fire!" and rushed out of the
+room.
+
+Cecilia had now no difficulty to disengage herself from Delvile, who,
+shocked at the exclamation, and confounded by the sudden departure of
+his mother, hastened eagerly to pursue her: she had only flown into the
+next parlour; but, upon following her thither, what was his dread and
+his alarm, when he saw her extended, upon the floor, her face, hands and
+neck all covered with blood! "Great Heaven!" he exclaimed, prostrating
+himself by her side, "what is it you have done!--where are you
+wounded?--what direful curse have you denounced against your son?"
+
+Not able to speak, she angrily shook her head, and indignantly made a
+motion with her hand, that commanded him from her sight.
+
+Cecilia, who had followed, though half dead with terror, had yet the
+presence of mind to ring the bell. A servant came immediately; and
+Delvile, starting up from his mother, ordered him to fetch the first
+surgeon or physician he could find.
+
+The alarm now brought the rest of the servants into the room, and Mrs
+Delvile suffered herself to be raised from the ground, and seated in a
+chair; she was still silent, but shewed a disgust to any assistance
+from her son, that made him deliver her into the hands of the servants,
+while, in speechless agony, he only looked on and watched her.
+
+Neither did Cecilia, though forgetting her own sorrow, and no longer
+sensible of personal weakness, venture to approach her: uncertain what
+had happened, she yet considered herself as the ultimate cause of this
+dreadful scene, and feared to risk the effect of the smallest additional
+emotion.
+
+The servant returned with a surgeon in a few minutes: Cecilia, unable
+to wait and hear what he would say, glided hastily out of the room; and
+Delvile, in still greater agitation, followed her quick into the
+next parlour; but having eagerly advanced to speak to her, he turned
+precipitately about, and hurrying into the hall, walked in hasty steps
+up and down it, without courage to enquire what was passing.
+
+At length the surgeon came out: Delvile flew to him, and stopt him,
+but could ask no question. His countenance, however, rendered words
+unnecessary; the surgeon understood him, and said, "The lady will do
+very well; she has burst a blood vessel, but I think it will be of
+no consequence. She must be kept quiet and easy, and upon no account
+suffered to talk, or to use any exertion."
+
+Delvile now let him go, and flew himself into a corner to return thanks
+to heaven that the evil, however great, was less than he had at first
+apprehended. He then went into the parlour to Cecilia, eagerly calling
+out, "Heaven be praised, my mother has not voluntarily cursed me!"
+
+"O now then," cried Cecilia, "once more make her bless you! the violence
+of her agitation has already almost destroyed her, and her frame is too
+weak for this struggle of contending passions;--go to her, then, and
+calm the tumult of her spirits, by acquiescing wholly in her will, and
+being to her again the son she thinks she has lost!"
+
+"Alas!" said he, in a tone of the deepest dejection; "I have been
+preparing myself for that purpose, and waited but your commands to
+finally determine me."
+
+"Let us both go to her instantly," said Cecilia; "the least delay may be
+fatal."
+
+She now led the way, and approaching Mrs Delvile, who, faint and weak,
+was seated upon an arm chair, and resting her head upon the shoulder of
+a maid servant, said, "Lean, dearest madam, upon _me_, and speak not,
+but hear us!"
+
+She then took the place of the maid, and desired her and the other
+servants to go out of the room. Delvile advanced, but his mother's eye,
+recovering, at his sight, its wonted fire, darted upon him a glance of
+such displeasure, that, shuddering with the apprehension of inflaming
+again those passions which threatened her destruction, he hastily sank
+on one knee, and abruptly exclaimed, "Look at me with less abhorrence,
+for I come but to resign myself to your will."
+
+"Mine, also," cried Cecilia, "that will shall be; you need not speak
+it, we know it, and here solemnly we promise that we will separate for
+ever."
+
+"Revive, then, my mother," said Delvile, "rely upon our plighted
+honours, and think only of your health, for your son will never more
+offend you."
+
+Mrs Delvile, much surprised, and strongly affected, held out her hand to
+him, with a look of mingled compassion and obligation, and dropping
+her head upon the bosom of Cecilia, who with her other arm she pressed
+towards her, she burst into an agony of tears.
+
+"Go, go, Sir!" said Cecilia, cruelly alarmed, "you have said all that is
+necessary; leave Mrs Delvile now, and she will be more composed."
+
+Delvile instantly obeyed, and then his mother, whose mouth still
+continued to fill with blood, though it gushed not from her with the
+violence it had begun, was prevailed upon by the prayers of Cecilia to
+consent to be conveyed into her room; and, as her immediate removal
+to another house might be dangerous, she complied also, though very
+reluctantly, with her urgent entreaties, that she would take entire
+possession of it till the next day.
+
+This point gained, Cecilia left her, to communicate what had passed to
+Mrs Charlton; but was told by one of the servants that Mr Delvile begged
+first to speak with her in the next room.
+
+She hesitated for a moment whether to grant this request; but
+recollecting it was right to acquaint him with his mother's intention of
+staying all night, she went to him.
+
+"How indulgent you are," cried he, in a melancholy voice, as she opened
+the door; "I am now going post to Dr Lyster, whom I shall entreat to
+come hither instantly; but I am fearful of again disturbing my mother,
+and must therefore rely upon you to acquaint her what is become of me."
+
+"Most certainly; I have begged her to remain here to-night, and I hope
+I shall prevail with her to continue with me till Dr Lyster's arrival;
+after which she will, doubtless, be guided either in staying longer, or
+removing elsewhere, by his advice."
+
+"You are all goodness," said he, with a deep sigh; "and how I shall
+support--but I mean not to return hither, at least not to this
+house,--unless, indeed, Dr Lyster's account should be alarming. I leave
+my mother, therefore, to your kindness, and only hope, only entreat,
+that your own health,--your own peace of mind--neither by attendance
+upon her--by anxiety--by pity for her son--"
+
+He stopt, and seemed gasping for breath; Cecilia turned from him to hide
+her emotion, and he proceeded with a rapidity of speech that shewed his
+terror of continuing with her any longer, and his struggle with himself
+to be gone: "The promise you have made in both our names to my mother,
+I shall hold myself bound to observe. I see, indeed, that her reason
+or her life would fall the sacrifice of further opposition: of myself,
+therefore, it is no longer time to think.--I take of you no leave--I
+cannot! yet I would fain tell you the high reverence--but it is better
+to say nothing--"
+
+"Much better," cried Cecilia, with a forced and faint smile; "lose not,
+therefore, an instant, but hasten to this good Dr Lyster."
+
+"I will," answered he, going to the door; but there, stopping and
+turning round, "one thing I should yet," he added, "wish to say,--I have
+been impetuous, violent, unreasonable,--with shame and with regret I
+recollect how impetuous, and how unreasonable: I have persecuted, where
+I ought in silence to have submitted; I have reproached, where I ought
+in candour to have approved; and in the vehemence with which I have
+pursued you, I have censured that very dignity of conduct which has
+been the basis of my admiration, my esteem, my devotion! but never can
+I forget, and never without fresh wonder remember, the sweetness with
+which you have borne with me, even when most I offended you. For this
+impatience, this violence, this inconsistency, I now most sincerely
+beg your pardon; and if, before I go, you could so far condescend as to
+pronounce my forgiveness, with a lighter heart, I think, I should quit
+you."
+
+"Do not talk of forgiveness," said Cecilia, "you have never offended me;
+I always knew--always was sure--always imputed--" she stopt, unable to
+proceed.
+
+Deeply penetrated by her apparent distress, he with difficulty
+restrained himself from falling at her feet; but after a moment's pause
+and recollection, he said, "I understand the generous indulgence you
+have shewn me, an indulgence I shall ever revere, and ever grieve to
+have abused. I ask you not to remember me,--far, far happier do I wish
+you than such a remembrance could make you; but I will pain the
+humanity of your disposition no longer. You will tell my mother--but
+no matter!--Heaven preserve you, my angelic Cecilia!--Miss Beverley,
+I mean, Heaven guide, protect, and bless you! And should I see you no
+more, should this be the last sad moment---"
+
+He paused, but presently recovering himself, added, "May I hear, at
+least, of your tranquillity, for that alone can have any chance to quiet
+or repress the anguish I feel here!"
+
+He then abruptly retreated, and ran out of the house.
+
+Cecilia for a while remained almost stupified with sorrow; she forgot
+Mrs Delvile, she forgot Mrs Charlton, she forgot her own design of
+apologizing to one, or assisting the other: she continued in the posture
+in which he had left her, quite without motion, and almost without
+sensibility.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A MESSAGE.
+
+From this lethargy of sadness Cecilia was soon, however, awakened by the
+return of the surgeon, who had brought with him a physician to consult
+upon Mrs Delvile's situation. Terror for the mother once more drove
+the son from her thoughts, and she waited with the most apprehensive
+impatience to hear the result of the consultation. The physician
+declined giving any positive opinion, but, having written a
+prescription, only repeated the injunction of the surgeon, that she
+should be kept extremely quiet, and on no account be suffered to talk.
+
+Cecilia, though shocked and frightened at the occasion, was yet by no
+means sorry at an order which thus precluded all conversation; unfitted
+for it by her own misery, she was glad to be relieved from all necessity
+of imposing upon herself the irksome task of finding subjects for
+discourse to which she was wholly indifferent, while obliged with
+sedulity to avoid those by which alone her mind was occupied.
+
+The worthy Mrs Charlton heard the events of the morning with the utmost
+concern, but charged her grand-daughters to assist her young friend in
+doing the honours of her house to Mrs Delvile, while she ordered another
+apartment to be prepared for Cecilia, to whom she administered all the
+consolation her friendly zeal could suggest.
+
+Cecilia, however unhappy, had too just a way of thinking to indulge in
+selfish grief, where occasion called her to action for the benefit
+of others: scarce a moment, therefore now did she allow to sorrow and
+herself, but assiduously bestowed the whole of her time upon her two
+sick friends, dividing her attention according to their own desire or
+convenience, without consulting or regarding any choice of her own.
+Choice, indeed, she had none; she loved Mrs Charlton, she revered Mrs
+Delvile; the warmest wish with which her heart glowed, was the recovery
+of both, but too deep was her affliction to receive pleasure from
+either.
+
+Two days passed thus, during which the constancy of her attendance,
+which at another time would have fatigued her, proved the only relief
+she was capable of receiving. Mrs Delvile was evidently affected by her
+vigilant tenderness, but seemed equally desirous with herself to make
+use of the prohibition to speech as an excuse for uninterrupted silence.
+She enquired not even after her son, though the eagerness of her look
+towards the door whenever it was opened, shewed either a hope, or an
+apprehension that he might enter. Cecilia wished to tell her whither
+he was gone, but dreaded trusting her voice with his name; and their
+silence, after a while, seemed so much by mutual consent, that she had
+soon as little courage as she had inclination to break it.
+
+The arrival of Dr Lyster gave her much satisfaction, for upon him
+rested her hopes of Mrs Delvile's re-establishment. He sent for her down
+stairs, to enquire whether he was expected; and hearing that he was not,
+desired her to announce him, as the smallest emotion might do mischief.
+
+She returned up stairs, and after a short preparation, said, "Your
+favourite Dr Lyster, madam, is come, and I shall be much the happier for
+having you under his care."
+
+"Dr Lyster?" cried she, "who sent for him?"
+
+"I believe--I fancy--Mr Delvile fetched him."
+
+"My son?--is he here, then?"
+
+"No,--he went, the moment he left you, for Dr Lyster,--and Dr Lyster is
+come by himself."
+
+"Does he write to you?"
+
+"No, indeed!--he writes not--he comes not--dearest madam be satisfied,
+he will do neither to me ever more!"
+
+"Exemplary young man!" cried she, in a voice hardly audible, "how great
+is his loss!--unhappy Mortimer!--ill-fated, and ill-rewarded!"
+
+She sighed, and said no more; but this short conversation, the only one
+which had passed between them since her illness, agitated her so
+much, that Dr Lyster, who now came up stairs, found her in a state of
+trembling and weakness that both alarmed and surprised him. Cecilia,
+glad of an opportunity to be gone, left the room, and sent, by Dr
+Lyster's desire, for the physician and surgeon who had already attended.
+
+After they had been some time with their patient, they retired to a
+consultation, and when it was over, Dr Lyster waited upon Cecilia in
+the parlour, and assured her he had no apprehension of danger for
+Mrs Delvile, "Though, for another week," he added, "I would have her
+continue your _patient_, as she is not yet fit to be removed. But pray
+mind that she is kept quiet; let nobody go near her, not even her own
+son. By the way he is waiting for me at the inn, so I'll just speak
+again to his mother, and be gone."
+
+Cecilia was well pleased by this accidental information, to learn
+both the anxiety of Delvile for his mother, and the steadiness of his
+forbearance for himself. When Dr Lyster came down stairs again, "I shall
+stay," he said, "till to-morrow, but I hope she will be able in another
+week to get to Bristol. In the mean time I shall leave her, I see, with
+an excellent nurse. But, my good young lady, in your care of her, don't
+neglect yourself; I am not quite pleased with your looks, though it is
+but an old fashioned speech to tell you so.--What have you been doing to
+yourself?"
+
+"Nothing;" said she, a little embarrassed; "but had you not better have
+some tea?"
+
+"Why yes, I think I had;--but what shall I do with my young man?"
+
+Cecilia understood the hint, but coloured, and made no answer.
+
+"He is waiting for me," he continued, "at the inn; however, I never yet
+knew the young man I would prefer to a young woman, so if you will give
+me some tea here, I shall certainly jilt him."
+
+Cecilia instantly rang the bell, and ordered tea.
+
+"Well now," said he, "remember the sin of this breach of appointment
+lies wholly at your door. I shall tell him you laid violent hands on
+me; and if that is not, enough to excuse me, I shall desire he will try
+whether he could be more of a stoic with you himself."
+
+"I think I must unorder the tea," said she, with what gaiety she could
+assume, "if I am to be responsible for any mischief from your drinking
+it."
+
+"No, no, you shan't be off now; but pray would it be quite out of rule
+for you to send and ask him to come to us?"
+
+"Why I believe--I think--" said she, stammering, "it's very likely he
+may be engaged."
+
+"Well, well, I don't mean to propose any violent incongruity. You must
+excuse my blundering; I understand but little of the etiquette of young
+ladies. 'Tis a science too intricate to be learned without more study
+than we plodding men of business can well spare time for. However, when
+I have done _writing_ prescriptions, I will set about _reading_ them,
+provided you will be my instructress."
+
+Cecilia, though ashamed of a charge in which prudery and affectation
+were implied, was compelled to submit to it, as either to send for
+Delvile, or explain her objections, was equally impossible. The Miss
+Charltons, therefore, joined them, and they went to tea.
+
+Just as they had done, a note was delivered to Dr Lyster; "see here,"
+cried he, when he had read it, "what a fine thing it is to be a _young_
+man! Why now, Mr Mortimer understands as much of all this _etiquette_ as
+you ladies do yourselves; for he only writes a note even to ask how his
+mother does."
+
+He then put it into Cecilia's hand.
+
+_To Dr Lyster_.
+
+Tell me, my dear Sir, how you have found my mother? I am uneasy at
+your long stay, and engaged with my friend Biddulph, or I should have
+followed you in person.
+
+M.D.
+
+"So you see," continued the doctor, "I need not do penance for
+engaging myself to you, when this young gentleman can find such good
+entertainment for himself."
+
+Cecilia who well knew the honourable motive of Delvile's engagement,
+with difficulty forbore speaking in his vindication. Dr Lyster
+immediately began an answer, but before he had finished it, called out,
+"Now as I am told you are a very good young woman, I think you can do no
+less than assist me to punish this gay spark, for playing the macaroni,
+when he ought to visit his sick mother."
+
+Cecilia, much hurt for Delvile, and much confused for herself, looked
+abashed, but knew not what to answer.
+
+"My scheme," continued the doctor, "is to tell him, that as he has found
+one engagement for tea, he may find another for supper; but that as to
+me, I am better disposed of, for you insist upon keeping me to yourself.
+Come, what says _etiquette_? may I treat myself with this puff?"
+
+"Certainly," said Cecilia, endeavouring to look pleased, "if you will
+favour us with your company, Miss Charltons and myself will think the
+_puffing_ should rather be ours than yours."
+
+"That, then," said the doctor, "will not answer my purpose, for I mean
+the puff to be my own, or how do I punish him? So, suppose I tell him
+I shall not only sup with three young ladies, but be invited to a
+_tete-a-tete_ with one of them into the bargain?"
+
+The young ladies only laughed, and the doctor finished his note, and
+sent it away; and then, turning gaily to Cecilia, "Come," he said, "why
+don't you give me this invitation? surely you don't mean to make me
+guilty of perjury?"
+
+Cecilia, but little disposed for pleasantry, would gladly now have dropt
+the subject; but Dr Lyster, turning to the Miss Charltons, said, "Young
+ladies, I call you both to witness if this is not very bad usage: this
+young woman has connived at my writing a downright falsehood, and all
+the time took me in to believe it was a truth. The only way I can think
+of to cure her of such frolics, is for both of you to leave us together,
+and so make her keep her word whether she will or no."
+
+The Miss Charltons took the hint, and went away; while Cecilia, who
+had not at all suspected he meant seriously to speak with her, remained
+extremely perplexed to think what he had to say.
+
+"Mrs Delvile," cried he, continuing the same air of easy good humour,
+"though I allowed her not to speak to me above twenty words, took up
+near ten of them to tell me that you had behaved to her like an angel.
+Why so she ought, cried I; what else was she sent for here to look
+so like one? I charged her, therefore, to take all that as a thing of
+course; and to prove that I really think what I say, I am now going to
+make a trial of you, that, if you are any thing less, will induce you to
+order some of your men to drive me into the street. The truth is, I have
+had a little commission given me, which in the first place I know not
+how to introduce, and which, in the second, as far as I can judge,
+appears to be absolutely superfluous."
+
+Cecilia now felt uneasy and alarmed, and begged him to explain himself.
+He then dropt the levity with which he had begun the discourse, and
+after a grave, yet gentle preparation, expressive of his unwillingness
+to distress her, and his firm persuasion of her uncommon worthiness, he
+acquainted her that he was no stranger to her situation with respect to
+the Delvile family.
+
+"Good God!" cried she, blushing and much amazed; "and who"---
+
+"I knew it," said he, "from the moment I attended Mr Mortimer in his
+illness at Delvile Castle. He could not conceal from me that the seat
+of his disorder was his mind; and I could not know that, without readily
+conjecturing the cause, when I saw who was his father's guest, and when
+I knew what was his father's character. He found he was betrayed to me,
+and upon my advising a journey, he understood me properly. His openness
+to counsel, and the manly firmness with which he behaved in quitting
+you, made me hope the danger was blown over. But last week, when I was
+at the Castle, where I have for some time attended Mr Delvile, who has
+had a severe fit of the gout, I found him in an agitation of spirits
+that made me apprehend it would be thrown into his stomach. I desired
+Mrs Delvile to use her influence to calm him; but she was herself in
+still greater emotion, and acquainting me she was obliged to leave
+him, desired I would spend with him every moment in my power. I have
+therefore almost lived at the Castle during her absence, and, in
+the course of our many conversations, he has acknowledged to me the
+uneasiness under which he has laboured, from the intelligence concerning
+his son, which he had just received."
+
+Cecilia wished here to enquire _how_ received, and from whom, but had
+not the courage, and therefore he proceeded.
+
+"I was still with the father when Mr Mortimer arrived post at my house
+to fetch me hither. I was sent for home; he informed me of his errand
+without disguise, for he knew I was well acquainted with the original
+secret whence all the evil arose. I told him my distress in what
+manner to leave his father; and he was extremely shocked himself when
+acquainted with his situation. We agreed that it would be vain to
+conceal from him the indisposition of Mrs Delvile, which the delay of
+her return, and a thousand other accidents, might in some unfortunate
+way make known to him. He commissioned me, therefore, to break it to
+him, that he might consent to my journey, and at the same time to quiet
+his own mind, by assuring him all he had apprehended was wholly at an
+end."
+
+He stopt, and looked to see how Cecilia bore these words.
+
+"It is all at an end, Sir;" said she, with firmness; "but I have not yet
+heard your commission; what, and from whom is that?"
+
+"I am thoroughly satisfied it is unnecessary;" he answered, "since the
+young man can but submit, and you can but give him up."
+
+"But still, if there is a message, it is fit I should hear it."
+
+"If you chase it, so it is. I told Mr Delvile whither I was coming,
+and I repeated to him his son's assurances. He was relieved, but not
+satisfied; he would not see him, and gave me for him a prohibition of
+extreme severity, and to _you_ he bid me say--"
+
+"From _him_, then, is my message?" cried Cecilia, half frightened, and
+much disappointed.
+
+"Yes," said he, understanding her immediately, "for the son, after
+giving me his first account, had the wisdom and forbearance not once to
+mention you."
+
+"I am very glad," said she, with a mixture of admiration and regret, "to
+hear it. But, what, Sir, said Mr Delvile?"
+
+"He bid me tell you that either _he_, or _you_ must see his son never
+more."
+
+"It was indeed unnecessary," cried she, colouring with resentment, "to
+send me such a message. I meant not to see him again, he meant not to
+desire it. I return him, however, no answer, and I will make him no
+promise; to Mrs Delvile alone I hold myself bound; to him, send what
+messages he may, I shall always hold myself free. But believe me, Dr
+Lyster, if with his name, his son had inherited his character, his
+desire of our separation would be feeble, and trifling, compared with my
+own!"
+
+"I am sorry, my good young lady," said he, "to have given you this
+disturbance; yet I admire your spirit, and doubt not but it will enable
+you to forget any little disappointment you may have suffered. And what,
+after all, have you to regret? Mortimer Delvile is, indeed, a young man
+that any woman might wish to attach; but every woman cannot have him,
+and you, of all women, have least reason to repine in missing him,
+for scarcely is there another man you may not chuse or reject at your
+pleasure."
+
+Little as was the consolation Cecilia could draw from this speech,
+she was sensible it became not her situation to make complaints, and
+therefore, to end the conversation she proposed calling in the Miss
+Charltons.
+
+"No, no," said he, "I must step up again to Mrs Delvile, and then
+be-gone. To-morrow morning I shall but call to see how she is, and leave
+some directions, and set off. Mr Mortimer Delvile accompanies me back:
+but he means to return hither in a week, in order to travel with his
+mother to Bristol. Mean time, I purpose to bring about a reconciliation
+between him and his father, whose prejudices are more intractable than
+any man's I ever met with."
+
+"It will be strange indeed," said Cecilia, "should a reconciliation
+_now_ be difficult!"
+
+"True; but it is long since he was young himself, and the softer
+affections he never was acquainted with, and only regards them in his
+son as derogatory to his whole race. However, if there were not some few
+such men, there would hardly be a family in the kingdom that could count
+a great grand-father. I am not, I must own, of his humour myself, but
+I think it rather peculiarly stranger, than peculiarly worse than most
+other peoples; and how, for example, was that of _your_ uncle a whit the
+better? He was just as fond of _his_ name, as if, like Mr Delvile, he
+could trace it from the time of the Saxons."
+
+Cecilia strongly felt the truth of this observation, but not chusing to
+discuss it, made not any answer, and Dr Lyster, after a few good-natured
+apologies, both for his friends the Delviles and himself, went up
+stairs.
+
+"What continual disturbance," cried she, when left alone, "keeps me
+thus for-ever from rest! no sooner is one wound closed, but another is
+opened; mortification constantly succeeds distress, and when my heart is
+spared; my pride is attacked, that not a moment of tranquility may ever
+be allowed me! Had the lowest of women won the affections of Mr Delvile,
+could his father with less delicacy or less decency have acquainted her
+with his inflexible disapprobation? To send with so little ceremony a
+message so contemptuous and so peremptory!--but perhaps it is better,
+for had he, too, like Mrs Delvile, joined kindness with rejection, I
+might still more keenly have felt the perverseness of my destiny."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A PARTING.
+
+The next morning Dr Lyster called early, and having visited Mrs Delvile,
+and again met the two gentlemen of the faculty in whose care she was to
+remain, he took his leave. But not without contriving first to speak a
+few words to Cecilia in private, in which he charged her to be careful
+of her health, and re-animate her spirits. "Don't suppose," said he,
+"that because I am a friend of the Delvile family, I am either blind to
+your merits, or to their foibles, far from it; but then why should
+they interfere with one another? Let them keep their prejudices, which,
+though different, are not worse than their neighbours, and do you retain
+your excellencies, and draw from them the happiness they ought to give
+you. People reason and refine themselves into a thousand miseries, by
+chusing to settle that they can only be contented one way; whereas,
+there are fifty ways, if they would but look about them, that would
+commonly do as well."
+
+"I believe, indeed, you are right," answered Cecilia, "and I thank you
+for the admonition; I will do what I can towards studying your scheme of
+philosophy, and it is always one step to amendment, to be convinced that
+we want it."
+
+"You are a sensible and charming girl," said Dr Lyster, "and Mr Delvile,
+should he find a daughter-in-law descended in a right line from Egbert,
+first king of all England, won't be so well off as if he had satisfied
+himself with you. However, the old gentleman has a fair right, after
+all, to be pleased his own way, and let us blame him how we will, we
+shall find, upon sifting, it is for no other reason but because his
+humour happens to clash with our own."
+
+"That, indeed," said Cecilia, smiling, "is a truth incontrovertible! and
+a truth to which, for the future, I will endeavour to give more weight.
+But will you permit me now to ask one question?--Can you tell me
+from whom, how, or when the intelligence which has caused all this
+disturbance---"
+
+She hesitated, but, comprehending her readily, he answered "How they got
+at it, I never heard, for I never thought it worth while to enquire, as
+it is so generally known, that nobody I meet with seems ignorant of it."
+
+This was another, and a cruel shock to Cecilia, and Dr Lyster,
+perceiving it, again attempted to comfort her. "That the affair is
+somewhat spread," said he, "is now not to be helped, and therefore
+little worth thinking of; every body will agree that the choice of
+both does honour to both, and nobody need be ashamed to be successor to
+either, whenever the course of things leads Mr Mortimer and yourself
+to make another election. He wisely intends to go abroad, and will not
+return till he is his own man again. And as to you, my good young
+lady, what, after a short time given to vexation, need interrupt your
+happiness? You have the whole world before you, with youth, fortune,
+talents, beauty and independence; drive, therefore, from your head
+this unlucky affair, and remember there can hardly be a family in the
+kingdom, this one excepted, that will not rejoice in a connection with
+you."
+
+He then good-humouredly shook hands with her, and went into his chaise.
+
+Cecilia, though not slow in remarking the ease and philosophy with
+which every one can argue upon the calamities, and moralize upon the
+misconduct of others, had still the candour and good sense to see that
+there was reason in what he urged, and to resolve upon making the best
+use in her power of the hints for consolation she might draw from his
+discourse.
+
+During the following week, she devoted herself almost wholly to Mrs
+Delvile, sharing with the maid, whom she had brought with her from the
+Castle, the fatigue of nursing her, and leaving to the Miss Charltons
+the chief care of their grandmother. For Mrs Delvile appeared every hour
+more sensible of her attention, and more desirous of her presence, and
+though neither of them spoke, each was endeared to the other by the
+tender offices of friendship which were paid and received.
+
+When this week was expired, Dr Lyster was prevailed upon to return again
+to Bury, in order to travel himself with Mrs Delvile to Bristol. "Well,"
+cried he, taking Cecilia by the first opportunity aside, "how are you?
+Have you studied my scheme of philosophy, as you promised me?"
+
+"O yes," said she, "and made, I flatter myself, no little proficiency."
+
+"You are a good girl," cried he, "a very extraordinary girl! I am sure
+you are; and upon my honour I pity poor Mortimer with all my soul! But
+he is a noble young fellow, and behaves with a courage and spirit that
+does me good to behold. To have obtained you, he would have moved heaven
+and earth, but finding you out of his reach, he submits to his fate like
+a man."
+
+Cecilia's eyes glistened at this speech; "Yes," said she, "he long since
+said 'tis suspence, 'tis hope, that make the misery of life,--for there
+the Passions have all power, and Reason has none. But when evils are
+irremediable, and we have neither resources to plan, nor castle-building
+to delude us, we find time for the cultivation of philosophy, and
+flatter ourselves, perhaps, that we have found inclination!"
+
+"Why you have considered this matter very deeply," said he; "but I must
+not have you give way to these serious reflections. Thought, after all,
+has a cruel spite against happiness; I would have you, therefore, keep
+as much as you conveniently can, out of its company. Run about and
+divert yourself, 'tis all you have for it. The true art of happiness in
+this most whimsical world, seems nothing more nor less than this--Let
+those who have leisure, find employment, and those who have business,
+find leisure."
+
+He then told her that Mr Delvile senior was much better, and no longer
+confined to his room: and that he had had the pleasure of seeing an
+entire reconciliation take place between him and his son, of whom he was
+more fond and more proud than any other father in the universe.
+
+"Think of him, however, my dear young lady," he continued, "no more,
+for the matter I see is desperate: you must pardon my being a little
+officious, when I confess to you I could not help proposing to the old
+gentleman an expedient of my own; for as I could not drive you out of
+my head, I employed myself in thinking what might be done by way of
+accommodation. Now my scheme was really a very good one, only when
+people are prejudiced, all reasoning is thrown away upon them. I
+proposed sinking _both_ your names, since they are so at variance
+with one another, and so adopting a third, by means of a title. But Mr
+Delvile angrily declared, that though such a scheme might do very
+well for the needy Lord Ernolf, a Peer of twenty years, his own noble
+ancestors should never, by his consent, forfeit a name which so many
+centuries had rendered honourable. His son Mortimer, he added, must
+inevitably inherit the title of his grandfather, his uncle being old
+and unmarried; but yet he would rather see him a beggar, than lose his
+dearest hope that _Delvile_, Lord _Delvile_, would descend, both name
+and title, from generation to generation unsullied and uninterrupted."
+
+"I am sorry, indeed," said Cecilia, "that such a proposal was made, and
+I earnestly entreat that none of any sort may be repeated."
+
+"Well, well," said he, "I would not for the world do any mischief, but
+who would not have supposed such a proposal would have done good?"
+
+"Mr Mortimer," he then added, "is to meet us at--for he would not, he
+said, come again to this place, upon such terms as he was here last
+week, for the whole worth of the king's dominions."
+
+The carriage was now ready, and Mrs Delvile was prepared to depart.
+Cecilia approached to take leave of her, but Dr Lyster following, said
+"No talking! no thanking! no compliments of any sort! I shall carry off
+my patient without permitting one civil speech, and for all the rudeness
+I make her guilty of, I am willing to be responsible."
+
+Cecilia would then have retreated, but Mrs Delvile, holding out both her
+hands, said "To every thing else, Dr Lyster, I am content to submit; but
+were I to die while uttering the words, I cannot leave this inestimable
+creature without first saying how much I love her, how I honour, and
+how I thank her! without entreating her to be careful of her health, and
+conjuring her to compleat the greatness of her conduct, by not suffering
+her spirits to sink from the exertion of her virtue. And now my love,
+God bless you!"
+
+She then embraced her, and went on; Cecilia, at a motion of Dr Lyster's,
+forbearing to follow her.
+
+"And thus," cried she, when they were gone, "thus ends all my connection
+with this family! which it seems as if I was only to have known for the
+purpose of affording a new proof of the insufficiency of situation to
+constitute happiness. Who looks not upon mine as the perfection of
+human felicity?--And so, perhaps, it is, for it may be that Felicity and
+Humanity are never permitted to come nearer."
+
+And thus, in philosophic sadness, by reasoning upon the universality
+of misery, she restrained, at least, all violence of sorrow, though her
+spirits were dejected, and her heart was heavy.
+
+But the next day brought with it some comfort that a little lightened
+her sadness; Mrs Charlton, almost wholly recovered, was able to go down
+stairs, and Cecilia had at least the satisfaction of seeing an happy
+conclusion to an illness of which, with the utmost concern and regret,
+she considered herself as the cause. She attended her with the most
+unremitting assiduity, and being really very thankful, endeavoured
+to appear happy, and flattered herself that, by continual effort, the
+appearance in a short time would become reality.
+
+Mrs Charlton retired early, and Cecilia accompanied her up stairs:
+and while she was with her, was informed that Mr Monckton was in the
+parlour.
+
+The various, afflicting, and uncommon scenes in which she had been
+engaged since she last saw him, had almost wholly driven him from her
+remembrance, or when at any time he recurred to it, it was only to
+attribute the discontinuance of his visits to the offence she had
+given him, in refusing to follow his advice by relinquishing her London
+expedition.
+
+Full, therefore, of the mortifying transactions which had passed since
+their parting, and fearful of his enquiries into disgraces he had nearly
+foretold, she heard him announced with chagrin, and waited upon him in
+the most painful confusion.
+
+Far different were the feelings of Mr Monckton; he read in her
+countenance the dejection of disappointment, which impressed upon his
+heart the vivacity of hope: her evident shame was to him secret triumph,
+her ill-concealed sorrow revived all his expectations.
+
+She hastily began a conversation by mentioning her debt to him, and
+apologising for not paying it the moment she was of age. He knew but
+too well how her time had been occupied, and assured her the delay was
+wholly immaterial.
+
+He then led to an enquiry into the present situation of her affairs;
+but unable to endure a disquisition, which could only be productive of
+censure and mortification, she hastily stopt it, exclaiming, "Ask me
+not, I entreat you, Sir, any detail of what has passed,--the event has
+brought me sufferings that may well make blame be dispensed with;--I
+acknowledge all your wisdom, I am sensible of my own error, but the
+affair is wholly dropt, and the unhappy connection I was forming is
+broken off for-ever!"
+
+Little now was Mr Monckton's effort in repressing his further curiosity,
+and he started other subjects with readiness, gaiety and address. He
+mentioned Mrs Charlton, for whom he had not the smallest regard; he
+talked to her of Mrs Harrel, whose very existence was indifferent to
+him; and he spoke of their common acquaintance in the country, for not
+one of whom he would have grieved, if assured of meeting no more. His
+powers of conversation were enlivened by his hopes; and his exhilarated
+spirits made all subjects seem happy to him. A weight was removed from
+his mind which had nearly borne down even his remotest hopes; the object
+of his eager pursuit seemed still within his reach, and the rival into
+whose power he had so lately almost beheld her delivered, was totally
+renounced, and no longer to be dreaded. A revolution such as this,
+raised expectations more sanguine than ever; and in quitting the house,
+he exultingly considered himself released from every obstacle to his
+views--till, just as he arrived home, he recollected his wife!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER viii.
+
+A TALE.
+
+A week passed, during which Cecilia, however sad, spent her time as
+usual with the family, denying to herself all voluntary indulgence of
+grief, and forbearing to seek consolation from solitude, or relief from
+tears. She never named Delvile, she begged Mrs Charlton never to mention
+him; she called to her aid the account she had received from Dr Lyster
+of his firmness, and endeavoured, by an emulous ambition, to fortify her
+mind from the weakness of depression and regret.
+
+This week, a week of struggle with all her feelings, was just elapsed,
+when she received by the post the following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+BRISTOL, _Oct_. 21.
+
+My sweet young friend will not, I hope, be sorry to hear of my safe
+arrival at this place: to me every account of her health and welfare,
+will ever be the intelligence I shall most covet to receive. Yet I mean
+not to ask for it in return; to chance I will trust for information, and
+I only write now to say I shall write no more.
+
+Too much for thanks is what I owe you, and what I think of you is beyond
+all power of expression. Do not, then, wish me ill, ill as I have seemed
+to merit of you, for my own heart is almost broken by the tyranny I have
+been compelled to practise upon yours. And now let me bid a long adieu
+to you, my admirable Cecilia; you shall not be tormented with a useless
+correspondence, which can only awaken painful recollections, or give
+rise to yet more painful new anxieties. Fervently will I pray for
+the restoration of your happiness, to which nothing can so greatly
+contribute as that wise, that uniform command, so feminine, yet so
+dignified, you maintain over your passions; which often I have admired,
+though never so feelingly as at this conscious moment! when my own
+health is the sacrifice of emotions most fatally unrestrained.
+
+Send to me no answer, even if you have the sweetness to wish it; every
+new proof of the generosity of your nature is to me but a new wound.
+Forget us, therefore, wholly,--alas! you have only known us for sorrow!
+forget us, dear and invaluable Cecilia! though, ever, as you have
+nobly deserved, must you be fondly and gratefully remembered by AUGUSTA
+DELVILE.
+
+The attempted philosophy, and laboured resignation of Cecilia, this
+letter destroyed: the struggle was over, the apathy was at an end, and
+she burst into an agony of tears, which finding the vent they had
+long sought, now flowed unchecked down her cheeks, sad monitors of the
+weakness of reason opposed to the anguish of sorrow!
+
+A letter at once so caressing, yet so absolute, forced its way to her
+heart, in spite of the fortitude she had flattered herself was its
+guard. In giving up Delvile she was satisfied of the propriety of seeing
+him no more, and convinced that even to talk of him would be folly
+and imprudence; but to be told that for the future they must remain
+strangers to the existence of each other--there seemed in this a
+hardship, a rigour, that was insupportable.
+
+"Oh what," cried she, "is human nature! in its best state how imperfect!
+that a woman such as this, so noble in character, so elevated in
+sentiment, with heroism to sacrifice to her sense of duty the happiness
+of a son, whom with joy she would die to serve, can herself be thus
+governed by prejudice, thus enslaved, thus subdued by opinion!" Yet
+never, even when miserable, unjust or irrational; her grief was unmixed
+with anger, and her tears streamed not from resentment, but affliction.
+The situation of Mrs Delvile, however different, she considered to be
+as wretched as her own. She read, therefore, with sadness, but not
+bitterness, her farewell, and received not with disdain, but with
+gratitude, her sympathy. Yet though her indignation was not irritated,
+her sufferings were doubled, by a farewell so kind, yet so despotic, a
+sympathy so affectionate, yet so hopeless.
+
+In this first indulgence of grief which she had granted to her
+disappointment, she was soon interrupted by a summons down stairs to a
+gentleman.
+
+Unfit and unwilling to be seen, she begged that he might leave his name,
+and appoint a time for calling again.
+
+Her maid brought for answer, that he believed his name was unknown to
+her, and desired to see her now, unless she was employed in some matter
+of moment. She then put up her letter, and went into the parlour; and
+there, to her infinite amazement, beheld Mr Albany.
+
+"How little, Sir," she cried, "did I expect this pleasure."
+
+"This pleasure," repeated he, "do you call it?--what strange abuse of
+words! what causeless trifling with honesty! is language of no purpose
+but to wound the ear with untruths? is the gift of speech only granted
+us to pervert the use of understanding? I can give you no pleasure,
+I have no power to give it any one; you can give none to me-the whole
+world could not invest you with the means!"
+
+"Well, Sir," said Cecilia, who had little spirit to defend herself, "I
+will not vindicate the expression, but of this I will unfeignedly assure
+you, I am at least as glad to see you just now, as I should be to see
+anybody."
+
+"Your eyes," cried he, "are red, your voice is inarticulate;--young,
+rich, and attractive, the world at your feet; that world yet untried,
+and its falsehood unknown, how have you thus found means to anticipate
+misery? which way have you uncovered the cauldron of human woes? Fatal
+and early anticipation! that cover once removed, can never be replaced;
+those woes, those boiling woes, will pour out upon you continually,
+and only when your heart ceases to beat, will their ebullition cease to
+torture you!"
+
+"Alas!" cried Cecilia, shuddering, "how cruel, yet how true!"
+
+"Why went you," cried he, "to the cauldron? it came not to you. Misery
+seeks not man, but man misery. He walks out in the sun, but stops
+not for a cloud; confident, he pursues his way, till the storm which,
+gathering, he might have avoided, bursts over his devoted head. Scared
+and amazed, he repents his temerity; he calls, but it is then too late;
+he runs, but it is thunder which follows him! Such is the presumption
+of man, such at once is the arrogance and shallowness of his nature! And
+thou, simple and blind! hast thou, too, followed whither Fancy has led
+thee, unheeding that thy career was too vehement for tranquility,
+nor missing that lovely companion of youth's early innocence, till,
+adventurous and unthinking, thou hast lost her for ever!"
+
+In the present weak state of Cecilia's spirits, this attack was too much
+for her; and the tears she had just, and with difficulty restrained,
+again forced their way down her cheeks, as she answered, "It is but too
+true,--I have lost her for ever!"
+
+"Poor thing," said he, while the rigour of his countenance was
+softened into the gentlest commiseration, "so young!--looking, too, so
+innocent--'tis hard!--And is nothing left thee? no small remaining hope,
+to cheat, humanely cheat thy yet not wholly extinguished credulity?"
+
+Cecilia wept without answering.
+
+"Let me not," said he, "waste my compassion upon nothing; compassion is
+with me no effusion of affectation; tell me, then, if thou deservest it,
+or if thy misfortunes are imaginary, and thy grief is factitious?"
+
+"Factitious," repeated she, "Good heaven!"
+
+"Answer me, then, these questions, in which I shall comprise the only
+calamities for which sorrow has no controul, or none from human motives.
+Tell me, then, have you lost by death the friend of your bosom?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Is your fortune dissipated by extravagance, and your power of relieving
+the distressed at an end?"
+
+"No; the power and the will are I hope equally undiminished."
+
+"O then, unhappy girl! have you been guilty of some vice, and hangs
+remorse thus heavy on your conscience?"
+
+"No, no; thank heaven, to that misery, at least, I am a stranger!"
+
+His countenance now again resumed its severity, and, in the sternest
+manner, "Whence then," he said, "these tears? and what is this caprice
+you dignify with the name of sorrow?--strange wantonness of indolence
+and luxury! perverse repining of ungrateful plenitude!--oh hadst thou
+known what _I_ have suffered!"--
+
+"Could I lessen what you have suffered," said Cecilia, "I should
+sincerely rejoice; but heavy indeed must be your affliction, if mine in
+its comparison deserves to be styled caprice!"
+
+"Caprice!" repeated he, "'tis joy! 'tis extacy compared with mine!--Thou
+hast not in licentiousness wasted thy inheritance! thou hast not by
+remorse barred each avenue to enjoyment! nor yet has the cold grave
+seized the beloved of thy soul!"
+
+"Neither," said Cecilia, "I hope, are the evils you have yourself
+sustained so irremediable?"
+
+"Yes, I have borne them all!--_have_ borne? I bear them still; I shall
+bear them while I breathe! I may rue them, perhaps, yet longer."
+
+"Good God!" cried Cecilia, shrinking, "what a world is this! how full of
+woe and wickedness!"
+
+"Yet thou, too, canst complain," cried he, "though happy in life's only
+blessing, Innocence! thou, too, canst murmur, though stranger to death's
+only terror, Sin! Oh yet if thy sorrow is unpolluted with guilt, be
+regardless of all else, and rejoice in thy destiny!"
+
+"But who," cried she, deeply sighing, "shall teach me such a lesson of
+joy, when all within rises to oppose it?"
+
+"I," cried he, "will teach it thee, for I will tell thee my own sad
+story. Then wilt thou find how much happier is thy lot, then wilt thou
+raise thy head in thankful triumph."
+
+"O no! triumph comes not so lightly! yet if you will venture to trust
+me with some account of yourself, I shall be glad to hear it, and much
+obliged by the communication."
+
+"I will," he answered, "whatever I may suffer: to awaken thee from this
+dream of fancied sorrow, I will open all my wounds, and thou shalt probe
+them with fresh shame."
+
+"No, indeed," cried Cecilia with quickness, "I will not hear you, if the
+relation will be so painful."
+
+"Upon _me_ this humanity is lost," said he, "since punishment and
+penitence alone give me comfort. I will tell thee, therefore, my crimes,
+that thou mayst know thy own felicity, lest, ignorant it means nothing
+but innocence, thou shouldst lose it, unconscious of its value. Listen
+then to me, and learn what Misery is! Guilt is alone the basis of
+lasting unhappiness;--Guilt is the basis of mine, and therefore I am a
+wretch for ever!"
+
+Cecilia would again have declined hearing him, but he refused to be
+spared: and as her curiosity had long been excited to know something of
+his history, and the motives of his extraordinary conduct, she was glad
+to have it satisfied, and gave him the utmost attention.
+
+"I will not speak to you of my family," said he; "historical accuracy
+would little answer to either of us. I am a native of the West Indies,
+and I was early sent hither to be educated. While I was yet at the
+University, I saw, I adored, and I pursued the fairest flower that ever
+put forth its sweet buds, the softest heart that ever was broken by
+ill-usage! She was poor and unprotected, the daughter of a villager;
+she was untaught and unpretending, the child of simplicity! But fifteen
+summers had she bloomed, and her heart was an easy conquest; yet, once
+made mine, it resisted all allurement to infidelity. My fellow students
+attacked her; she was assaulted by all the arts of seduction; flattery,
+bribery, supplication, all were employed, yet all failed; she was wholly
+my own; and with sincerity so attractive, I determined to marry her in
+defiance of all worldly objections.
+
+"The sudden death of my father called me hastily to Jamaica; I feared
+leaving this treasure unguarded, yet in decency could neither marry nor
+take her directly; I pledged my faith, therefore, to return to her,
+as soon as I had settled my affairs, and I left to a bosom friend the
+inspection of her conduct in my absence.
+
+"To leave her was madness,--to trust in man was madness,--Oh hateful
+race! how has the world been abhorrent to me since that time! I have
+loathed the light of the sun, I have shrunk from the commerce of my
+fellow creatures; the voice of man I have detested, his sight I have
+abominated!--but oh, more than all should I be abominated myself!
+
+"When I came to my fortune, intoxicated with sudden power, I forgot this
+fair blossom, I revelled in licentiousness and vice, and left it exposed
+and forlorn. Riot succeeded riot, till a fever, incurred by my own
+intemperance, first gave me time to think. Then was she revenged, for
+then first remorse was my portion: her image was brought back to my mind
+with frantic fondness, and bitterest contrition. The moment I recovered,
+I returned to England; I flew to claim her,--but she was lost! no one
+knew whither she was gone; the wretch I had trusted pretended to know
+least of all; yet, after a furious search, I traced her to a cottage,
+where he had concealed her himself!
+
+"When she saw me, she screamed and would have flown; I stopt her, and
+told her I came faithfully and honourably to make her my wife:--her
+own faith and honour, though sullied, were not extinguished, for she
+instantly acknowledged the fatal tale of her undoing!
+
+"Did I recompense this ingenuousness? this unexampled, this beautiful
+sacrifice to intuitive integrity? Yes! with my curses!--I loaded her
+with execrations, I reviled her in language the most opprobrious, I
+insulted her even for her confession! I invoked all evil upon her
+from the bottom of my heart--She knelt at my feet, she implored
+my forgiveness and compassion, she wept with the bitterness of
+despair,--and yet I spurned her from me!--Spurned?--let me not hide
+my shame! I barbarously struck her!--nor single was the blow!--it was
+doubled, it was reiterated!--Oh wretch, unyielding and unpitying!
+where shall hereafter be clemency for thee!--So fair a form! so young a
+culprit! so infamously seduced! so humbly penitent!
+
+"In this miserable condition, helpless and deplorable, mangled by these
+savage hands, and reviled by this inhuman tongue, I left her, in search
+of the villain who had destroyed her: but, cowardly as treacherous,
+he had absconded. Repenting my fury, I hastened to her again; the
+fierceness of my cruelty shamed me when I grew calmer, the softness of
+her sorrow melted me upon recollection: I returned, therefore, to soothe
+her,--but again she was gone! terrified with expectation of insult, she
+hid herself from all my enquiries. I wandered in search of her two long
+years to no purpose, regardless of my affairs, and of all things but
+that pursuit. At length, I thought I saw her--in London, alone, and
+walking in the streets at midnight,--I fearfully followed her,--and
+followed her into an house of infamy!
+
+"The wretches by whom she was surrounded were noisy and drinking, they
+heeded me little,--but she saw and knew me at once! She did not speak,
+nor did I,--but in two moments she fainted and fell.
+
+"Yet did I not help her; the people took their own measures to recover
+her, and when she was again able to stand, would have removed her to
+another apartment.
+
+"I then went forward, and forcing them away from her with all the
+strength of desperation, I turned to the unhappy sinner, who to chance
+only seemed to leave what became of her, and cried, From this scene of
+vice and horror let me yet rescue you! you look still unfit for such
+society, trust yourself, therefore, to me. I seized her hand, I drew,
+I almost dragged her away. She trembled, she could scarce totter, but
+neither consented nor refused, neither shed a tear, nor spoke a word,
+and her countenance presented a picture of affright, amazement, and
+horror.
+
+"I took her to a house in the country, each of us silent the whole way.
+I gave her an apartment and a female attendant, and ordered for her
+every convenience I could suggest. I stayed myself in the same house,
+but distracted with remorse for the guilt and ruin into which I had
+terrified her, I could not bear her sight.
+
+"In a few days her maid assured me the life she led must destroy her;
+that she would taste nothing but bread and water, never spoke, and never
+slept.
+
+"Alarmed by this account, I flew into her apartment; pride and
+resentment gave way to pity and fondness, and I besought her to take
+comfort. I spoke, however, to a statue, she replied not, nor seemed to
+hear me. I then humbled myself to her as in the days of her innocence
+and first power, supplicating her notice, entreating even her
+commiseration! all was to no purpose; she neither received nor repulsed
+me, and was alike inattentive to exhortation and to prayer.
+
+"Whole hours did I spend at her feet, vowing never to arise till she
+spoke to me,--all, all, in vain! she seemed deaf, mute, insensible; her
+face unmoved, a settled despair fixed in her eyes,--those eyes that had
+never looked at me but with dove-like softness and compliance!--She sat
+constantly in one chair, she never changed her dress, no persuasions
+could prevail with her to lie down, and at meals she just swallowed so
+much dry bread as might save her from dying for want of food.
+
+"What was the distraction of my soul, to find her bent upon this course
+to her last hour!--quick came that hour, but never will it be forgotten!
+rapidly it was gone, but eternally it will be remembered!
+
+"When she felt herself expiring, she acknowledged she had made a
+vow, upon entering the house, to live speechless and motionless, as a
+pennance for her offences!
+
+"I kept her loved corpse till my own senses failed me,--it was then only
+torn from me,--and I have lost all recollection of three years of my
+existence!"
+
+Cecilia shuddered at this hint, yet was not surprised by it; Mr Gosport
+had acquainted her he had been formerly confined; and his flightiness,
+wildness, florid language, and extraordinary way of life, bad long led
+her to suspect his reason had been impaired.
+
+"The scene to which my memory first leads me back," he continued, "is
+visiting her grave; solemnly upon it I returned her vow, though not by
+one of equal severity. To her poor remains did I pledge myself, that
+the day should never pass in which I would receive nourishment, nor the
+night come in which I would take rest, till I had done, or zealously
+attempted to do, some service to a fellow-creature.
+
+"For this purpose have I wandered from city to city, from the town to
+the country, and from the rich to the poor. I go into every house where
+I can gain admittance, I admonish all who will hear me, I shame even
+those who will not. I seek the distressed where ever they are hid,
+I follow the prosperous to beg a mite to serve them. I look for the
+Dissipated in public, where, amidst their licentiousness, I check them;
+I pursue the Unhappy in private, where I counsel and endeavour to
+assist them. My own power is small; my relations, during my sufferings,
+limiting me to an annuity; but there is no one I scruple to solicit, and
+by zeal I supply ability.
+
+"Oh life of hardship and pennance! laborious, toilsome, and restless!
+but I have merited no better, and I will not repine at it; I have vowed
+that I will endure it, and I will not be forsworn.
+
+"One indulgence alone from time to time I allow myself,--'tis Music!
+which has power to delight me even to rapture! it quiets all anxiety, it
+carries me out of myself, I forget through it every calamity, even the
+bitterest anguish.
+
+"Now then, that thou hast heard me, tell me, hast _thou_ cause of
+sorrow?"
+
+"Alas," cried Cecilia, "this indeed is a Picture of Misery to make _my_
+lot seem all happiness!"
+
+"Art thou thus open to conviction?" cried he, mildly; "and dost thou not
+fly the voice of truth! for truth and reproof are one."
+
+"No, I would rather seek it; I feel myself wretched, however inadequate
+may be the cause; I wish to be more resigned, and if you can instruct me
+how, I shall thankfully attend to you."
+
+"Oh yet uncorrupted creature!" cried he, "with joy will I be thy
+monitor,--joy long untasted! Many have I wished to serve, all, hitherto,
+have rejected my offices; too honest to flatter them, they had not the
+fortitude to listen to me; too low to advance them, they had not the
+virtue to bear with me. You alone have I yet found pure enough not to
+fear inspection, and good enough to wish to be better. Yet words alone
+will not content me; I must also have deeds. Nor will your purse,
+however readily opened, suffice, you must give to me also your time
+and your thoughts; for money sent by others, to others only will afford
+relief; to enlighten your own cares, you must distribute it yourself."
+
+"You shall find me," said she, "a docile pupil, and most glad to be
+instructed how my existence may be useful."
+
+"Happy then," cried he, "was the hour that brought me to this country;
+yet not in search of you did I come, but of the mutable and ill-fated
+Belfield. Erring, yet ingenious young man! what a lesson to the vanity
+of talents, to the gaiety, the brilliancy of wit, is the sight of that
+green fallen plant! not sapless by age, nor withered by disease,
+but destroyed by want of pruning, and bending, breaking by its own
+luxuriance!"
+
+"And where, Sir, is he now?
+
+"Labouring wilfully in the field, with those who labour compulsatorily;
+such are we all by nature, discontented, perverse, and changeable;
+though all have not courage to appear so, and few, like Belfield, are
+worth watching when they do. He told me he was happy; I knew it could
+not be: but his employment was inoffensive, and I left him without
+reproach. In this neighbourhood I heard of you, and found your name was
+coupled with praise. I came to see if you deserved it; I have seen, and
+am satisfied."
+
+"You are not, then, very difficult, for I have yet done nothing. How are
+we to begin these operations you propose? You have awakened me by them
+to an expectation of pleasure, which nothing else, I believe, could just
+now have given me."
+
+"We will work," cried he, "together, till not a woe shall remain upon
+your mind. The blessings of the fatherless, the prayers of little
+children, shall heal all your wounds with balm of sweetest fragrance.
+When sad, they shall cheer, when complaining, they shall soothe you. We
+will go to their roofless houses, and see them repaired; we will exclude
+from their dwellings the inclemency of the weather; we will clothe them
+from cold, we will rescue them from hunger. The cries of distress shall
+be changed to notes of joy: your heart shall be enraptured, mine, too,
+shall revive--oh whither am I wandering? I am painting an Elysium!
+and while I idly speak, some fainting object dies for want of succour!
+Farewell; I will fly to the abodes of wretchedness, and come to you
+to-morrow to render them the abodes of happiness."
+
+He then went away.
+
+This singular visit was for Cecilia most fortunately timed: it almost
+surprised her out of her peculiar grief, by the view which it opened
+to her of general calamity; wild, flighty, and imaginative as were
+his language and his counsels, their morality was striking, and their
+benevolence was affecting. Taught by him to compare her state with that
+of at least half her species, she began more candidly to weigh what was
+left with what was withdrawn, and found the balance in her favour.
+The plan he had presented to her of good works was consonant to her
+character and inclinations; and the active charity in which he proposed
+to engage her, re-animated her fallen hopes, though to far different
+subjects from those which had depressed them. Any scheme of worldly
+happiness would have sickened and disgusted her; but her mind was just
+in the situation to be impressed with elevated piety, and to adopt any
+design in which virtue humoured melancholy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A SHOCK.
+
+Cecelia passed the rest of the day in fanciful projects of beneficence;
+she determined to wander with her romantic new ally whither-so-ever
+he would lead her, and to spare neither fortune, time, nor trouble, in
+seeking and relieving the distressed. Not all her attempted philosophy
+had calmed her mind like this plan; in merely refusing indulgence
+to grief, she had only locked it up in her heart, where eternally
+struggling for vent, she was almost overpowered by restraining it; but
+now her affliction had no longer her whole faculties to itself; the hope
+of doing good, the pleasure of easing pain, the intention of devoting
+her time to the service of the unhappy, once more delighted her
+imagination,--that source of promissory enjoyment, which though often
+obstructed, is never, in youth, exhausted.
+
+She would not give Mrs Charlton the unnecessary pain of hearing the
+letter with which she had been so, much affected, but she told her of
+the visit of Albany, and pleased her with the account of their scheme.
+
+At night, with less sadness than usual, she retired to rest. In her
+sleep she bestowed riches, and poured plenty upon the land; she
+humbled the oppressor, she exalted the oppressed; slaves were raised to
+dignities, captives restored to liberty; beggars saw smiling abundance,
+and wretchedness was banished the world. From a cloud in which she was
+supported by angels, Cecilia beheld these wonders, and while enjoying
+the glorious illusion, she was awakened by her maid, with news that Mrs
+Charlton was dying!
+
+She started up, and, undressed, was running to her apartment,--when the
+maid, calling to stop her, confessed she was already dead!
+
+She had made her exit in the night, but the time was not exactly known;
+her own maid, who slept in the room with her, going early to her bedside
+to enquire how she did, found her cold and motionless, and could only
+conclude that a paralytic stroke had taken her off.
+
+Happily and in good time had Cecilia been somewhat recruited by one
+night of refreshing slumbers and flattering dreams, for the shock she
+now received promised her not soon another.
+
+She lost in Mrs Charlton a friend, whom nearly from her infancy she
+had considered as a mother, and by whom she had been cherished with
+tenderness almost unequalled. She was not a woman of bright parts, or
+much cultivation, but her heart was excellent, and her disposition was
+amiable. Cecilia had known her longer than her memory could look back,
+though the earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses
+received from her. Since she had entered into life, and found the
+difficulty of the part she had to act, to this worthy old lady alone had
+she unbosomed her secret cares. Though little assisted by her counsel,
+she was always certain of her sympathy; and while her own superior
+judgment directed her conduct, she had the relief of communicating her
+schemes, and weighing her perplexities, with a friend to whom nothing
+that concerned her was indifferent, and whose greatest wish and chief
+pleasure was the enjoyment of her conversation.
+
+If left to herself, in the present period of her life, Mrs Charlton had
+certainly not been the friend of her choice. The delicacy of her mind,
+and the refinement of her ideas, had now rendered her fastidious,
+and she would have looked out for elegancies and talents to which Mrs
+Charlton had no pretensions: but those who live in the country have
+little power of selection; confined to a small circle, they must be
+content with what it offers; and however they may idolize extraordinary
+merit when they meet with it, they must not regard it as essential to
+friendship, for in their circumscribed rotation, whatever may be their
+discontent, they can make but little change.
+
+Such had been the situation to which Mrs Charlton and Mrs Harrel owed
+the friendship of Cecilia. Greatly their superior in understanding and
+intelligence, had the candidates for her favour been more numerous, the
+election had not fallen upon either of them. But she became known to
+both before discrimination made her difficult, and when her enlightened
+mind discerned their deficiencies, they had already an interest in her
+affections, which made her see them with lenity: and though sometimes,
+perhaps, conscious she should not have chosen them from many, she
+adhered to them with sincerity, and would have changed them for none.
+
+Mrs Harrel, however, too weak for similar sentiments, forgot her
+when out of sight, and by the time they met again, was insensible to
+everything but shew and dissipation. Cecilia, shocked and surprised,
+first grieved from disappointed affection, and then lost that affection
+in angry contempt. But her fondness for Mrs Charlton had never known
+abatement, as the kindness which had excited it had never known
+allay. She had loved her first from childish gratitude; but that love,
+strengthened and confirmed by confidential intercourse, was now as
+sincere and affectionate as if it had originated from sympathetic
+admiration. Her loss, therefore, was felt with the utmost severity, and
+neither seeing nor knowing any means of replacing it, she considered it
+as irreparable, and mourned it with bitterness.
+
+When the first surprize of this cruel stroke was somewhat lessened, she
+sent an express to Mr Monckton with the news, and entreated to see him
+immediately. He came without delay, and she begged his counsel what step
+she ought herself to take in consequence of this event. Her own house
+was still unprepared for her; she had of late neglected to hasten the
+workmen, and almost forgotten her intention of entering it. It was
+necessary, however, to change her abode immediately; she was no
+longer in the house of Mrs Charlton, but of her grand-daughters and
+co-heiresses, each of whom she disliked, and upon neither of whom she
+had any claim.
+
+Mr Monckton then, with the quickness of a man who utters a thought at
+the very moment of its projection, mentioned a scheme upon which
+during his whole ride he had been ruminating; which was that she would
+instantly remove to his house, and remain there till settled to her
+satisfaction.
+
+Cecilia objected her little right of surprising Lady Margaret; but,
+without waiting to discuss it, lest new objections should arise, he
+quitted her, to fetch himself from her ladyship an invitation he meant
+to insist upon her sending.
+
+Cecilia, though heartily disliking this plan, knew not at present what
+better to adopt, and thought anything preferable to going again to
+Mrs Harrel, since that only could be done by feeding the anxiety of Mr
+Arnott.
+
+Mr Monckton soon returned with a message of his own fabrication; for
+his lady, though obliged to receive whom he pleased, took care to guard
+inviolate the independence of speech, sullenly persevering in refusing
+to say anything, or perversely saying only what he least wished to hear.
+
+Cecilia then took a hasty leave of Miss Charltons, who, little affected
+by what they had lost, and eager to examine what they had gained, parted
+from her gladly, and, with a heavy heart and weeping eyes, borrowed for
+the last time the carriage of her late worthy old friend, and for-ever
+quitting her hospitable house, sorrowfully set out for the Grove.
+
+
+
+BOOK IX.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER i.
+
+A COGITATION.
+
+Lady Margaret Monckton received Cecilia with the most gloomy coldness:
+she apologised for the liberty she had taken in making use of her
+ladyship's house, but, meeting no return of civility, she withdrew
+to the room which had been prepared for her, and resolved as much as
+possible to keep out of her sight.
+
+It now became necessary without further delay to settle her plan of
+life, and fix her place of residence. The forbidding looks of Lady
+Margaret made her hasten her resolves, which otherwise would for a while
+have given way to grief for her recent misfortune.
+
+She sent for the surveyor who had the superintendance of her estates, to
+enquire how soon her own house would be fit for her reception; and heard
+there was yet work for near two months.
+
+This answer made her very uncomfortable. To continue two months under
+the roof with Lady Margaret was a penance she could not enjoin herself,
+nor was she at all sure Lady Margaret would submit to it any better: she
+determined, therefore, to release herself from the conscious burthen of
+being an unwelcome visitor, by boarding with some creditable family at
+Bury, and devoting the two months in which she was to be kept from her
+house, to a general arrangement of her affairs, and a final settling
+with her guardians.
+
+For these purposes it would be necessary she should go to London:
+but with whom, or in what manner, she could not decide. She desired,
+therefore, another conference with Mr Monckton, who met her in the
+parlour.
+
+She then communicated to him her schemes; and begged his counsel in her
+perplexities.
+
+He was delighted at the application, and extremely well pleased with her
+design of boarding at Bury, well knowing, he could then watch and visit
+her at his pleasure, and have far more comfort in her society than even
+in his own house, where all the vigilance with which he observed her,
+was short of that with which he was himself observed by Lady Margaret.
+He endeavoured, however, to dissuade her from going to town, but her
+eagerness to pay the large sum she owed him, was now too great to be
+conquered. Of age, her fortune wholly in her power, and all attendance
+upon Mrs Charlton at an end, she had no longer any excuse for having a
+debt in the world, and would suffer no persuasion to make her begin her
+career in life, with a negligence in settling her accounts which she had
+so often censured in others. To go to London therefore she was fixed,
+and all that she desired was his advice concerning the journey.
+
+He then told her that in order to settle with her guardians, she must
+write to them in form, to demand an account of the sums that had been
+expended during her minority, and announce her intention for the future
+to take the management of her fortune into her own hands.
+
+She immediately followed his directions, and consented to remain at the
+Grove till their answers arrived.
+
+Being now, therefore, unavoidably fixed for some time at the house, she
+thought it proper and decent to attempt softening Lady Margaret in her
+favour. She exerted all her powers to please and to oblige her; but the
+exertion was necessarily vain, not only from the disposition, but the
+situation of her ladyship, since every effort made for this conciliatory
+purpose, rendered her doubly amiable in the eyes of her husband, and
+consequently to herself more odious than ever. Her jealousy, already but
+too well founded, received every hour the poisonous nourishment of fresh
+conviction, which so much soured and exasperated a temper naturally
+harsh, that her malignity and ill-humour grew daily more acrimonious.
+Nor would she have contented herself with displaying this irascibility
+by general moroseness, had not the same suspicious watchfulness which
+discovered to her the passion of her husband, served equally to make
+manifest the indifference and innocence of Cecilia; to reproach her
+therefore, she had not any pretence, though her knowledge how much she
+had to dread her, past current in her mind for sufficient reason to
+hate her. The Angry and the Violent use little discrimination; whom
+they like, they enquire not if they approve; but whoever, no matter
+how unwittingly, stands in their way, they scruple not to ill use, and
+conclude they may laudably detest.
+
+Cecilia, though much disgusted, gave not over her attempt, which she
+considered but as her due while she continued in her house. Her general
+character, also, for peevishness and haughty ill-breeding, skilfully,
+from time to time, displayed, and artfully repined at by Mr Monckton,
+still kept her from suspecting any peculiar animosity to herself, and
+made her impute all that passed to the mere rancour of ill-humour. She
+confined herself, however, as much as possible to her own apartment,
+where her sorrow for Mrs Charlton almost hourly increased, by the
+comparison she was forced upon making of her house with the Grove.
+
+That worthy old lady left her grand-daughters her co-heiresses and sole
+executrixes. She bequeathed from them nothing considerable, though
+she left some donations for the poor, and several of her friends were
+remembered by small legacies. Among them Cecilia had her picture, and
+favourite trinkets, with a paragraph in her will, that as there was no
+one she so much loved, had her fortune been less splendid, she should
+have shared with her grand-daughters whatever she had to bestow.
+
+Cecilia was much affected by this last and solemn remembrance. She more
+than ever coveted to be alone, that she might grieve undisturbed, and
+she lamented without ceasing the fatigue and the illness which, in so
+late a period, as it proved, of her life, she had herself been the means
+of occasioning to her.
+
+Mr Monckton had too much prudence to interrupt this desire of solitude,
+which indeed cost him little pain, as he considered her least in
+danger when alone. She received in about a week answers from both her
+guardians. Mr Delvile's letter was closely to the purpose, without a
+word but of business, and couched in the haughtiest terms. As he had
+never, he said, acted, he had no accounts to send in; but as he was
+going to town in a few days, he would see her for a moment in the
+presence of Mr Briggs, that a joint release might be signed, to prevent
+any future application to him.
+
+Cecilia much lamented there was any necessity for her seeing him at all,
+and looked forward to the interview as the greatest mortification she
+could suffer.
+
+Mr Briggs, though still more concise, was far kinder in his language:
+but he advised her to defer her scheme of taking the money into her own
+hands, assuring her she would be cheated, and had better leave it to
+him.
+
+When she communicated these epistles to Mr Monckton, he failed not to
+read, with an emphasis, by which his arrogant meaning was still more
+arrogantly enforced, the letter of Mr Delvile aloud. Nor was he sparing
+in comments that might render it yet more offensive. Cecilia neither
+concurred in what he said, nor opposed it, but contented herself, when
+he was silent, with producing the other letter.
+
+Mr Monckton read not this with more favour. He openly attacked the
+character of Briggs, as covetous, rapacious, and over-reaching, and
+warned her by no means to abide by his counsel, without first taking the
+opinion of some disinterested person. He then stated the various arts
+which might be practised upon her inexperience, enumerated the dangers
+to which her ignorance of business exposed her, and annotated upon
+the cheats, double dealings, and tricks of stock jobbing, to which
+he assured her Mr Briggs owed all he was worth, till, perplexed and
+confounded, she declared herself at a loss how to proceed, and earnestly
+regretted that she could not have his counsel upon the spot.
+
+This was his aim: to draw the wish from her, drew all suspicion of
+selfish views from himself: and he told her that he considered her
+present situation as so critical, the future confusion or regularity
+of her money transactions seeming to depend upon it, that he would
+endeavour to arrange his affairs for meeting her in London.
+
+Cecilia gave him many thanks for the kind intention, and determined to
+be totally guided by him in the disposal and direction of her fortune.
+
+Mean time he had now another part to act; he saw that with Cecilia
+nothing more remained to be done, and that, harbouring not a doubt of
+his motives, she thought his design in her favour did her nothing but
+honour; but he had too much knowledge of the world to believe it would
+judge him in the same manner, and too much consciousness of duplicity to
+set its judgment at defiance.
+
+To parry, therefore, the conjectures which might follow his attending
+her, he had already prepared Lady Margaret to wish herself of the party:
+for however disagreeable to him was her presence and her company, he had
+no other means to be under the same roof with Cecilia.
+
+Miss Bennet, the wretched tool of his various schemes, and the mean
+sycophant of his lady, had been employed by him to work upon her
+jealousy, by secretly informing her of his intention to go to town,
+at the same time that Cecilia went thither to meet her guardians.
+She pretended to have learned this intelligence by accident, and to
+communicate it from respectful regard; and advised her to go to London
+herself at the same time, that she might see into his designs, and be
+some check upon his pleasure.
+
+The encreasing infirmities of Lady Margaret made this counsel by no
+means palatable: but Miss Bennet, following the artful instructions
+which she received, put in her way so strong a motive, by assuring her
+how little her company was wished, that in the madness of her spite
+she determined upon the journey. And little heeding how she tormented
+herself while she had any view of tormenting Mr Monckton, she was led on
+by her false confident to invite Cecilia to her own house.
+
+Mr Monckton, in whom by long practice, artifice was almost nature, well
+knowing his wife's perverseness, affected to look much disconcerted at
+the proposal; while Cecilia, by no means thinking it necessary to extend
+her compliance to such a punishment, instantly made an apology, and
+declined the invitation.
+
+Lady Margaret, little versed in civility, and unused to the arts of
+persuasion, could not, even for a favourite project, prevail upon
+herself to use entreaty, and therefore, thinking her scheme defeated,
+looked gloomily disappointed, and said nothing more.
+
+Mr Monckton saw with delight how much this difficulty inflamed her,
+though the moment he could speak alone with Cecilia he made it his care
+to remove it.
+
+He represented to her that, however privately she might live, she was
+too young to be in London lodgings by herself, and gave an hint which
+she could not but understand, that in going or in staying with only
+servants, suspicions might soon be raised, that the plan and motive of
+her journey were different to those given out.
+
+She knew he meant to insinuate that it would be conjectured she
+designed to meet Delvile, and though colouring, vext and provoked at the
+suggestion, the idea was sufficient to frighten her into his plan.
+
+In a few days, therefore, the matter was wholly arranged, Mr Monckton,
+by his skill and address, leading every one whither he pleased, while,
+by the artful coolness of his manner, he appeared but to follow himself.
+He [set] out the day before, though earnestly wishing to accompany
+them, but having as yet in no single instance gone to town in the same
+carriage with Lady Margaret, he dared trust neither the neighbourhood
+nor the servants with so dangerous a subject for their comments.
+
+Cecilia, compelled thus to travel with only her Ladyship and Miss
+Bennet, had a journey the most disagreeable, and determined, if
+possible, to stay in London but two days. She had already fixed upon a
+house in which she could board at Bury when she returned, and there she
+meant quietly to reside till she could enter her own.
+
+Lady Margaret herself, exhilarated by a notion of having outwitted her
+husband, was in unusual good spirits, and almost in good humour.
+The idea of thwarting his designs, and being in the way of his
+entertainment, gave to her a delight she had seldom received from any
+thing; and the belief that this was effected by the superiority of her
+cunning, doubled her contentment, and raised it to exultation. She owed
+him, indeed, much provocation and uneasiness, and was happy in this
+opportunity of paying her arrears.
+
+Mean while that consummate master in every species of hypocrisy,
+indulged her in this notion, by the air of dissatisfaction with which he
+left the house. It was not that she meant by her presence to obviate any
+impropriety: early and long acquainted with the character of Cecilia,
+she well knew, that during her life the passion of her husband must be
+confined to his own breast: but conscious of his aversion to herself,
+which she resented with the bitterest ill-will, and knowing how little,
+at any time, he desired her company, she consoled herself for her
+inability to give pleasure by the power she possessed of giving pain,
+and bore with the fatigue of a journey disagreeable and inconvenient
+to her, with no other view than the hope of breaking into his plan of
+avoiding her. Little imagining that the whole time she was forwarding
+his favourite pursuit, and only acting the part which he had appointed
+her to perform.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+A SURPRIZE.
+
+Lady Margaret's town house was in Soho Square; and scarcely had Cecilia
+entered it, before her desire to speed her departure, made her send
+a note to each of her guardians, acquainting them of her arrival, and
+begging, if possible, to see them the next day.
+
+She had soon the two following answers:
+
+_To Miss Cecilia Beverley,----These November_ 8, 1779. Miss,--Received
+yours of the same date; can't come tomorrow. Will, Wednesday the
+10th.--Am, &c., Jno. Briggs.
+
+Miss Cecilia Beverley
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Mr Delvile has too many affairs of importance upon his hands, to make
+any appointment till he has deliberated how to arrange them. Mr Delvile
+will acquaint Miss Beverley when it shall be in his power to see her.
+
+St James's-square, _Nov_ 8.
+
+These characteristic letters, which at another time might have diverted
+Cecilia, now merely served to torment her. She was eager to quit town,
+she was more eager to have her meeting with Mr Delvile over, who,
+oppressive to her even when he meant to be kind, she foresaw, now he
+was in wrath, would be imperious even to rudeness. Desirous, however,
+to make one interview suffice for both, and to settle whatever business
+might remain unfinished by letters, she again wrote to Mr Briggs,
+whom she had not spirits to encounter without absolute necessity, and
+informing him of Mr Delvile's delay, begged he would not trouble himself
+to call till he heard from her again.
+
+Two days passed without any message from them; they were spent chiefly
+alone, and very uncomfortably, Mr Monckton being content to see little
+of her, while he knew she saw nothing of any body else. On the
+third morning, weary of her own thoughts, weary of Lady Margaret's
+ill-humoured looks, and still more weary of Miss Bennet's parasitical
+conversation, she determined, for a little relief to the heaviness of
+her mind, to go to her bookseller, and look over and order into the
+country such new publications as seemed to promise her any pleasure.
+
+She sent therefore, for a chair, and glad to have devised for herself
+any amusement, set out in it immediately.
+
+Upon entering the shop, she saw the Bookseller engaged in close
+conference with a man meanly dressed, and much muffled up, who
+seemed talking to him with uncommon earnestness, and just as she was
+approaching, said, "To terms I am indifferent, for writing is no
+labour to me; on the contrary, it is the first delight of my life, and
+therefore, and not for dirty pelf, I wish to make it my profession."
+
+The speech struck Cecilia, but the voice struck her more, it was
+Belfield's! and her amazement was so great, that she stopt short to look
+at him, without heeding a man who attended her, and desired to know her
+commands.
+
+The bookseller now perceiving her, came forward, and Belfield, turning
+to see who interrupted them, started as if a spectre had crossed his
+eyes, slapped his hat over his face, and hastily went out of the shop.
+
+Cecilia checking her inclination to speak to him, from observing his
+eagerness to escape her, soon recollected her own errand, and employed
+herself in looking over new books.
+
+Her surprize, however, at a change so sudden in the condition of this
+young man, and at a declaration of a passion for writing, so opposite to
+all the sentiments which he had professed at their late meeting in
+the cottage, awakened in her a strong curiosity to be informed of his
+situation; and after putting aside some books which she desired to have
+packed up for her, she asked if the gentleman who had just left the
+shop, and who, she found by what he had said, was an Author, had written
+anything that was published with his name?
+
+"No, ma'am," answered the Bookseller, "nothing of any consequence; he
+is known, however, to have written several things that have appeared as
+anonymous; and I fancy, now, soon, we shall see something considerable
+from him."
+
+"He is about some great work, then?"
+
+"Why no, not exactly that, perhaps, at present; we must feel our way,
+with some little smart _jeu d'esprit_ before we undertake a great work.
+But he is a very great genius, and I doubt not will produce something
+extraordinary."
+
+"Whatever he produces," said Cecilia, "as I have now chanced to see him,
+I shall be glad you will, at any time, send to me."
+
+"Certainly, ma'am; but it must be among other things, for he does not
+chuse, just now to be known; and it is a rule in our business never to
+tell people's names when they desire to be secret. He is a little out
+of cash, just now, as you may suppose by his appearance, so instead of
+buying books, he comes to sell them. However, he has taken a very good
+road to bring himself home again, for we pay very handsomely for things
+of any merit, especially if they deal smartly in a few touches of the
+times."
+
+Cecilia chose not to risk any further questions, lest her knowledge of
+him should be suspected, but got into her chair, and returned to Lady
+Margaret's.
+
+The sight of Belfield reminded her not only of himself; the gentle
+Henrietta again took her place in her memory, whence her various
+distresses and suspences had of late driven from it everybody but
+Delvile, and those whom Delvile brought into it. But her regard for
+that amiable girl, though sunk in the busy scenes of her calamitous
+uncertainties, was only sunk in her own bosom, and ready, upon their
+removal, to revive with fresh vigour. She was now indeed more unhappy
+than even in the period of her forgetfulness, yet her mind, was no
+longer filled with the restless turbulence of hope, which still more
+than despondency unfitted it for thinking of others.
+
+This remembrance thus awakened, awakened also a desire of renewing the
+connection so long neglected. All scruples concerning Delvile had now
+lost their foundation, since the doubts from which they arose were both
+explained and removed: she was certain alike of his indifference to
+Henrietta, and his separation from herself; she knew that nothing was
+to be feared from painful or offensive rivalry, and she resolved,
+therefore, to lose no time in seeking the first pleasure to which since
+her disappointment she had voluntarily looked forward.
+
+Early in the evening, she told Lady Margaret she was going out for
+an hour or two, and sending again for a chair, was carried to
+Portland-street.
+
+She enquired for Miss Belfield, and was shewn into a parlour, where she
+found her drinking tea with her mother, and Mr Hobson, their landlord.
+
+Henrietta almost screamed at her sight, from a sudden impulse of joy
+and surprize, and, running up to her, flung her arms round her neck,
+and embraced her with the most rapturous emotion: but then, drawing
+back with a look of timidity and shame, she bashfully apologized for
+her freedom, saying, "Indeed, dearest Miss Beverley, it is no want
+of respect, but I am so very glad to see you it makes me quite forget
+myself!"
+
+Cecilia, charmed at a reception so ingenuously affectionate, soon
+satisfied her doubting diffidence by the warmest thanks that she had
+preserved so much regard for her, and by doubling the kindness with
+which she returned her caresses.
+
+"Mercy on me, madam," cried Mrs Belfield, who during this time had
+been busily employed in sweeping the hearth, wiping some slops upon the
+table, and smoothing her handkerchief and apron, "why the girl's enough
+to smother you. Henny, how can you be so troublesome? I never saw you
+behave in this way before."
+
+"Miss Beverley, madam," said Henrietta, again retreating, "is so kind as
+to pardon me, and I was so much surprised at seeing her, that I hardly
+knew what I was about."
+
+"The young ladies, ma'am," said Mr Hobson, "have a mighty way of
+saluting one another till such time as they get husbands: and then
+I'll warrant you they can meet without any salutation at all. That's my
+remark, at least, and what I've seen of the world has set me upon making
+it."
+
+This speech led Cecilia to check, however artless, the tenderness of
+her fervent young friend, whom she was much teized by meeting in such
+company, but who seemed not to dare understand the frequent looks which
+she gave her expressive of a wish to be alone with her.
+
+"Come, ladies," continued the facetious Mr Hobson, "what if we were all
+to sit down, and have a good dish of tea? and suppose, Mrs Belfield,
+you was to order us a fresh round of toast and butter? do you think the
+young ladies here would have any objection? and what if we were to have
+a little more water in the tea-kettle? not forgetting a little more tea
+in the teapot. What I say is this, let us all be comfortable; that's my
+notion of things."
+
+"And a very good notion too," said Mrs Belfield, "for you who have
+nothing to vex you. Ah, ma'am, you have heard, I suppose, about my son?
+gone off! nobody knows where! left that lord's house, where he might
+have lived like a king, and gone out into the wide world nobody knows
+for what!"
+
+"Indeed?" said Cecilia, who, from seeing him in London concluded he was
+again with his family, "and has he not acquainted you where he is?"
+
+"No, ma'am, no," cried Mrs Belfield, "he's never once told me where
+he is gone, nor let me know the least about the matter, for if I did I
+would not taste a dish of tea again for a twelvemonth till I saw him get
+back again to that lord's! and I believe in my heart there's never such
+another in the three kingdoms, for he has sent here after him I dare say
+a score of times. And no wonder, for I will take upon me to say he won't
+find his fellow in a hurry, Lord as he is."
+
+"As to his being a Lord," said Mr Hobson, "I am one of them that lay no
+great stress upon that, unless he has got a good long purse of his own,
+and then, to be sure, a Lord's no bad thing. But as to the matter of
+saying Lord such a one, how d'ye do? and Lord such a one, what do you
+want? and such sort of compliments, why in my mind, it's a mere nothing,
+in comparison of a good income. As to your son, ma'am, he did not go
+the right way to work. He should have begun with business, and gone into
+pleasure afterwards and if he had but done that, I'll be bold to say we
+might have had him at this very minute drinking tea with us over this
+fireside."
+
+"My son, Sir," said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, "was another sort of
+a person than a person of business: he always despised it from a child,
+and come of it what may, I am sure he was born to be a gentleman."
+
+"As to his despising business," said Mr Hobson, very contemptuously,
+"why so much the worse, for business is no such despiseable thing. And
+if he had been brought up behind a counter, instead of dangling after
+these same Lords, why he might have had a house of his own over his
+head, and been as good a man as myself."
+
+"A house over his head?" said Mrs Belfield, "why he might have had what
+he would, and have done what he would, if he had but followed my advice,
+and put himself a little forward. I have told him a hundred times to ask
+some of those great people he lived amongst for a place at court, for I
+know they've so many they hardly know what to do with them, and it was
+always my design from the beginning that he should be something of a
+great man; but I never could persuade him, though, for anything I know,
+as I have often told him, if he had but had a little courage he might
+have been an Ambassador by this time. And now, all of a sudden, to be
+gone nobody knows where!"--
+
+"I am sorry, indeed," said Cecilia, who knew not whether most to pity or
+wonder at her blind folly; "but I doubt not you will hear of him soon."
+
+"As to being an Ambassador, ma'am," said Mr Hobson, "it's talking quite
+out of character. Those sort of great people keep things of that kind
+for their own poor relations and cousins. What I say is this; a man's
+best way is to take care of himself. The more those great people see you
+want them, the less they like your company. Let every man be brought up
+to business, and then when he's made his fortune, he may walk with his
+hat on. Why now there was your friend, ma'am," turning to Cecilia, "that
+shot out his brains without paying any body a souse; pray how was that
+being more genteel than standing behind a counter, and not owing a
+shilling?"
+
+"Do you think a young lady," cried Mrs Belfield warmly, "can bear to
+hear of such a thing as standing behind a counter? I am sure if my son
+had ever done it, I should not expect any lady would so much as look at
+him, And yet, though I say it, she might look a good while, and not see
+many such persons, let her look where she pleased. And then he has such
+a winning manner into the bargain, that I believe in my heart there's
+never a lady in the land could say no to him. And yet he has such a
+prodigious shyness, I never could make him own he had so much as asked
+the question. And what lady can begin first?"
+
+"Why no," said Mr Hobson, "that would be out of character another way.
+Now my notion is this; let every man be agreeable! and then he may ask
+what lady he pleases. And when he's a mind of a lady, he should look
+upon a frown or two as nothing; for the ladies frown in courtship as a
+thing of course; it's just like a man swearing at a coachman; why he's
+not a bit more in a passion, only he thinks he sha'n't be minded without
+it."
+
+"Well, for my part," said Mrs Belfield, "I am sure if I was a young
+lady, and most especially if I was a young lady of fortune, and all
+that, I should like a modest young gentleman, such as my son, for
+example, better by half than a bold swearing young fellow, that would
+make a point to have me whether I would or no."
+
+"Ha! Ha! Ha!" cried Mr Hobson; "but the young ladies are not of that
+way of thinking; they are all for a little life and spirit. Don't I say
+right, young ladies?"
+
+Cecilia, who could not but perceive that these speeches was levelled at
+herself, felt offended and tired; and finding she had no chance of any
+private conversation with Henrietta, arose to take leave: but while
+she stopped in the passage to enquire when she could see her alone, a
+footman knocked at the door, who, having asked if Mr Belfield lodged
+there, and been answered in the affirmative; begged to know whether Miss
+Beverley was then in the house?
+
+Cecilia, much surprised, went forward, and told him who she was.
+
+"I have been, madam," said he, "with a message to you at Mr Monckton's,
+in Soho-Square: but nobody knew where you was; and Mr Monckton came out
+and spoke to me himself, and said that all he could suppose was that you
+might be at this house. So he directed me to come here."
+
+"And from whom, Sir, is your message?"
+
+"From the honourable Mr Delvile, madam, in St James's-Square. He desires
+to know if you shall be at home on Saturday morning, the day after
+to-morrow, and whether you can appoint Mr Briggs to meet him by twelve
+o'clock exactly, as he sha'n't be able to stay above three minutes."
+
+Cecilia gave an answer as cold as the message; that she would be in
+Soho-Square at the time he mentioned, and acquaint Mr Briggs of his
+intention.
+
+The footman then went away; and Henrietta told her, that if she could
+call some morning she might perhaps contrive to be alone with her, and
+added, "indeed I wish much to see you, if you could possibly do me so
+great an honour; for I am very miserable, and have nobody to tell so!
+Ah, Miss Beverley! you that have so many friends, and that deserve as
+many again, you little know what a hard thing it is to have none!--but
+my brother's strange disappearing has half broke our hearts!"
+
+Cecilia was beginning a consolatory speech, in which she meant to
+give her private assurances of his health and safety, when she was
+interrupted by Mr Albany, who came suddenly into the passage.
+
+Henrietta received him with a look of pleasure, and enquired why he
+had so long been absent; but, surprised by the sight of Cecilia, he
+exclaimed, without answering her, "why didst thou fail me? why
+appoint me to a place thou wert quitting thyself?--thou thing of fair
+professions! thou inveigler of esteem! thou vain, delusive promiser of
+pleasure!"
+
+"You condemn me too hastily," said Cecilia; "if I failed in my promise,
+it was not owing to caprice or insincerity, but to a real and bitter
+misfortune which incapacitated me from keeping it. I shall soon,
+however,--nay, I am already at your disposal, if you have any commands
+for me."
+
+"I have always," answered he, "commands for the rich, for I have always
+compassion for the poor."
+
+"Come to me, then, at Mr Monckton's in Soho-Square," cried she, and
+hastened into her chair, impatient to end a conference which she saw
+excited the wonder of the servants, and which also now drew out from
+the parlour Mr Hobson and Mrs Belfield. She then kissed her hand to
+Henrietta, and ordered the chairmen to carry her home.
+
+It had not been without difficulty that she had restrained herself from
+mentioning what she knew of Belfield, when she found his mother and
+sister in a state of such painful uncertainty concerning him. But her
+utter ignorance of his plans, joined to her undoubted knowledge of his
+wish of concealment, made her fear doing mischief by officiousness,
+and think it wiser not to betray what she had seen of him, till better
+informed of his own views and intentions. Yet, willing to shorten a
+suspence so uneasy to them, she determined to entreat Mr Monckton would
+endeavour to find him out, and acquaint him with their anxiety.
+
+That gentleman, when she returned to his house, was in a state of mind
+by no means enviable. Missing her at tea, he had asked Miss Bennet where
+she was, and hearing she had not left word, he could scarce conceal his
+chagrin. Knowing, however, how few were her acquaintances in town,
+he soon concluded she was with Miss Belfield, but, not satisfied with
+sending Mr Delvile's messenger after her, he privately employed one
+in whom he trusted for himself, to make enquiries at the house without
+saying whence he came.
+
+But though this man was returned, and he knew her safety, he still felt
+alarmed; he had flattered himself, from the length of time in which she
+had now done nothing without consulting him, she would scarce even think
+of any action without his previous concurrence. And he had hoped, by a
+little longer use, to make his counsel become necessary, which he knew
+to be a very short step from rendering it absolute.
+
+Nor was he well pleased to perceive, by this voluntary excursion,
+a struggle to cast off her sadness, and a wish to procure herself
+entertainment: it was not that he desired her misery, but he was earnest
+that all relief from it should spring from himself: and though far from
+displeased that Delvile should lose his sovereignty over her thoughts,
+he was yet of opinion that, till his own liberty was restored, he had
+less to apprehend from grief indulged, than grief allayed; one could
+but lead her to repining retirement, the other might guide her to a
+consolatory rival.
+
+He well knew, however, it was as essential to his cause to disguise his
+disappointments as his expectations, and, certain that by pleasing
+alone he had any chance of acquiring power, he cleared up when Cecilia
+returned, who as unconscious of feeling, as of owing any subjection to
+him, preserved uncontrolled the right of acting for herself, however
+desirous and glad of occasional instruction.
+
+She told him where she had been, and related her meeting Belfield, and
+the unhappiness of his friends, and hinted her wish that he could be
+informed what they suffered. Mr Monckton, eager to oblige her, went
+instantly in search of him, and returning to supper, told her he had
+traced him through the Bookseller, who had not the dexterity to parry
+his artful enquiries, and had actually appointed him to breakfast in
+Soho-Square the next morning.
+
+He had found him, he said, writing, but in high spirits and good humour.
+He had resisted, for a while, his invitation on account of his dress,
+all his clothes but the very coat which he had on being packed up and
+at his mother's: but, when laughed at by Mr Monckton for still
+retaining some foppery, he gaily protested what remained of it should
+be extinguished; and acknowledging that his shame was no part of his
+philosophy, declared he would throw it wholly aside, and, in spite of
+his degradation, renew his visits at his house.
+
+"I would not tell him," Mr Monckton continued, "of the anxiety of his
+family; I thought it would come more powerfully from yourself, who,
+having seen, can better enforce it."
+
+Cecilia was very thankful for this compliance with her request, and
+anticipated the pleasure she hoped soon to give Henrietta, by the
+restoration of a brother so much loved and so regretted.
+
+She sent, mean time, to Mr Briggs the message she had received from Mr
+Delvile, and had the satisfaction of an answer that he would observe the
+appointment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A CONFABULATION.
+
+The next morning, while the family was at breakfast, Belfield, according
+to his promise, made his visit.
+
+A high colour overspread his face as he entered the room, resulting from
+a sensation of grief at his fallen fortune, and shame at his altered
+appearance, which though he endeavoured to cover under an air of
+gaiety and unconcern, gave an awkwardness to his manners, and a visible
+distress to his countenance: Mr Monckton received him with pleasure, and
+Cecilia, who saw the conflict of his philosophy with his pride, dressed
+her features once more in smiles, which however faint and heartless,
+shewed her desire to reassure him. Miss Bennet, as usual when not called
+upon by the master or lady of the house, sat as a cypher; and Lady
+Margaret, always disagreeable and repulsive to the friends of her
+husband, though she was not now more than commonly ungracious, struck
+the quick-feeling and irritable Belfield, to wear an air of rude
+superiority meant to reproach him with his disgrace.
+
+This notion, which strongly affected him, made him, for one instant,
+hesitate whether he should remain another in the same room with her: but
+the friendliness of Mr Monckton, and the gentleness and good breeding of
+Cecilia, seemed so studious to make amends for her moroseness, that he
+checked his too ready indignation, and took his seat at the table. Yet
+was it some time before he could recover even the assumed vivacity which
+this suspected insult had robbed him of, sufficiently to enter into
+conversation with any appearance of ease or pleasure. But, after
+a while, soothed by the attentions of Cecilia and Mr Monckton, his
+uneasiness wore off, and the native spirit and liveliness of his
+character broke forth with their accustomed energy.
+
+"This good company, I hope," said he, addressing himself, however, only
+to Cecilia, "will not so much _mistake the thing_ as to criticise my
+dress of this morning; since it is perfectly according to rule, and to
+rule established from time immemorial: but lest any of you should
+so much err as to fancy shabby what is only characteristic, I must
+endeavour to be beforehand with the malice of conjecture, and have the
+honour to inform you, that I am enlisted in the Grub-street regiment, of
+the third story, and under the tattered banner of scribbling volunteers!
+a race which, if it boasts not the courage of heroes, at least equals
+them in enmity. This coat, therefore, is merely the uniform of my
+corps, and you will all, I hope, respect it as emblematical of wit and
+erudition."
+
+"We must at least respect you," said Cecilia, "who thus gaily can sport
+with it."
+
+"Ah, madam!" said he, more seriously, "it is not from you I ought
+to look for respect! I must appear to you the most unsteady and
+coward-hearted of beings. But lately I blushed to see you from poverty,
+though more worthily employed than when I had been seen by you in
+affluence; that shame vanquished, another equally narrow took its place,
+and yesterday I blushed again that you detected me in a new pursuit,
+though I had only quitted my former one from a conviction it was ill
+chosen. There seems in human nature a worthlessness not to be conquered!
+yet I will struggle with it to the last, and either die in the attempt,
+or dare seem that which I am, without adding to the miseries of life,
+the sting, the envenomed sting of dastardly false shame!"
+
+"Your language is wonderfully altered within this twelvemonth," said Mr
+Monckton; "_the worthlessness of human nature_! the _miseries of
+life_! this from you! so lately the champion of human nature, and the
+panegyrist of human life!"
+
+"Soured by personal disappointment," answered he, "I may perhaps speak
+with too much acrimony; yet, ultimately, my opinions have not much
+changed. Happiness is given to us with more liberality than we are
+willing to confess; it is judgment only that is dealt us sparingly, and
+of that we have so little, that when felicity is before us, we turn
+to the right or left, or when at the right or left, we proceed strait
+forward. It has been so with me; I have sought it at a distance, amidst
+difficulty and danger, when all that I could wish has been immediately
+within my grasp."
+
+"It must be owned," said Mr Monckton, "after what you have suffered from
+this world you were wont to defend, there is little reason to wonder at
+some change in your opinion."
+
+"Yet whatever have been my sufferings," he answered, "I have generally
+been involved in them by my own rashness or caprice. My last enterprise
+especially, from which my expectations were highest, was the most
+ill-judged of any. I considered not how little my way of life had fitted
+me for the experiment I was making, how irreparably I was enervated
+by long sedentary habits, and how insufficient for bodily strength
+was mental resolution. We may fight against partial prejudices, and by
+spirit and fortitude we may overcome them; but it will not do to war
+with the general tenor of education. We may blame, despise, regret as we
+please, but customs long established, and habits long indulged, assume
+an empire despotic, though their power is but prescriptive. Opposing
+them is vain; Nature herself, when forced aside, is not more elastic in
+her rebound."
+
+"Will you not then," said Cecilia, "since your experiment has failed,
+return again to your family, and to the plan of life you formerly
+settled?"
+
+"You speak of them together," said he, with a smile, "as if you thought
+them inseparable; and indeed my own apprehension they would be
+deemed so, has made me thus fear to see my friends, since I love not
+resistance, yet cannot again attempt the plan of life they would have me
+pursue. I have given up my cottage, but my independence is as dear to me
+as ever; and all that I have gathered from experience, is to maintain
+it by those employments for which my education has fitted me, instead of
+seeking it injudiciously by the very road for which it has unqualified
+me."
+
+"And what is this independence," cried Mr Monckton, "which has thus
+bewitched your imagination? a mere idle dream of romance and enthusiasm;
+without existence in nature, without possibility in life. In uncivilised
+countries, or in lawless times, independence, for a while, may perhaps
+stalk abroad; but in a regular government, 'tis only the vision of a
+heated brain; one part of a community must inevitably hang upon another,
+and 'tis a farce to call either independent, when to break the chain by
+which they are linked would prove destruction to both. The soldier wants
+not the officer more than the officer the soldier, nor the tenant
+the landlord, more than the landlord the tenant. The rich owe their
+distinction, their luxuries, to the poor, as much as the poor owe their
+rewards, their necessaries, to the rich."
+
+"Man treated as an Automaton," answered Belfield, "and considered merely
+with respect to his bodily operations, may indeed be called dependent,
+since the food by which he lives, or, rather, without which he
+dies, cannot wholly be cultivated and prepared by his own hands: but
+considered in a nobler sense, he deserves not the degrading epithet;
+speak of him, then, as a being of feeling and understanding, with pride
+to alarm, with nerves to tremble, with honour to satisfy, and with a
+soul to be immortal!--as such, may he not claim the freedom of his own
+thoughts? may not that claim be extended to the liberty of speaking,
+and the power of being governed by them? and when thoughts, words, and
+actions are exempt from controul, will you brand him with dependency
+merely because the Grazier feeds his meat, and the Baker kneads his
+bread?"
+
+"But who is there in the whole world," said Mr Monckton, "extensive
+as it is, and dissimilar as are its inhabitants, that can pretend to
+assert, his thoughts, words, and actions, are exempt from controul? even
+where interest, which you so much disdain, interferes not,--though where
+that is I confess I cannot tell!--are we not kept silent where we wish
+to reprove by the fear of offending? and made speak where we wish to be
+silent by the desire of obliging? do we not bow to the scoundrel as low
+as to the man of honour? are we not by mere forms kept standing when
+tired? made give place to those we despise? and smiles to those we hate?
+or if we refuse these attentions, are we not regarded as savages, and
+shut out of society?"
+
+"All these," answered Belfield, "are so merely matters of ceremony, that
+the concession can neither cost pain to the proud, nor give pleasure to
+the vain. The bow is to the coat, the attention is to the rank, and the
+fear of offending ought to extend to all mankind. Homage such as this
+infringes not our sincerity, since it is as much a matter of course as
+the dress that we wear, and has as little reason to flatter a man as the
+shadow which follows him. I no more, therefore, hold him deceitful for
+not opposing this pantomimical parade, than I hold him to be dependent
+for eating corn he has not sown."
+
+"Where, then, do you draw the line? and what is the boundary beyond
+which your independence must not step?"
+
+"I hold that man," cried he, with energy, "to be independent, who treats
+the Great as the Little, and the Little as the Great, who neither exults
+in riches nor blushes in poverty, who owes no man a groat, and who
+spends not a shilling he has not earned."
+
+"You will not, indeed, then, have a very numerous acquaintance, if this
+is the description of those with whom you purpose to associate! but is
+it possible you imagine you can live by such notions? why the Carthusian
+in his monastery, who is at least removed from temptation, is not
+mortified so severely as a man of spirit living in the world, who would
+prescribe himself such rules."
+
+"Not merely have I prescribed," returned Belfield, "I have already put
+them in practice; and far from finding any pennance, I never before
+found happiness. I have now adopted, though poor, the very plan of life
+I should have elected if rich; my pleasure, therefore, is become my
+business, and my business my pleasure."
+
+"And is this plan," cried Monckton, "nothing more than turning
+Knight-errant to the Booksellers?"
+
+"'Tis a Knight-errantry," answered Belfield, laughing, "which, however
+ludicrous it may seem to you, requires more soul and more brains than
+any other. Our giants may, indeed, be only windmills, but they must be
+attacked with as much spirit, and conquered with as much bravery, as
+any fort or any town, in time of war [to] be demolished; and though the
+siege, I must confess, may be of less national utility, the assailants
+of the quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the
+sword."
+
+"I suppose then," said Monckton, archly, "if a man wants a biting
+lampoon, or an handsome panegyric, some newspaper scandal, or a sonnet
+for a lady--"
+
+"No, no," interrupted Belfield eagerly, "if you imagine me a hireling
+scribbler for the purposes of defamation or of flattery, you as little
+know my situation as my character. My subjects shall be my own, and my
+satire shall be general. I would as much disdain to be personal with an
+anonymous pen, as to attack an unarmed man in the dark with a dagger I
+had kept concealed."
+
+A reply of rallying incredulity was rising to the lips of Mr Monckton,
+when reading in the looks of Cecilia an entire approbation of this
+sentiment, he checked his desire of ridicule, and exclaimed, "spoken
+like a man of honour, and one whose works may profit the world!"
+
+"From my earliest youth to the present hour," continued Belfield,
+"literature has been the favourite object of my pursuit, my recreation
+in leisure, and my hope in employment. My propensity to it, indeed,
+has been so ungovernable, that I may properly call it the source of my
+several miscarriages throughout life. It was the bar to my preferment,
+for it gave me a distaste to other studies; it was the cause of my
+unsteadiness in all my undertakings, because to all I preferred it.
+It has sunk me to distress, it has involved me in difficulties; it
+has brought me to the brink of ruin by making me neglect the means
+of living, yet never, till now, did I discern it might itself be my
+support."
+
+"I am heartily glad, Sir," said Cecilia, "your various enterprizes and
+struggles have at length ended in a project which promises you so much
+satisfaction. But you will surely suffer your sister and your mother
+to partake of it? for who is there that your prosperity will make so
+happy?"
+
+"You do them infinite honour, madam, by taking any interest in their
+affairs; but to own to you the truth, what to me appears prosperity,
+will to them wear another aspect. They have looked forward to my
+elevation with expectations the most improbable, and thought everything
+within my grasp, with a simplicity incredible. But though their hopes
+were absurd, I am pained by their disappointment, and I have not courage
+to meet their tears, which I am sure will not be spared when they see
+me."
+
+"'Tis from tenderness, then," said Cecilia, half smiling, "that you are
+cruel, and from affection to your friends that you make them believe you
+have forgotten them?"
+
+There was a delicacy in this reproach exactly suited to work upon
+Belfield, who feeling it with quickness, started up, and cried, "I
+believe I am wrong!--I will go to them this moment!"
+
+Cecilia felt eager to second the generous impulse; but Mr Monckton,
+laughing at his impetuosity, insisted he should first finish his
+breakfast.
+
+"Your friends," said Cecilia, "can have no mortification so hard to bear
+as your voluntary absence; and if they see but that you are happy, they
+will soon be reconciled to whatever situation you may chuse."
+
+"Happy!" repeated he, with animation, "Oh I am in Paradise! I am come
+from a region in the first rude state of nature, to civilization and
+refinement! the life I led at the cottage was the life of a savage; no
+intercourse with society, no consolation from books; my mind locked up,
+every source dried of intellectual delight, and no enjoyment in my power
+but from sleep and from food. Weary of an existence which thus levelled
+me with a brute, I grew ashamed of the approximation, and listening to
+the remonstrance of my understanding, I gave up the precipitate plan, to
+pursue one more consonant to reason. I came to town, hired a room, and
+sent for pen, ink and paper: what I have written are trifles, but the
+Bookseller has not rejected them. I was settled, therefore, in a moment,
+and comparing my new occupation with that I had just quitted, I seemed
+exalted on the sudden from a mere creature of instinct, to a rational
+and intelligent being. But when first I opened a book, after so long
+an abstinence from all mental nourishment,--Oh it was rapture! no
+half-famished beggar regaled suddenly with food, ever seized on his
+repast with more hungry avidity."
+
+"Let fortune turn which way it will," cried Monckton, "you may defy all
+its malice, while possessed of a spirit of enjoyment which nothing can
+subdue!"
+
+"But were you not, Sir," said Cecilia, "as great an enthusiast the other
+day for your cottage, and for labour?"
+
+"I was, madam; but there my philosophy was erroneous: in my ardour
+to fly from meanness and from dependence, I thought in labour and
+retirement I should find freedom and happiness; but I forgot that my
+body was not seasoned for such work, and considered not that a
+mind which had once been opened by knowledge, could ill endure the
+contraction of dark and perpetual ignorance. The approach, however, of
+winter, brought me acquainted with my mistake. It grew cold, it grew
+bleak; little guarded against the inclemency of the ----, I felt its
+severity in every limb, and missed a thousand indulgencies which in
+possession I had never valued. To rise at break of day, chill, freezing,
+and comfortless! no sun abroad, no fire at home! to go out in all
+weather to work, that work rough, coarse, and laborious!--unused to such
+hardships, I found I could not bear them, and, however unwillingly, was
+compelled to relinquish the attempt."
+
+Breakfast now being over, he again arose to take leave.
+
+"You are going, then, Sir," said Cecilia, "immediately to your friends?"
+
+"No, madam," answered he hesitating, "not just this moment; to-morrow
+morning perhaps,--but it is now late, and I have business for the rest
+of the day."
+
+"Ah, Mr Monckton!" cried Cecilia, "what mischief have you done by
+occasioning this delay!"
+
+"This goodness, madam," said Belfield, "my sister can never sufficiently
+acknowledge. But I will own, that though, just now, in a warm moment, I
+felt eager to present myself to her and my mother, I rather wish, now I
+am cooler, to be saved the pain of telling them in person my situation.
+I mean, therefore, first to write to them."
+
+"You will not fail, then, to see them to-morrow?"
+
+"Certainly--I think not."
+
+"Nay, but certainly you _must_ not, for I shall call upon them to-day,
+and assure them they may expect you. Can I soften your task of writing
+by giving them any message from you?"
+
+"Ah, madam, have a care!" cried he; "this condescension to a poor author
+may be more dangerous than you have any suspicion! and before you have
+power to help yourself, you may see your name prefixed to the Dedication
+of some trumpery pamphlet!"
+
+"I will run," cried she, "all risks; remember, therefore, you will be
+responsible for the performance of my promise."
+
+"I will be sure," answered he, "not to forget what reflects so much
+honour upon myself."
+
+Cecilia was satisfied by this assent, and he then went away.
+
+"A strange flighty character!" cried Mr Monckton, "yet of uncommon
+capacity, and full of genius. Were he less imaginative, wild and
+eccentric, he has abilities for any station, and might fix and
+distinguish himself almost where-ever he pleased."
+
+"I knew not," said Cecilia, "the full worth of steadiness and prudence
+till I knew this young man; for he has every thing else; talents the
+most striking, a love of virtue the most elevated, and manners the most
+pleasing; yet wanting steadiness and prudence, he can neither act with
+consistency nor prosper with continuance."
+
+"He is well enough," said Lady Margaret, who had heard the whole
+argument in sullen taciturnity, "he is well enough, I say; and there
+comes no good from young women's being so difficult."
+
+Cecilia, offended by a speech which implied a rude desire to dispose
+of her, went up stairs to her own room; and Mr Monckton, always enraged
+when young men and Cecilia were alluded to in the same sentence, retired
+to his library.
+
+She then ordered a chair, and went to Portland-street, to fulfil what
+she had offered to Belfield, and to revive his mother and sister by the
+pleasure of the promised interview.
+
+She found them together: and her intelligence being of equal consequence
+to both, she did not now repine at the presence of Mrs Belfield.
+She made her communication with the most cautious attention to their
+characters, softening the ill she had to relate with respect to
+Belfield's present way of living, by endeavouring to awaken affection
+and joy from the prospect of the approaching meeting. She counselled
+them as much as possible to restrain their chagrin at his misfortunes,
+which he would but construe into reproach of his ill management; and
+she represented that when once he was restored to his family, he might
+almost imperceptibly be led into some less wild and more profitable
+scheme of business.
+
+When she had told all she thought proper to relate, kindly interspersing
+her account with the best advice and best comfort she could suggest,
+she made an end of her visit; for the affliction of Mrs Belfield
+upon hearing the actual situation of her son, was so clamorous and
+unappeaseable, that, little wondering at Belfield's want of courage to
+encounter it, and having no opportunity in such a storm to console the
+soft Henrietta, whose tears flowed abundantly that her brother should
+thus be fallen, she only promised before she left town to see her again,
+and beseeching Mrs Belfield to moderate her concern, was glad to leave
+the house, where her presence had no power to quiet their distress.
+
+She passed the rest of the day in sad reflections upon the meeting
+she was herself to have the next morning with Mr Delvile. She wished
+ardently to know whether his son was gone abroad, and whether Mrs
+Delvile was recovered, whose health, in her own letter, was mentioned in
+terms the most melancholy: yet neither of these enquiries could she even
+think of making, since reasonably, without them, apprehensive of some
+reproach.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A WRANGLING.
+
+Mr Monckton, the next day, as soon as breakfast was over, went out,
+to avoid showing, even to Cecilia, the anxiety he felt concerning the
+regulation of her fortune, and arrangement of her affairs. He strongly,
+however, advised her not to mention her large debt, which, though
+contracted in the innocence of the purest benevolence, would incur
+nothing but reproof and disapprobation, from all who only heard of it,
+when they heard of its inutility.
+
+At eleven o'clock, though an hour before the time appointed, while
+Cecilia was sitting in Lady Margaret's dressing room, "with sad civility
+and an aching head," she was summoned to Mr Briggs in the parlour.
+
+He immediately began reproaching her with having eloped from him, in the
+summer, and with the various expences she had caused him from useless
+purchases and spoilt provisions. He then complained of Mr Delvile, whom
+he charged with defrauding him of his dues; but observing in the midst
+of his railing her dejection of countenance, he suddenly broke off, and
+looking at her with some concern, said, "what's the matter, Ducky? a'n't
+well? look as if you could not help it."
+
+"O yes," cried Cecilia, "I thank you, Sir, I am very well."
+
+"What do you look so blank for, then?" said he, "bay? what are fretting
+for?--crossed in love?--lost your sweetheart?"
+
+"No, no, no," cried she, with quickness.
+
+"Never mind, my chick, never mind," said he, pinching her cheek, with
+resumed good humour, "more to be had; if one won't snap, another will;
+put me in a passion by going off from me with that old grandee, or would
+have got one long ago. Hate that old Don; used me very ill; wish I could
+trounce him. Thinks more of a fusty old parchment than the price of
+stocks. Fit for nothing but to be stuck upon an old monument for a
+Death's head."
+
+He then told her that her accounts were all made out, and he was ready
+at any time to produce them; he approved much of her finishing wholly
+with the _old Don_, who had been a mere cypher in the executorship; but
+he advised her not to think of taking her money into her own hands, as
+he was willing to keep the charge of it himself till she was married.
+
+Cecilia, thanking him for the offer, said she meant now to make her
+acknowledgments for all the trouble he had already taken, but by no
+means purposed to give him any more.
+
+He debated the matter with her warmly, told her she had no chance to
+save herself from knaves and cheats, but by trusting to nobody but
+himself, and informing her what interest he had already made of her
+money, enquired how she would set about getting more?
+
+Cecilia, though prejudiced against him by Mr Monckton, knew not how to
+combat his arguments; yet conscious that scarce any part of the money
+to which he alluded was in fact her own, she could not yield to them.
+He was, however, so stubborn and so difficult to deal with, that she at
+length let him talk without troubling herself to answer, and privately
+determined to beg Mr Monckton would fight her battle.
+
+She was not, therefore, displeased by his interruption, though very much
+surprised by the sight of his person, when, in the midst of Mr Briggs's
+oratory, Mr Hobson entered the parlour.
+
+"I ask pardon, ma'am," cried he, "if I intrude; but I made free to call
+upon the account of two ladies that are acquaintances of yours, that are
+quite, as one may say, at their wit's ends."
+
+"What is the matter with them, Sir?"
+
+"Why, ma'am, no great matter, but mothers are soon frightened, and when
+once they are upon the fret, one may as well talk to the boards! they
+know no more of reasoning and arguing, than they do of a shop ledger!
+however, my maxim is this; every body in their way; one has no more
+right to expect courageousness from a lady in them cases, than one has
+from a child in arms; for what I say is, they have not the proper use of
+their heads, which makes it very excusable."
+
+"But what has occasioned any alarm? nothing, I hope, is the matter with
+Miss Belfield?"
+
+"No, ma'am; thank God, the young lady enjoys her health very well: but
+she is taking on just in the same way as her mamma, as what can be more
+natural? Example, ma'am, is apt to be catching, and one lady's crying
+makes another think she must do the same, for a little thing serves for
+a lady's tears, being they can cry at any time: but a man is quite of
+another nature, let him but have a good conscience, and be clear of the
+world, and I'll engage he'll not wash his face without soap! that's what
+I say!"
+
+"Will, will!" cried Mr Briggs, "do it myself! never use soap; nothing
+but waste; take a little sand; does as well."
+
+"Let every man have his own proposal;" answered Hobson; "for my part, I
+take every morning a large bowl of water, and souse my whole head in it;
+and then when I've rubbed it dry, on goes my wig, and I am quite fresh
+and agreeable: and then I take a walk in Tottenham Court Road as far as
+the Tabernacle, or thereabouts, and snuff in a little fresh country
+air, and then I come back, with a good wholesome appetite, and in a fine
+breathing heat, asking the young lady's pardon; and I enjoy my pot of
+fresh tea, and my round of hot toast and butter, with as good a relish
+as if I was a Prince."
+
+"Pot of fresh tea," cried Briggs, "bring a man to ruin; toast and
+butter! never suffer it in my house. Breakfast on water-gruel, sooner
+done; fills one up in a second. Give it my servants; can't eat much of
+it. Bob 'em there!" nodding significantly.
+
+"Water-gruel!" exclaimed Mr Hobson, "why I could not get it down if I
+might have the world for it! it would make me quite sick, asking the
+young lady's pardon, by reason I should always think I was preparing for
+the small-pox. My notion is quite of another nature; the first thing I
+do is to have a good fire; for what I say is this, if a man is cold in
+his fingers, it's odds if ever he gets warm in his purse! ha! ha! warm,
+you take me, Sir? I mean a pun. Though I ought to ask pardon, for I
+suppose the young lady don't know what I am a saying."
+
+"I should indeed be better pleased, Sir," said Cecilia, "to hear what
+you have to say about Miss Belfield."
+
+"Why, ma'am, the thing is this; we have been expecting the young
+'Squire, as I call him, all the morning, and he has never come; so Mrs
+Belfield, not knowing where to send after him, was of opinion he might
+be here, knowing your kindness to him, and that."
+
+"You make the enquiry at the wrong place, Sir," said Cecilia, much
+provoked by the implication it conveyed; "if Mr Belfield is in this
+house, you must seek him with Mr Monckton."
+
+"You take no offence, I hope, ma'am, at my just asking of the question?
+for Mrs Belfield crying, and being in that dilemma, I thought I could
+do no less than oblige her by coming to see if the young gentleman was
+here."
+
+"What's this? what's this?" cried Mr Briggs eagerly; "who are talking
+of? hay?--who do mean? is this the sweet heart? eh, Duck?"
+
+"No, no, Sir," cried Cecilia.
+
+"No tricks! won't be bit! who is it? will know; tell me, I say!"
+
+"_I'll_ tell Sir," cried Mr Hobson; "it's a very handsome young
+gentleman, with as fine a person, and as genteel a way of behaviour, and
+withal, as pretty a manner of dressing himself, and that, as any lady
+need desire. He has no great head for business, as I am told, but the
+ladies don't stand much upon that topic, being they know nothing of it
+themselves."
+
+"Has got the ready?" cried Mr Briggs, impatiently; "can cast an account?
+that's the point; can come down handsomely? eh?"
+
+"Why as to that, Sir, I'm not bound to speak to a gentleman's private
+affairs. What's my own, is my own, and what is another person's, is
+another person's; that's my way of arguing, and that's what I call
+talking to the purpose."
+
+"Dare say he's a rogue! don't have him, chick. Bet a wager i'n't
+worth two shillings; and that will go for powder and pomatum; hate a
+plaistered pate; commonly a numscull: love a good bob-jerom."
+
+"Why this is talking quite wide of the mark," said Mr Hobson, "to
+suppose a young lady of fortunes would marry a man with a bob-jerom.
+What I say is, let every body follow their nature; that's the way to be
+comfortable; and then if they pay every one his own, who's a right to
+call 'em to account, whether they wear a bob-jerom, or a pig-tail down
+to the calves of their legs?"
+
+"Ay, ay," cried Briggs, sneeringly, "or whether they stuff their gullets
+with hot rounds of toast and butter."
+
+"And what if they do, Sir?" returned Hobson, a little angrily; "when a
+man's got above the world, where's the harm of living a little genteel?
+as to a round of toast and butter, and a few oysters, fresh opened, by
+way of a damper before dinner, no man need be ashamed of them, provided
+he pays as he goes: and as to living upon water-gruel, and scrubbing
+one's flesh with sand, one might as well be a galley-slave at once. You
+don't understand life, Sir, I see that."
+
+"Do! do!" cried Briggs, speaking through his shut teeth; "you're out
+there! oysters!--come to ruin, tell you! bring you to jail!"
+
+"To jail, Sir?" exclaimed Hobson, "this is talking quite ungenteel! let
+every man be civil; that's what I say, for that's the way to make every
+thing agreeable but as to telling a man he'll go to jail, and that, it's
+tantamount to affronting him."
+
+A rap at the street-door gave now a new relief to Cecilia, who began to
+grow very apprehensive lest the delight of spending money, thus warmly
+contested with that of hoarding it, should give rise to a quarrel,
+which, between two such sturdy champions for their own opinions, might
+lead to a conclusion rather more rough and violent than she desired to
+witness: but when the parlour-door opened, instead of Mr Delvile, whom
+she now fully expected, Mr Albany made his entrance.
+
+This was rather distressing, as her real business with her guardians
+made it proper her conference with them should be undisturbed: and
+Albany was not a man with whom a hint that she was engaged could be
+risked: but she had made no preparation to guard against interruption,
+as her little acquaintance in London had prevented her expecting any
+visitors.
+
+He advanced with a solemn air to Cecilia, and, looking as if hardly
+determined whether to speak with severity or gentleness, said, "once
+more I come to prove thy sincerity; now wilt thou go with me where
+sorrow calls thee? sorrow thy charity can mitigate?"
+
+"I am very much concerned," she answered, "but indeed at present it is
+utterly impossible."
+
+"Again," cried he, with a look at once stern and disappointed, "again
+thou failest me? what wanton trifling! why shouldst thou thus elate a
+worn-out mind, only to make it feel its lingering credulity? or why,
+teaching me to think I had found an angel, so unkindly undeceive me?"
+
+"Indeed," said Cecilia, much affected by this reproof, "if you knew how
+heavy a loss I had personally suffered--"
+
+"I do know it," cried he, "and I grieved for thee when I heard it. Thou
+hast lost a faithful old friend, a loss which with every setting sun
+thou mayst mourn, for the rising sun will never repair it! but was that
+a reason for shunning the duties of humanity? was the sight of death a
+motive for neglecting the claims of benevolence? ought it not rather to
+have hastened your fulfilling them? and should not your own suffering
+experience of the brevity of life, have taught you the vanity of all
+things but preparing for its end?"
+
+"Perhaps so, but my grief at that time made me think only of myself."
+
+"And of what else dost thou think now?"
+
+"Most probably of the same person still!" said she, half smiling, "but
+yet believe me, I have real business to transact."
+
+"Frivolous, unmeaning, ever-ready excuses! what business is so important
+as the relief of a fellow-creature?"
+
+"I shall not, I hope, there," answered she, with alacrity, "be backward;
+but at least for this morning I must beg to make you my Almoner."
+
+She then took out her purse.
+
+Mr Briggs and Mr Hobson, whose quarrel had been suspended by the
+appearance of a third person, and who had stood during this short
+dialogue in silent amazement, having first lost their anger in their
+mutual consternation, now lost their consternation in their mutual
+displeasure Mr. Hobson felt offended to hear business spoken of
+slightly, and Mr Briggs felt enraged at the sight of Cecilia's ready
+purse. Neither of them, however, knew which way to interfere, the
+stem gravity of Albany, joined to a language too lofty for their
+comprehension, intimidating them both. They took, however, the relief of
+communing with one another, and Mr Hobson said in a whisper "This, you
+must know, is, I am told, a very particular old gentleman; quite what I
+call a genius. He comes often to my house, to see my lodger Miss Henny
+Belfield, though I never happen to light upon him myself, except once in
+the passage: but what I hear of him is this; he makes a practice, as
+one may say, of going about into people's houses, to do nothing but find
+fault."
+
+"Shan't get into mine!" returned Briggs, "promise him that! don't half
+like him; be bound he's an old sharper."
+
+Cecilia, mean time, enquired what he desired to have.
+
+"Half a guinea," he answered.
+
+"Will that do?"
+
+"For those who have nothing," said he, "it is much. Hereafter, you may
+assist them again. Go but and see their distresses, and you will wish to
+give them every thing."
+
+Mr Briggs now, when actually between her fingers he saw the half
+guinea, could contain no longer; he twitched the sleeve of her gown, and
+pinching her arm, with a look of painful eagerness, said in a whisper
+"Don't give it! don't let him have it! chouse him, chouse him! nothing
+but an old bite!"
+
+"Pardon me, Sir," said Cecilia, in a low voice, "his character is very
+well known to me." And then, disengaging her arm from him, she presented
+her little offering.
+
+At this sight, Mr Briggs was almost outrageous, and losing in his wrath,
+all fear of the stranger, he burst forth with fury into the following
+outcries, "Be ruined! see it plainly; be fleeced! be stript! be robbed!
+won't have a gown to your back! won't have a shoe to your foot! won't
+have a rag in the world! be a beggar in the street! come to the parish!
+rot in a jail!--half a guinea at a time!--enough to break the Great
+Mogul!"
+
+"Inhuman spirit of selfish parsimony!" exclaimed Albany, "repinest thou
+at this loan, given from thousands to those who have worse than nothing?
+who pay to-day in hunger for bread they borrowed yesterday from pity?
+who to save themselves from the deadly pangs of famine, solicit but what
+the rich know not when they possess, and miss not when they give?"
+
+"Anan!" cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of
+his understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly
+unaccustomed, "what d'ye say?"
+
+"If to thyself distress may cry in vain," continued Albany, "if thy own
+heart resists the suppliant's prayer, callous to entreaty, and hardened
+in the world, suffer, at least, a creature yet untainted, who melts
+at sorrow, and who glows with charity, to pay from her vast wealth a
+generous tax of thankfulness, that fate has not reversed her doom, and
+those whom she relieves, relieve not her!"
+
+"Anan!" was again all the wondering Mr Briggs could say.
+
+"Pray, ma'am," said Mr Hobson, to Cecilia, "if it's no offence, was the
+Gentleman ever a player?"
+
+"I fancy not, indeed!"
+
+"I ask pardon, then, ma'am; I mean no harm; but my notion was the
+gentleman might be speaking something by heart."
+
+"Is it but on the stage, humanity exists?" cried Albany, indignantly;
+"Oh thither hasten, then, ye monopolizers of plenty! ye selfish,
+unfeeling engrossers of wealth, which ye dissipate without enjoying,
+and of abundance, which ye waste while ye refuse to distribute! thither,
+thither haste, if there humanity exists!"
+
+"As to engrossing," said Mr Hobson, happy to hear at last a word with
+which he was familiar, "it's what I never approved myself. My maxim is
+this; if a man makes a fair penny, without any underhand dealings, why
+he has as much a title to enjoy his pleasure as the Chief Justice, or
+the Lord Chancellor: and it's odds but he's as happy as a greater man.
+Though what I hold to be best of all, is a clear conscience, with a neat
+income of 2 or 3000 a year. That's my notion; and I don't think it's a
+bad one."
+
+"Weak policy of short-sighted ignorance!" cried Albany, "to wish for
+what, if used, brings care, and if neglected, remorse! have you not now
+beyond what nature craves? why then still sigh for more?"
+
+"Why?" cried Mr Briggs, who by dint of deep attention began now better
+to comprehend him, "why to buy in, to be sure! ever hear of stocks, eh?
+know any thing of money?"
+
+"Still to make more and more," cried Albany, "and wherefore? to spend in
+vice and idleness, or hoard in chearless misery! not to give succour
+to the wretched, not to support the falling; all is for self,
+however little wanted, all goes to added stores, or added luxury; no
+fellow-creature served, nor even one beggar relieved!"
+
+"Glad of it!" cried Briggs, "glad of it; would not have 'em relieved;
+don't like 'em; hate a beggar; ought to be all whipt; live upon
+spunging."
+
+"Why as to a beggar, I must needs say," cried Mr Hobson, "I am by no
+means an approver of that mode of proceeding; being I take 'em all for
+cheats: for what I say is this, what a man earns, he earns, and it's no
+man's business to enquire what he spends, for a free-born Englishman is
+his own master by the nature of the law, and as to his being a subject,
+why a duke is no more, nor a judge, nor the Lord High Chancellor, and
+the like of those; which makes it tantamount to nothing, being he is
+answerable to nobody by the right of Magna Charta: except in cases of
+treason, felony, and that. But as to a beggar, it's quite another thing;
+he comes and asks me for money; but what has he to shew for it? what
+does he bring me in exchange? why a long story that he i'n't worth a
+penny! what's that to me? nothing at all. Let every man have his own;
+that's my way of arguing."
+
+"Ungentle mortals!" cried Albany, "in wealth exulting; even in
+inhumanity! think you these wretched outcasts have less sensibility
+than yourselves? think you, in cold and hunger, they lose those feelings
+which even in voluptuous prosperity from time to time disturb you? you
+say they are all cheats? 'tis but the niggard cant of avarice, to lure
+away remorse from obduracy. Think you the naked wanderer begs from
+choice? give him your wealth and try."
+
+"Give him a whip!" cried Briggs, "sha'n't have a souse! send him to
+Bridewell! nothing but a pauper; hate 'em; hate 'em all! full of tricks;
+break their own legs, put out their arms, cut off their fingers, snap
+their own ancles,--all for what? to get at the chink! to chouse us of
+cash! ought to be well flogged; have 'em all sent to the Thames; worse
+than the Convicts."
+
+"Poor subterfuge of callous cruelty! you cheat yourselves, to shun the
+fraud of others! and yet, how better do you use the wealth so guarded?
+what nobler purpose can it answer to you, than even a chance to snatch
+some wretch from sinking? think less how _much_ ye save, and more
+for _what_; and then consider how thy full coffers may hereafter make
+reparation, for the empty catalogue of thy virtues."
+
+"Anan!" said Mr Briggs, again lost in perplexity and wonder.
+
+"Oh yet," continued Albany, turning towards Cecilia, "preach not here
+the hardness which ye practice; rather amend yourselves than corrupt
+her; and give with liberality what ye ought to receive with gratitude!"
+
+"This is not my doctrine," cried Hobson; "I am not a near man, neither,
+but as to giving at that rate, it's quite out of character. I have as
+good a right to my own savings, as to my own gettings; and what I say
+is this, who'll give to _me_? let me see that, and it's quite another
+thing: and begin who will, I'll be bound to go on with him, pound for
+pound, or pence for pence. But as to giving to them beggars, it's what
+I don't approve; I pay the poor's rate, and that's what I call charity
+enough for any man. But for the matter of living well, and spending
+one's money handsomely, and having one's comforts about one, why it's a
+thing of another nature, and I can say this for myself, and that is,
+I never grudged myself any thing in my life. I always made myself
+agreeable, and lived on the best. That's my way."
+
+"Bad way too," cried Briggs, "never get on with it, never see beyond
+your nose; won't be worth a plum while your head wags!" then, taking
+Cecilia apart, "hark'ee, my duck," he added, pointing to Albany, "who is
+that Mr Bounce, eh? what is he?"
+
+"I have known him but a short time, Sir; but I think of him very
+highly."
+
+"Is he a _good_ man? that's the point, is he a _good_ man?"
+
+"Indeed he appears to me uncommonly benevolent and charitable."
+
+"But that i'n't the thing; is he _warm_? that's the point, is he
+_warm_?"
+
+"If you mean _passionate_," said Cecilia, "I believe the energy of his
+manner is merely to enforce what he says."
+
+"Don't take me, don't take me," cried he, impatiently; "can come down
+with the ready, that's the matter; can chink the little gold boys? eh?"
+
+"Why I rather fear not by his appearance; but I know nothing of his
+affairs."
+
+"What does come for? eh? come a courting?"
+
+"Mercy on me, no!"
+
+"What for then? only a spunging?"
+
+"No, indeed. He seems to have no wish but to assist and plead for
+others."
+
+"All fudge! think he i'n't touched? ay, ay; nothing but a trick! only to
+get at the chink: see he's as poor as a rat, talks of nothing but giving
+money; a bad sign! if he'd got any, would not do it. Wanted to make
+us come down; warrant thought to bam us all! out there! a'n't so soon
+gulled."
+
+A knock at the street door gave now a new interruption, and Mr Delvile
+at length appeared.
+
+Cecilia, whom his sight could not fail to disconcert, felt doubly
+distressed by the unnecessary presence of Albany and Hobson; she
+regretted the absence of Mr Monckton, who could easily have taken them
+away; for though without scruple she could herself have acquainted Mr
+Hobson she had business, she dreaded offending Albany, whose esteem she
+was ambitious of obtaining.
+
+Mr Delvile entered the room with an air stately and erect; he took off
+his hat, but deigned not to make the smallest inclination of his head,
+nor offered any excuse to Mr Briggs for being past the hour of his
+appointment: but having advanced a few paces, without looking either
+to the right or left, said, "as I have never acted, my coming may not,
+perhaps, be essential; but as my name is in the Dean's Will, and I have
+once or twice met the other executors mentioned in it, I think it a duty
+I owe to my own heirs to prevent any possible future enquiry or trouble
+to them."
+
+This speech was directly addressed to no one, though meant to be
+attended to by every one, and seemed proudly uttered as a mere apology
+to himself for not having declined the meeting.
+
+Cecilia, though she recovered from her confusion by the help of her
+aversion to this self-sufficiency, made not any answer. Albany retired
+to a corner of the room; Mr Hobson began to believe it was time for him
+to depart; and Mr Briggs thinking only of the quarrel in which he had
+separated with Mr Delvile in the summer, stood swelling with venom,
+which he longed for an opportunity to spit out.
+
+Mr Delvile, who regarded this silence as the effect of his awe-inspiring
+presence, became rather more complacent; but casting his eyes round the
+room, and perceiving the two strangers, he was visibly surprised, and
+looking at Cecilia for some explanation, seemed to stand suspended from
+the purpose of his visit till he heard one.
+
+Cecilia, earnest to have the business concluded, turned to Mr Briggs,
+and said, "Sir, here is pen and ink: are you to write, or am I? or what
+is to be done?"
+
+"No, no," said he, with a sneer, "give it t'other; all in our turn;
+don't come before his Grace the Right Honourable Mr Vampus."
+
+"Before whom, Sir?" said Mr Delvile, reddening.
+
+"Before my Lord Don Pedigree," answered Briggs, with a spiteful grin,
+"know him? eh? ever hear of such a person?"
+
+Mr Delvile coloured still deeper, but turning contemptuously from him,
+disdained making any reply.
+
+Mr Briggs, who now regarded him as a defeated man, said exultingly to Mr
+Hobson, "what do stand here for?--hay?--fall o' your marrowbones; don't
+see 'Squire High and Mighty?"
+
+"As to falling on my marrowbones," answered Mr Hobson, "it's what I
+shall do to no man, except he was the King himself, or the like of that,
+and going to make me Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Commissioner of
+Excise. Not that I mean the gentleman any offence; but a man's a man,
+and for one man to worship another is quite out of law."
+
+"Must, must!" cried Briggs, "tell all his old grand-dads else: keeps 'em
+in a roll; locks 'em in a closet; says his prayers to 'em; can't live
+without 'em: likes 'em better than cash!--wish had 'em here! pop 'em all
+in the sink!"
+
+"If your intention, Sir," cried Mr Delvile, fiercely, "is only to insult
+me, I am prepared for what measures I shall take. I declined seeing you
+in my own house, that I might not be under the same restraint as when it
+was my unfortunate lot to meet you last."
+
+"Who cares?" cried Briggs, with an air of defiance, "what can do, eh?
+poke me into a family vault? bind me o' top of an old monument? tie
+me to a stinking carcase? make a corpse of me, and call it one of your
+famous cousins?--"
+
+"For heaven's sake, Mr Briggs," interrupted Cecilia, who saw that Mr
+Delvile, trembling with passion, scarce refrained lifting up his stick,
+"be appeased, and let us finish our business!"
+
+Albany now, hearing in Cecilia's voice the alarm with which she was
+seized, came forward and exclaimed, "Whence this unmeaning dissension?
+to what purpose this irritating abuse? Oh vain and foolish! live ye so
+happily, last ye so long, that time and peace may thus be trifled with?"
+
+"There, there!" cried Briggs, holding up his finger at Mr Delvile, "have
+it now! got old Mr Bounce upon you! give you enough of it; promise you
+that!"
+
+"Restrain," continued Albany, "this idle wrath; and if ye have ardent
+passions, employ them to nobler uses; let them stimulate acts of virtue,
+let them animate deeds of beneficence! Oh waste not spirits that may
+urge you to good, lead you to honour, warm you to charity, in poor and
+angry words, in unfriendly, unmanly debate!"
+
+Mr Delvile, who from the approach of Albany, had given him his whole
+attention, was struck with astonishment at this address, and almost
+petrified with wonder at his language and exhortations.
+
+"Why I must own," said Mr Hobson, "as to this matter I am much of the
+same mind myself; for quarreling's a thing I don't uphold; being it
+advances one no way; for what I say is this, if a man gets the better,
+he's only where he was before, and if he gets worsted, why it's odds but
+the laugh's against him: so, if I may make bold to give my verdict, I
+would have one of these gentlemen take the other by the hand, and so
+put an end to bad words. That's my maxim, and that's what I call being
+agreeable."
+
+Mr Delvile, at the words _one of these gentlemen take the other by the
+hand_, looked scornfully upon Mr Hobson, with a frown that expressed his
+highest indignation, at being thus familiarly coupled with Mr Briggs.
+And then, turning from him to Cecilia, haughtily said, "Are these
+two persons," pointing towards Albany and Hobson, "waiting here to be
+witnesses to any transaction?"
+
+"No, Sir, no," cried Hobson, "I don't mean to intrude, I am going
+directly. So you can give me no insight, ma'am," addressing Cecilia, "as
+to where I might light upon Mr Belfield?"
+
+"Me? no!" cried she, much provoked by observing that Mr Delvile suddenly
+looked at her.
+
+"Well, ma'am, well, I mean no harm: only I hold it that the right way to
+hear of a young gentleman, is to ask for him of a young lady: that's my
+maxim. Come, Sir," to Mr Briggs, "you and I had like to have fallen out,
+but what I say is this; let no man bear malice; that's my way: so I hope
+we part without ill blood?"
+
+"Ay, ay;" said Mr Briggs, giving him a nod.
+
+"Well, then," added Hobson, "I hope the good-will may go round, and that
+not only you and I, but these two good old gentlemen will also lend a
+hand."
+
+Mr Delvile now was at a loss which way to turn for very rage; but after
+looking at every one with a face flaming with ire, he said to Cecilia,
+"If you have collected together these persons for the purpose of
+affronting me, I must beg you to remember I am not one to be affronted
+with impunity!"
+
+Cecilia, half frightened, was beginning an answer that disclaimed any
+such intention, when Albany, with the most indignant energy, called out,
+"Oh pride of heart, with littleness of soul! check this vile arrogance,
+too vain for man, and spare to others some part of that lenity thou
+nourishest for thyself, or justly bestow on thyself that contempt thou
+nourishest for others!"
+
+And with these words he sternly left the house.
+
+The thunderstruck Mr Delvile began now to fancy that all the demons
+of torment were designedly let loose upon him, and his surprise and
+resentment operated so powerfully that it was only in broken sentences
+he could express either. "Very extraordinary!--a new method of
+conduct!--liberties to which I am not much used!--impertinences I shall
+not hastily forget,--treatment that would scarce be pardonable to a
+person wholly unknown!--"
+
+"Why indeed, Sir," said Hobson, "I can't but say it was rather a cut up;
+but the old gentleman is what one may call a genius, which makes it a
+little excusable; for he does things all his own way, and I am told it's
+the same thing who he speaks to, so he can but find fault, and that."
+
+"Sir," interrupted the still more highly offended Mr Delvile, "what
+_you_ may be told is extremely immaterial to _me_; and I must take the
+liberty to hint to you, a conversation of this easy kind is not what I
+am much in practice in hearing."
+
+"Sir, I ask pardon," said Hobson, "I meant nothing but what was
+agreeable; however, I have done, and I wish you good day. Your humble
+servant, ma'am, and I hope, Sir," to Mr Briggs, "you won't begin bad
+words again?"
+
+"No, no," said Briggs, "ready to make up; all at end; only don't much
+like _Spain_, that's all!" winking significantly, "nor a'n't over fond
+of a _skeleton_!"
+
+Mr Hobson now retired; and Mr Delvile and Mr Briggs, being both wearied
+and both in haste to have done, settled in about five minutes all for
+which they met, after passing more than an hour in agreeing what that
+was.
+
+Mr Briggs then, saying he had an engagement upon business, declined
+settling his own accounts till another time, but promised to see Cecilia
+again soon, and added, "be sure take care of that old Mr Bounce! cracked
+in the noddle; see that with half an eye! better not trust him! break
+out some day: do you a mischief!"
+
+He then went away: but while the parlour-door was still open, to the no
+little surprise of Cecilia, the servant announced Mr Belfield. He hardly
+entered the room, and his countenance spoke haste and eagerness. "I have
+this moment, madam," he said, "been informed a complaint has been lodged
+against me here, and I could not rest till I had the honour of assuring
+you, that though I have been rather dilatory, I have not neglected my
+appointment, nor has the condescension of your interference been thrown
+away."
+
+He then bowed, shut the door, and ran off Cecilia, though happy to
+understand by this speech that he was actually restored to his family,
+was sorry at these repeated intrusions in the presence of Mr Delvile,
+who was now the only one that remained.
+
+She expected every instant that he would ring for his chair, which he
+kept in waiting; but, after a pause of some continuance, to her equal
+surprise and disturbance, he made the following speech. "As it is
+probable I am now for the last time alone with you, ma'am, and as it is
+certain we shall meet no more upon business, I cannot, in justice to my
+own character, and to the respect I retain for the memory of the Dean,
+your uncle, take a final leave of the office with which he was pleased
+to invest me, without first fulfilling my own ideas of the duty it
+requires from me, by giving you some counsel relating to your future
+establishment."
+
+This was not a preface much to enliven Cecilia; it prepared her for such
+speeches as she was least willing to hear, and gave to her the mixt and
+painful sensation of spirits depressed, with ride alarmed.
+
+"My numerous engagements," he continued, "and the appropriation of my
+time, already settled, to their various claims, must make me brief in
+what I have to represent, and somewhat, perhaps, abrupt in coming to the
+purpose. But that you will excuse."
+
+Cecilia disdained to humour this arrogance by any compliments or
+concessions: she was silent, therefore; and when they were both seated,
+he went on.
+
+"You are now at a time of life when it is natural for young women to
+wish for some connection: and the largeness of your fortune will remove
+from you such difficulties as prove bars to the pretensions, in this
+expensive age, of those who possess not such advantages. It would have
+been some pleasure to me, while I yet considered you as my Ward, to have
+seen you properly disposed of: but as that time is past, I can only give
+you some general advice, which you may follow or neglect as you think
+fit. By giving it, I shall satisfy myself; for the rest, I am not
+responsible."
+
+He paused; but Cecilia felt less and less inclination to make use of the
+opportunity by speaking in her turn.
+
+"Yet though, as I just now hinted, young women of large fortunes may
+have little trouble in finding themselves establishments, they ought
+not, therefore, to trifle when proper ones are in their power, nor to
+suppose themselves equal to any they may chance to desire."
+
+Cecilia coloured high at this pointed reprehension; but feeling her
+disgust every moment encrease, determined to sustain herself with
+dignity, and at least not suffer him to perceive the triumph of his
+ostentation and rudeness.
+
+"The proposals," he continued, "of the Earl of Ernolf had always my
+approbation; it was certainly an ill-judged thing to neglect such an
+opportunity of being honourably settled. The clause of the name was, to
+_him_, immaterial; since his own name half a century ago was unheard of,
+and since he is himself only known by his title. He is still, however,
+I have authority to acquaint you, perfectly well disposed to renew his
+application to you."
+
+"I am sorry, Sir," said Cecilia coldly, "to hear it."
+
+"You have, perhaps, some other better offer in view?"
+
+"No, Sir," cried she, with spirit, "nor even in desire."
+
+"Am I, then, to infer that some inferior offer has more chance of your
+approbation?"
+
+"There is no reason, Sir, to infer any thing; I am content with my
+actual situation, and have, at present, neither prospect nor intention
+of changing it."
+
+"I perceive, but without surprise, your unwillingness to discuss
+the subject; nor do I mean to press it: I shall merely offer to your
+consideration one caution, and then relieve you from my presence. Young
+women of ample fortunes, who are early independent, are sometimes apt
+to presume they may do every thing with impunity; but they are mistaken;
+they are as liable to censure as those who are wholly unprovided for."
+
+"I hope, Sir," said Cecilia, staring, "this at least is a caution rather
+drawn from my situation than my behaviour?"
+
+"I mean not, ma'am, narrowly to go into, or investigate the subject;
+what I have said you may make your own use of; I have only to observe
+further, that when young women, at your time of life, are at all
+negligent of so nice a thing as reputation, they commonly live to repent
+it."
+
+He then arose to go, but Cecilia, not more offended than amazed, said,
+"I must beg, Sir, you will explain yourself!"
+
+"Certainly this matter," he answered, "must be immaterial to _me_: yet,
+as I have once been your guardian by the nomination of the Dean
+your uncle, I cannot forbear making an effort towards preventing any
+indiscretion: and frequent visits to a young man--"
+
+"Good God! Sir," interrupted Cecilia, "what is it you mean?"
+
+"It can certainly, as I said before, be nothing to _me_, though I should
+be glad to see you in better hands: but I cannot suppose you have been
+led to take such steps without some serious plan; and I would advise
+you, without loss of time, to think better of what you are about."
+
+"Should I think, Sir, to eternity," cried Cecilia, "I could never
+conjecture what you mean!"
+
+"You may not chuse," said he, proudly, "to understand me; but I have
+done. If it had been in my power to have interfered in your service with
+my Lord Derford, notwithstanding my reluctance to being involved in any
+fresh employment, I should have made a point of not refusing it: but
+this young man is nobody,--a very imprudent connection--"
+
+"What young man, Sir?"
+
+"Nay, _I_ know nothing of him! it is by no means likely I should: but as
+I had already been informed of your attention to him, the corroborating
+incidents of my servant's following you to his house, his friend's
+seeking him at yours, and his own waiting upon you this morning; were
+not well calculated to make me withdraw my credence to it."
+
+"Is it, then, Mr Belfield, Sir, concerning whom you draw these
+inferences, from circumstances the most accidental and unmeaning?"
+
+"It is by no means my practice," cried he, haughtily, and with evident
+marks of high displeasure at this speech, "to believe any thing lightly,
+or without even unquestionable authority; what once, therefore, I have
+credited, I do not often find erroneous. Mistake not, however, what I
+have said into supposing I have any objection to your marrying; on the
+contrary, it had been for the honour of my family had you been married a
+year ago I should not then have suffered the degradation of seeing a son
+of the first expectations in the kingdom upon the point of renouncing
+his birth, nor a woman of the first distinction ruined in her health,
+and broken for ever in her constitution."
+
+The emotions of Cecilia at this speech were too powerful for
+concealment; her colour varied, now reddening with indignation, now
+turning pale with apprehension; she arose, she trembled and sat down,
+she arose again, but not knowing what to say or what to do, again sat
+down.
+
+Mr Delvile then, making a stiff bow, wished her good morning.
+
+"Go not so, Sir!" cried she, in faltering accents; "let me at least
+convince you of the mistake with regard to Mr Belfield--"
+
+"My mistakes, ma'am," said he, with a contemptuous smile, "are perhaps
+not easily convicted: and I may possibly labour under others that
+would give you no less trouble: it may therefore be better to avoid any
+further disquisition."
+
+"No, not better," answered she, again recovering her courage from this
+fresh provocation; "I fear no disquisition; on the contrary, it is my
+interest to solicit one."
+
+"This intrepidity in a young woman," said he, ironically, "is certainly
+very commendable; and doubtless, as you are your own mistress, your
+having run out great part of your fortune, is nothing beyond what you
+have a right to do."
+
+"Me!" cried Cecilia, astonished, "run out great part of my fortune!"
+
+"Perhaps that is another _mistake_! I have not often been so
+unfortunate; and you are not, then, in debt?"
+
+"In debt, Sir?"
+
+"Nay, I have no intention to inquire into your affairs. Good morning to
+you, ma'am."
+
+"I beg, I entreat, Sir, that you will stop!--make me, at least,
+understand what you mean, whether you deign to hear my justification or
+not."
+
+"O, I am mistaken, it seems! misinformed, deceived; and you have neither
+spent more than you have received, nor taken up money of Jews? your
+minority has been clear of debts? and your fortune, now you are of age,
+will be free from incumbrances?"
+
+Cecilia, who now began to understand him, eagerly answered, "do you
+mean, Sir, the money which I took up last spring?"
+
+"O no; by no means, I conceive the whole to be a _mistake_!"
+
+And he went to the door.
+
+"Hear me but a moment, Sir!" cried she hastily, following him; "since
+you know of that transaction, do not refuse to listen to its occasion; I
+took up the money for Mr Harrel; it was all, and solely for him."
+
+"For Mr Harrel, was it?" said he, with an air of supercilious
+incredulity; "that was rather an unlucky step. Your servant, ma'am."
+
+And he opened the door.
+
+"You will not hear me, then? you will not credit me?" cried she in the
+cruellest agitation.
+
+"Some other time, ma'am; at present my avocations are too numerous to
+permit me."
+
+And again, stiffly bowing, he called to his servants, who were waiting
+in the hall, and put himself into his chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A SUSPICION.
+
+Cecilia was now left in a state of perturbation that was hardly to be
+endured. The contempt with which she had been treated during the whole
+visit was nothing short of insult, but the accusations with which it was
+concluded did not more irritate than astonish her.
+
+That some strange prejudice had been taken against her, even more than
+belonged to her connection with young Delvile, the message brought her
+by Dr Lyster had given her reason to suppose: what that prejudice was
+she now knew, though how excited she was still ignorant; but she found
+Mr Delvile had been informed she had taken up money of a Jew, without
+having heard it was for Mr Harrel, and that he had been acquainted with
+her visits in Portland-street, without seeming to know Mr Belfield had
+a sister. Two charges such as these, so serious in their nature, and so
+destructive of her character, filled her with horror and consternation,
+and even somewhat served to palliate his illiberal and injurious
+behaviour.
+
+But how reports thus false and thus disgraceful should be raised, and by
+what dark work of slander and malignity they had been spread, remained a
+doubt inexplicable. They could not, she was certain, be the mere rumour
+of chance, since in both the assertions there was some foundation of
+truth, however cruelly perverted, or basely over-charged.
+
+This led her to consider how few people there were not only who had
+interest, but who had power to propagate such calumnies; even her
+acquaintance with the Belfields she remembered not ever mentioning,
+for she knew none of their friends, and none of her own knew them. How,
+then, should it be circulated, that she "visited often at the house?"
+however be invented that it was from her "attention to the young man?"
+Henrietta, she was sure, was too good and too innocent to be guilty of
+such perfidy; and the young man himself had always shewn a modesty and
+propriety that manifested his total freedom from the vanity of such a
+suspicion, and an elevation of sentiment that would have taught him to
+scorn the boast, even if he believed the partiality.
+
+The mother, however, had neither been so modest nor so rational; she had
+openly avowed her opinion that Cecilia was in love with her son; and as
+that son, by never offering himself, had never been refused, her opinion
+had received no check of sufficient force, for a mind so gross and
+literal, to change it.
+
+This part, therefore, of the charge she gave to Mrs Belfield, whose
+officious and loquacious forwardness she concluded had induced her to
+narrate her suspicions, till, step by step, they had reached Mr Delvile.
+
+But though able, by the probability of this conjecture, to account for
+the report concerning Belfield, the whole affair of the debt remained a
+difficulty not to be solved. Mr Harrel, his wife, Mr Arnott, the Jew and
+Mr Monckton, were the only persons to whom the transaction was known;
+and though from five, a secret, in the course of so many months, might
+easily be supposed likely to transpire, those five were so particularly
+bound to silence, not only for her interest but their own, that it was
+not unreasonable to believe it as safe among them all, as if solely
+consigned to one. For herself, she had revealed it to no creature but Mr
+Monckton; not even to Delvile; though, upon her consenting to marry him,
+he had an undoubted right to be acquainted with the true state of
+her affairs; but such had been the hurry, distress, confusion and
+irresolution of her mind at that period, that this whole circumstance
+had been driven from it entirely, and she had, since, frequently
+blamed herself for such want of recollection. Mr Harrel, for a thousand
+reasons, she was certain had never named it; and had the communication
+come from his widow or from Mr Arnott, the motives would have been
+related as well as the debt, and she had been spared the reproach of
+contracting it for purposes of her own extravagance. The Jew, indeed,
+was, to her, under no obligation of secrecy, but he had an obligation
+far more binding,--he was tied to himself.
+
+A suspicion now arose in her mind which made it thrill with horror;
+"good God! she exclaimed, can Mr Monckton---"
+
+She stopt, even to herself;--she checked the idea;--she drove it hastily
+from her;--she was certain it was false and cruel,--she hated herself
+for having started it.
+
+"No," cried she, "he is my friend, the confirmed friend of many years,
+my well-wisher from childhood, my zealous counsellor and assistant
+almost from my birth to this hour:--such perfidy from him would not even
+be human!"
+
+Yet still her perplexity was undiminished; the affair was undoubtedly
+known, and it only could be known by the treachery of some one entrusted
+with it: and however earnestly her generosity combated her rising
+suspicions, she could not wholly quell them; and Mr Monckton's strange
+aversion to the Delviles, his earnestness to break off her connexion
+with them, occurred to her remembrance, and haunted her perforce with
+surmises to his disadvantage.
+
+That gentleman, when he came home, found her in this comfortless and
+fluctuating state, endeavouring to form conjectures upon what had
+happened, yet unable to succeed, but by suggestions which one moment
+excited her abhorrence of him, and the next of herself.
+
+He enquired, with his usual appearance of easy friendliness, into what
+had passed with her two guardians, and how she had settled her affairs.
+She answered without hesitation all his questions, but her manner was
+cold and reserved, though her communication was frank.
+
+This was not unheeded by Mr Monckton, who, after a short time, begged to
+know if any thing had disturbed her.
+
+Cecilia, ashamed of her doubts, though unable to get rid of them, then
+endeavoured to brighten up, and changed the subject to the difficulties
+she had had to encounter from the obstinacy of Mr Briggs.
+
+Mr Monckton for a while humoured this evasion; but when, by her
+own exertion, her solemnity began to wear off, he repeated his
+interrogatory, and would not be satisfied without an answer.
+
+Cecilia, earnest that surmises so injurious should be removed, then
+honestly, but without comments, related the scene which had just past
+between Mr Delvile and herself.
+
+No comments were, however, wanting to explain to Mr Monckton the change
+of her behaviour. "I see," he cried hastily, "what you cannot but
+suspect; and I will go myself to Mr Delvile, and insist upon his
+clearing me."
+
+Cecilia, shocked to have thus betrayed what was passing within her,
+assured him his vindication required not such a step, and begged he
+would counsel her how to discover this treachery, without drawing from
+her concern at it a conclusion so offensive to himself.
+
+He was evidently, however, and greatly disturbed; he declared his own
+wonder equal to hers how the affair had been betrayed, expressed the
+warmest indignation at the malevolent insinuations against her conduct,
+and lamented with mingled acrimony and grief, that there should exist
+even the possibility of casting the odium of such villainy upon himself.
+
+Cecilia, distressed, perplexed, and ashamed at once, again endeavoured
+to appease him, and though a lurking doubt obstinately clung to her
+understanding, the purity of her own principles, and the softness of her
+heart, pleaded strongly for his innocence, and urged her to detest her
+suspicion, though to conquer it they were unequal.
+
+"It is true," said he, with an air ingenuous though mortified, "I
+dislike the Delviles, and have always disliked them; they appear to me
+a jealous, vindictive, and insolent race, and I should have thought I
+betrayed the faithful regard I professed for you, had I concealed my
+opinion when I saw you in danger of forming an alliance with them; I
+spoke to you, therefore, with honest zeal, thoughtless of any enmity I
+might draw upon myself; but though it was an interference from which I
+hoped, by preventing the connection, to contribute to your happiness,
+it was not with a design to stop it at the expence of your character,--a
+design black, horrible, and diabolic! a design which must be formed by a
+Daemon, but which even a Daemon could never, I think, execute!"
+
+The candour of this speech, in which his aversion to the Delviles was
+openly acknowledged, and rationally justified, somewhat quieted the
+suspicions of Cecilia, which far more anxiously sought to be confuted
+than confirmed: she began, therefore, to conclude that some accident,
+inexplicable as unfortunate, had occasioned the partial discovery to Mr
+Delvile, by which her own goodness proved the source of her defamation:
+and though something still hung upon her mind that destroyed that firm
+confidence she had hitherto felt in the friendship of Mr Monckton, she
+held it utterly unjust to condemn him without proof, which she was not
+more unable to procure, than to satisfy herself with any reason why so
+perfidiously he should calumniate her.
+
+Comfortless, however, and tormented with conjectures equally vague and
+afflicting, she could only clear him to be lost in perplexity, she could
+only accuse him to be penetrated with horror. She endeavoured to suspend
+her judgment till time should develop the mystery, and only for the
+present sought to finish her business and leave London.
+
+She renewed, therefore, again, the subject of Mr Briggs, and told him
+how vain had been her effort to settle with him. Mr Monckton instantly
+offered his services in assisting her, and the next morning they went
+together to his house, where, after an obstinate battle, they gained
+a complete victory: Mr Briggs gave up all his accounts, and, in a few
+days, by the active interference of Mr Monckton, her affairs were wholly
+taken out of his hands. He stormed, and prophesied all ill to Cecilia,
+but it was not to any purpose; he was so disagreeable to her, by his
+manners, and so unintelligible to her in matters of business, that
+she was happy to have done with him; even though, upon inspecting his
+accounts, they were all found clear and exact, and his desire to retain
+his power over her fortune, proved to have no other motive than a love
+of money so potent, that to manage it, even for another, gave him a
+satisfaction he knew not how to relinquish.
+
+Mr Monckton, who, though a man of pleasure, understood business
+perfectly well, now instructed and directed her in making a general
+arrangement of her affairs. The estate which devolved to her from her
+uncle, and which was all in landed property, she continued to commit to
+the management of the steward who was employed in his life-time; and
+her own fortune from her father, which was all in the stocks, she now
+diminished to nothing by selling out to pay Mr Monckton the principal
+and interest which she owed him, and by settling with her Bookseller.
+
+While these matters were transacting, which, notwithstanding her
+eagerness to leave town, could not be brought into such a train as to
+permit her absence in less than a week, she passed her time chiefly
+alone. Her wishes all inclined her to bestow it upon Henrietta, but
+the late attack of Mr Delvile had frightened her from keeping up
+that connection, since however carefully she might confine it to the
+daughter, Mrs Belfield, she was certain, would impute it all to the son.
+
+That attack rested upon her mind, in defiance of all her endeavours
+to banish it; the contempt with which it was made seemed intentionally
+offensive, as if he had been happy to derive from her supposed ill
+conduct, a right to triumph over as well as reject her. She concluded,
+also, that Delvile would be informed of these calumnies, yet she judged
+his generosity by her own, and was therefore convinced he would not
+credit them: but what chiefly at this time encreased her sadness and
+uneasiness, was the mention of Mrs Delvile's broken constitution
+and ruined health. She had always preserved for that lady the most
+affectionate respect, and could not consider herself as the cause of her
+sufferings, without feeling the utmost concern, however conscious she
+had not wilfully occasioned them.
+
+Nor was this scene the only one by which her efforts to forget this
+family were defeated; her watchful monitor, Albany, failed not again to
+claim her promise; and though Mr Monckton earnestly exhorted her not to
+trust herself out with him, she preferred a little risk to the keenness
+of his reproaches, and the weather being good on the morning that he
+called, she consented to accompany him in his rambles: only charging her
+footman to follow where-ever they went, and not to fail enquiring for
+her if she stayed long out of his sight. These precautions were rather
+taken to satisfy Mr Monckton than herself, who, having now procured
+intelligence of the former disorder of his intellects, was fearful of
+some extravagance, and apprehensive for her safety.
+
+He took her to a miserable house in a court leading into Piccadilly,
+where, up three pair of stairs, was a wretched woman ill in bed, while a
+large family of children were playing in the room.
+
+"See here," cried he, "what human nature can endure! look at that poor
+wretch, distracted with torture, yet lying in all this noise! unable to
+stir in her bed, yet without any assistant! suffering the pangs of acute
+disease, yet wanting the necessaries of life!"
+
+Cecilia went up to the bed-side, and enquired more particularly into the
+situation of the invalid; but finding she could hardly speak from pain,
+she sent for the woman of the house, who kept a Green Grocer's shop on
+the ground floor, and desired her to hire a nurse for her sick lodger,
+to call all the children down stairs, and to send for an apothecary,
+whose bill she promised to pay. She then gave her some money to get what
+necessaries might be wanted, and said she would come again in two days
+to see how they went on.
+
+Albany, who listened to these directions with silent, yet eager
+attention, now clasped both his hands with a look of rapture, and
+exclaimed "Virtue yet lives,--and I have found her?"
+
+Cecilia, proud of such praise, and ambitious to deserve it, chearfully
+said, "where, Sir, shall we go now?"
+
+"Home;" answered he with an aspect the most benign; "I will not wear out
+thy pity by rendering woe familiar to it."
+
+Cecilia, though at this moment more disposed for acts of charity than
+for business or for pleasure, remembered that her fortune however large
+was not unlimited, and would not press any further bounty for objects
+she knew not, certain that occasions and claimants, far beyond her
+ability of answering, would but too frequently arise among those with
+whom she was more connected, she therefore yielded herself to his
+direction, and returned to Soho-Square.
+
+Again, however, he failed not to call the time she had appointed for
+re-visiting the invalid, to whom, with much gladness, he conducted her.
+
+The poor woman, whose disease was a rheumatic fever, was already much
+better; she had been attended by an apothecary who had given her some
+alleviating medicine; she had a nurse at her bedside, and the room being
+cleared of the children, she had had the refreshment of some sleep.
+
+She was now able to raise her head, and make her acknowledgments to her
+benefactress; but not a little was the surprise of Cecilia, when, upon
+looking in her face, she said, "Ah, madam, I have seen you before!"
+
+Cecilia, who had not the smallest recollection of her, in return desired
+to know when, or where?
+
+"When you were going to be married, madam, I was the Pew-Opener at ----
+Church."
+
+Cecilia started with secret horror, and involuntarily retreated from the
+bed; while Albany with a look of astonishment exclaimed, "Married!--why,
+then, is it unknown?"
+
+"Ask me not!" cried she, hastily; "it is all a mistake."
+
+"Poor thing!" cried he, "this, then, is the string thy nerves endure not
+to have touched! sooner will I expire than a breath of mine shall make
+it vibrate! Oh sacred be thy sorrow, for thou canst melt at that of the
+indigent!"
+
+Cecilia then made a few general enquiries, and heard that the poor
+woman, who was a widow, had been obliged to give up her office, from
+the frequent attacks which she suffered of the rheumatism; that she had
+received much assistance both from the Rector and the Curate of ----
+Church, but her continual illness, with the largeness of her family,
+kept her distressed in spite of all help.
+
+Cecilia promised to consider what she could do for her, and then giving
+her more money, returned to Lady Margaret's.
+
+Albany, who found that the unfortunate recollection of the Pew-Opener
+had awakened in his young pupil a melancholy train of reflections,
+seemed now to compassionate the sadness which hitherto he had reproved,
+and walking silently by her side till she came to Soho-Square, said
+in accents of kindness, "Peace light upon thy head, and dissipate thy
+woes!" and left her.
+
+"Ah when!" cried she to herself, "if thus they are to be revived
+for-ever!"
+
+Mr Monckton, who observed that something had greatly affected her, now
+expostulated warmly against Albany and his wild schemes; "You trifle
+with your own happiness," he cried, "by witnessing these scenes of
+distress, and you will trifle away your fortune upon projects you can
+never fulfil: the very air in those miserable houses is unwholesome for
+you to breathe; you will soon be affected with some of the diseases to
+which you so uncautiously expose yourself, and while not half you give
+in charity will answer the purpose you wish, you will be plundered by
+cheats and sharpers till you have nothing left to bestow. You must be
+more considerate for yourself, and not thus governed by Albany, whose
+insanity is but partially cured, and whose projects are so boundless,
+that the whole capital of the East India Company would not suffice to
+fulfil them."
+
+Cecilia, though she liked not the severity of this remonstrance,
+acknowledged there was some truth in it, and promised to be discreet,
+and take the reins into her own hands.
+
+There remained for her, however, no other satisfaction; and the path
+which had thus been pointed out to her, grew more and more alluring
+every step. Her old friends, the poor Hills, now occurred to her memory,
+and she determined to see herself in what manner they went on.
+
+The scene which this enquiry presented to her, was by no means
+calculated to strengthen Mr Monckton's doctrine, for the prosperity in
+which she found this little family, amply rewarded the liberality she
+had shewn to it, and proved an irresistible encouragement to similar
+actions. Mrs Hill wept for joy in recounting how well she succeeded,
+and Cecilia, delighted by the power of giving such pleasure, forgot all
+cautions and promises in the generosity which she displayed. She paid
+Mrs Roberts the arrears that were due to her, she discharged all that
+was owing for the children who had been put to school, desired they
+might still be sent to it solely at her expense, and gave the mother a
+sum of money to be laid out in presents for them all.
+
+To perform her promise with the Pew Opener was however more difficult;
+her ill health, and the extreme youth of her children making her utterly
+helpless: but these were not considerations for Cecilia to desert her,
+but rather motives for regarding her as more peculiarly an object
+of charity. She found she had once been a clear starcher, and was a
+tolerable plain work-woman; she resolved, therefore, to send her into
+the country, where she hoped to be able to get her some business, and
+knew that at least, she could help her, if unsuccessful, and see that
+her children were brought up to useful employments. The woman herself
+was enchanted at the plan, and firmly persuaded the country air would
+restore her health. Cecilia told her only to wait till she was well
+enough to travel, and promised, in the mean time, to look out some
+little habitation for her. She then gave her money to pay her bills, and
+for her journey, and writing a full direction where she would hear of
+her at Bury, took leave of her till that time.
+
+These magnificent donations and designs, being communicated to Albany,
+seemed a renovation to him of youth, spirit, and joy! while their effect
+upon Mr Monckton resembled an annihilation of all three! to see money
+thus sported away, which he had long considered as his own, to behold
+those sums which he had destined for his pleasures, thus lavishly
+bestowed upon beggars, excited a rage he could with difficulty conceal,
+and an uneasiness he could hardly endure; and he languished, he sickened
+for the time, when he might put a period to such romantic proceedings.
+
+Such were the only occupations which interrupted the solitude of
+Cecilia, except those which were given to her by actual business; and
+the moment her affairs were in so much forwardness that they could be
+managed by letters, she prepared for returning into the country. She
+acquainted Lady Margaret and Mr Monckton with her design, and gave
+orders to her servants to be ready to set off the next day.
+
+Mr Monckton made not any opposition, and refused himself the
+satisfaction of accompanying her: and Lady Margaret, whose purpose was
+now answered, and who wished to be in the country herself, determined to
+follow her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A DISTURBANCE.
+
+This matter being settled at breakfast, Cecilia, having but one day more
+to spend in London, knew not how to let it pass without taking leave of
+Henrietta, though she chose not again to expose herself to the forward
+insinuations of her mother; she sent her, therefore, a short note,
+begging to see her at Lady Margaret's, and acquainting her that the next
+day she was going out of town.
+
+Henrietta returned the following answer.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Madam,--My mother is gone to market, and I must not go out without her
+leave; I have run to the door at every knock this whole week in hopes
+you were coming, and my heart has jumpt at every coach that has gone
+through the street. Dearest lady, why did you tell me you would come? I
+should not have thought of such a great honour if you had not put it in
+my head. And now I have got the use of a room where I can often be alone
+for two or three hours together. And so I shall this morning, if it
+was possible my dear Miss Beverley could come. But I don't mean to be
+teasing, and I would not be impertinent or encroaching for the world;
+but only the thing is I have a great deal to say to you, and if you was
+not so rich a lady, and so much above me, I am sure I should love you
+better than any body in the whole world, almost; and now I dare say I
+shan't see you at all; for it rains very hard, and my mother, I know,
+will be sadly angry if I ask to go in a coach. O dear! I don't know
+what I can do! for it will half break my heart, if my dear Miss Beverley
+should go out of town, and I not see her!--I am, Madam, with the
+greatest respectfulness, your most humble servant,
+
+HENRIETTA BELFIELD.
+
+This artless remonstrance, joined to the intelligence that she could
+see her alone, made Cecilia instantly order a chair, and go herself to
+Portland-street: for she found by this letter there was much doubt if
+she could otherwise see her, and the earnestness of Henrietta made her
+now not endure to disappoint her. "She has much," cried she, "to say to
+me, and I will no longer refuse to hear her; she shall unbosom to me
+her gentle heart, for we have now nothing to fear from each other. She
+promises herself pleasure from the communication, and doubtless it must
+be some relief to her. Oh were there any friendly bosom, in which I
+might myself confide!--happier Henrietta! less fearful of thy pride,
+less tenacious of thy dignity! thy sorrows at least seek the consolation
+of sympathy,--mine, alas! fettered by prudence, must fly it!"
+
+She was shewn into the parlour, which she had the pleasure to find
+empty; and, in an instant, the warm-hearted Henrietta was in her arms.
+"This is sweet of you indeed," cried she, "for I did not know how to ask
+it, though it rains so hard I could not have walked to you, and I don't
+know what I should have done, if you had gone away and quite forgot me."
+
+She then took her into the back parlour, which she said they had lately
+hired, and, as it was made but little use of, she had it almost entirely
+to herself.
+
+There had passed a sad scene, she told her, at the meeting with her
+brother, though now they were a little more comfortable; yet, her
+mother, she was sure, would never be at rest till he got into some
+higher way of life; "And, indeed, I have some hopes," she continued,
+"that we shall be able by and bye to do something better for him; for
+he has got one friend in the world, yet; thank God, and such a noble
+friend!--indeed I believe he can do whatever he pleases for him,--that
+is I mean I believe if he was to ask any thing for him, there's nobody
+would deny him. And this is what I wanted to talk to you about."--
+
+Cecilia, who doubted not but she meant Delvile, scarce knew how to press
+the subject, though she came with no other view: Henrietta, however, too
+eager to want solicitation, went on.
+
+"But the question is whether we shall be able to prevail upon my brother
+to accept any thing, for he grows more and more unwilling to be obliged,
+and the reason is, that being poor, he is afraid, I believe, people
+should think he wants to beg of them: though if they knew him as well
+as I do, they would not long think that, for I am sure he would a great
+deal rather be starved to death. But indeed, to say the truth, I am
+afraid he has been sadly to blame in this affair, and quarrelled when
+there was no need to be affronted; for I have seen a gentleman who knows
+a great deal better than my brother what people should do, and he says
+he took every thing wrong that was done, all the time he was at Lord
+Vannelt's."
+
+"And how does this gentleman know it?"
+
+"O because he went himself to enquire about it; for he knows Lord
+Vannelt very well, and it was by his means my brother came acquainted
+with him. And this gentleman would not have wished my brother to be used
+ill any more than I should myself, so I am sure I may believe what he
+says. But my poor brother, not being a lord himself, thought every body
+meant to be rude to him, and because he knew he was poor, he suspected
+they all behaved disrespectfully to him. But this gentleman gave me his
+word that every body liked him and esteemed him, and if he would not
+have been so suspicious, they would all have done any thing for him in
+the world."
+
+"You know this gentleman very well, then?"
+
+"O no, madam!" she answered hastily, "I don't know him at all! he only
+comes here to see my brother; it would be very impertinent for me to
+call him an acquaintance of mine."
+
+"Was it before your brother, then, he held this conversation with you?"
+
+"O no, my brother would have been affronted with him, too, if he had!
+but he called here to enquire for him at the time when he was lost to
+us, and my mother quite went down upon her knees to him to beg him to
+go to Lord Vannelt's, and make excuses for him, if he had not behaved
+properly: but if my brother was to know this, he would hardly speak to
+her again! so when this gentleman came next, I begged him not to mention
+it, for my mother happened to be out, and so I saw him alone."
+
+"And did he stay with you long?"
+
+"No, ma'am, a very short time indeed; but I asked him questions all the
+while, and kept him as long as I could, that I might hear all he had to
+say about my brother."
+
+"Have you never seen him since?"
+
+"No, ma'am, not once! I suppose he does not know my brother is come back
+to us. Perhaps when he does, he will call."
+
+"Do you wish him to call?"
+
+"Me?" cried she, blushing, "a little;--sometimes I do;--for my brother's
+sake."
+
+"For your brother's sake! Ah my dear Henrietta! but tell me,--or _don't_
+tell me if you had rather not,--did I not once see you kissing a letter?
+perhaps it was from this same noble friend?"
+
+"It was not a letter, madam," said she, looking down, "it was only the
+cover of one to my brother."
+
+"The cover of a letter only!--and that to your brother!--is it possible
+you could so much value it?"
+
+"Ah madam! _You_, who are always used to the good and the wise, who see
+no other sort of people but those in high life, _you_ can have no notion
+how they strike those that they are new to!--but I who see them seldom,
+and who live with people so very unlike them--Oh you cannot guess how
+sweet to _me_ is every thing that belongs to them! whatever has but
+once been touched by their hands, I should like to lock up, and keep for
+ever! though if I was used to them, as you are, perhaps I might think
+less of them."
+
+Alas! thought Cecilia, who by _them_ knew she only meant _him_, little
+indeed would further intimacy protect you!
+
+"We are all over-ready," continued Henrietta, "to blame others, and that
+is the way I have been doing all this time myself; but I don't blame my
+poor brother now for living so with the great as I used to do, for now
+I have seen a little more of the world, I don't wonder any longer at his
+behaviour: for I know how it is, and I see that those who have had good
+educations, and kept great company, and mixed with the world,--O it
+is another thing!--they seem quite a different species!--they are so
+gentle, so soft-mannered! nothing comes from them but what is meant
+to oblige! they seem as if they only lived to give pleasure to other
+people, and as if they never thought at all of themselves!"
+
+"Ah Henrietta!" said Cecilia, shaking her head, "you have caught the
+enthusiasm of your brother, though you so long condemned it! Oh have a
+care lest, like him also, you find it as pernicious as it is alluring!"
+
+"There, is no danger for _me_, madam," answered she, "for the people I
+so much admire are quite out of my reach. I hardly ever even see them;
+and perhaps it may so happen I may see them no more!"
+
+"The people?" said Cecilia, smiling, "are there, then, many you so much
+distinguish?"
+
+"Oh no indeed!" cried she, eagerly, "there is only one! there _can_
+be--I mean there are only a few--" she checked herself, and stopt.
+
+"Whoever you admire," cried Cecilia, "your admiration cannot but honour:
+yet indulge it not too far, lest it should wander from your heart to
+your peace, and make you wretched for life."
+
+"Ah madam!--I see you know who is the particular person I was thinking
+of! but indeed you are quite mistaken if you suppose any thing bad of
+me!"
+
+"Bad of you!" cried Cecilia, embracing her, "I scarce think so well of
+any one!"
+
+"But I mean, madam, if you think I forget he is so much above me. But
+indeed I never do; for I only admire him for his goodness to my brother,
+and never think of him at all, but just by way of comparing him,
+sometimes, to the other people that I see, because he makes me hate them
+so, that I wish I was never to see them again."
+
+"His acquaintance, then," said Cecilia, "has done you but an ill office,
+and happy it would be for you could you forget you had ever made it."
+
+"O, I shall never do that! for the more I think of him, the more I
+am out of humour with every body else! O Miss Beverley! we have a sad
+acquaintance indeed! I'm sure I don't wonder my brother was so ashamed
+of them. They are all so rude, and so free, and put one so out of
+countenance,--O how different is this person you are thinking of! he
+would not distress anybody, or make one ashamed for all the world! _You_
+only are like him! always gentle, always obliging!--sometimes I think
+you must be his sister--once, too, I heard--but that was contradicted."
+
+A deep sigh escaped Cecilia at this speech; she guessed too well
+what she might have heard, and she knew too well how it might be
+contradicted.
+
+"Surely, _you_ cannot be unhappy, Miss Beverley!" said Henrietta, with a
+look of mingled surprise and concern.
+
+"I have much, I own," cried Cecilia, assuming more chearfulness, "to be
+thankful for, and I endeavour not to forget it."
+
+"O how often do I think," cried Henrietta, "that you, madam, are
+the happiest person in the world! with every thing at your own
+disposal,--with every body in love with you, with all the money that you
+can wish for, and so much sweetness that nobody can envy you it! with
+power to keep just what company you please, and every body proud to be
+one of the number!--Oh if I could chuse who I would be, I should sooner
+say Miss Beverley than any princess in the world!"
+
+Ah, thought Cecilia, if such is my situation,--how cruel that by one
+dreadful blow all its happiness should be thrown away!
+
+"Were I a rich lady, like you," continued Henrietta, "and quite in my
+own power, then, indeed, I might soon think of nothing but those people
+that I admire! and that makes me often wonder that _you_, madam, who are
+just such another as himself--but then, indeed, you may see so many of
+the same sort, that just this one may not so much strike you: and for
+that reason I hope with all my heart that he will never be married as
+long as he lives, for as he must take some lady in just such high life
+as his own, I should always be afraid that she would never love him as
+she ought to do!"
+
+He need not now be single, thought Cecilia, were that all he had cause
+to apprehend!
+
+"I often think," added Henrietta, "that the rich would be as much
+happier for marrying the poor, as the poor for marrying the rich, for
+then they would take somebody that would try to deserve their kindness,
+and now they only take those that know they have a right to it. Often
+and often have I thought so about this very gentleman! and sometimes
+when I have been in his company, and seen his civility and his
+sweetness, I have fancied I was rich and grand myself, and it has quite
+gone out of my head that I was nothing but poor Henrietta Belfield!"
+
+"Did he, then," cried Cecilia a little alarmed, "ever seek to ingratiate
+himself into your favour?"
+
+"No, never! but when treated with so much softness, 'tis hard always
+to remember one's meanness! You, madam, have no notion of that task: no
+more had I myself till lately, for I cared not who was high, nor who was
+low: but now, indeed, I must own I have some times wished myself richer!
+yet he assumes so little, that at other times, I have almost forgot all
+distance between us, and even thought--Oh foolish thought!--
+
+"Tell it, sweet Henrietta, however!"
+
+"I will tell you, madam, every thing! for my heart has been bursting to
+open itself, and nobody have I dared trust. I have thought, then, I have
+sometimes thought,--my true affection, my faithful fondness, my glad
+obedience,--might make him, if he did but know them, happier in me than
+in a greater lady!"
+
+"Indeed," cried Cecilia, extremely affected by this plaintive
+tenderness, "I believe it--and were I him, I could not, I think,
+hesitate a moment in my choice!"
+
+Henrietta now, hearing her mother coming in, made a sign to her to be
+silent; but Mrs Belfield had not been an instant in the passage, before
+a thundering knocking at the street-door occasioned it to be instantly
+re-opened. A servant then enquired if Mrs Belfield was at home, and
+being answered by herself in the affirmative, a chair was brought into
+the house.
+
+But what was the astonishment of Cecilia, when, in another moment, she
+heard from the next parlour the voice of Mr Delvile senior, saying,
+"Your servant, ma'am; Mrs Belfield, I presume?"
+
+There was no occasion, now, to make a sign to her of silence, for her
+own amazement was sufficient to deprive her of speech.
+
+"Yes, Sir," answered Mrs Belfield; "but I suppose, Sir, you are some
+gentleman to my son."
+
+"No, madam," he returned, "my business is with yourself."
+
+Cecilia now recovering from her surprise, determined to hasten unnoticed
+out of the house, well knowing that to be seen in it would be regarded
+as a confirmation of all that he had asserted. She whispered, therefore,
+to Henrietta, that she must instantly run away, but, upon softly opening
+the door leading to the passage, she found Mr Delvile's chairmen, and a
+footman there in waiting.
+
+She closed it again, irresolute what to do: but after a little
+deliberation, she concluded to out-stay him, as she was known to all
+his servants, who would not fail to mention seeing her; and a retreat so
+private was worse than any other risk. A chair was also in waiting for
+herself, but it was a hackney one, and she could not be known by it;
+and her footman she had fortunately dismissed, as he had business to
+transact for her journey next day.
+
+Mean-while the thinness of the partition between the two parlours made
+her hearing every word that was said unavoidable.
+
+"I am sure, Sir, I shall be very willing to oblige you," Mrs Belfield
+answered; "but pray, Sir, what's your name?"
+
+"My name, ma'am," he replied, in a rather elevated voice, "I am seldom
+obliged to announce myself; nor is there any present necessity I should
+make it known. It is sufficient I assure you, you are speaking to no
+very common person, and probably to one you will have little chance to
+meet with again."
+
+"But how can I tell your business, Sir, if I don't so much as know your
+name?"
+
+"My business, madam, I mean to tell myself; your affair is only to hear
+it. I have some questions, indeed, to ask, which I must trouble you to
+answer, but they will sufficiently explain themselves to prevent
+any difficulty upon your part. There is no need, therefore, of any
+introductory ceremonial."
+
+"Well, Sir," said Mrs Belfield, wholly insensible of this ambiguous
+greatness, "if you mean to make your name a secret."
+
+"Few names, I believe, ma'am," cried he, haughtily, "have less the
+advantage of secrecy than mine! on the contrary, this is but one among
+a very few houses in this town to which my person would not immediately
+announce it. That, however, is immaterial; and you will be so good as to
+rest satisfied with my assurances, that the person with whom you are now
+conversing, will prove no disgrace to your character."
+
+Mrs Belfield, overpowered, though hardly knowing, with what, only said
+_he was very welcome_, and begged him to sit down.
+
+"Excuse me, ma'am," he answered, "My business is but of a moment, and my
+avocations are too many to suffer my infringing that time. You say you
+have a son; I have heard of him, also, somewhere before; pray will you
+give me leave to enquire--I don't mean to go deep into the matter,--but
+particular family occurrences make it essential for me to know,--whether
+there is not a young person of rather a capital fortune, to whom he is
+supposed to make proposals?"
+
+"Lack-a-day, no, Sir!" answered Mrs Belfield, to the infinite relief of
+Cecilia, who instantly concluded this question referred to herself.
+
+"I beg your pardon, then; good morning to you, ma'am," said Mr Delvile,
+in a tone that spoke his disappointment; but added "And there is no such
+young person, you say, who favours his pretensions?"
+
+"Dear Sir," cried she, "why there's nobody he'll so much as put the
+question to! there's a young lady at this very time, a great fortune,
+that has as much a mind to him, I tell him, as any man need desire to
+see; but there's no making him think it! though he has been brought up
+at the university, and knows more about all the things, or as much, as
+any body in the king's dominions."
+
+"O, then," cried Mr Delvile, in a voice of far more complacency, "it is
+not on the side of the young woman that the difficulty seems to rest?"
+
+"Lord, no, Sir! he might have had her again and again only for asking!
+She came after him ever so often; but being brought up, as I said, at
+the university, he thought he knew better than me, and so my preaching
+was all as good as lost upon him."
+
+The consternation of Cecilia at these speeches could by nothing be
+equalled but by the shame of Henrietta, who, though she knew not to
+whom her mother made them, felt all the disgrace and the shock of them
+herself.
+
+"I suppose, Sir," continued Mrs Belfield, "you know my son?"
+
+"No, ma'am, my acquaintance is--not very universal."
+
+"Then, Sir, you are no judge how well he might make his own terms. And
+as to this young lady, she found him out, Sir, when not one of his own
+natural friends could tell where in the world he was gone! She was the
+first, Sir, to come and tell me news of him though I was his own mother!
+Love, Sir, is prodigious for quickness! it can see, I sometimes
+think, through bricks and mortar. Yet all this would not do, he was so
+obstinate not to take the hint!"
+
+Cecilia now felt so extremely provoked, she was upon the point of
+bursting in upon them to make her own vindication; but as her passions,
+though they tried her reason never conquered it, she restrained herself
+by considering that to issue forth from a room in that house, would do
+more towards strengthening what was thus boldly asserted, than all her
+protestations could have chance to destroy.
+
+"And as to young ladies themselves," continued Mrs Belfield, "they know
+no more how to make their minds known than a baby does: so I suppose
+he'll shilly shally till somebody else will cry snap, and take her. It
+is but a little while ago that it was all the report she was to have
+young Mr Delvile, one of her guardian's sons."
+
+"I am sorry report was so impertinent," cried Mr Delvile, with much
+displeasure; "young Mr Delvile is not to be disposed of with so little
+ceremony; he knows better what is due to his family."
+
+Cecilia here blushed from indignation, and Henrietta sighed from
+despondency.
+
+"Lord, Sir," answered Mrs Belfield, "what should his family do better?
+I never heard they were any so rich, and I dare say the old gentleman,
+being her guardian, took care to put his son enough in her way, however
+it came about that they did not make a match of it: for as to old Mr
+Delvile, all the world says---"
+
+"All the world takes a very great liberty," angrily interrupted
+Mr Delvile, "in saying any thing about him: and you will excuse my
+informing you that a person of his rank and consideration, is not
+lightly to be mentioned upon every little occasion that occurs."
+
+"Lord, Sir," cried Mrs Belfield, somewhat surprised at this unexpected
+prohibition, "I don't care for my part if I never mention the old
+gentleman's name again! I never heard any good of him in my life, for
+they say he's as proud as Lucifer, and nobody knows what it's of, for
+they say--"
+
+"_They_ say?" cried he, firing with rage, "and who are _they_? be so
+good as inform me that?"
+
+"Lord, every body, Sir! it's his common character."
+
+"Then every body is extremely indecent," speaking very loud, "to pay
+no more respect to one of the first families in England. It is a
+licentiousness that ought by no means to be suffered with impunity."
+
+Here, the street-door being kept open by the servants in waiting, a
+new step was heard in the passage, which Henrietta immediately knowing,
+turned, with uplifted hands to Cecilia, and whispered, "How unlucky!
+it's my brother! I thought he would not have returned till night!"
+
+"Surely he will not come in here?" re-whispered Cecilia.
+
+But, at the same moment, he opened the door, and entered the room. He
+was immediately beginning an apology, and starting back, but Henrietta
+catching him by the arm, told him in a low voice, that she had made use
+of his room because she had thought him engaged for the day, but begged
+him to keep still and quiet, as the least noise would discover them.
+
+Belfield then stopt; but the embarrassment of Cecilia was extreme;
+to find herself in his room after the speeches she had heard from his
+mother, and to continue with him in it by connivance, when she knew she
+had been represented as quite at his service, distressed and provoked
+her immeasurably; and she felt very angry with Henrietta for not sooner
+informing her whose apartment she had borrowed. Yet now to remove, and
+to be seen, was not to be thought of; she kept, therefore, fixed to
+her seat, though changing colour every moment from the variety of her
+emotions.
+
+During this painful interruption she lost Mrs Belfield's next answer,
+and another speech or two from Mr Delvile, to whose own passion and
+loudness was owing Belfield's entering his room unheard: but the next
+voice that called their attention was that of Mr Hobson, who just then
+walked into the parlour.
+
+"Why what's to do here?" cried he, facetiously, "nothing but chairs and
+livery servants! Why, ma'am, what is this your rout day? Sir your most
+humble servant. I ask pardon, but I did not know you at first. But come,
+suppose we were all to sit down? Sitting's as cheap as standing, and
+what I say is this; when a man's tired, it's more agreeable."
+
+"Have you any thing further, ma'am," said Mr Delvile, with great
+solemnity, "to communicate to me?"
+
+"No, Sir," said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, "it's no business of mine
+to be communicating myself to a gentleman that I don't know the name of.
+Why, Mr Hobson, how come you to know the gentleman?"
+
+"To know _me_!" repeated Mr Delvile, scornfully.
+
+"Why I can't say much, ma'am," answered Mr Hobson, "as to my knowing the
+gentleman, being I have been in his company but once; and what I say is,
+to know a person if one leaves but a quart in a hogshead, it's two pints
+too much. That's my notion. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business
+at 'Squire Monckton's t'other morning. Every body was no-how, as one may
+say. But, Sir, if I may be so free, pray what is your private opinion of
+that old gentleman that talked so much out of the way?"
+
+"My private opinion, Sir?"
+
+"Yes, Sir; I mean if it's no secret, for as to a secret, I hold it's
+what no man has a right to enquire into, being of its own nature it's
+a thing not to be told. Now as to what I think myself, my doctrine is
+this; I am quite of the old gentleman's mind about some things, and
+about others I hold him to be quite wide of the mark. But as to talking
+in such a whisky frisky manner that nobody can understand him, why
+its tantamount to not talking at all, being he might as well hold his
+tongue. That's what _I_ say. And then as to that other article, of
+abusing a person for not giving away all his lawful gains to every
+cripple in the streets, just because he happens to have but one leg, or
+one eye, or some such matter, why it's knowing nothing of business! it's
+what _I_ call talking at random."
+
+"When you have finished, Sir," said Mr Delvile, "you will be so good to
+let me know."
+
+"I don't mean to intrude, Sir; that's not my way, so if you are upon
+business--"
+
+"What else, Sir, could you suppose brought me hither? However, I by no
+means purpose any discussion. I have only a few words more to say to
+this gentlewoman, and as my time is not wholly inconsequential, I should
+not be sorry to have an early opportunity of being heard."
+
+"I shall leave you with the lady directly, Sir; for I know business
+better than to interrupt it: but seeing chairs in the entry, my notion
+was I should see ladies in the parlour, not much thinking of gentlemen's
+going about in that manner, being I never did it myself. But I have
+nothing to offer against that; let every man have his own way; that's
+what _I_ say. Only just let me ask the lady before I go, what's the
+meaning of my seeing two chairs in the entry, and only a person for one
+in the parlour? The gentleman, I suppose, did not come in _both_; ha!
+ha! ha!"
+
+"Why now you put me in mind," said Mrs Belfield, "I saw a chair as
+soon as I come in; and I was just going to say who's here, when this
+gentleman's coming put it out of my head."
+
+"Why this is what I call Hocus Pocus work!" said Mr Hobson; "but I shall
+make free to ask the chairmen who they are waiting for."
+
+Mrs Belfield, however, anticipated him; for running into the passage,
+she angrily called out, "What do you do here, Misters? do you only come
+to be out of the rain? I'll have no stand made of my entry, I can tell
+you!"
+
+"Why we are waiting for the lady," cried one of them.
+
+"Waiting for a fiddlestick!" said Mrs Belfield; "here's no lady here,
+nor no company; so if you think I'll have my entry filled up by two
+hulking fellows for nothing, I shall shew you the difference. One's dirt
+enough of one's own, without taking people out of the streets to help
+one. Who do you think's to clean after you?"
+
+"That's no business of ours; the lady bid us wait," answered the man.
+
+Cecilia at this dispute could with pleasure have cast herself out of the
+window to avoid being discovered; but all plan of escape was too late;
+Mrs Belfield called aloud for her daughter, and then, returning to the
+front parlour, said, "I'll soon know if there's company come to my house
+without my knowing it!" and opened a door leading to the next room!
+
+Cecilia, who had hitherto sat fixed to her chair, now hastily arose, but
+in a confusion too cruel for speech: Belfield, wondering even at his own
+situation, and equally concerned and surprised at her evident distress,
+had himself the feeling of a culprit, though without the least knowledge
+of any cause: and Henrietta, terrified at the prospect of her mother's
+anger, retreated as much as possible out of sight.
+
+Such was the situation of the discovered, abashed, perplexed, and
+embarrassed! while that of the discoverers, far different, was bold,
+delighted, and triumphant!
+
+"So!" cried Mrs Belfield, "why here's Miss Beverley!--in my son's back
+room!" winking at Mr Delvile.
+
+"Why here's a lady, sure enough!" said Mr Hobson, "and just where she
+should be, and that is with a gentleman. Ha! ha! that's the right way,
+according to my notion! that's the true maxim for living agreeable."
+
+"I came to see Miss Belfield," cried Cecilia, endeavouring, but vainly,
+to speak with composure, "and she brought me into this room."
+
+"I am but this moment," cried Belfield, with eagerness, "returned home;
+and unfortunately broke into the room, from total ignorance of the
+honour which Miss Beverley did my sister."
+
+These speeches, though both literally true, sounded, in the
+circumstances which brought them out, so much as mere excuses, that
+while Mr Delvile haughtily marked his incredulity by a motion of his
+chin, Mrs Belfield continued winking at him most significantly, and Mr
+Hobson, with still less ceremony, laughed aloud.
+
+"I have nothing more, ma'am," said Mr Delvile to Mrs Belfield, "to
+enquire, for the few doubts with which I came to this house are now
+entirely satisfied. Good morning to you, ma'am."
+
+"Give me leave, Sir," said Cecilia, advancing with more spirit, "to
+explain, in presence of those who can best testify my veracity, the real
+circumstances--"
+
+"I would by no means occasion you such unnecessary trouble, ma'am,"
+answered he, with an air at once exulting and pompous, "the situation in
+which I see you abundantly satisfies my curiosity, and saves me from the
+apprehension I was under of being again convicted of a _mistake_!"
+
+He then made her a stiff bow, and went to his chair.
+
+Cecilia, colouring deeply at this contemptuous treatment, coldly took
+leave of Henrietta, and courtsying to Mrs Belfield, hastened into the
+passage, to get into her own.
+
+Henrietta was too much intimidated to speak, and Belfield was too
+delicate to follow her; Mr Hobson only said "The young lady seems quite
+dashed;" but Mrs Belfield pursued her with entreaties she would stay.
+
+She was too angry, however, to make any answer but by a distant bow of
+the head, and left the house with a resolution little short of a vow
+never again to enter it.
+
+Her reflections upon this unfortunate visit were bitter beyond measure;
+the situation in which she had been surprised,--clandestinely concealed
+with only Belfield and his sister--joined to the positive assertions of
+her partiality for him made by his mother, could not, to Mr Delvile, but
+appear marks irrefragable that his charge in his former conversation
+was rather mild than over-strained, and that the connection he had
+mentioned, for whatever motives denied, was incontestably formed.
+
+The apparent conviction of this part of the accusation, might also
+authorise, to one but too happy in believing ill of her, an implicit
+faith in that which regarded her having run out her fortune. His
+determination not to hear her shewed the inflexibility of his character;
+and it was evident, notwithstanding his parading pretensions of wishing
+her welfare, that his inordinate pride was inflamed, at the very
+supposition he could be mistaken or deceived for a moment.
+
+Even Delvile himself, if gone abroad, might now hear this account with
+exaggerations that would baffle all his confidence: his mother,
+too, greatly as she esteemed and loved her, might have the matter so
+represented as to stagger her good opinion;--these were thoughts the
+most afflicting she could harbour, though their probability was such
+that to banish them was impossible.
+
+To apply again to Mr Delvile to hear her vindication, was to subject
+herself to insolence, and almost to court indignity. She disdained
+even to write to him, since his behaviour called for resentment, not
+concession; and such an eagerness to be heard, in opposition to all
+discouragement, would be practising a meanness that would almost merit
+repulsion.
+
+Her first inclination was to write to Mrs Delvile, but what now, to her,
+was either her defence or accusation? She had solemnly renounced all
+further intercourse with her, she had declared against writing again,
+and prohibited her letters: and, therefore, after much fluctuation of
+opinion, her delicacy concurred with her judgment, to conclude it would
+be most proper, in a situation so intricate, to leave the matter to
+chance, and commit her character to time.
+
+In the evening, while she was at tea with Lady Margaret and Miss Bennet,
+she was suddenly called out to speak to a young woman; and found, to her
+great surprise, she was no other than Henrietta.
+
+"Ah madam!" she cried, "how angrily did you go away this morning! it
+has made me miserable ever since, and if you go out of town without
+forgiving me, I shall fret myself quite ill! my mother is gone out to
+tea, and I have run here all alone, and in the dark, and in the wet,
+to beg and pray you will forgive me, for else I don't know what I shall
+do!"
+
+"Sweet, gentle girl!" cried Cecilia, affectionately embracing her, "if
+you had excited all the anger I am capable of feeling, such softness as
+this would banish it, and make me love you more than ever!"
+
+Henrietta then said, in her excuse, that she had thought herself quite
+sure of her brother's absence, who almost always spent the whole day at
+the bookseller's, as in writing himself he perpetually wanted to consult
+other authors, and had very few books at their lodgings: but she would
+not mention that the room was his, lest Cecilia should object to
+making use of it, and she knew she had no other chance of having the
+conversation with her she had so very long wished for. She then again
+begged her pardon, and hoped the behaviour of her mother would not
+induce her to give her up, as she was shocked at it beyond measure, and
+as her brother, she assured her, was as innocent of it as herself.
+
+Cecilia heard her with pleasure, and felt for her an encreasing regard.
+The openness of her confidence in the morning had merited all her
+affection, and she gave her the warmest protestations of a friendship
+which she was certain would be lasting as her life.
+
+Henrietta then, with a countenance that spoke the lightness of her
+heart, hastily took her leave, saying she did not dare be out longer,
+lest her mother should discover her excursion. Cecilia insisted,
+however, upon her going in a chair, which she ordered her servant to
+attend, and take care himself to discharge.
+
+This visit, joined to the tender and unreserved conversation of the
+morning, gave Cecilia the strongest desire to invite her to her house in
+the country; but the terror of Mrs Belfield's insinuations, added to
+the cruel interpretations she had to expect from Mr Delvile, forbid her
+indulging this wish, though it was the only one that just now she could
+form.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A CALM.
+
+Cecilia took leave over night of the family, as she would not stay their
+rising in the morning: Mr Monckton, though certain not to sleep when she
+was going, forbearing to mark his solicitude by quitting his apartment
+at any unusual hour. Lady Margaret parted from her with her accustomed
+ungraciousness, and Miss Bennet, because in her presence, in a manner
+scarcely less displeasing.
+
+The next morning, with only her servants, the moment it was light, she
+set out. Her journey was without incident or interruption, and she went
+immediately to the house of Mrs Bayley, where she had settled to board
+till her own was finished.
+
+Mrs Bayley was a mere good sort of woman, who lived decently well with
+her servants, and tolerably well with her neighbours, upon a small
+annuity, which made her easy and comfortable, though by no means
+superior to such an addition to her little income as an occasional
+boarder might produce.
+
+Here Cecilia continued a full month: which time had no other
+employment than what she voluntarily gave to herself by active deeds of
+benevolence.
+
+At Christmas, to the no little joy of the neighbourhood, she took
+possession of her own house, which was situated about three miles from
+Bury.
+
+The better sort of people were happy to see her thus settled amongst
+them, and the poorer, who by what they already had received, knew
+well what they still might expect, regarded the day in which she
+fixed herself in her mansion, as a day to themselves of prosperity and
+triumph.
+
+As she was no longer, as hitherto, repairing to a temporary habitation,
+which at pleasure she might quit, and to which, at a certain period, she
+could have no possible claim, but to a house which was her own for
+ever, or, at least, could solely by her own choice be transferred,
+she determined, as much as was in her power, in quitting her desultory
+dwellings, to empty her mind of the transactions which had passed in
+them, and upon entering a house where she was permanently to reside,
+to make the expulsion of her past sorrows, the basis upon which to
+establish her future serenity.
+
+And this, though a work of pain and difficulty, was not impracticable;
+her sensibility, indeed, was keen, and she had suffered from it the
+utmost torture; but her feelings were not more powerful than her
+understanding was strong, and her fortitude was equal to her trials.
+Her calamities had saddened, but not weakened her mind, and the words
+of Delvile in speaking of his mother occurred to her now with all
+the conviction of experience, that "evils inevitable are always best
+supported, because known to be past amendment, and felt to give defiance
+to struggling." [Footnote: See Vol. ii. p. 317.]
+
+A plan by which so great a revolution was to be wrought in her mind, was
+not to be effected by any sudden effort of magnanimity, but by a regular
+and even tenour of courage mingled with prudence. Nothing, therefore,
+appeared to her so indispensable as constant employment, by which a
+variety of new images might force their way in her mind to supplant
+the old ones, and by which no time might be allowed for brooding over
+melancholy retrospections.
+
+Her first effort, in this work of mental reformation, was to part with
+Fidel, whom hitherto she had almost involuntarily guarded, but whom she
+only could see to revive the most dangerous recollections. She sent him,
+therefore, to the castle, but without any message; Mrs Delvile, she was
+sure, would require none to make her rejoice in his restoration.
+
+Her next step was writing to Albany, who had given her his direction, to
+acquaint him she was now ready to put in practice their long concerted
+scheme. Albany instantly hastened to her, and joyfully accepted the
+office of becoming at once her Almoner and her Monitor. He made it his
+business to seek objects of distress, and always but too certain to find
+them, of conducting her himself to their habitations, and then leaving
+to her own liberality the assistance their several cases demanded: and,
+in the overflowing of his zeal upon these occasions, and the rapture
+of his heart in thus disposing, almost at his pleasure, of her noble
+fortune, he seemed, at times, to feel an extasy that, from its novelty
+and its excess, was almost too exquisite to be borne. He joined with the
+beggars in pouring blessings upon her head, he prayed for her with the
+poor, and he thanked her with the succoured.
+
+The pew-opener and her children failed not to keep their appointment,
+and Cecilia presently contrived to settle them in her neighbourhood:
+where the poor woman, as she recovered her strength, soon got a little
+work, and all deficiencies in her power of maintaining herself were
+supplied by her generous patroness. The children, however, she ordered
+to be coarsely brought up, having no intention to provide for them but
+by helping them to common employments.
+
+The promise, also, so long made to Mrs Harrel of an apartment in
+her house, was now performed. That lady accepted it with the utmost
+alacrity, glad to make any change in her situation, which constant
+solitude had rendered wholly insupportable. Mr Arnott accompanied her to
+the house, and spent one day there; but receiving from Cecilia,
+though extremely civil and sweet to him, no hint of any invitation for
+repeating his visit, he left it in sadness, and returned to his own in
+deep dejection. Cecilia saw with concern how he nourished his hopeless
+passion, but knew that to suffer his visits would almost authorise
+his feeding it; and while she pitied unaffectedly the unhappiness she
+occasioned, she resolved to double her own efforts towards avoiding
+similar wretchedness.
+
+This action, however, was a point of honour, not of friendship, the time
+being long since past that the society of Mrs Harrel could afford her
+any pleasure; but the promises she had so often made to Mr Harrel in
+his distresses, though extorted from her merely by the terrors of the
+moment, still were promises, and, therefore, she held herself bound to
+fulfil them.
+
+Yet far from finding comfort in this addition to her family, Mrs Harrel
+proved to her nothing more than a trouble and an incumbrance; with
+no inherent resources, she was continually in search of occasional
+supplies; she fatigued Cecilia with wonder at the privacy of her life,
+and tormented her with proposals of parties and entertainments. She
+was eternally in amazement that with powers so large, she had wishes so
+confined, and was evidently disappointed that upon coming to so ample an
+estate, she lived, with respect to herself and her family, with no more
+magnificence or shew than if Heiress to only �500 a year.
+
+But Cecilia was determined to think and to live for herself, without
+regard to unmeaning wonder or selfish remonstrances; she had neither
+ambition for splendour, nor spirits for dissipation; the recent sorrow
+of her heart had deadened it for the present to all personal taste of
+happiness, and her only chance for regaining it, seemed through the
+medium of bestowing it upon others. She had seen, too, by Mr Harrel,
+how wretchedly external brilliancy could cover inward woe, and she
+had learned at Delvile Castle to grow sick of parade and grandeur. Her
+equipage, therefore, was without glare, though not without elegance, her
+table was plain, though hospitably plentiful, her servants were for use,
+though too numerous to be for labour. The system of her oeconomy, like
+that of her liberality, was formed by rules of reason, and her own ideas
+of right, and not by compliance with example, nor by emulation with the
+gentry in her neighbourhood.
+
+But though thus deviating in her actions from the usual customs of
+the young and rich, she was peculiarly careful not to offend them
+by singularity of manners. When she mixed with them, she was easy,
+unaffected, and well bred, and though she saw them but seldom, her good
+humour and desire of obliging kept them always her friends. The plan
+she had early formed at Mrs Harrel's she now studied daily to put in
+practice; but that part by which the useless or frivolous were to be
+excluded her house, she found could only be supported by driving from
+her half her acquaintance.
+
+Another part, also, of that project she found still less easy of
+adoption, which was solacing herself with the society of the wise, good,
+and intelligent. Few answered this description, and those few were with
+difficulty attainable. Many might with joy have sought out her liberal
+dwelling, but no one had idly waited till the moment it was at her
+disposal. All who possessed at once both talents and wealth, were
+so generally courted they were rarely to be procured; and all who to
+talents alone owed their consequence, demanded, if worth acquiring, time
+and delicacy to be obtained. Fortune she knew, however, was so often at
+war with Nature, that she doubted not shortly meeting those who would
+gladly avail themselves of her offered protection.
+
+Yet, tired of the murmurs of Mrs Harrel, she longed for some relief from
+her society, and her desire daily grew stronger to owe that relief to
+Henrietta Belfield. The more she meditated upon this wish, the less
+unattainable it appeared to her, till by frequently combating its
+difficulties, she began to consider them imaginary: Mrs Belfield, while
+her son was actually with herself, might see she took not Henrietta as
+his appendage; and Mr Delvile, should he make further enquiries, might
+hear that her real connection was with the sister, since she received
+her in the country, where the brother made no pretence to follow
+her. She considered, too, how ill she should be rewarded in giving up
+Henrietta for Mr Delvile, who was already determined to think ill of
+her, and whose prejudices no sacrifice would remove.
+
+Having hesitated, therefore, some time between the desire of present
+alleviation, and the fear of future mischief, the consciousness of her
+own innocence at length vanquished all dread of unjust censure, and she
+wrote an invitation to Henrietta enclosed in a letter to her mother.
+
+The answer of Henrietta expressed her rapture at the proposal; and that
+of Mrs Belfield made no objection but to the expence.
+
+Cecilia, therefore, sent her own maid to travel with her into Suffolk,
+with proper directions to pay for the journey.
+
+The gratitude of the delighted Henrietta at the meeting was boundless;
+and her joy at so unexpected a mark of favour made her half wild.
+Cecilia suffered it not to languish for want of kindness to support
+it; she took her to her bosom, became the soother of all her cares, and
+reposed in her, in return, every thought that led not to Delvile.
+
+There, however, she was uniformly silent; solemnly and eternally parted
+from him, far from trusting the secret of her former connexion to
+Henrietta, the whole study of her life was to drive the remembrance of
+it from herself.
+
+Henrietta now tasted a happiness to which as yet her whole life had been
+a stranger; she was suddenly removed from turbulent vulgarity to the
+enjoyment of calm elegance; and the gentleness of her disposition,
+instead of being tyrannically imposed upon, not only made her loved with
+affection, but treated with the most scrupulous delicacy. Cecilia had
+her share in all the comfort she bestowed; she had now a friend to
+oblige, and a companion to converse with. She communicated to her all
+her schemes, and made her the partner of her benevolent excursions;
+she found her disposition as amiable upon trial, as her looks and her
+manners had been engaging at first sight; and her constant presence and
+constant sweetness, imperceptibly revived her spirits, and gave a new
+interest to her existence.
+
+Meantime Mr Monckton, who returned in about a fortnight to the Grove,
+observed the encreasing influence of Albany with the most serious
+concern. The bounties of Cecilia, extensive, magnificent, unlimited,
+were the theme of every tongue, and though sometimes censured and
+sometimes admired, they were wondered at universally. He suffered her
+for a while to go on without remonstrance, hoping her enthusiasm would
+abate, as its novelty wore out: but finding that week following week was
+still distinguished by some fresh act of beneficence, he grew so alarmed
+and uneasy, he could restrain himself no longer. He spoke to her
+with warmth, he represented her conduct as highly dangerous in its
+consequence; he said she would but court impostors from every corner of
+the kingdom, called Albany a lunatic, whom she should rather avoid than
+obey; and insinuated that if a report was spread of her proceedings, a
+charity so prodigal, would excite such alarm, that no man would think
+even her large and splendid fortune, would ensure him from ruin in
+seeking her alliance.
+
+Cecilia heard this exhortation without either terror or impatience, and
+answered it with the utmost steadiness. His influence over her mind was
+no longer uncontrolled, for though her suspicions were not strengthened,
+they had never been removed, and friendship has no foe so dangerous as
+distrust! She thanked him, however, for his zeal, but assured him his
+apprehensions were groundless, since though she acted from inclination,
+she acted not without thought. Her income was very large, and she was
+wholly without family or connection; to spend it merely upon herself
+would be something still worse than extravagance, it must result from
+wilfulness the most inexcusable, as her disposition was naturally
+averse to luxury and expence. She might save indeed, but for whom? not a
+creature had such a claim upon her; and with regard to herself, she was
+so provided for it would be unnecessary. She would never, she declared,
+run in debt even for a week, but while her estate was wholly clear, she
+would spend it without restriction.
+
+To his hint of any future alliance, she only said that those who
+disapproved her conduct, would probably be those she should disapprove
+in her turn; should such an event however take place, the retrenching
+from that time all her present peculiar expences, would surely, in a
+clear �3000 a-year, leave her rich enough for any man, without making
+it incumbent upon her at present, to deny herself the only pleasure she
+could taste, in bestowing that money which to her was superfluous, upon
+those who received it as the prolongation of their existence.
+
+A firmness so deliberate in a system he so much dreaded, greatly shocked
+Mr Monckton, though it intimidated him from opposing it; he saw she was
+too earnest, and too well satisfied she was right, to venture giving
+her disgust by controverting her arguments; the conversation, therefore,
+ended with new discontent to himself, and with an impression upon
+the mind of Cecilia, that though he was zealous and friendly, he was
+somewhat too worldly and suspicious.
+
+She went on, therefore, as before, distributing with a lavish hand
+all she could spare from her own household; careful of nothing but of
+guarding against imposition, which, though she sometimes unavoidably
+endured, her discernment, and the activity of her investigating
+diligence, saved her from suffering frequently. And the steadiness with
+which she repulsed those whom she detected in deceit, was a check upon
+tricks and fraud, though it could not wholly put a stop to them.
+
+Money, to her, had long appeared worthless and valueless; it had failed
+to procure her the establishment for which she once flattered herself
+it seemed purposely designed; it had been disdained by the Delviles,
+for the sake of whose connection she had alone ever truly rejoiced in
+possessing it; and after such a conviction of its inefficacy to secure
+her happiness, she regarded it as of little importance to herself, and
+therefore thought it almost the due of those whose distresses gave it a
+consequence to which with her it was a stranger.
+
+In this manner with Cecilia passed the first winter of her majority.
+She had sedulously filled it with occupations, and her occupations had
+proved fertile in keeping her mind from idleness, and in restoring it
+to chearfulness. Calls upon her attention so soothing, and avocations
+so various for her time, had answered the great purpose for which
+originally she had planned them, in almost forcing from her thoughts
+those sorrows which, if indulged, would have rested in them incessantly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER viii.
+
+AN ALARM.
+
+The spring was now advancing, and the weather was remarkably fine; when
+one morning, while Cecilia was walking with Mrs Harrel and Henrietta
+on the lawn before her house, to which the last dinner bell was just
+summoning them, to return, Mrs Harrel looked round and stopt at sight
+of a gentleman galloping towards them, who in less than a minute
+approached, and dismounting and leaving his horse to his servant, struck
+them all at the same instant to be no other than young Delvile!
+
+A sight so unexpected, so unaccountable, so wonderful, after an
+absence so long, and to which they were mutually bound, almost wholly
+over-powered Cecilia from surprise and a thousand other feelings, and
+she caught Mrs Harrel by the arm, not knowing what she did, as if
+for succour; while Henrietta with scarce less, though much more glad
+emotion, suddenly exclaimed, "'tis Mr Delvile!" and sprang forward to
+meet him.
+
+He had reached them, and in a voice that spoke hurry and perturbation,
+respectfully made his compliments to them all, before Cecilia recovered
+even the use of her feet: but no sooner were they restored to her, than
+she employed them with the quickest motion in her power, still leaning
+upon Mrs Harrel, to hasten into the house. Her solemn promise to Mrs
+Delvile became uppermost in her thoughts, and her surprise was soon
+succeeded by displeasure, that thus, without any preparation, he forced
+her to break it by an interview she had no means to prevent.
+
+Just as they reached the entrance into the house, the Butler came to
+tell Cecilia that dinner was upon the table. Delvile then went up to
+her, and said, "May I wait upon you for one instant before--or after you
+dine?"
+
+"I am engaged, Sir," answered she, though hardly able to speak, "for the
+whole day."
+
+"You will not, I hope, refuse to hear me," cried he, eagerly, "I cannot
+write what I have to say,--"
+
+"There is no occasion that you should, Sir," interrupted she, "since I
+should scarcely find time to read it."
+
+She then courtsied, though without looking at him, and went into the
+house; Delvile remaining in utter dismay, not daring, however wishing,
+to follow her. But when Mrs Harrel, much surprised at behaviour so
+unusual from Cecilia, approached him with some civil speeches, he
+started, and wishing her good day, bowed, and remounted his horse:
+pursued by the soft eyes of Henrietta till wholly out of sight.
+
+They then both followed Cecilia to the dining-parlour.
+
+Had not Mrs Harrel been of this small party, the dinner would have been
+served in vain; Cecilia, still trembling with emotion, bewildered with
+conjecture, angry with Delvile for thus surprising her, angry with
+herself for so severely receiving him, amazed what had tempted him to
+such a violation of their joint agreement, and irresolute as much what
+to wish as what to think, was little disposed for eating, and with
+difficulty compelled herself to do the honours of her table.
+
+Henrietta, whom the sight of Delvile had at once delighted and
+disturbed, whom the behaviour of Cecilia had filled with wonder and
+consternation, and whom the evident inquietude and disappointment which
+that behaviour had given to Delvile, had struck with grief and terror,
+could not swallow even a morsel, but having cut her meat about her
+plate, gave it, untouched, to a servant.
+
+Mrs Harrel, however, though she had had her share in the surprise, had
+wholly escaped all other emotion; and only concluded in her own mind,
+that Cecilia could sometimes be out of humour and ill bred, as well as
+the rest of the world.
+
+While the dessert was serving, a note was brought to Henrietta, which a
+servant was waiting in great haste to have answered.
+
+Henrietta, stranger to all forms of politeness, though by nature soft,
+obliging and delicate, opened it immediately; she started as she cast
+her eye over it, but blushed, sparkled, and looked enchanted, and
+hastily rising, without even a thought of any apology, ran out of the
+room to answer it.
+
+Cecilia, whose quick eye, by a glance unavoidable, had seen the hand
+of Delvile, was filled with new amazement at the sight. As soon as the
+servants were gone, she begged Mrs Harrel to excuse her, and went to her
+own apartment.
+
+Here, in a few minutes, she was followed by Henrietta, whose countenance
+beamed with pleasure, and whose voice spoke tumultuous delight. "My
+dear, dear Miss Beverley!" she cried, "I have such a thing to tell
+you!--you would never guess it,--I don't know how to believe it
+myself,--but Mr Delvile has written to me!--he has indeed! that note was
+from him.--I have been locking it up, for fear of accidents, but I'll
+run and fetch it, that you may see it yourself."
+
+She then ran away; leaving Cecilia much perplexed, much uneasy
+for herself, and both grieved and alarmed for the too tender, too
+susceptible Henrietta, who was thus easily the sport of every airy and
+credulous hope.
+
+"If I did not shew it you," cried Henrietta, running back in a
+moment, "you would never think it possible, for it is to make such a
+request--that it has frightened me almost out of my wits!"
+
+Cecilia then read the note.
+
+_To Miss Belfield_.
+
+Mr Delvile presents his compliments to Miss Belfield, and begs to
+be permitted to wait upon her for a few minutes, at any time in the
+afternoon she will be so good as to appoint.
+
+"Only think," cried the rapturous Henrietta, "it was _me_, poor simple
+_me_, of all people, that he wanted so to speak with!--I am sure I
+thought a different thought when he went away! but do, dearest Miss
+Beverley, tell me this one thing, what do you think he can have to say
+to me?"
+
+"Indeed," replied Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, "it is impossible for
+me to conjecture."
+
+"If _you_ can't, I am sure, then, it is no wonder _I_ can't! and I have
+been thinking of a million of things in a minute. It can't be about any
+business, because I know nothing in the world of any business; and it
+can't be about my brother, because he would go to our house in town
+about him, and there he would see him himself; and it can't be about my
+dear Miss Beverley, because then he would have written the note to her
+and it can't be about any body else, because I know nobody else of his
+acquaintance."
+
+Thus went on the sanguine Henrietta, settling whom and what it could
+_not_ be about, till she left but the one thing to which her wishes
+pointed that it _could_ be about. Cecilia heard her with true
+compassion, certain that she was deceiving herself with imaginations
+the most pernicious; yet unable to know how to quell them, while in such
+doubt and darkness herself.
+
+This conversation was soon interrupted, by a message that a gentleman in
+the parlour begged to speak with Miss Belfield.
+
+"O dearest, dearest Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, with encreasing
+agitation, "what in the world shall I say to him, advise me, pray advise
+me, for I can't think of a single word!"
+
+"Impossible, my dear Henrietta, unless I knew what he would say to you!"
+
+"O but I can guess, I can guess!"--cried she, her cheeks glowing, while
+her whole frame shook, "and I sha'n't know what in the whole world to
+answer him! I know I shall behave like a fool,--I know I shall disgrace
+myself sadly!"
+
+Cecilia, truly sorry Delvile should see her in such emotion, endeavoured
+earnestly to compose her, though never less tranquil herself. But
+she could not succeed, and she went down stairs with expectations of
+happiness almost too potent for her reason.
+
+Not such were those of Cecilia; a dread of some new conflict took
+possession of her mind, that mind so long tortured with struggles, so
+lately restored to serenity!
+
+Henrietta soon returned, but not the same Henrietta she went;--the
+glow, the hope, the flutter were all over; she looked pale and wan, but
+attempting, as she entered the room, to call up a smile, she failed, and
+burst into tears.
+
+Cecilia threw her arms round her neck, and tried to console her; but,
+happy to hide her face in her bosom, she only gave the freer indulgence
+to her grief, and rather melted than comforted by her tenderness, sobbed
+aloud.
+
+Cecilia too easily conjectured the disappointment she had met, to pain
+her by asking it; she forbore even to gratify her own curiosity by
+questions that could not but lead to her mortification, and suffering
+her therefore to take her own time for what she had to communicate, she
+hung over her in silence with the most patient pity.
+
+Henrietta was very sensible of this kindness, though she knew not half
+its merit: but it was a long time before she could articulate, for
+sobbing, that _all_ Mr Delvile wanted, at last, was only to beg she
+would acquaint Miss Beverley, that he had done himself the honour of
+waiting upon her with a message from Mrs Delvile.
+
+"From Mrs Delvile?" exclaimed Cecilia, all emotion in her turn, "good
+heaven! how much, then, have I been to blame? where is he now?--where
+can I send to him?--tell me, my sweet Henrietta, this instant!"
+
+"Oh madam!" cried Henrietta, bursting into a fresh flood of tears, "how
+foolish have I been to open my silly heart to you!--he is come to pay
+his addresses to you!--I am sure he is!--"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Cecilia, "indeed he is not!--but I must, I ought to
+see him,--where, my love, is he?",
+
+"In the parlour,--waiting for an answer.--"
+
+Cecilia, who at any other time would have been provoked at such a delay
+in the delivery of a message so important, felt now nothing but concern
+for Henrietta, whom she hastily kissed, but instantly, however, quitted,
+and hurried to Delvile, with expectations almost equally sanguine as
+those her poor friend but the moment before had crushed.
+
+"Oh now," thought she, "if at last Mrs Delvile herself has relented,
+with what joy will I give up all reserve, all disguise, and frankly avow
+the faithful affection of my heart!"
+
+Delvile received her not with the eagerness with which he had first
+addressed her; he looked extremely disturbed, and, even after her
+entrance, undetermined how to begin.
+
+She waited, however, his explanation in silence; and, after an
+irresolute pause, he said, with a gravity not wholly free from
+resentment, "I presumed, madam, to wait upon you from the permission of
+my mother; but I believe I have obtained it so late, that the influence
+I hoped from it is past!"
+
+"I had no means, Sir," answered she, chearfully, "to know that you
+came from her: I should else have received her commands without any
+hesitation."
+
+"I would thank you for the honour you do her, were it less pointedly
+exclusive. I have, however, no right of reproach! yet suffer me to ask,
+could you, madam, after such a parting, after a renunciation so absolute
+of all future claim upon you, which though extorted from me by duty, I
+was bound, having promised, to fulfil by principle,-could you imagine me
+so unsteady, so dishonourable, as to obtrude myself into your presence
+while that promise was still in force?"
+
+"I find," cried Cecilia, in whom a secret hope every moment grew
+stronger, "I have been too hasty; I did indeed believe Mrs Delvile would
+never authorise such a visit; but as you have so much surprised me, I
+have a right to your pardon for a little doubt."
+
+"There spoke Miss Beverley!" cried Delvile, reanimating at this little
+apology, "the same, the unaltered Miss Beverley I hoped to find!--yet
+_is_ she unaltered? am I not too precipitate? and is the tale I have
+heard about Belfield a dream? an error? a falsehood?"
+
+"But that so quick a succession of quarrels," said Cecilia, half
+smiling, "would be endless perplexity, I, now, would be affronted that
+you can ask me such a question."
+
+"Had I, indeed, _thought_ it a question," cried he, "I would not have
+asked it: but never for a moment did I credit it, till the rigour of
+your repulse alarmed me. You have condescended, now, to account for
+that, and I am therefore encouraged to make known to you the purpose
+of my venturing this visit. Yet not with confidence shall I speak
+if, scarce even with hope!--it is a purpose that is the offspring of
+despair,--
+
+"One thing, Sir," cried Cecilia, who now became frightened again, "let
+me say before you proceed; if your purpose has not the sanction of Mrs
+Delvile, as well as your visit, I would gladly be excused hearing it,
+since I shall most certainly refuse it."
+
+"I would mention nothing," answered he, "without her concurrence;
+she has given it me: and my father himself has permitted my present
+application."
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried Cecilia, "is it possible!" clasping her hands
+together in the eagerness of her surprise and delight.
+
+"_Is it possible_!" repeated Delvile, with a look of rapture; "ah Miss
+Beverley!--once my own Cecilia!--do you, can you _wish_ it possible?"
+
+"No, No!" cried she, while pleasure and expectation sparkled in her
+eyes, "I wish nothing about it.--Yet tell me how it has happened,--I am
+_curious_," added she, smiling, "though not interested in it."
+
+"What hope would this sweetness give me," cried he, "were my scheme
+almost any other than it is!--but you cannot,--no, it would be
+unreasonable, it would be madness to expect your compliance!--it is next
+to madness even in me to wish it,--but how shall a man who is desperate
+be prudent and circumspect?"
+
+"Spare, spare yourself," cried the ingenuous Cecilia, "this, unnecessary
+pain!--you will find from me no unnecessary scruples."
+
+"You know not what you say!--all noble as you are, the sacrifice I have
+to propose--"
+
+"Speak it," cried she, "with confidence! speak it even with certainty of
+success! I will be wholly undisguised, and openly, honestly own to you,
+that no proposal, no sacrifice can be mentioned, to which I will not
+instantly agree, if first it has had the approbation of Mrs Delvile."
+
+Delvile's gratitude and thanks for a concession never before so
+voluntarily made to him, interrupted for a while, even his power of
+explaining himself. And now, for the first time, Cecilia's sincerity was
+chearful, since now, for the first time, it seemed opposed by no duty.
+
+When still, therefore, he hesitated, she herself held out her hand to
+him, saying, "what must I do more? must I offer this pledge to you?"
+
+"For my life would I not resign it!" cried he, delightedly receiving it;
+"but oh, how soon will you withdraw it, when the only terms upon which
+I can hold it, are those of making it sign from itself its natural right
+and inheritance?"
+
+Cecilia, not comprehending him, only looked amazed, and he proceeded.
+
+"Can you, for my sake, make such a sacrifice as this? can you for a man
+who for yours is not permitted to give up his name, give up yourself the
+fortune of your late uncle? consent to such settlements as I can
+make upon you from my own? part with so splendid an income wholly and
+for-ever?--and with only your paternal L10,000 condescend to become
+mine, as if your uncle had never existed, and you had been Heiress to no
+other wealth?"
+
+This, indeed, was a stroke to Cecilia unequalled by any she had met,
+and more cruel than any she could have in reserve. At the proposal of
+parting with her uncle's fortune, which, desirable as it was, had as
+yet been only productive to her of misery, her heart, disinterested, and
+wholly careless of money, was prompt to accede to the condition; but at
+the mention of her paternal fortune, that fortune, of which, now, not
+the smallest vestige remained, horror seized all her faculties! she
+turned pale, she trembled, she involuntarily drew back her hand, and
+betrayed, by speechless agitation, the sudden agonies of her soul!
+
+Delvile, struck by this evident dismay, instantly concluded his plan
+had disgusted her. He waited some minutes in anxious expectation of an
+answer, but finding her silence continued while her emotion encreased,
+the deepest crimson dyed his face, and unable to check his chagrin,
+though not daring to confess his disappointment, he suddenly quitted
+her, and walked, in much disorder, about the room. But soon recovering
+some composure, from the assistance of pride, "Pardon, madam," he said,
+"a trial such as no man can be vindicated in making. I have indulged a
+romantic whim, which your better judgment disapproves, and I receive but
+the mortification my presumption deserved."
+
+"You know not then," said Cecilia, in a faint voice, "my inability to
+comply?"
+
+"Your ability or inability, I presume, are elective?"
+
+"Oh no!--my power is lost--my fortune itself is gone!"
+
+"Impossible! utterly impossible!" cried he with vehemence.
+
+"Oh that it were!--your father knows it but too well."
+
+"My father!"
+
+"Did he, then, never hint it to you?"
+
+"Oh distraction!" cried Delvile, "what horrible confirmation is coming!"
+and again he walked away, as if wanting courage to hear her.
+
+Cecilia was too much shocked to force upon him her explanation; but
+presently returning to her, he said, "_you_, only, could have made this
+credible!"
+
+"Had you, then, actually heard it?"
+
+"Oh I had heard it as the most infamous of falsehoods! my heart swelled
+with indignation at so villainous a calumny, and had it not come from my
+father, my resentment at it had been inveterate!"
+
+"Alas!" cried Cecilia, "the fact is undeniable! yet the circumstances
+you may have heard with it, are I doubt not exaggerated."
+
+"Exaggerated indeed!" he answered; "I was told you had been surprised
+concealed with Belfield in a back room, I was told that your parental
+fortune was totally exhausted, and that during your minority you had
+been a dealer with Jews!--I was told all this by my father; you may
+believe I had else not easily been made hear it!"
+
+"Yet thus far," said she, "he told you but what is true; though--"
+
+"True!" interrupted Delvile, with a start almost frantic. "Oh never,
+then, was truth so scandalously wronged!--I denied the whole charge!-I
+disbelieved every syllable!--I pledged my own honour to prove every
+assertion false!"
+
+"Generous Delvile!" cried Cecilia, melting into tears, "this is what I
+expected from you! and, believe me, in _your_ integrity my reliance had
+been similar!"
+
+"Why does Miss Beverley weep?" cried he, softened, and approaching her,
+"and why has she given me this alarm? these things must at least
+have been misrepresented, deign, then, to clear up a mystery in which
+suspense is torture!"
+
+Cecilia, then, with what precision and clearness her agitation allowed
+her, related the whole history of her taking up the money of the Jew
+for Mr Harrel, and told, without reserve, the reason of her trying
+to abscond from his father at Mrs Belfield's. Delvile listened to her
+account with almost an agony of attention, now admiring her conduct;
+now resenting her ill usage; now compassionating her losses; but though
+variously moved by different parts, receiving from the whole the delight
+he most coveted in the establishment of her innocence.
+
+Thanks and applause the warmest, both accompanied and followed her
+narration; and then, at her request, he related in return the several
+incidents and circumstances to which he had owed the permission of this
+visit.
+
+He had meant immediately to have gone abroad; but the indisposition
+of his mother made him unwilling to leave the kingdom till her health
+seemed in a situation less precarious. That time, however, came not; the
+Winter advanced, and she grew evidently worse. He gave over, therefore,
+his design till the next Spring, when, if she were able, it was her
+desire to try the South of France for her recovery, whither he meant to
+conduct her.
+
+But, during his attendance upon her, the plan he had just mentioned
+occurred to him, and he considered how much greater would be his chance
+of happiness in marrying Cecilia with scarce any fortune at all, than
+in marrying another with the largest. He was convinced she was far other
+than expensive, or a lover of shew, and soon flattered himself she might
+be prevailed upon to concur with him, that in living together, though
+comparatively upon little, they should mutually be happier than in
+living asunder upon much.
+
+When he started this scheme to his mother, she heard it with mingled
+admiration of his disinterestedness, and regret at its occasion: yet
+the loftiness of her own mind, her high personal value for Cecilia,
+her anxiety to see her son finally settled while she lived, lest his
+disappointment should keep him single from a lasting disgust, joined to
+a dejection of spirits from an apprehension that her interference had
+been cruel, all favoured his scheme, and forbid her resistance. She
+had often protested, in their former conflicts, that had Cecilia
+been portionless, her objections had been less than to an estate so
+conditioned; and that to give to her son a woman so exalted in herself,
+she would have conquered the mere opposition of interest, though that
+of family honour she held invincible. Delvile now called upon her to
+remember those words, and ever strict in fidelity, she still promised to
+abide by them.
+
+Ah! thought Cecilia, is virtue, then, as inconsistent as vice? and can
+the same character be thus high-souled, thus nobly disinterested with
+regard to riches, whose pride is so narrow and so insurmountable, with
+respect to family prejudice!
+
+Yet such a sacrifice from Cecilia herself, whose income intitled her
+to settlements the most splendid, Mrs Delvile thought scarcely to be
+solicited; but as her son was conscious he gave up in expectation no
+less than she would give up in possession, he resolved upon making the
+experiment, and felt an internal assurance of success.
+
+This matter being finally settled with his mother, the harder task
+remained of vanquishing the father, by whom, and before whom the name of
+Cecilia was never mentioned, not even after his return from town,
+though loaded with imaginary charges against her. Mr Delvile held it
+a diminution of his own in the honour of his son, to suppose he wanted
+still fresh motives for resigning her. He kept, therefore, to himself
+the ill opinion he brought down, as a resource in case of danger, but
+a resource he disdained to make use of, unless driven to it by absolute
+necessity.
+
+But, at the new proposal of his son, the accusation held in reserve
+broke out; he called Cecilia a dabler with Jews, and said she had been
+so from the time of her uncle's death; he charged her with the grossest
+general extravagance, to which he added a most insidious attack upon her
+character, drawn from her visits at Belfield's of long standing, as well
+as the particular time when he had himself surprised her concealed with
+the young man in a back parlour: and he asserted, that most of the
+large sums she was continually taking up from her fortune, were lavished
+without scruple upon this dangerous and improper favourite.
+
+Delvile had heard this accusation with a rage scarce restrained from
+violence; confident in her innocence, he boldly pronounced the whole a
+forgery, and demanded the author of such cruel defamation. Mr Delvile,
+much offended, refused to name any authority, but consented, with an air
+of triumph, to abide by the effect of his own proposal, and gave him a
+supercilious promise no longer to oppose the marriage, if the terms he
+meant to offer to Miss Beverley, of renouncing her uncle's estate, and
+producing her father's fortune, were accepted.
+
+"O little did I credit," said Delvile in conclusion, "that he knew
+indeed so well this last condition was impracticable! his assertions
+were without proof; I thought them prejudiced surmises; and I came in
+the full hope I should convict him of his error. My mother, too, who
+warmly and even angrily defended you, was as firmly satisfied as myself
+that the whole was a mistake, and that enquiry would prove your fortune
+as undiminished as your purity. How will she be shocked at the tale
+I have now to unfold! how irritated at your injuries from Harrel! how
+grieved that your own too great benevolence should be productive of such
+black aspersions upon your character!"
+
+"I have been," cried Cecilia, "too facile and too unguarded; yet always,
+at the moment, I seemed but guided by common humanity. I have ever
+thought myself secure of more wealth than I could require, and regarded
+the want of money as an evil from which I was unavoidably exempted. My
+own fortune, therefore, appeared to me of small consequence, while the
+revenue of my uncle insured me perpetual prosperity.--Oh had I foreseen
+this moment--"
+
+"Would you, then, have listened to my romantic proposal?"
+
+"Would I have listened?--do you not see too plainly I could not have
+hesitated!"
+
+"Oh yet, then, most generous of human beings, yet then be mine! By our
+own oeconomy we will pay off our mortgages; by living a while abroad,
+we will clear all our estates; I will still keep the name to which my
+family is bigotted, and my gratitude for your compliance shall make you
+forget what you lose by it!"
+
+"Speak not to me such words!" cried Cecilia, hastily rising; "your
+friends will not listen to them, neither, therefore, must I."
+
+"My friends," cried he with energy, "are henceforth out of the question:
+my father's concurrence with a proposal he _knew_ you had not power to
+grant, was in fact a mere permission to insult you; for if, instead of
+dark charges, he had given any authority for your losses, I had myself
+spared you the shock you have so undeservedly received from hearing
+it.--But to consent to a plan which _could_ not be accepted!--to make me
+a tool to offer indignity to Miss Beverley!--He has released me from his
+power by so erroneous an exertion of it, and my own honour has a claim
+to which his commands must give place. That honour binds me to Miss
+Beverley as forcibly as my admiration, and no voice but her own shall
+determine my future destiny."
+
+"That voice, then," said Cecilia, "again refers you to your mother.
+Mr Delvile, indeed, has not treated me kindly; and this last mock
+concession was unnecessary cruelty; but Mrs Delvile merits my utmost
+respect, and I will listen to nothing which has not her previous
+sanction."
+
+"But will her sanction be sufficient? and may I hope, in obtaining it,
+the security of yours?"
+
+"When I have said I will hear nothing without it, may you not almost
+infer--I will refuse nothing with it!"
+
+The acknowledgments he would now have poured forth, Cecilia would not
+hear, telling him, with some gaiety, they were yet unauthorized by Mrs
+Delvile. She insisted upon his leaving her immediately, and never again
+returning, without his mother's express approbation. With regard to his
+father, she left him totally to his own inclination; she had received
+from him nothing but pride and incivility, and determined to skew
+publicly her superior respect for Mrs Delvile, by whose discretion and
+decision she was content to abide.
+
+"Will you not, then, from time to time," cried Delvile, "suffer me to
+consult with you?"
+
+"No, no," answered she, "do not ask it! I have never been insincere
+with you, never but from motives not to be overcome, reserved even for
+a moment; I have told you I will put every thing into the power of
+Mrs Delvile, but I will not a second time risk my peace by any action
+unknown to her."
+
+Delvile gratefully acknowledged her goodness, and promised to require
+nothing more. He then obeyed her by taking leave, eager himself to put
+an end to this new uncertainty, and supplicating only that her good
+wishes might follow his enterprise.
+
+And thus, again, was wholly broken the tranquility of Cecilia; new
+hopes, however faint, awakened all her affections, and strong fears, but
+too reasonable, interrupted her repose. Her destiny, once more, was
+as undecided as ever, and the expectations she had crushed, retook
+possession of her heart.
+
+The suspicions she had conceived of Mr Monckton again occurred to her;
+though unable to ascertain and unwilling to believe them, she tried to
+drive them from her thoughts. She lamented, however, with bitterness,
+her unfortunate connexion with Mr Harrel, whose unworthy impositions
+upon her kindness of temper and generosity, now proved to her an evil
+far more serious and extensive, than in the midst of her repugnance to
+them she had ever apprehended.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A SUSPENSE.
+
+Delvile had been gone but a short time, before Henrietta, her eyes still
+red, though no longer streaming, opened the parlour door, and asked if
+she might come in?
+
+Cecilia wished to be alone, yet could not refuse her.
+
+"Well, madam," cried she, with a forced smile, and constrained air of
+bravery, "did not I guess right?"
+
+"In what?" said Cecilia, unwilling to understand her.
+
+"In what I said would happen?--I am sure you know what I mean."
+
+Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, made no answer; she much regretted the
+circumstances which had prevented an earlier communication, and was
+uncertain whether, now, it would prove most kind or most cruel to
+acquaint her with what was in agitation, which, should it terminate in
+nothing, was unnecessarily wounding her delicacy for the openness of her
+confidence, and which, however serviceable it might prove to her in
+the end, was in the means so rough and piercing she felt the utmost
+repugnance to the experiment.
+
+"You think me, madam, too free," said Henrietta, "in asking such a
+question; and indeed your kindness has been so great, it may well make
+me forget myself: but if it does, I am sure I deserve you should send me
+home directly, and then there is not much fear I shall soon be brought
+to my senses!"
+
+"No, my dear Henrietta, I can never think you too free; I have told
+you already every thing I thought you would have pleasure in hearing;
+whatever I have concealed, I have been fearful would only pain you."
+
+"I have _deserved_, madam," said she, with spirit, "to be pained, for
+I have behaved with the folly of a baby. I am very angry with myself
+indeed! I was old enough to have known better,--and I ought to have been
+wise enough."
+
+"You must then be angry with yourself, next," said Cecilia, anxious
+to re-encourage her, "for all the love that I bear you; since to your
+openness and frankness it was entirely owing."
+
+"But there are some things that people should _not_ be frank in;
+however, I am only come now to beg you will tell me, madam, when it is
+to be;--and don't think I ask out of nothing but curiosity, for I have a
+very great reason for it indeed."
+
+"What be, my dear Henrietta?--you are very rapid in your ideas!"
+
+"I will tell you, madam, what my reason is; I shall go away to my
+own home,--and so I would if it were ten times a worse home than it
+is!--just exactly the day before. Because afterwards I shall never like
+to look that gentleman in the face,--never, never!--for married ladies I
+know are not to be trusted!"
+
+"Be not apprehensive; you have no occasion. Whatever may be my fate, I
+will never be so treacherous as to betray my beloved Henrietta to _any_
+body."
+
+"May I ask you, madam, one question?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Why did all this never happen before?"
+
+"Indeed," cried Cecilia, much distressed, "I know not that it will
+happen now."
+
+"Why what, dear madam, can hinder it?"
+
+"A thousand, thousand things! nothing can be less secure."
+
+"And then I am still as much puzzled as ever. I heard, a good while ago,
+and we all heard that it was to be; and I thought that it was no wonder,
+I am sure, for I used often to think it was just what was most likely;
+but afterwards we heard it was no such thing, and from that moment I
+always believed there had been nothing at all in it."
+
+"I must speak to you, I find, with sincerity; my affairs have long been
+in strange perplexity: I have not known myself what to expect; one day
+has perpetually reversed the prospect of another, and my mind has been
+in a state of uncertainty and disorder, that has kept it--that still
+keeps it from comfort and from rest!"
+
+"This surprises me indeed, madam! I thought _you_ were all happiness!
+but I was sure you deserved it, and I thought you had it for that
+reward. And this has been the thing that has made me behave so wrong;
+for I took it into my head I might tell you every thing, because I
+concluded it could be nothing to you; for if great people loved one
+another, I always supposed they married directly; poor people, indeed,
+must stay till they are able to settle; but what in the whole world,
+thought I, if they like one another, should hinder such a rich lady as
+Miss Beverley from marrying such a rich gentleman at once?"
+
+Cecilia now, finding there was no longer any chance for concealment,
+thought it better to give the poor Henrietta at least the gratification
+of unreserved confidence, which might somewhat sooth her uneasiness by
+proving her reliance in her faith. She frankly, therefore, confessed
+to her the whole of her situation. Henrietta wept at the recital with
+bitterness, thought Mr Delvile a monster, and Mrs Delvile herself scarce
+human; pitied Cecilia with unaffected tenderness, and wondered that the
+person could exist who had the heart to give grief to young Delvile! She
+thanked her most gratefully for reposing such trust in her; and Cecilia
+made use of this opportunity, to enforce the necessity of her struggling
+more seriously to recover her indifferency.
+
+She promised she would not fail; and forbore steadily from that time to
+name Delvile any more: but the depression of her spirits shewed she had
+suffered a disappointment such as astonished even Cecilia. Though modest
+and humble, she had conceived hopes the most romantic, and though
+she denied, even to herself, any expectations from Delvile, she
+involuntarily nourished them with the most sanguine simplicity. To
+compose and to strengthen her became the whole business of Cecilia; who,
+during her present suspense, could find no other employment in which she
+could take any interest.
+
+Mr Monckton, to whom nothing was unknown that related to Cecilia, was
+soon informed of Delvile's visit, and hastened in the utmost alarm,
+to learn its event. She had now lost all the pleasure she had formerly
+derived from confiding in him, but though averse and confused, could not
+withstand his enquiries.
+
+Unlike the tender Henrietta's was his disappointment at this relation,
+and his rage at such repeated trials was almost more than he could curb.
+He spared neither the Delviles for their insolence of mutability in
+rejecting or seeking her at their pleasure, nor herself for her easiness
+of submission in being thus the dupe of their caprices. The subject
+was difficult for Cecilia to dilate upon; she wished to clear, as he
+deserved, Delvile himself from any share in the censure, and she felt
+hurt and offended at the charge of her own improper readiness; yet shame
+and pride united in preventing much vindication of either, and she heard
+almost in silence what with pain she bore to hear at all.
+
+He now saw, with inexpressible disturbance, that whatever was his
+power to make her uneasy, he had none to make her retract, and that the
+conditional promise she had given Delvile to be wholly governed by his
+mother, she was firm in regarding to be as sacred as one made at the
+altar.
+
+Perceiving this, he dared trust his temper with no further debate; he
+assumed a momentary calmness for the purpose of taking leave of her,
+and with pretended good wishes for her happiness, whatever might be her
+determination, he stifled the reproaches with which his whole heart was
+swelling, and precipitately left her.
+
+Cecilia, affected by his earnestness, yet perplexed in all her opinions,
+was glad to be relieved from useless exhortations, and not sorry, in her
+present uncertainty, that his visit was not repeated.
+
+She neither saw nor heard from Delvile for a week, and augured nothing
+but evil from such delay. The following letter then came by the post.
+
+_To Miss Beverley. April 2d_, 1780
+
+I must write without comments, for I dare not trust myself with making
+any; I must write without any beginning address, for I know not how you
+will permit me to address you.
+
+I have lived a life of tumult since last compelled to leave you, and
+when it may subside, I am still in utter ignorance.
+
+The affecting account of the losses you have suffered through your
+beneficence to the Harrels, and the explanatory one of the calumnies you
+have sustained from your kindness to the Belfields, I related with the
+plainness which alone I thought necessary to make them felt. I then told
+the high honour I had received, in meeting with no other repulse to my
+proposal, than was owing to an inability to accede to it; and informed
+my mother of the condescending powers with which you had invested her.
+In conclusion I mentioned my new scheme, and firmly, before I would
+listen to any opposition, I declared that though wholly to their
+decision I left the relinquishing my own name or your fortune, I was not
+only by your generosity more internally yours than ever, but that since
+again I had ventured, and with permission to apply to you, I should hold
+myself hence forward unalterably engaged to you.
+
+And so I do, and so I shall! nor, after a renewal so public, will any
+prohibition but yours have force to keep me from throwing myself at your
+feet.
+
+My father's answer I will not mention; I would I could forget it! his
+prejudices are irremediable, his resolutions are inflexible. Who or what
+has worked him into an animosity so irreclaimable, I cannot conjecture,
+nor will he tell; but something darkly mysterious has part in his wrath
+and his injustice.
+
+My mother was much affected by your reference to herself. Words of the
+sweetest praise broke repeatedly from her; no other such woman, she
+said, existed; no other such instance could be found of fidelity
+so exalted! her son must have no heart but for low and mercenary
+selfishness, if, after a proof of regard so unexampled, he could bear
+to live without her! Oh how did such a sentence from lips so highly
+reverenced, animate, delight, confirm, and oblige me at once!
+
+The displeasure of my father at this declaration was dreadful; his
+charges, always as improbable as injurious, now became too horrible
+for my ears; he disbelieved you had taken up the money for Harrel, he
+discredited that you visited the Belfields for Henrietta: passion not
+merely banished his justice, but, clouded his reason, and I soon left
+the room, that at least I might not hear the aspersions he forbid me to
+answer.
+
+I left not, however, your fame to a weak champion: my mother defended it
+with all the spirit of truth, and all the confidence of similar virtue!
+yet they parted without conviction, and so mutually irritated with each
+other, that they agreed to meet no more.
+
+This was too terrible! and I instantly consolidated my resentment to
+my father, and my gratitude to my mother, into concessions and
+supplications to both; I could not, however, succeed; my mother was
+deeply offended, my father was sternly inexorable: nor here rests
+the evil of their dissention, for the violence of the conflict has
+occasioned a return more alarming than ever of the illness of my mother.
+
+All her faith in her recovery is now built upon going abroad; she is
+earnest to set off immediately; but Dr Lyster has advised her to make
+London in her way, and have a consultation of physicians before she
+departs.
+
+To this she has agreed; and we are now upon the road thither.
+
+Such is, at present, the melancholy state of my affairs. My mother
+_advised_ me to write; forgive me, therefore, that I waited not
+something more decisive to say. I could prevail upon neither party
+to meet before the journey; nor could I draw from my father the base
+fabricator of the calumnies by which he has been thus abused.
+
+Unhappily, I have nothing more to add: and whether intelligence, such
+as this, or total suspense, would be least irksome, I know not. If my
+mother bears her journey tolerably well, I have yet one more effort
+to make; and of that the success or the failure will be instantly
+communicated to Miss Beverley, by her eternally devoted, but half
+distracted.
+
+Mortimer Delvile.
+
+Scarcely could Cecilia herself decide whether this comfortless letter
+or none at all were preferable. The implacability of Mr Delvile was
+shocking, but his slandering her character was still more intolerable;
+yet the praises of the mother, and her generous vindication, joined to
+the invariable reliance of Delvile upon her innocence, conferred upon
+her an honour that offered some alleviation.
+
+The mention of a fabricator again brought Mr Monckton to her mind, and
+not all her unwillingness to think him capable of such treachery, could
+now root out her suspicions. Delvile's temper, however, she knew was too
+impetuous to be trusted with this conjecture, and her fear of committing
+injustice being thus seconded by prudence, she determined to keep to
+herself doubts that could not without danger be divulged.
+
+She communicated briefly to Henrietta, who looked her earnest curiosity,
+the continuance of her suspense; and to her own fate Henrietta became
+somewhat more reconciled, when she saw that no station in life rendered
+happiness certain or permanent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER x.
+
+A RELATION.
+
+Another week past still without any further intelligence. Cecilia was
+then summoned to the parlour, and to Delvile himself.
+
+He looked hurried and anxious; yet the glow of his face, and the
+animation of his eyes, immediately declared he at least came not to take
+leave of her.
+
+"Can you forgive," cried he, "the dismal and unsatisfactory letter I
+wrote you? I would not disobey you twice in the same manner, and I could
+not till now have written in any other."
+
+"The consultation with the physicians, then," said Cecilia, "is over?"
+
+"Alas, yes; and the result is most alarming; they all agree my mother is
+in a dangerous way, and they rather forbear to oppose, than advise her
+going abroad: but upon that she is earnestly bent, and intends to set
+out without delay. I shall return to her, therefore, with all speed, and
+mean not to take any rest till I have seen her."
+
+Cecilia expressed with tenderness her sorrow for Mrs Delvile: nor were
+her looks illiberal in including her son in her concern.
+
+"I must hasten," he cried, "to the credentials by which I am authorised
+for coming, and I must hasten to prove if Miss Beverley has not
+flattered my mother in her appeal."
+
+He then informed her that Mrs Delvile, apprehensive for herself, and
+softened for him by the confession of her danger, which she had extorted
+from her physicians, had tenderly resolved upon making one final effort
+for his happiness, and ill and impatient as she was, upon deferring her
+journey to wait its effect.
+
+Generously, therefore, giving up her own resentment, she wrote to Mr
+Delvile in terms of peace and kindness, lamenting their late dissention,
+and ardently expressing her desire to be reconciled to him before she
+left England. She told him the uncertainty of her recovery which had
+been acknowledged by her physicians, who had declared a calmer mind
+was more essential to her than a purer air. She then added, that such
+serenity was only to be given her, by the removal of her anxiety at the
+comfortless state of her son. She begged him, therefore, to make known
+the author of Miss Beverley's defamation, assuring him, that upon
+enquiry, he would find her character and her fame as unsullied as his
+own; and strongly representing, that after the sacrifice to which she
+had consented, their son would be utterly dishonourable in thinking of
+any other connexion. She then to this reasoning joined the most earnest
+supplication, protesting, in her present disordered state, of health,
+her life might pay the forfeiture of her continual uneasiness.
+
+"I held out," she concluded, "while his personal dignity, and the honour
+of his name and family were endangered; but where interest alone is
+concerned, and that interest is combated by the peace of his mind, and
+the delicacy of his word, my opposition is at an end. And though our
+extensive and well founded views for a splendid alliance are abolished,
+you will agree with me hereafter, upon a closer inspection, that the
+object for whom he relinquishes them, offers in herself the noblest
+reparation."
+
+Cecilia felt gratified, humbled, animated and depressed at once by this
+letter, of which Delvile brought her a copy. "And what," cried she, "was
+the answer?"
+
+"I cannot in decency," he replied, "speak my opinion of it: read it
+yourself,--and let me hear yours."
+
+_To the Honourable Mrs Delvile_.
+
+Your extraordinary letter, madam, has extremely surprised me. I had been
+willing to hope the affair over from the time my disapprobation of it
+was formally announced. I am sorry you are so much indisposed, but I
+cannot conclude your health would be restored by my acceding to a plan
+so derogatory to my house. I disapprove it upon every account, not only
+of the name and the fortune, but the lady herself. I have reasons more
+important than those I assign, but they are such as I am bound in
+honour not to mention. After such a declaration, nobody, I presume, will
+affront me by asking them. Her defence you have only from herself,
+her accusation I have received from authority less partial. I command,
+therefore, that my son, upon pain of my eternal displeasure, may never
+speak to me on the subject again, and I hope, madam, from you the same
+complaisance to my request. I cannot explain myself further, nor is it
+necessary; it is no news, I flatter myself, to Mortimer Delvile or his
+mother, that I do nothing without reason, and I believe nothing upon
+slight grounds.
+
+A few cold compliments concerning her journey, and the re-establishment
+of her health, concluded the letter.
+
+Cecilia, having read, hastily returned it, and indignantly said, "My
+opinion, Sir, upon this letter, must surely be yours; that we had done
+wiser, long since, to have spared your mother and ourselves, those vain
+and fruitless conflicts which we ought better to have foreseen were
+liable to such a conclusion. Now, at least, let them be ended, and let
+us not pursue disgrace wilfully, after suffering from it with so much
+rigour involuntarily."
+
+"O no," cried Delvile, "rather let us now spurn it for ever! those
+conflicts must indeed be ended, but not by a separation still more
+bitter than all of them."
+
+He then told her, that his mother, highly offended to observe by the
+extreme coldness of this letter, the rancour he still nourished for
+the contest preceding her leaving him, no longer now refused even her
+separate consent, for a measure which she thought her son absolutely
+engaged to take.
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Cecilia, much amazed, "this from Mrs Delvile!--a
+separate consent?"--
+
+"She has always maintained," he answered, "an independent mind,
+always judged for herself, and refused all other arbitration: when so
+impetuously she parted us, my father's will happened to be her's, and
+thence their concurrence: my father, of a temper immoveable and stern,
+retains stubbornly the prejudices which once have taken possession
+of him; my mother, generous as fiery, and noble as proud, is open to
+conviction, and no sooner convinced, than ingenuous in acknowledging it:
+and thence their dissention. From my father I may hope forgiveness, but
+must never expect concession; from my mother I may hope all she ought
+to grant, for pardon but her vehemence,--and she has every great quality
+that can dignify human nature!"
+
+Cecilia, whose affection and reverence for Mrs Delvile were unfeigned,
+and who loved in her son this filial enthusiasm, readily concurred with
+him in praising her, and sincerely esteemed her the first among women.
+
+"Now, then," cried he, with earnestness, "now is the time when your
+generous admiration of her is put to the test; see what she writes
+to you;--she has left to me all explanation: but I insisted upon some
+credential, lest you should believe I only owed her concurrence to a
+happy dream."
+
+Cecilia in much trepidation took the letter, and hastily run it over.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Misery, my sweet young friend, has long been busy with us all; much have
+we owed to the clash of different interests, much to that rapacity
+which to enjoy any thing, demands every thing, and much to that general
+perverseness which labours to place happiness in what is with-held.
+Thus do we struggle on till we can struggle no longer; the felicity
+with which we trifle, at best is but temporary; and before reason and
+reflection shew its value, sickness and sorrow are commonly become
+stationary.
+
+Be it yours, my love, and my son's, to profit by the experience, while
+you pity the errors, of the many who illustrate this truth. Your mutual
+partiality has been mutually unfortunate, and must always continue
+so for the interests of both: but how blind is it to wait, in our own
+peculiar lots, for that perfection of enjoyment we can all see wanting
+in the lot of others! My expectations for my son had "outstepped the
+modesty of" probability. I looked for rank and high birth, with
+the fortune of Cecilia, and Cecilia's rare character. Alas! a new
+constellation in the heavens might as rationally have been looked for!
+
+My extravagance, however, has been all for his felicity, dearer to me
+than life,--dearer to me than all things but his own honour! Let us but
+save that, and then let wealth, ambition, interest, grandeur and pride,
+since they cannot constitute his happiness, be removed from destroying
+it. I will no longer play the tyrant that, weighing good and evil by my
+own feelings and opinions, insists upon his acting by the notions I have
+formed, whatever misery they may bring him by opposing all his own.
+
+I leave the kingdom with little reason to expect I shall return to it;
+I leave it--Oh blindness of vanity and passion!--from the effect of
+that violence with which so lately I opposed what now I am content to
+advance! But the extraordinary resignation to which you have agreed,
+shews your heart so wholly my son's, and so even more than worthy the
+whole possession of his, that it reflects upon him an honour more bright
+and more alluring, than any the most illustrious other alliance could
+now confer.
+
+I would fain see you ere I go, lest I should see you no more; fain
+ratify by word of mouth the consent that by word of mouth I so
+absolutely refused! I know not how to come to Suffolk,--is it not
+possible you can come to London? I am told you leave to me the
+arbitration of your fate, in giving you to my son, I best shew my sense
+of such an honour.
+
+Hasten then, my love, to town, that I may see you once more! wait no
+longer a concurrence thus unjustly with-held, but hasten, that I may
+bless the daughter I have so often wished to own! that I may entreat her
+forgiveness for all the pain I have occasioned her, and committing to
+her charge the future happiness of my son, fold to my maternal heart the
+two objects most dear to it!
+
+AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+
+
+
+Cecilia wept over this letter with tenderness, grief and alarm; but
+declared, had it even summoned her to follow her abroad, she could not,
+after reading it, have hesitated in complying.
+
+"O now, then," cried Delvile, "let our long suspenses end! hear me with
+the candour; my mother has already listened to me--be mine, my Cecilia,
+at once,--and force me not, by eternal scruples, to risk another
+separation."
+
+"Good heaven, Sir!" cried Cecilia, starting, "in such a state as Mrs
+Delvile thinks herself, would you have her journey delayed?"
+
+"No, not a moment! I would but ensure you mine, and go with her all over
+the world!"
+
+"Wild and impossible!--and what is to be done with Mr Delvile?"
+
+"It is on his account wholly I am thus earnestly precipitate. If I do
+not by an immediate marriage prevent his further interference, all I
+have already suffered may again be repeated, and some fresh contest with
+my mother may occasion another relapse."
+
+Cecilia, who now understood him, ardently protested she would not listen
+for a moment to any clandestine expedient.
+
+He besought her to be patient; and then anxiously represented to
+her their peculiar situations. All application to his father he was
+peremptorily forbid making, all efforts to remove his prejudices their
+impenetrable mystery prevented; a public marriage, therefore, with such
+obstacles, would almost irritate him to phrenzy, by its daring defiance
+of his prohibition and authority.
+
+"Alas!" exclaimed Cecilia, "we can never do right but in parting!"
+
+"Say it not," cried he, "I conjure you! we shall yet live, I hope, to
+prove the contrary."
+
+"And can you, then," cried she, reproachfully, "Oh Mr Delvile! can you
+again urge me to enter your family in secret?"
+
+"I grieve, indeed," he answered, "that your goodness should so severely
+be tried; yet did you not condescend to commit the arbitration to my
+mother?"
+
+"True; and I thought her approbation would secure my peace of mind; but
+how could I have expected Mrs Delvile's consent to such a scheme!"
+
+"She has merely accorded it from a certainty there is no other resource.
+Believe me, therefore, my whole hope rests upon your present compliance.
+My father, I am certain, by his letter, will now hear neither petition
+nor defence; on the contrary, he will only enrage at the temerity of
+offering to confute him. But when he knows you are his daughter, his
+honour will then be concerned in yours, and it will be as much his
+desire to have it cleared, as it is now to have it censured."
+
+"Wait at least your return, and let us try what can be done with him."
+
+"Oh why," cried Delvile, with much earnestness, "must I linger out month
+after month in this wretched uncertainty! If I wait I am undone! my
+father, by the orders I must unavoidably leave, will discover the
+preparations making without his consent, and he will work upon you in my
+absence, and compel you to give me up!"
+
+"Are you sure," said she, half smiling, "he would have so much power?"
+
+"I am but too sure, that the least intimation, in his present irritable
+state of mind, reaching him of my intentions, would make him not
+scruple, in his fury, pronouncing some malediction upon my disobedience
+that _neither_ of us, I must own, could tranquilly disregard."
+
+This was an argument that came home to Cecilia, whose deliberation upon
+it, though silent, was evidently not unfavourable.
+
+He then told her that with respect to settlements, he would instantly
+have a bond drawn up, similar to that prepared for their former intended
+union, which should be properly signed and sealed, and by which he would
+engage himself to make, upon coming to his estate, the same settlement
+upon her that was made upon his mother.
+
+"And as, instead of keeping up three houses," he continued, "in the
+manner my father does at present, I mean to put my whole estate _out to
+nurse_, while we reside for a while abroad, or in the country, I doubt
+not but in a very few years we shall be as rich and as easy as we shall
+desire."
+
+He told her, also, of his well-founded expectations from the Relations
+already mentioned; which the concurrence of his mother with his marriage
+would thence forward secure to him.
+
+He then, with more coherence, stated his plan at large. He purposed,
+without losing a moment, to return to London; he conjured her, in the
+name of his mother, to set out herself early the next day, that the
+following evening might be dedicated wholly to Mrs Delvile: through her
+intercession he might then hope Cecilia's compliance, and every thing on
+the morning after should be prepared for their union. The long-desired
+ceremony over, he would instantly ride post to his father, and pay him,
+at least, the respect of being the first to communicate it. He would
+then attend his mother to the Continent, and leave the arrangement
+of everything to his return. "Still, therefore, as a single man," he
+continued, "I mean to make the journey, and I shall take care, by the
+time I return, to have all things in readiness for claiming my sweet
+Bride. Tell me, then, now, if you can reasonably oppose this plan?"
+
+"Indeed," said Cecilia, after some hesitation, "I cannot see the
+necessity of such violent precipitancy."
+
+"Do you not try me too much," cried Delvile, impatiently, "to talk now
+of precipitancy! after such painful waiting, such wearisome expectation!
+I ask you not to involve your own affairs in confusion by accompanying
+me abroad; sweet to me as would be such an indulgence, I would not make
+a run-away of you in the opinion of the world. All I wish is the secret
+certainty I cannot be robbed of you, that no cruel machinations may
+again work our separation, that you are mine, unalterably mine, beyond
+the power of caprice or ill fortune."
+
+Cecilia made no answer; tortured with irresolution, she knew not upon
+what to determine.
+
+"We might then, according to the favour or displeasure of my father,
+settle wholly abroad for the present, or occasionally visit him in
+England; my mother would be always and openly our friend--Oh be firm,
+then, I conjure you, to the promise you have given her, and deign to be
+mine on the conditions she prescribes. She will be bound to you for ever
+by so generous a concession, and even her health may be restored by the
+cessation of her anxieties. With such a wife, such a mother, what
+will be wanting for _me_! Could I lament not being richer, I must be
+rapacious indeed!--Speak, then, my Cecilia! relieve me from the agony
+of this eternal uncertainty, and tell me your word is invariable as your
+honour, and tell me my mother gives not her sanction in vain!"
+
+Cecilia sighed deeply, but, after some hesitation, said, "I little knew
+what I had promised, nor know I now what to perform!--there must ever, I
+find, be some check to human happiness! yet, since upon these terms, Mrs
+Delvile herself is content to wish me of her family--"
+
+She stopt; but, urged earnestly by Delvile, added "I must not, I think,
+withdraw the powers with which I entrusted her."
+
+Delvile, grateful and enchanted, now forgot his haste and his business,
+and lost every wish but to re-animate her spirits: she compelled him,
+however, to leave her, that his visit might less be wondered at, and
+sent by him a message to Mrs. Delvile, that, wholly relying upon her
+wisdom, she implicitly submitted to her decree.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER xi.
+
+AN ENTERPRISE.
+
+Cecilia now had no time for afterthoughts or anxious repentance, since
+notwithstanding the hurry of her spirits, and the confusion of her mind,
+she had too much real business, to yield to pensive indulgence.
+
+Averse to all falsehood, she invented none upon this occasion; she
+merely told her guests she was summoned to London upon an affair of
+importance; and though she saw their curiosity, not being at liberty to
+satisfy it with the truth, she attempted not to appease it by fiction,
+but quietly left it to its common fare, conjecture. She would gladly
+have made Henrietta the companion of her journey, but Henrietta was the
+last to whom that journey could give pleasure. She only, therefore, took
+her maid in the chaise, and, attended by one servant on horseback, at
+six o'clock the next morning, she quitted her mansion, to enter into an
+engagement by which soon she was to resign it for ever.
+
+Disinterested as she was, she considered her situation as peculiarly
+perverse, that from the time of her coming to a fortune which most
+others regarded as enviable, she had been a stranger to peace, a
+fruitless seeker of happiness, a dupe to the fraudulent, and a prey to
+the needy! the little comfort she had received, had been merely from
+dispensing it, and now only had she any chance of being happy herself,
+when upon the point of relinquishing what all others built their
+happiness upon obtaining!
+
+These reflections only gave way to others still more disagreeable; she
+was now a second time engaged in a transaction she could not approve,
+and suffering the whole peace of her future life to hang upon an action
+dark, private and imprudent: an action by which the liberal kindness of
+her late uncle would be annulled, by which the father of her intended
+husband would be disobeyed, and which already, in a similar instance,
+had brought her to affliction and disgrace. These melancholy thoughts
+haunted her during the whole journey, and though the assurance of
+Mrs Delvile's approbation was some relief to her uneasiness, she
+involuntarily prepared herself for meeting new mortifications, and was
+tormented with an apprehension that this second attempt made her merit
+them.
+
+She drove immediately, by the previous direction of Delvile, to a
+lodging-house in Albemarle Street, which he had taken care to have
+prepared for her reception. She then sent for a chair, and went to Mrs
+Delvile's. Her being seen by the servants of that house was not very
+important, as their master was soon to be acquainted with the real
+motive of her journey.
+
+She was shewn into a parlour, while Mrs Delvile was informed of her
+arrival, and there flown to by Delvile with the most grateful eagerness.
+Yet she saw in his countenance that all was not well, and heard upon
+enquiry that his mother was considerably worse. Extremely shocked
+by this intelligence, she already began to lament her unfortunate
+enterprise. Delvile struggled, by exerting his own spirits, to restore
+hers, but forced gaiety is never exhilarating; and, full of care and
+anxiety, he was ill able to appear sprightly and easy.
+
+They were soon summoned upstairs into the apartment of Mrs Delvile, who
+was lying upon a couch, pale, weak, and much altered. Delvile led the
+way, saying, "Here, madam, comes one whose sight will bring peace and
+pleasure to you!"
+
+"This, indeed," cried Mrs Delvile, half rising and embracing her, "is
+the form in which they are most welcome to me! virtuous, noble Cecilia!
+what honour you do my son! with what joy, should I ever recover, shall I
+assist him in paying the gratitude he owes you!"
+
+Cecilia, grieved at her situation, and affected by her kindness, could
+only answer with her tears; which, however, were not shed alone; for
+Delvile's eyes were full, as he passionately exclaimed, "This, this is
+the sight my heart has thus long desired! the wife of my choice taken
+to the bosom of the parent I revere! be yet but well, my beloved mother,
+and I will be thankful for every calamity that has led to so sweet a
+conclusion!"
+
+"Content yourself, however, my son, with one of us," cried Mrs Delvile,
+smiling; "and content yourself, if you can, though your hard lot should
+make that one this creature of full bloom, health, and youth! Ah, my
+love," added she, more seriously, and addressing the still weeping
+Cecilia, "should now Mortimer, in losing me, lose those cares by which
+alone, for some months past, my life has been rendered tolerable, how
+peaceably shall I resign him to one so able to recompense his filial
+patience and services!"
+
+This was not a speech to stop the tears of Cecilia, though such warmth
+of approbation quieted her conscientious scruples. Delvile now earnestly
+interfered; he told her that his mother had been ordered not to talk or
+exert herself, and entreated her to be composed, and his mother to be
+silent.
+
+"Be it _your_ business, then," said Mrs Delvile, more gaily, "to find
+us entertainment. We will promise to be very still if you will take that
+trouble upon yourself."
+
+"I will not," answered he, "be rallied from my purpose; if I cannot
+entertain, it will be something to weary you, for that may incline you
+to take rest, which will he answering a better purpose."
+
+"Mortimer," returned she, "is this the ingenuity of duty or of love?
+and which are you just now thinking of, my health, or a conversation
+uninterrupted with Miss Beverley?"
+
+"Perhaps a little of both!" said he, chearfully, though colouring.
+
+"But you rather meant it should pass," said Mrs Delvile, "you were
+thinking only of me? I have always observed, that where one scheme
+answers two purposes, the ostensive is never the purpose most at heart."
+
+"Why it is but common prudence," answered Delvile, "to feel our way a
+little before we mention what we most wish, and so cast the hazard of
+the refusal upon something rather less important."
+
+"Admirably settled!" cried Mrs Delvile: "so my rest is but to prove Miss
+Beverley's disturbance!--Well, it is only anticipating our future way of
+life, when her disturbance, in taking the management of you to herself,
+will of course prove my rest."
+
+She then quietly reposed herself, and Delvile discoursed with Cecilia
+upon their future plans, hopes and actions.
+
+He meant to set off from the church-door to Delvile Castle, to acquaint
+his father with his marriage, and then to return instantly to London:
+there he entreated Cecilia to stay with his mother, that, finding them
+both together, he might not exhaust her patience, by making his parting
+visit occasion another journey to Suffolk.
+
+But here Cecilia resolutely opposed him; saying, her only chance to
+escape discovery, was going instantly to her own house; and representing
+so earnestly her desire that their marriage should be unknown till his
+return to England, upon a thousand motives of delicacy, propriety, and
+fearfulness, that the obligation he owed already to a compliance which
+he saw grew more and more reluctant, restrained him both in gratitude
+and pity from persecuting her further. Neither would she consent to
+seeing him in Suffolk; which could but delay his mother's journey, and
+expose her to unnecessary suspicions; she promised, however, to write
+to him often, and as, from his mother's weakness, he must travel very
+slowly, she took a plan of his route, and engaged that he should find a
+letter from her at every great town.
+
+The bond which he had already had altered, he insisted upon leaving in
+her own custody, averse to applying to Mr Monckton, whose behaviour to
+him had before given him disgust, and in whom Cecilia herself no
+longer wished to confide. He had again applied to the same lawyer, Mr
+Singleton, to give her away; for though to his secrecy he had no tie, he
+had still less to any entire stranger. Mrs Delvile was too ill to attend
+them to church, nor would Delvile have desired from her such absolute
+defiance of his father.
+
+Cecilia now gave another sigh to her departed friend Mrs Charlton, whose
+presence upon this awful occasion would else again have soothed and
+supported her. She had no female friend in whom she could rely; but
+feeling a repugnance invincible to being accompanied only by men, she
+accepted the attendance of Mrs Delvile's own woman, who had lived many
+years in the family, and was high in the favour and confidence of her
+lady.
+
+The arrangement of these and other articles, with occasional
+interruptions from Mrs Delvile, fully employed the evening. Delvile
+would not trust again to meeting her at the church; but begged her to
+send out her servants between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, at
+which time he would himself call for her with a chair.
+
+She went away early, that Mrs Delvile might go to rest, and it was
+mutually agreed they should risk no meeting the next day. Delvile
+conjured them to part with firmness and chearfulness, and Cecilia,
+fearing her own emotion, would have retired without bidding her adieu.
+But Mrs Delvile, calling after her, said, "Take with you my blessing!"
+and tenderly embracing her, added, "My son, as my chief nurse, claims
+a prescriptive right to govern me, but I will break from his control to
+tell my sweet Cecilia what ease and what delight she has already given
+to my mind! my best hope of recovery is founded on the pleasure I
+anticipate to witnessing your mutual happiness: but should my illness
+prove fatal, and that felicity be denied me, my greatest earthly care is
+already removed by the security I feel of Mortimer's future peace. Take
+with you, then, my blessing, for you are become one to me! long daughter
+of my affection, now wife of my darling son! love her, Mortimer, as
+she merits, and cherish her with tenderest gratitude!--banish, sweetest
+Cecilia, every apprehension that oppresses you, and receive in Mortimer
+Delvile a husband that will revere your virtues, and dignify your
+choice!"
+
+She then embraced her again, and seeing that her heart was too full for
+speech, suffered her to go without making any answer. Delvile attended
+her to her chair, scarce less moved than herself, and found only
+opportunity to entreat her punctuality the next morning.
+
+She had, indeed, no inclination to fail in her appointment, or risk
+the repetition of scenes so affecting, or situations so alarming. Mrs
+Delvile's full approbation somewhat restored to her her own, but nothing
+could remove the fearful anxiety, which still privately tormented her
+with expectations of another disappointment.
+
+The next morning she arose with the light, and calling all her courage
+to her aid, determined to consider this day as decisive of her destiny
+with regard to Delvile, and, rejoicing that at least all suspense would
+be over, to support herself with fortitude, be that destiny what it
+might.
+
+At the appointed time she sent her maid to visit Mrs Hill, and gave some
+errands to her man that carried him to a distant part of the town: but
+she charged them both to return to the lodgings by nine o'clock, at
+which hour she ordered a chaise for returning into the country.
+
+Delvile, who was impatiently watching for their quitting the house, only
+waited till they were out of sight, to present himself at the door. He
+was shewn into a parlour, where she instantly attended him; and being
+told that the clergyman, Mr Singleton, and Mrs Delvile's woman, were
+already in the church, she gave him her hand in silence, and he led her
+to the chair.
+
+The calmness of stifled hope had now taken place in Cecilia of quick
+sensations and alarm. Occupied with a firm belief she should never be
+the wife of Delvile, she only waited, with a desperate sort of patience,
+to see when and by whom she was next to be parted from him.
+
+When they arrived near the church, Delvile stopt the chair. He handed
+Cecilia out of it, and discharging the chairmen, conducted her into the
+church. He was surprised himself at her composure, but earnestly wishing
+it to last, took care not to say to her a word that should make any
+answer from her necessary.
+
+He gave her, as before, to Mr Singleton, secretly praying that not, as
+before, she might be given him in vain: Mrs Delvile's woman attended
+her; the clergyman was ready, and they all proceeded to the altar.
+
+The ceremony was begun; Cecilia, rather mechanically than with
+consciousness, appearing to listen to it but at the words, _If any man
+can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together_,
+Delvile himself shook with terror, lest some concealed person should
+again answer it, and Cecilia, with a sort of steady dismay in her
+countenance, cast her eyes round the church, with no other view than
+that of seeing from what corner the prohibiter would start.
+
+She looked, however, to no purpose; no prohibiter appeared, the ceremony
+was performed without any interruption, and she received the thanks
+of Delvile, and the congratulations of the little set, before the idea
+which had so strongly pre-occupied her imagination, was sufficiently
+removed from it to satisfy her she was really married.
+
+They then went to the vestry, where their business was not long; and
+Delvile again put Cecilia into a chair, which again he accompanied on
+foot.
+
+Her sensibility now soon returned, though still attended with
+strangeness and a sensation of incredulity. But the sight of Delvile at
+her lodgings, contrary to their agreement, wholly recovered her
+senses from the stupor which had dulled them. He came, however, but to
+acknowledge how highly she had obliged him, to see her himself restored
+to the animation natural to her, character, and to give her a million
+of charges, resulting from anxiety and tenderness. And then, fearing the
+return of her servants, he quitted her, and set out for Delvile Castle.
+
+The amazement of Cecilia was still unconquerable; to be actually united
+with Delvile! to be his with the full consent of his mother,--to have
+him her's, beyond the power of his father,--she could not reconcile it
+with possibility; she fancied it a dream,--but a dream from which she
+wished not to wake.
+
+
+
+BOOK X.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER i
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+Cecilia's journey back to the country was as safe and free from
+interruption as her journey had been to town, and all that distinguished
+them was what passed in her own mind: the doubts, apprehensions, and
+desponding suspense which had accompanied her setting out, were now
+all removed, and certainty, ease, the expectation of happiness, and the
+cessation of all perplexity, had taken their place. She had nothing left
+to dread but the inflexibility of Mr Delvile, and hardly any thing even
+to hope but the recovery of his lady.
+
+Her friends at her return expressed their wonder at her expedition,
+but their wonder at what occasioned it, though still greater, met no
+satisfaction. Henrietta rejoiced in her sight, though her absence had
+been so short; and Cecilia, whose affection with her pity increased,
+intimated to her the event for which she wished her to prepare herself,
+and frankly acknowledged she had reason to expect it would soon take
+place.
+
+Henrietta endeavoured with composure to receive this intelligence, and
+to return such a mark of confidence with chearful congratulations: but
+her fortitude was unequal to an effort so heroic, and her character was
+too simple to assume a greatness she felt not: she sighed and changed
+colour; and hastily quitted the room that she might sob aloud in
+another.
+
+Warm-hearted, tender, and susceptible, her affections were all
+undisguised: struck with the elegance of Delvile, and enchanted by his
+services to her brother, she had lost to him her heart at first without
+missing it, and, when missed, without seeking to reclaim it. The
+hopelessness of such a passion she never considered, nor asked herself
+its end, or scarce suspected its aim; it was pleasant to her at the
+time, and she looked not to the future, but fed it with visionary
+schemes, and soothed it with voluntary fancies. Now she knew all was
+over, she felt the folly she had committed, but though sensibly and
+candidly angry at her own error, its conviction offered nothing but
+sorrow to succeed it.
+
+The felicity of Cecilia, whom she loved, admired and revered, she wished
+with the genuine ardour of zealous sincerity; but that Delvile, the very
+cause and sole subject of her own personal unhappiness, should himself
+constitute that felicity, was too much for her spirits, and seemed to
+her mortified mind too cruel in her destiny.
+
+Cecilia, who in the very vehemence of her sorrow saw its innocence,
+was too just and too noble to be offended by it, or impute to the bad
+passions of envy or jealousy, the artless regret of an untutored mind.
+To be penetrated too deeply with the merit of Delvile, with her wanted
+no excuse, and she grieved for her situation with but little mixture
+of blame, and none of surprise. She redoubled her kindness and caresses
+with the hope of consoling her, but ventured to trust her no further,
+till reflection, and her natural good sense, should better enable her to
+bear an explanation.
+
+Nor was this friendly exertion any longer a hardship to her; the sudden
+removal, in her own feelings and affairs, of distress and expectation,
+had now so much lightened her heart, that she could spare without
+repining, some portion of its spirit to her dejected young friend.
+
+But an incident happened two mornings after which called back, and most
+unpleasantly, her attention to herself. She was told that Mrs Matt, the
+poor woman she had settled in Bury, begged an audience, and upon sending
+for her up stairs, and desiring to know what she could do for her,
+"Nothing, madam, just now," she answered, "for I don't come upon my own
+business, but to tell some news to you, madam. You bid me never take
+notice of the wedding, that was to be, and I'm sure I never opened my
+mouth about it from that time to this; but I have found out who it was
+put a stop to it, and so I come to tell you."
+
+Cecilia, extremely amazed, eagerly desired her to go on.
+
+"Why, madam, I don't know the gentlewoman's name quite right yet, but
+I can tell you where she lives, for I knew her as soon as I set eyes on
+her, when I see her at church last Sunday, and I would have followed her
+home, but she went into a coach, and I could not walk fast enough; but I
+asked one of the footmen where she lived, and he said at the great house
+at the Grove: and perhaps, madam, you may know where that is: and then
+he told me her name, but that I can't just now think of."
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Cecilia,--"it could not be Bennet?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, that's the very name; I know it again now I hear it."
+
+Cecilia then hastily dismissed her, first desiring her not to mention
+the circumstance to any body.
+
+Shocked and dismayed, she now saw, but saw with horror, the removal of
+all her doubts, and the explanation of all her difficulties, in the
+full and irrefragable discovery of the perfidy of her oldest friend and
+confident.
+
+Miss Bennet herself she regarded in the affair as a mere tool, which,
+though in effect it did the work, was innocent of its mischief, because
+powerless but in the hand of its employer.
+
+"That employer," cried she, "must be Mr Monckton! Mr Monckton whom so
+long I have known, who so willingly has been my counsellor, so ably my
+instructor! in whose integrity I have confided, upon whose friendship
+I have relied! my succour in all emergencies, my guide in all
+perplexities!--Mr _Monckton_ thus dishonourably, thus barbarously to
+betray me! to turn against me the very confidence I had reposed in his
+regard for me! and make use of my own trust to furnish the means to
+injure me!"--
+
+She was now wholly confirmed that he had wronged her with Mr Delvile;
+she could not have two enemies so malignant without provocation, and he
+who so unfeelingly could dissolve a union at the very altar, could alone
+have the baseness to calumniate her so cruelly.
+
+Evil thoughts thus awakened, stopt not merely upon facts; conjecture
+carried her further, and conjecture built upon probability. The
+officiousness of Morrice in pursuing her to London, his visiting her
+when there, and his following and watching Delvile, she now reasonably
+concluded were actions directed by Mr Monckton, whose house he had but
+just left, and whose orders, whatever they might be, she was almost
+certain he would obey. Availing himself, therefore, of the forwardness
+and suppleness which met in this young man, she doubted not but his
+intelligence had contributed to acquaint him with her proceedings.
+
+The motive of such deep concerted and accumulated treachery was next to
+be sought: nor was the search long; one only could have tempted him to
+schemes so hazardous and costly; and, unsuspicious as she was, she now
+saw into his whole design.
+
+Long accustomed to regard him as a safe and disinterested old friend,
+the respect with which, as a child, she had looked up to him, she
+had insensibly preserved when a woman. That respect had taught her to
+consider his notice as a favour, and far from suspiciously shunning, she
+had innocently courted it: and his readiness in advising and tutoring
+her, his frank and easy friendliness of behaviour, had kept his
+influence unimpaired, by preventing its secret purpose from being
+detected.
+
+But now the whole mystery was revealed; his aversion to the Delviles, to
+which hitherto she had attributed all she disapproved in his behaviour,
+she was convinced must be inadequate to stimulate him to such lengths.
+That aversion itself was by this late surmise accounted for, and no
+sooner did it occur to her, than a thousand circumstances confirmed it.
+
+The first among these was the evident ill will of Lady Margaret, which
+though she had constantly imputed to the general irascibility for which
+her character was notorious, she had often wondered to find impenetrable
+to all endeavours to please or soften her. His care of her fortune, his
+exhortations against her expences, his wish to make her live with Mr
+Briggs, all contributed to point out the selfishness of his attentions,
+which in one instance rendered visible, became obvious in every other.
+
+Yet various as were the incidents that now poured upon her memory to
+his disgrace, not one among them took its rise from his behaviour to
+herself, which always had been scrupulously circumspect, or if for a
+moment unguarded, only at a season when her own distress or confusion
+had prevented her from perceiving it. This recollection almost staggered
+her suspicions; yet so absolute seemed the confirmation they received
+from every other, that her doubt was overpowered, and soon wholly
+extinguished.
+
+She was yet ruminating on this subject, when, word was brought her that
+Mr Monckton was in the parlour.
+
+Mingled disgust and indignation made her shudder at his name, and
+without pausing a moment, she sent him word she was engaged, and could
+not possibly leave her room.
+
+Astonished by such a dismission, he left the house in the utmost
+confusion. But Cecilia could not endure to see him, after a discovery of
+such hypocrisy and villainy.
+
+She considered, however, that the matter could not rest here: he would
+demand an explanation, and perhaps, by his unparalleled address, again
+contrive to seem innocent, notwithstanding appearances were at present
+so much against him. Expecting, therefore, some artifice, and determined
+not to be duped by it, she sent again for the Pew-opener, to examine her
+more strictly.
+
+The woman was out at work in a private family, and could not come till
+the evening: but, when further questioned, the description she gave of
+Miss Bennet was too exact to be disputed.
+
+She then desired her to call again the next morning and sent a servant
+to the Grove, with her compliments to Miss Bennet, and a request that
+she might send her carriage for her the next day, at any time she
+pleased, as she wished much to speak with her.
+
+This message, she was aware, might create some suspicion, and put her
+upon her guard; but she thought, nevertheless, a sudden meeting with the
+Pew-opener, whom she meant abruptly to confront with her, would baffle
+the security of any previously settled scheme.
+
+To a conviction such as this even Mr Monckton must submit, and since he
+was lost to her as a friend, she might at least save herself the pain of
+keeping up his acquaintance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+AN INTERVIEW.
+
+The servant did not return till it was dark; and then, with a look of
+much dismay, said he had been able to meet with nobody who could either
+give or take a message; that the Grove was all in confusion, and the
+whole country in an uproar, for Mr Monckton, just as he arrived, had
+been brought home dead!
+
+Cecilia screamed with involuntary horror; a pang like remorse seized her
+mind, with the apprehension she had some share in this catastrophe,
+and innocent as she was either of his fall or his crimes, she no
+sooner heard he was no more, than she forgot he had offended her, and
+reproached herself with severity for the shame to which she meant to
+expose him the next morning.
+
+Dreadfully disturbed by this horrible incident, she entreated Mrs
+Harrel and Henrietta to sup by themselves, and going into her own room,
+determined to write the whole affair to Delvile, in a letter she should
+direct to be left at the post-office for him at Margate.
+
+And here strongly she felt the happiness of being actually his wife; she
+could now without reserve make him acquainted with all her affairs, and
+tell to the master of her heart every emotion that entered it.
+
+While engaged in this office, the very action of which quieted her,
+a letter was brought her from Delvile himself. She received it with
+gratitude and opened it with joy; he had promised to write soon, but so
+soon she had thought impossible.
+
+The reading took not much time; the letter contained but the following
+words:
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+MY CECILIA!--Be alone, I conjure you; dismiss every body, and admit me
+this moment!
+
+Great was her astonishment at this note! no name to it, no conclusion,
+the characters indistinct, the writing crooked, the words so few, and
+those few scarce legible!
+
+He desired to see her, and to see her alone; she could not hesitate in
+her compliance,--but whom could she dismiss?--her servants, if ordered
+away, would but be curiously upon the watch,--she could think of no
+expedient, she was all hurry and amazement.
+
+She asked if any one waited for an answer? The footman said no; that
+the note was given in by somebody who did not speak, and who ran out of
+sight the moment he had delivered it.
+
+She could not doubt this was Delvile himself,--Delvile who should now
+be just returned from the castle to his mother, and whom she had thought
+not even a letter would reach if directed any where nearer than Margate!
+
+All she could devise in obedience to him, was to go and wait for him
+alone in her dressing-room, giving orders that if any one called they
+might be immediately brought up to her, as she expected somebody upon
+business, with whom she must not be interrupted.
+
+This was extremely disagreeable to her; yet, contrary as it was to their
+agreement, she felt no inclination to reproach Delvile; the abruptness
+of his note, the evident hand-shaking with which it had been written,
+the strangeness of the request in a situation such as theirs,--all
+concurred to assure her he came not to her idly, and all led her to
+apprehend he came to her with evil tidings.
+
+What they might be, she had no time to conjecture; a servant, in a few
+minutes, opened the dressing-room door, and said, "Ma'am, a gentleman;"
+and Delvile, abruptly entering, shut it himself, in his eagerness to get
+rid of him.
+
+At his sight, her prognostication of ill became stronger! she went
+forward to meet him, and he advanced to her smiling and in haste;
+but that smile did not well do its office; it concealed not a pallid
+countenance, in which every feature spoke horror; it disguised not an
+aching heart, which almost visibly throbbed with intolerable emotion!
+Yet he addressed her in terms of tenderness and peace; but his tremulous
+voice counteracted his words, and spoke that all within was tumult and
+war!
+
+Cecilia, amazed, affrighted, had no power to hasten an explanation,
+which, on his own part, he seemed unable, or fearful to begin. He talked
+to her of his happiness in again seeing her before he left the kingdom,
+entreated her to write to him continually, said the same thing two and
+three times in a breath, began with one subject, and seemed unconscious
+he wandered presently into another, and asked her questions innumerable
+about her health, journey, affairs, and ease of mind, without hearing
+from her any answer, or seeming to miss that she had none.
+
+Cecilia grew dreadfully terrified; something strange and most alarming
+she was sure must have happened, but _what_, she had no means to know,
+nor courage, nor even words to enquire.
+
+Delvile, at length, the first hurry of his spirits abating, became more
+coherent and considerate: and looking anxiously at her, said, "Why this
+silence, my Cecilia?"
+
+"I know not!" said she, endeavouring to recover herself, "but your
+coming was unexpected: I was just writing to you at Margate."
+
+"Write still, then; but direct to Ostend; I shall be quicker than the
+post; and I would not lose a letter--a line--a word from you, for all
+the world can offer me!"
+
+"Quicker than the post?" cried Cecilia; "but how can Mrs Delvile--" she
+stopt; not knowing what she might venture to ask.
+
+"She is now on the road to Margate; I hope to be there to receive her. I
+mean but to bid you adieu, and be gone."
+
+Cecilia made no answer; she was more and more astonished, more and more
+confounded.
+
+"You are thoughtful?" said he, with tenderness; "are you
+unhappy?--sweetest Cecilia! most excellent of human creatures! if I have
+made you unhappy--and I must!--it is inevitable!--"
+
+"Oh Delvile!" cried she, now assuming more courage, "why will you not
+speak to me openly?--something, I see, is wrong; may I not hear it? may
+I not tell you, at least, my concern that any thing has distressed you?"
+
+"You are too good!" cried he; "to deserve you is not possible, but to
+afflict you is inhuman!"
+
+"Why so?" cried she, more chearfully; "must I not share the common lot?
+or expect the whole world to be new modelled, lest I should meet in it
+any thing but happiness?"
+
+"There is not, indeed, much danger! Have you pen and ink here?"
+
+She brought them to him immediately, with paper.
+
+"You have been writing to me, you say?--I will begin a letter myself."
+
+"To me?" cried she.
+
+He made no answer, but took up the pen, and wrote a few words, and then,
+flinging it down, said, "Fool!--I could have done this without coming!"
+
+"May I look at it?" said she; and, finding he made no opposition,
+advanced and read.
+
+_I fear to alarm you by rash precipitation,--I fear to alarm you by
+lingering suspense,--but all is not well--_
+
+"Fear nothing!" cried she, turning to him with the kindest earnestness;
+"tell me, whatever it may be!--Am I not your wife? bound by every tie
+divine and human to share in all your sorrows, if, unhappily, I cannot
+mitigate them!"
+
+"Since you allow me," cried he, gratefully, "so sweet a claim, a claim
+to which all others yield, and which if you repent not giving me, will
+make all others nearly immaterial to me,--I will own to you that all,
+indeed, is not well! I have been hasty,--you will blame me; I deserve,
+indeed, to be blamed!--entrusted with your peace and happiness, to
+suffer rage, resentment, violence, to make me forego what I owed to such
+a deposite!--If your blame, however, stops short of repentance--but it
+cannot!"
+
+"What, then," cried she with warmth, "must you have done? for there
+is not an action of which I believe you capable, there is not an event
+which I believe to be possible, that can ever make me repent belonging
+to you wholly!"
+
+"Generous, condescending Cecilia!" cried he; "Words such as these, hung
+there not upon me an evil the most depressing, would be almost more than
+I could bear--would make me too blest for mortality!"
+
+"But words such as these," said she more gaily, "I might long have
+coquetted ere I had spoken, had you not drawn them from me by this
+alarm. Take, therefore, the good with the ill, and remember, if all does
+not go right, you have now a trusty friend, as willing to be the partner
+of your serious as your happiest hours."
+
+"Shew but as much firmness as you have shewn sweetness," cried he, "and
+I will fear to tell you nothing."
+
+She reiterated her assurances; they then both sat down, and he began his
+account.
+
+"Immediately from your lodgings I went where I had ordered a chaise, and
+stopped only to change horses till I reached Delvile Castle. My father
+saw me with surprise, and received me with coldness. I was compelled by
+my situation to be abrupt, and told him I came, before I accompanied
+my mother abroad, to make him acquainted with an affair which I thought
+myself bound in duty and respect to suffer no one to communicate to him
+but myself. He then sternly interrupted me, and declared in high terms,
+that if this affair concerned _you_, he would not listen to it. I
+attempted to remonstrate upon this injustice, when he passionately broke
+forth into new and horrible charges against you, affirming that he had
+them from authority as indisputable as ocular demonstration. I was then
+certain of some foul play."--
+
+"Foul play indeed!" cried Cecilia, who now knew but too well by whom she
+had been injured. "Good heaven, how have I been deceived, where most I
+have trusted!"
+
+"I told him," continued Delvile, "some gross imposition had been
+practiced upon him, and earnestly conjured him no longer to conceal
+from me by whom. This, unfortunately, encreased his rage; imposition,
+he said, was not so easily played upon him, he left that for _me_ who so
+readily was duped; while for himself, he had only given credit to a man
+of much consideration in Suffolk, who had known you from a child, who
+had solemnly assured him he had repeatedly endeavoured to reclaim you,
+who had rescued you from the hands of Jews at his own hazard and loss,
+and who actually shewed him bonds acknowledging immense debts, which
+were signed with your own hand."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Cecilia, "I believed not such guilt and perfidy
+possible!"
+
+"I was scarce myself," resumed Delvile, "while I heard him: I demanded
+even with fierceness his author, whom I scrupled not to execrate as he
+deserved; he coldly answered he was bound by an oath never to reveal
+him, nor should he repay his honourable attention to his family by a
+breach of his own word, were it even less formally engaged. I then
+lost all patience; to mention honour, I cried, was a farce, where
+such infamous calumnies were listened to;--but let me not shock you
+unnecessarily, you may readily conjecture what passed."
+
+"Ah me!" cried Cecilia, "you have then quarrelled with your father!"
+
+"I have!" said he; "nor does he yet know I am married: in so much wrath
+there was no room for narration; I only pledged myself by all I held
+sacred, never to rest till I had cleared your fame, by the detection of
+this villainy, and then left him without further explanation."
+
+"Oh return, then, to him directly!" cried Cecilia, "he is your father,
+you are bound to bear with his displeasure;--alas! had you never known
+me, you had never incurred it!"
+
+"Believe me," he answered, "I am ill at ease under it: if you wish it,
+when you have heard me, I will go to him immediately; if not, I will
+write, and you shall yourself dictate what."
+
+Cecilia thanked him, and begged he would continue his account.
+
+"My first step, when I left the Castle, was to send a letter to my
+mother, in which I entreated her to set out as soon as possible for
+Margate, as I was detained from her unavoidably, and was unwilling my
+delay should either retard our journey, or oblige her to travel faster.
+At Margate I hoped to be as soon as herself, if not before her."
+
+"And why," cried Cecilia, "did you not go to town as you had promised,
+and accompany her?"
+
+"I had business another way. I came hither."
+
+"Directly?"
+
+"No; but soon."
+
+"Where did you go first?"
+
+"My Cecilia, it is now you must summon your fortitude: I left my
+father without an explanation on my part;--but not till, in his rage of
+asserting his authority, he had unwarily named his informant."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"That informant--the most deceitful of men!--was your long pretended
+friend, Mr Monckton!"
+
+"So I feared!" said Cecilia, whose blood now ran cold through her veins
+with sudden and new apprehensions.
+
+"I rode to the Grove, on hack-horses, and on a full gallop the whole
+way. I got to him early in the evening. I was shewn into his library. I
+told him my errand.--You look pale, my love? You are not well?--"
+
+Cecilia, too sick for speech, leant her head upon a table. Delvile was
+going to call for help; but she put her hand upon his arm to stop
+him, and, perceiving she was only mentally affected, he rested, and
+endeavoured by every possible means to revive her.
+
+After a while, she again raised her head, faintly saying, "I am sorry
+I interrupted you; but the conclusion I already know,--Mr Monckton is
+dead!"
+
+"Not dead," cried he; "dangerously, indeed, wounded, but thank heaven,
+not actually dead!"
+
+"Not dead?" cried Cecilia, with recruited strength and spirits, "Oh then
+all yet may be well!--if he is not dead; he may recover!"
+
+"He may; I hope he will!"
+
+"Now, then," she cried, "tell me all: I can bear any intelligence but of
+death by human means."
+
+"I meant not to have gone such lengths; far from it; I hold duels in
+abhorrence, as unjustifiable acts of violence, and savage devices of
+revenge. I have offended against my own conviction,--but, transported
+with passion at his infamous charges, I was not master of my reason; I
+accused hum of his perfidy; he denied it; I told him I had it from my
+father,--he changed the subject to pour abuse upon him; I insisted on a
+recantation to clear you; he asked by what right? I fiercely answered;
+by a husband's! His countenance, then, explained at least the motives
+of his treachery,--he loves you himself! he had probably schemed to keep
+you free till his wife died, and then concluded his machinations would
+secure you his own. For this purpose, finding he was in danger of losing
+you, he was content even to blast your character, rather than suffer you
+to escape him! But the moment I acknowledged my marriage he grew more
+furious than myself; and, in short-for why relate the frenzies of rage?
+we walked out together; my travelling pistols were already charged;
+I gave him his choice of them, and, the challenge being mine, for
+insolence joined with guilt had robbed me of all forbearance, he fired
+first, but missed me: I then demanded whether he would clear your
+fame? he called out 'Fire! I will make no terms,'--I did fire,--and
+unfortunately aimed better! We had neither of us any second, all was the
+result of immediate passion; but I soon got people to him, and assisted
+in conveying him home. He was at, first believed to be dead, and I was
+seized by his servants; but he afterwards shewed signs of life, and by
+sending for my friend Biddulph, I was released. Such is the melancholy
+transaction I came to relate to you, flattering myself it would
+something less shock you from me than from another: yet my own real
+concern for the affair, the repentance with which from the moment the
+wretch fell, I was struck in being his destroyer, and the sorrow, the
+remorse, rather, which I felt, in coming to wound you with such
+black, such fearful intelligence,--you to whom all I owe is peace and
+comfort!--these thoughts gave me so much disturbance, that, in fact, I
+knew less than any other how to prepare you for such a tale."
+
+He stopt; but Cecilia could say nothing: to censure him now would both
+be cruel and vain; yet to pretend she was satisfied with his conduct,
+would be doing violence to her judgment and veracity. She saw, too, that
+his error had sprung wholly from a generous ardor in her defence, and
+that his confidence in her character, had resisted, without wavering,
+every attack that menaced it. For this she felt truly grateful; yet
+his quarrel with his father,--the danger of his mother,--his necessary
+absence,--her own clandestine situation,--and more than all, the
+threatened death of Mr Monckton by his hands, were circumstances so full
+of dread and sadness, she knew not upon which to speak,--how to offer
+him comfort,--how to assume a countenance that looked able to receive
+any, or by what means to repress the emotions which to many ways
+assailed her. Delvile, having vainly waited some reply, then in a
+tone the most melancholy, said, "If it is yet possible you can be
+sufficiently interested in my fate to care what becomes of me, aid me
+now with your counsel, or rather with your instructions; I am scarce
+able to think for myself, and to be thought for by you, would yet be a
+consolation that would give me spirit for any thing."
+
+Cecilia, starting from her reverie, repeated, "To care what becomes of
+you-? Oh Delvile!--make not my heart bleed by words of such unkindness!"
+
+"Forgive me," cried he, "I meant not a reproach; I meant but to state
+my own consciousness how little I deserve from you. You talked to me of
+going to my father? do you still wish it?"
+
+"I think so!" cried she; too much disturbed to know what she said, yet
+fearing again to hurt him by making him wait her answer.
+
+"I will go then," said he, "without doubt: too happy to be guided by
+you, which-ever way I steer. I have now, indeed much to tell him; but
+whatever may be his wrath, there is little fear, at this time, that my
+own temper cannot bear it! what next shall I do?"
+
+"What next?" repeated she; "indeed I know not!"
+
+"Shall I go immediately to Margate? or shall I first ride hither?"
+
+"If you please," said she, much perturbed, and deeply sighing.
+
+"I please nothing but by your direction, to follow that is my only
+chance of pleasure. Which, then, shall I do?-you will not, now, refuse
+to direct me?"
+
+"No, certainly, not for the world!"
+
+"Speak to me, then, my love, and tell me;--why are you thus silent?--is
+it painful to you to counsel me?"
+
+"No, indeed!" said she, putting her hand to her head, "I will speak to
+you in a few minutes."
+
+"Oh my Cecilia!" cried he, looking at her with much alarm, "call back
+your recollection! you know not what you say, you take no interest in
+what you answer."
+
+"Indeed I do!" said she, sighing deeply, and oppressed beyond the
+power of thinking, beyond any power but an internal consciousness of
+wretchedness.
+
+"Sigh not so bitterly," cried he, "if you have any compassion! sigh not
+so bitterly,--I cannot bear to hear you!"
+
+"I am very sorry indeed!" said she, sighing again, and not seeming
+sensible she spoke.
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried he, rising, "distract me not with this
+horror!--speak not to me in such broken sentences!--Do you hear me,
+Cecilia?--why will you not answer me?"
+
+She started and trembled, looked pale and affrighted, and putting both
+her hands upon her heart, said, "Oh yes!--but I have an oppression
+here,--a tightness, a fulness,--I have not room for breath!"
+
+"Oh beloved of my heart!" cried he, wildly casting himself at her feet,
+"kill me not with this terror!--call back your faculties,--awake from
+this dreadful insensibility! tell me at least you know me!--tell me I
+have not tortured you quite to madness!--sole darling of my affections!
+my own, my wedded Cecilia!--rescue me from this agony! it is more than I
+can support!"---
+
+This energy of distress brought back her scattered senses, scarce more
+stunned by the shock of all this misery, than by the restraint of her
+feelings in struggling to conceal it. But these passionate exclamations
+restoring her sensibility, she burst into tears, which happily relieved
+her mind from the conflict with which it was labouring, and which, not
+thus effected, might have ended more fatally.
+
+Never had Delvile more rejoiced in her smiles than now in these
+seasonable tears, which he regarded and blest as the preservers of her
+reason. They flowed long without any intermission, his soothing and
+tenderness but melting her to more sorrow: after a while, however, the
+return of her faculties, which at first seemed all consigned over to
+grief, was manifested by the returning strength of her mind: she blamed
+herself severely for the little fortitude she had shewn, but having now
+given vent to emotions too forcible to be wholly stiffed, she assured
+him he might depend upon her' better courage for the future, and
+entreated him to consider and settle his affairs.
+
+Not speedily, however, could Delvile himself recover. The torture he had
+suffered in believing, though only for a few moments, that the terror
+he had given to Cecilia had affected her intellects, made even a deeper
+impression upon his imagination, than the scene of fury and death, which
+had occasioned that terror: and Cecilia, who now strained every nerve
+to repair by her firmness, the pain which by her weakness she had given
+him, was sooner in a condition for reasoning and deliberation than
+himself.
+
+"Ah Delvile!" she cried, comprehending what passed within him, "do
+you allow nothing for surprize? and nothing for the hard conflict of
+endeavouring to suppress it? do you think me still as unfit to advise
+with, and as worthless, as feeble a counsellor, as during the first
+confusion of my mind?"
+
+"Hurry not your tender spirits, I beseech you," cried he, "we have time
+enough; we will talk about business by and by."
+
+"What time?" cried she, "what is it now o'clock?"
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried he, looking at his watch, "already past ten! you
+must turn me out, my Cecilia, or calumny will still be busy, even though
+poor Monckton is quiet."
+
+"I _will_ turn you out," cried she, "I am indeed most earnest to have
+you gone. But tell me your plan, and which way you mean to go?"
+
+"That;" he answered, "you shall decide for me yourself: whether to
+Delvile Castle, to finish one tale, and wholly communicate another, or
+to Margate, to hasten my mother abroad, before the news of this calamity
+reaches her."
+
+"Go to Margate," cried she, eagerly, "set off this very moment! you can
+write to your father from Ostend. But continue, I conjure you, on the
+continent, till we see if this unhappy man lives, and enquire, of those
+who can judge, what must follow if he should not!"
+
+"A trial," said he, "must follow, and it will go, I fear, but hardly
+with me! the challenge was mine; his servants can all witness I went
+to him, not he to me,--Oh my Cecilia! the rashness of which I have been
+guilty, is so opposite to my principles, and, all generous as is your
+silence, I know it so opposite to yours, that never, should his blood be
+on my hands, wretch as he was, never will my heart be quiet more."
+
+"He will live, he will live!" cried Cecilia, repressing her horror,
+"fear nothing, for he will live;--and as to his wound and his
+sufferings, his perfidy has deserved them. Go, then, to Margate; think
+only of Mrs Delvile, and save her, if possible, from hearing what has
+happened."
+
+"I will go,--stay,--do which and whatever you bid me: but, should what I
+fear come to pass, should my mother continue ill, my father inflexible,
+should this wretched man die, and should England no longer be a country
+I shall love to dwell in,--could you, then, bear to own,--would you,
+then, consent to follow me?"
+
+"Could I?--am I not yours? may you not command me? tell me, then, you
+have only to say,--shall I accompany you at once?"
+
+Delvile, affected by her generosity, could scarce utter his thanks; yet
+he did not hesitate in denying to avail himself of it; "No, my Cecilia,"
+he cried, "I am not so selfish. If we have not happier days, we will at
+least wait for more desperate necessity. With the uncertainty if I have
+not this man's life to answer for at the hazard of my own, to take my
+wife--my bride,--from the kingdom I must fly!--to make her a fugitive
+and an exile in the first publishing that she is mine! No, if I am not a
+destined alien for life I can never permit it. Nothing less, believe
+me, shall ever urge my consent to wound the chaste propriety of your
+character, by making you an eloper with a duelist."
+
+They then again consulted upon their future plans; and concluded that in
+the present disordered state of their affairs, it would be best not to
+acknowledge even to Mr Delvile their marriage, to whom the news of the
+duel, and Mr Monckton's danger, would be a blow so severe, that, to add
+to it any other might half distract him.
+
+To the few people already acquainted with it, Delvile therefore
+determined to write from Ostend, re-urging his entreaties for their
+discretion and secrecy. Cecilia promised every post to acquaint him how
+Mr Monckton went on, and she then besought him to go instantly, that he
+might out-travel the ill news to his mother.
+
+He complied, and took leave of her in the tenderest manner, conjuring
+her to support her spirits, and be careful of her health. "Happiness,"
+said he, "is much in arrears with us, and though my violence may have
+frightened it away, your sweetness and gentleness will yet attract it
+back: all that for me is in store must be received at your hands,--what
+is offered in any other way, I shall only mistake for evil! droop not,
+therefore, my generous Cecilia, but in yourself preserve me!"
+
+"I will not droop," said she; "you will find, I hope, you have not
+intrusted yourself in ill hands."
+
+"Peace then be with you, my love!--my comforting, my soul-reviving
+Cecilia! Peace, such as angels give, and such as may drive from your
+mind the remembrance of this bitter hour!"
+
+He then tore himself away.
+
+Cecilia, who to his blessings could almost, like the tender Belvidera,
+have exclaimed,
+
+           "O do not leave me!--stay with me and curse me!"
+
+listened to his steps till she could hear them no longer, as if the
+remaining moments of her life were to be measured by them: but then,
+remembering the danger both to herself and him of his stay, she
+endeavoured to rejoice that he was gone, and, but that her mind was in
+no state for joy, was too rational not to have succeeded.
+
+Grief and horror for what was past, apprehension and suspense for
+what was to come, so disordered her whole frame, so confused even her
+intellects, that when not all the assistance of fancy could persuade
+her she still heard the footsteps of Delvile, she went to the chair upon
+which he had been seated, and taking possession of it, sat with her arms
+crossed, silent, quiet, and erect, almost vacant of all thought, yet
+with a secret idea she was doing something right.
+
+Here she continued till Henrietta came to wish her good night; whose
+surprise and concern at the strangeness of her look and attitude, once
+more recovered her. But terrified herself at this threatened wandering
+of her reason, and certain she must all night be a stranger to rest, she
+accepted the affectionate offer of the kind-hearted girl to stay with
+her, who was too much grieved for her grief to sleep any more than
+herself.
+
+She told her not what had passed; that, she knew, would be fruitless
+affliction to her: but she was soothed by her gentleness, and her
+conversation was some security from the dangerous rambling of her ideas.
+
+Henrietta herself found no little consolation in her own private
+sorrows, that she was able to give comfort to her beloved Miss Beverley,
+from whom she had received favours and kind offices innumerable. She
+quitted her not night nor day, and in the honest pride of a little
+power to skew the gratefulness of her heart, she felt a pleasure and
+self-consequence she had never before experienced.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A SUMMONS.
+
+Cecilia's earliest care, almost at break of day, was to send to the
+Grove; from thence she heard nothing but evil; Mr Monckton was still
+alive, but with little or no hope of recovery, constantly delirious, and
+talking of Miss Beverley, and of her being married to young Delvile.
+
+Cecilia, who knew well this, at least, was no delirium, though shocked
+that he talked of it, hoped his danger less than was apprehended.
+
+The next day, however, more fatal news was brought her, though not from
+the quarter she expected it: Mr Monckton, in one of his raving fits, had
+sent for Lady Margaret to his bed side, and used her almost inhumanly:
+he had railed at her age and her infirmities with incredible fury,
+called her the cause of all his sufferings, and accused her as the
+immediate agent of Lucifer in his present wound and danger. Lady
+Margaret, whom neither jealousy nor malignity had cured of loving him,
+was dismayed and affrighted; and in hurrying out of the room upon his
+attempting, in his frenzy, to strike her, she dropt down dead in an
+apoplectic fit.
+
+"Good Heaven!" thought Cecilia, "what an exemplary punishment has this
+man! he loses his hated wife at the very moment when her death could
+no longer answer his purposes! Poor Lady Margaret! her life has been as
+bitter as her temper! married from a view of interest, ill used as a bar
+to happiness, and destroyed from the fruitless ravings of despair!"
+
+She wrote all this intelligence to Ostend, whence she received a letter
+from Delvile, acquainting her he was detained from proceeding further
+by the weakness and illness of his mother, whose sufferings from
+seasickness had almost put an end to her existence.
+
+Thus passed a miserable week; Monckton still merely alive, Delvile
+detained at Ostend, and Cecilia tortured alike by what was recently
+passed, actually present, and fearfully expected; when one morning she
+was told a gentleman upon business desired immediately to speak with
+her.
+
+She hastily obeyed the summons; the constant image of her own mind,
+Delvile, being already present to her, and a thousand wild conjectures
+upon what had brought him back, rapidly occurring to her.
+
+Her expectations, however, were ill answered, for she found an entire
+stranger; an elderly man, of no pleasant aspect or manners.
+
+She desired to know his business.
+
+"I presume, madam, you are the lady of this house?"
+
+She bowed an assent.
+
+"May I take the liberty, madam, to ask your name?'
+
+"My name, sir?"
+
+"You will do me a favour, madam, by telling it me."
+
+"Is it possible you are come hither without already knowing it?"
+
+"I know it only by common report, madam."
+
+"Common report, sir, I believe is seldom wrong in a matter where to be
+right is so easy."
+
+"Have you any objection, madam, to telling me your name?"
+
+"No, sir; but your business can hardly be very important, if you are yet
+to learn whom you are to address. It will be time enough, therefore, for
+us to meet when you are elsewhere satisfied in this point."
+
+She would then have left the room.
+
+"I beg, madam," cried the stranger, "you will have patience; it is
+necessary, before I can open my business, that I should hear your name
+from yourself."
+
+"Well, sir," cried she with some hesitation, "you can scarce have come
+to this house, without knowing that its owner is Cecilia Beverley."
+
+"That, madam, is your maiden name."
+
+"My maiden name?" cried she, starting.
+
+"Are you not married, madam?"
+
+"Married, sir?" she repeated, while her cheeks were the colour of
+scarlet.
+
+"It is, properly, therefore, madam, the name of your husband that I mean
+to ask."
+
+"And by what authority, sir," cried she, equally astonished and
+offended, "do you make these extraordinary enquiries?"
+
+"I am deputed, madam, to wait upon you by Mr Eggleston, the next heir
+to this estate, by your uncle's will, if you die without children, or
+change your name when you marry. His authority of enquiry, madam,
+I presume you will allow, and he has vested it in me by a letter of
+attorney."
+
+Cecilia's distress and confusion were now unspeakable; she knew not what
+to own or deny, she could not conjecture how she had been betrayed, and
+she had never made the smallest preparation against such an attack.
+
+"Mr Eggleston, madam," he continued, "has been pretty credibly informed
+that you are actually married: he is very desirous, therefore, to
+know what are your intentions, for your continuing to be called _Miss_
+Beverley, as if still single, leaves him quite in the dark: but, as he
+is so deeply concerned in the affair, he expects, as a lady of honour,
+you will deal with him without prevarication."
+
+"This demand, sir," said Cecilia, stammering, "is so extremely--so--so
+little expected--"
+
+"The way, madam, in these cases, is to keep pretty closely to the point;
+are you married or are you not?"
+
+Cecilia, quite confounded, made no answer: to disavow her marriage, when
+thus formally called upon, was every way unjustifiable; to acknowledge
+it in her present situation, would involve her in difficulties
+innumerable.
+
+"This is not, madam, a slight thing; Mr Eggleston has a large family and
+a small fortune, and that, into the bargain, very much encumbered;
+it cannot, therefore, be expected that he will knowingly connive at
+cheating himself, by submitting to your being actually married, and
+still enjoying your estate though your husband does not take your name."
+
+Cecilia, now, summoning more presence of mind, answered, "Mr Eggleston,
+sir, has, at least, nothing to fear from imposition: those with whom he
+has, or may have any transactions in this affair, are not accustomed to
+practice it."
+
+"I am far from meaning any offence, madam; my commission from Mr
+Eggleston is simply this, to beg you will satisfy him upon what grounds
+you now evade the will of your late uncle, which, till cleared up,
+appears a point manifestly to his prejudice."
+
+"Tell him, then, sir, that whatever he wishes to know shall be explained
+to him in about a week. At present I can give no other answer."
+
+"Very well, madam; he will wait that time, I am sure, for he does not
+wish to put you to any inconvenience. But when he heard the gentleman
+was gone abroad without owning his marriage, he thought it high time to
+take some notice of the matter."
+
+Cecilia, who by this speech found she was every way discovered, was
+again in the utmost confusion, and with much trepidation, said, "since
+you seem so well, sir, acquainted with this affair, I should be glad you
+would inform me by what means you came to the knowledge of it?"
+
+"I heard it, madam, from Mr Eggleston himself, who has long known it."
+
+"Long, sir?--impossible! when it is not yet a fortnight--not ten days,
+or no more, that---"
+
+She stopt, recollecting she was making a confession better deferred.
+
+"That, madam," he answered, "may perhaps bear a little contention: for
+when this business comes to be settled, it will be very essential to
+be exact as to the time, even to the very hour; for a large income per
+annum, divides into a small one per diem: and if your husband keeps his
+own name, you must not only give up your uncle's inheritance from
+the time of relinquishing yours, but refund from the very day of your
+marriage."
+
+"There is not the least doubt of it," answered she; "nor will the
+smallest difficulty be made."
+
+"You will please, then, to recollect, madam, that this sum is every hour
+encreasing; and has been since last September, which made half a year
+accountable for last March. Since then there is now added---"
+
+"Good Heaven, Sir," cried Cecilia, "what calculation are you making out?
+do you call last week last September?"
+
+"No, madam; but I call last September the month in which you were
+married."
+
+"You will find yourself, then, sir, extremely mistaken; and Mr Eggleston
+is preparing himself for much disappointment, if he supposes me so long
+in arrears with him."
+
+"Mr Eggleston, madam, happens to be well informed of this transaction,
+as, if there is any dispute in it, you will find. He was your immediate
+successor in the house to which you went last September in Pall-Mall;
+the woman who kept it acquainted his servants that the last lady who
+hired it stayed with her but a day, and only came to town, she found, to
+be married: and hearing, upon enquiry, this lady was Miss Beverley, the
+servants, well knowing that their master was her conditional heir, told
+him the circumstance."
+
+"You will find all this, sir, end in nothing."
+
+"That, madam, as I said before, remains to be proved. If a young lady at
+eight o'clock in the morning, is seen,--and she was seen, going into a
+church with a young gentleman, and one female friend; and is afterwards
+observed to come out of it, followed by a clergyman and another person,
+supposed to have officiated as father, and is seen get into a coach with
+same young gentleman, and same female friend, why the circumstances are
+pretty strong!--"
+
+"They may seem so, Sir; but all conclusions drawn from them will be
+erroneous. I was not married then, upon my honour!"
+
+"We have little, madam, to do with professions; the circumstances are
+strong enough to bear a trial, and--"
+
+"A trial!--"
+
+"We have traced, madam, many witnesses able to stand to divers
+particulars; and eight months share of such an estate as this, is well
+worth a little trouble."
+
+"I am amazed, sir! surely Mr Eggleston never desired you to make use of
+this language to me?"
+
+"Mr Eggleston, madam, has behaved very honourably; though he knew
+the whole affair so long ago, he was persuaded Mr Delvile had private
+reasons for a short concealment; and expecting every day when they would
+be cleared up by his taking your name, he never interfered: but being
+now informed he set out last week for the continent, he has been advised
+by his friends to claim his rights."
+
+"That claim, sir, he need not fear will be satisfied; and without any
+occasion for threats of enquiries or law suits."
+
+"The truth, madam, is this; Mr Eggleston is at present in a little
+difficulty about some money matters, which makes it a point with him of
+some consequence to have the affair settled speedily: unless you could
+conveniently compromise the matter, by advancing a particular sum,
+till it suits you to refund the whole that is due to him, and quit the
+premises."
+
+"Nothing, sir, is due to him! at least, nothing worth mentioning. I
+shall enter into no terms, for I have no compromise to make. As to the
+premises, I will quit them with all the expedition in my power."
+
+"You will do well, madam; for the truth is, it will not be convenient to
+him to wait much longer."
+
+He then went away.
+
+"When, next," cried Cecilia, "shall I again be weak, vain, blind enough
+to form any plan with a hope of secresy? or enter, with _any_ hope, into
+a clandestine scheme! betrayed by those I have trusted, discovered
+by those I have not thought of, exposed to the cruellest alarms, and
+defenceless from the most shocking attacks!--Such has been the life I
+have led since the moment I first consented to a private engagement!--Ah
+Delvile! your mother, in her tenderness, forgot her dignity, or she
+would not have concurred in an action which to such disgrace made me
+liable!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A DELIBERATION.
+
+It was necessary, however, not to moralize, but to act; Cecilia had
+undertaken to give her answer in a week, and the artful attorney had
+drawn from her an acknowledgment of her situation, by which he might
+claim it yet sooner.
+
+The law-suit with which she was threatened for the arrears of eight
+months, alarmed her not, though it shocked her, as she was certain she
+could prove her marriage so much later.
+
+It was easy to perceive that this man had been sent with a view of
+working from her a confession, and terrifying from her some money;
+the confession, indeed, in conscience and honesty she could not wholly
+elude, but she had suffered too often by a facility in parting with
+money to be there easily duped.
+
+Nothing, however, was more true, than that she now lived upon an estate
+of which she no longer was the owner, and that all she either spent or
+received was to be accounted for and returned, since by the will of her
+uncle, unless her husband took her name, her estate on the very day of
+her marriage was to be forfeited, and entered upon by the Egglestons.
+Delvile's plan and hope of secresy had made them little weigh this
+matter, though this premature discovery so unexpectedly exposed her to
+their power.
+
+The first thought that occurred to her, was to send an express to
+Delvile, and desire his instructions how to proceed; but she dreaded his
+impetuosity of temper, and was almost certain that the instant he should
+hear she was in any uneasiness or perplexity, he would return to her, at
+all hazards, even though Mr Monckton were dead, and his mother herself
+dying. This step, therefore, she did not dare risk, preferring any
+personal hardship, to endangering the already precarious life of Mrs
+Delvile, or to hastening her son home while Mr Monckton was in so
+desperate a situation.
+
+But though what to avoid was easy to settle, what to seek was difficult
+to devise. She bad now no Mrs Charlton to receive her, not a creature in
+whom she could confide. To continue her present way of living was deeply
+involving Delvile in debt, a circumstance she had never considered, in
+the confusion and hurry attending all their plans and conversations, and
+a circumstance which, though to him it might have occurred, he could not
+in common delicacy mention.
+
+Yet to have quitted her house, and retrenched her expences, would have
+raised suspicions that must have anticipated the discovery she so much
+wished to have delayed. That wish, by the present danger of its failure,
+was but more ardent; to have her affairs and situation become
+publicly known at the present period, she felt would half distract
+her.--Privately married, parted from her husband at the very moment of
+their union, a husband by whose hand the apparent friend of her earliest
+youth was all but killed, whose father had execrated the match, whose
+mother was now falling a sacrifice to the vehemence with which she had
+opposed it, and who himself, little short of an exile, knew not yet
+if, with personal safety, he might return to his native land! To
+circumstances so dreadful, she had now the additional shock of being
+uncertain whether her own house might not be seized, before any other
+could be prepared for her reception!
+
+Yet still whither to go, what to do, or what to resolve, she was wholly
+unable to determine; and after meditating almost to madness in the
+search of some plan or expedient, she was obliged to give over the
+attempt, and be satisfied with remaining quietly where she was, till she
+had better news from Delvile of his mother, or better news to send him
+of Mr Monckton; carefully, mean time, in all her letters avoiding to
+alarm him by any hint of her distress.
+
+Yet was she not idle, either from despair or helplessness: she found her
+difficulties encreased, and she called forth more resolution to combat
+them: she animated herself by the promise she had made Delvile, and
+recovering from the sadness to which she had at first given way, she now
+exerted herself with vigour to perform it as she ought.
+
+She began by making an immediate inspection into her affairs, and
+endeavouring, where expence seemed unnecessary, to lessen it. She gave
+Henrietta to understand she feared they must soon part; and so afflicted
+was the unhappy girl at the news, that she found it the most cruel
+office she had to execute. The same intimation she gave to Mrs Harrel,
+who repined at it more openly, but with a selfishness so evident that it
+blunted the edge of pity. She then announced to Albany her inability to
+pursue, at present, their extensive schemes of benevolence; and though
+he instantly left her, to carry on his laborious plan elsewhere, the
+reverence she had now excited in him of her character, made him leave
+her with no sensation but of regret, and readily promise to return when
+her affairs were settled, or her mind more composed.
+
+These little preparations, which were all she could make, with enquiries
+after Mr Monckton, and writing to Delvile, sufficiently filled up her
+time, though her thoughts were by no means confined to them. Day after
+day passed, and Mr Monckton continued to linger rather than live; the
+letters of Delvile, still only dated from Ostend, contained the most
+melancholy complaints of the illness of his mother; and the time
+advanced when her answer would be claimed by the attorney.
+
+The thought of such another visit was almost intolerable; and within two
+days of the time that she expected it, she resolved to endeavour herself
+to prevail with Mr Eggleston to wait longer.
+
+Mr Eggleston was a gentleman whom she knew little more than by sight; he
+was no relation to her family, nor had any connection with the Dean,
+but by being a cousin to a lady he had married, and who had left him
+no children. The dean had no particular regard for him, and had rather
+mentioned him in his will as the successor of Cecilia, in case she died
+unmarried or changed her name, as a mark that he approved of her doing
+neither, than as a matter he thought probable, if even possible, to turn
+out in his favour.
+
+He was a man of a large family, the sons of which, who were extravagant
+and dissipated, had much impaired his fortune by prevailing with him to
+pay their debts, and much distressed him in his affairs by successfully
+teasing him for money.
+
+Cecilia, acquainted with these circumstances, knew but too well with
+what avidity her estate would be seized by them, and how little the sons
+would endure delay, even if the father consented to it. Yet since the
+sacrifice to which she had agreed must soon make it indisputably
+their own, she determined to deal with them openly; and acknowledged,
+therefore, in her letter, her marriage without disguise, but begged
+their patience and secresy, and promised, in a short time, the most
+honourable retribution and satisfaction.
+
+She sent this letter by a man and horse, Mr Eggleston's habitation being
+within fifteen miles of her own.
+
+The answer was from his eldest son, who acquainted her that his father
+was very ill, and had put all his affairs into the hands of Mr Carn, his
+attorney, who was a man of great credit, and would see justice done on
+all sides.
+
+If this answer, which she broke open the instant she took it into
+her hand, was in itself a cruel disappointment to her, how was that
+disappointment embittered by shame and terror, when, upon again folding
+it up, she saw it was directed to Mrs Mortimer Delvile!
+
+This was a decisive stroke; what they wrote to her, she was sure they
+would mention to all others; she saw they were too impatient for her
+estate to be moved by any representations to a delay, and that their
+eagerness to publish their right, took from them all consideration of
+what they might make her suffer. Mr Eggleston, she found, permitted
+himself to be wholly governed by his son; his son was a needy and
+profligate spendthrift, and by throwing the management of the affair
+into the hands of an attorney, craftily meant to shield himself from the
+future resentment of Delvile, to whom, hereafter, he might affect, at
+his convenience, to disapprove Mr Carn's behaviour, while Mr Carn was
+always secure, by averring he only exerted himself for the interest of
+his client.
+
+The discerning Cecilia, though but little experienced in business, and
+wholly unsuspicious by nature, yet saw into this management, and doubted
+not these excuses were already arranged. She had only, therefore, to
+save herself an actual ejectment, by quitting a house in which she was
+exposed to such a disgrace.
+
+But still whither to go she knew not! One only attempt seemed in her
+power for an honourable asylum, and that was more irksomely painful to
+her than seeking shelter in the meanest retreat: it was applying to Mr
+Delvile senior.
+
+The action of leaving her house, whether quietly or forcibly, could not
+but instantly authenticate the reports spread by the Egglestons of her
+marriage: to hope therefore for secresy any longer would be folly, and
+Mr Delvile's rage at such intelligence might be still greater to hear
+it by chance than from herself. She now lamented that Delvile had not
+at once told the tale, but, little foreseeing such a discovery as the
+present, they had mutually concluded to defer the communication till his
+return.
+
+Her own anger at the contemptuous ill treatment she had repeatedly met
+from him, she was now content not merely to suppress but to dismiss,
+since, as the wife of his son without his consent, she considered
+herself no longer as wholly innocent of incurring it. Yet, such was her
+dread of his austerity and the arrogance of his reproaches, that, by
+choice, she would have preferred an habitation with her own pensioner,
+the pew-opener, to the grandest apartment in Delvile Castle while he
+continued its lord.
+
+In her present situation, however, her choice was little to be
+consulted: the honour of Delvile was concerned in her escaping even
+temporary disgrace, and nothing, she knew, would so much gratify him, as
+any attention from her to his father. She wrote to him, therefore, the
+following letter, which she sent by an express.
+
+_To the Hon. Compton Delvile.
+
+April 29th_, 1780.
+
+SIR,--I should not, even by letter, presume thus to force myself upon
+your remembrance, did I not think it a duty I now owe your son, both to
+risk and to bear the displeasure it may unhappily occasion. After
+such an acknowledgment, all other confession would be superfluous; and
+uncertain as I am if you will ever deign to own me, more words than are
+necessary would be merely impertinent.
+
+It was the intention of your son, Sir, when he left the kingdom, to
+submit wholly to your arbitration, at his return, which should be
+resigned, his own name or my fortune: but his request for your decision,
+and his supplication for your forgiveness, are both, most unfortunately,
+prevented, by a premature and unforeseen discovery of our situation,
+which renders an immediate determination absolutely unavoidable.
+
+At this distance from him, I cannot, in time, receive his directions
+upon the measures I have to take; pardon me then, Sir, if well knowing
+my reference to him will not be more implicit than his own to you, I
+venture, in the present important crisis of my affairs, to entreat those
+commands instantly, by which I am certain of being guided ultimately.
+
+I would commend myself to your favour but that I dread exciting your
+resentment. I will detain you, therefore, only to add, that the father
+of Mr Mortimer Delvile, will ever meet the most profound respect from
+her who, without his permission, dare sign no name to the honour she now
+has in declaring herself his most humble, and most obedient servant.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Her mind was somewhat easier when this letter was written, because she
+thought it a duty, yet felt reluctance in performing it. She wished to
+have represented to him strongly the danger of Delvile's hearing her
+distress, but she knew so well his inordinate self-sufficiency, she
+feared a hint of that sort might be construed into an insult, and
+concluded her only chance that he would do any thing, was by leaving
+wholly to his own suggestions the weighing and settling what.
+
+But though nothing was more uncertain than whether she should be
+received at Delvile Castle, nothing was more fixed than that she must
+quit her own house, since the pride of Mr Delvile left not even a chance
+that his interest would conquer it. She deferred not, therefore, any
+longer making preparations for her removal, though wholly unsettled
+whither.
+
+Her first, which was also her most painful task, was to acquaint
+Henrietta with her situation: she sent, therefore, to desire to speak
+with her, but the countenance of Henrietta shewed her communication
+would not surprise her.
+
+"What is the matter with my dear Henrietta?" cried Cecilia; "who is
+it has already afflicted that kind heart which I am now compelled to
+afflict for myself?"
+
+Henrietta, in whom anger appeared to be struggling with sorrow,
+answered, "No, madam, not afflicted for _you_! it would be strange if I
+were, thinking as I think!"
+
+"I am glad," said Cecilia, calmly, "if you are not, for I would give to
+you, were it possible, nothing but pleasure and joy."
+
+"Ah madam!" cried Henrietta, bursting into tears, "why will you say so
+when you don't care what becomes of me! when you are going to cast me
+off!--and when you will soon be too happy ever to think of me more!"
+
+"If I am never happy till then," said Cecilia, "sad, indeed, will be
+my life! no, my gentlest friend, you will always have your share in
+my heart; and always, to me, would have been the welcomest guest in my
+house, but for those unhappy circumstances which make our separating
+inevitable."
+
+"Yet you suffered me, madam, to hear from any body that you was married
+and going away; and all the common servants in the house knew it before
+me."
+
+"I am amazed!" said Cecilia; "how and which way can they have heard it?"
+
+"The man that went to Mr Eggleston brought the first news of it, for
+he said all the servants there talked of nothing else, and that their
+master was to come and take possession here next Thursday."
+
+Cecilia started at this most unwelcome intelligence; "Yet you envy
+me," she cried, "Henrietta, though I am forced from my house! though in
+quitting it, I am unprovided with any other, and though him for whom
+I relinquish it, is far off, without means of protecting, or power of
+returning to me!"
+
+"But you are married to him, madam!" cried she, expressively.
+
+"True, my love; but, also, I am parted from him!"
+
+"Oh how differently," exclaimed Henrietta, "do the great think from
+the little! were _I_ married,--and _so_ married, I should want neither
+house, nor fine cloaths, nor riches, nor any thing;--I should not care
+where I lived,--every place would be paradise! I would walk to him
+barefoot if he were a thousand miles off, and I should mind nobody else
+in the world while I had him to take care of me!"
+
+Ah Delvile! thought Cecilia, what powers of fascination are yours!
+should I be tempted to repine at what I have to bear, I will think of
+this heroick girl and blush!
+
+Mrs Harrel now broke in upon them, eager to be informed of the truth or
+falsehood of the reports which were buzzed throughout the house.
+Cecilia briefly related to them both the state of her affairs, earnestly
+expressing her concern at the abrupt separation which must take place,
+and for which she had been unable to prepare them, as the circumstances
+which led to it had been wholly unforeseen by herself.
+
+Mrs Harrel listened to the account with much curiosity and surprize; but
+Henrietta wept incessantly in hearing it: the object of a passion ardent
+as it was romantic, lost to her past recovery; torn herself, probably
+for ever, from the best friend she had in the world; and obliged to
+return thus suddenly to an home she detested,--Henrietta possessed not
+the fortitude to hear evils such as these, which, to her inexperienced
+heart, appeared the severest that could be inflicted.
+
+This conversation over, Cecilia sent for her Steward, and desired him,
+with the utmost expedition, to call in all her bills, and instantly to
+go round to her tenants within twenty miles, and gather in, from those
+who were able to pay, the arrears now due to her; charging him, however,
+upon no account, to be urgent with such as seemed distressed.
+
+The bills she had to pay were collected without difficulty; she never
+owed much, and creditors are seldom hard of access; but the money she
+hoped to receive fell very short of her expectations, for the indulgence
+she had shewn to her tenants had ill prepared them for so sudden a
+demand.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A DECISION.
+
+This business effectually occupied the present and following day; the
+third, Cecilia expected her answer from Delvile Castle, and the visit
+she so much dreaded from the attorney.
+
+The answer arrived first.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+MADAM,--As my son has never apprized me of the extraordinary step which
+your letter intimates, I am too unwilling to believe him capable of so
+far forgetting what he owes his family, to ratify any such intimation by
+interfering with my counsel or opinion.--I am, Madam, &c.,
+
+COMPTON DELVILE.
+
+DELVILE CASTLE, _May 1st, 1780_.
+
+Cecilia had little right to be surprised by this letter, and she had not
+a moment to comment upon it, before the attorney arrived.
+
+"Well, madam," said the man, as he entered the parlour, "Mr Eggleston
+has stayed your own time very patiently: he commissions me now to
+enquire if it is convenient to you to quit the premises."
+
+"No, Sir, it is by no means convenient to me; and if Mr Eggleston will
+wait some time longer, I shall be greatly obliged to him."
+
+"No doubt, madam, but he will, upon proper considerations."
+
+"What, Sir, do you call proper?"
+
+"Upon your advancing to him, as I hinted before, an immediate particular
+sum from what must, by and bye, be legally restituted."
+
+"If this is the condition of his courtesy, I will quit the house without
+giving him further trouble."
+
+"Just as it suits you, madam. He will be glad to take possession
+to-morrow or next day."
+
+"You did well, Sir, to commend his patience! I shall, however, merely
+discharge my servants, and settle my accounts, and be ready to make way
+for him."
+
+"You will not take it amiss, madam, if I remind you that the account
+with Mr Eggleston must be the first that is settled."
+
+"If you mean the arrears of this last fortnight or three weeks,
+I believe I must desire him to wait Mr Delvile's return, as I may
+otherwise myself be distressed for ready money."
+
+"That, madam, is not likely, as it is well known you have a fortune that
+was independent of your late uncle; and as to distress for ready money,
+it is a plea Mr Eggleston can urge much more strongly."
+
+"This is being strangely hasty, Sir!--so short a time as it is since Mr
+Eggleston could expect _any_ of this estate!"
+
+"That, madam, is nothing to the purpose; from the moment it is his, he
+has as many wants for it as any other gentleman. He desired me, however,
+to acquaint you, that if you still chose an apartment in this house,
+till Mr Delvile returns, you shall have one at your service."
+
+"To be a _guest_ in this house, Sir," said Cecilia, drily, "might
+perhaps seem strange to me; I will not, therefore, be so much in his
+way."
+
+Mr Carn then informed her she might put her seal upon whatever she meant
+hereafter to claim or dispute, and took his leave.
+
+Cecilia now shut herself up in her own room, to meditate without
+interruption, before she would proceed to any action. She felt much
+inclination to send instantly for some lawyer; but when she considered
+her peculiar situation, the absence of her husband, the renunciation of
+his father, the loss of her fortune, and her ignorance upon the subject,
+she thought it better to rest quiet till Delvile's own fate, and own
+opinion could be known, than to involve herself in a lawsuit she was so
+little able to superintend.
+
+In this cruel perplexity of her mind and her affairs, her first thought
+was to board again with Mrs Bayley; but that was soon given up, for she
+felt a repugnance unconquerable to continuing in her native county, when
+deprived of her fortune, and cast out of her dwelling.
+
+Her situation, indeed, was singularly unhappy, since, by this unforeseen
+vicissitude of fortune, she was suddenly, from being an object of envy
+and admiration, sunk into distress, and threatened with disgrace; from
+being every where caressed, and by every voice praised, she blushed to
+be seen, and expected to be censured; and, from being generally regarded
+as an example of happiness, and a model of virtue, she was now in
+one moment to appear to the world, an outcast from her own house, yet
+received into no other! a bride, unclaimed by a husband! an HEIRESS,
+dispossessed of all wealth!
+
+To be first acknowledged as _Mrs Delvile_ in a state so degrading, she
+could not endure; and to escape from it, one way alone remained, which
+was going instantly abroad.
+
+Upon this, therefore, she finally determined: her former objections to
+such a step being now wholly, though unpleasantly removed, since she had
+neither estate nor affairs to demand her stay, and since all hopes of
+concealment were totally at an end. Her marriage, therefore, and its
+disgraceful consequences being published to the world, she resolved
+without delay to seek the only asylum which was proper for her, in the
+protection of the husband for whom she had given up every other.
+
+She purposed, therefore, to go immediately and privately to London,
+whence she could best settle her route for the continent: where she
+hoped to arrive before the news of her distress reached Delvile, whom
+nothing, she was certain, but her own presence, could keep there for a
+moment after hearing it.
+
+Thus decided, at length, in her plan, she proceeded to put it in
+execution with calmness and intrepidity; comforting herself that the
+conveniencies and indulgencies with which she was now parting, would
+soon be restored to her, and though not with equal power, with far more
+satisfaction. She told her steward her design of going the next morning
+to London, bid him pay instantly all her debts, and discharge all
+her servants, determining to keep no account open but that with Mr
+Eggleston, which he had made so intricate by double and undue demands,
+that she thought it most prudent and safe to leave him wholly to
+Delvile.
+
+She then packed up all her papers and letters, and ordered her maid to
+pack up her clothes.
+
+She next put her own seal upon her cabinets, draws, and many other
+things, and employed almost all her servants at once, in making complete
+inventories of what every room contained.
+
+She advised Mrs Harrel to send without delay for Mr Arnott, and return
+to his house. She had first purposed to carry Henrietta home to her
+mother herself; but another scheme for her now occurred, from which she
+hoped much future advantage to the amiable and dejected girl.
+
+She knew well, that deep as was at present her despondency, the removal
+of all possibility of hope, by her knowledge of Delvile's marriage, must
+awaken her before long from the delusive visions of her romantic fancy;
+Mr Arnott himself was in a situation exactly similar, and the knowledge
+of the same event would probably be productive of the same effect. When
+Mrs Harrel, therefore, began to repine at the solitude to which she was
+returning, Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad
+to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened
+to with pleasure, and seconded by an invitation.
+
+Henrietta, to whom all houses appeared preferable to her own home,
+joyfully accepted the offer, committing to Cecilia the communication of
+the change of her abode to Mrs Belfield.
+
+Cecilia, who in the known and tried honour of Mr Arnott would
+unreluctantly have trusted a sister, was much pleased by this little
+arrangement, from which should no good ensue, no evil, at least, was
+probable. But she hoped, through the mutual pity their mutual melancholy
+might inspire, that their minds, already not dissimilar, would be
+softened in favour of each other, and that, in conclusion, each might
+be happy in receiving the consolation each could give, and a union would
+take place, in which their reciprocal disappointment might, in time, be
+nearly forgotten.
+
+There was not, indeed, much promise of such an event in the countenance
+of Mr Arnott, when, late at night, he came for his sister, nor in the
+unbounded sorrow of Henrietta, when the moment of leave-taking arrived.
+Mr Arnott looked half dead with the shock his sister's intelligence had
+given him, and Henrietta's heart, torn asunder between friendship
+and love, was scarce able to bear a parting, which from Cecilia, she
+regarded as eternal, added to the consciousness it was occasioned by her
+going to join Delvile for life!
+
+Cecilia, who both read and pitied these conflicting emotions, was
+herself extremely hurt by this necessary separation. She tenderly
+loved Henrietta, she loved her even the more for the sympathy of their
+affections, which called forth the most forcible commiseration,--that
+which springs from fellow-feeling!
+
+"Farewell," she cried, "my Henrietta, be but happy as you are innocent,
+and be both as I love you, and nothing will your friends have to wish
+for you, or yourself to regret."
+
+"I must always regret," cried the sobbing Henrietta, "that I cannot live
+with you for ever! I should regret it if I were queen of all the world,
+how much more then, when I am nothing and nobody! I do not wish _you_
+happy, madam, for I think happiness was made on purpose for you, and
+nobody else ever had it before; I only wish you health and long life,
+for the sake of those who will be made as happy as you,--for you will
+spoil them,--as you have spoilt me,--from being ever happy without you!"
+
+Cecilia re-iterated her assurances of a most faithful regard, embraced
+Mrs Harrel, spoke words of kindness to the drooping Mr Arnott, and then
+parted with them all.
+
+Having still many small matters to settle, and neither company nor
+appetite, she would eat no supper; but, in passing thro' the hall, in
+her way to her own room, she was much surprised to see all her domestics
+assembled in a body. She stopt to enquire their intention, when they
+eagerly pressed forward, humbly and earnestly entreating to know why
+they were discharged? "For no reason in the world," cried Cecilia, "but
+because it is at present out of my power to keep you any longer."
+
+"Don't part with _me_, madam, for that," cried one of them, "for I will
+serve you for nothing!"
+
+"So will I!" cried another, "And I!" "And I!" was echoed by them all;
+while "no other such mistress is to be found!" "We can never bear any
+other place!" and "keep _me_, madam, at least!" was even clamorously
+urged by each of them.
+
+Cecilia, distressed and flattered at once by their unwillingness to
+quit her, received this testimony of gratitude for the kind and liberal
+treatment they had received, with the warmest thanks both for their
+services and fidelity, and assured them that when again she was settled,
+all those who should be yet unprovided with places, should be preferred
+in her house before any other claimants.
+
+Having, with difficulty, broken from them, she sent for her own man,
+Ralph, who had lived with her many years before the death of the Dean,
+and told him she meant still to continue him in her service. The man
+heard it with great delight, and promised to re-double his diligence to
+deserve her favour. She then communicated the same news to her maid, who
+had also resided with her some years, and by whom with the same, or more
+pleasure it was heard.
+
+These and other regulations employed her almost all night; yet late
+and fatigued as she went to bed, she could not close her eyes: fearful
+something was left undone, she robbed herself of the short time she had
+allowed to rest, by incessant meditation upon what yet remained to be
+executed. She could recollect, however, one only thing that had escaped
+her vigilance, which was acquainting the pew-opener, and two or three
+other poor women who had weekly pensions from her, that they must, at
+least for the present, depend no longer upon her assistance.
+
+Nothing indeed could be more painful to her than giving them such
+information, yet not to be speedy with it would double the barbarity of
+their disappointment. She even felt for these poor women, whose loss in
+her she knew would be irreparable, a compassion that drove from her mind
+almost every other subject, and determined her, in order to soften to
+them this misfortune, to communicate it herself, that she might prevent
+them from sinking under it, by reviving them with hopes of her future
+assistance.
+
+She had ordered at seven o'clock in the morning an hired chaise at the
+door, and she did not suffer it long to wait for her. She quitted her
+house with a heart full of care and anxiety, grieving at the necessity
+of making such a sacrifice, uncertain how it would turn out, and
+labouring under a thousand perplexities with respect to the measures
+she ought immediately to take. She passed, when she reached the hall,
+through a row of weeping domestics, not one of whom with dry eyes could
+see the house bereft of such a mistress. She spoke to them all with
+kindness, and as much as was in her power with chearfulness: but the
+tone of her voice gave them little reason to think the concern at this
+journey was all their own.
+
+She ordered her chaise to drive round to the pew-opener's and thence to
+the rest of her immediate dependents. She soon, however, regretted that
+she had given herself this task; the affliction of these poor pensioners
+was clamorous, was almost heart-breaking; they could live, they said, no
+longer, they were ruined for ever; they should soon be without bread
+to eat, and they might cry for help in vain, when their generous, their
+only benefactress was far away!
+
+Cecilia made the kindest efforts, to comfort and encourage them,
+assuring them the very moment her own affairs were arranged, she would
+remember them all, visit them herself, and contribute to their relief,
+with all the power she should have left. Nothing, however, could console
+them; they clung about her, almost took the horses from the chaise,
+and conjured her not to desert those who were solely cherished by her
+bounty!
+
+Nor was this all she had to suffer; the news of her intention to quit
+the county was now reported throughout the neighbourhood, and had spread
+the utmost consternation among the poor in general, and the lower close
+of her own tenants in particular, and the road was soon lined with
+women and children, wringing their hands and crying. They followed
+her carriage with supplications that she would return to them, mixing
+blessings with their lamentations, and prayers for her happiness with
+the bitterest repinings at their own loss!
+
+Cecilia was extremely affected; her liberal and ever-ready hand was
+every other instant involuntarily seeking her purse, which her many
+immediate expences, made her prudence as often check: and now first she
+felt the capital error she had committed, in living constantly to the
+utmost extent of her income, without ever preparing, though so able to
+have done it, against any unfortunate contingency.
+
+When she escaped, at last, from receiving any longer this painful
+tribute to her benevolence, she gave orders to her man to ride forward
+and stop at the Grove, that a precise and minute account of Mr Monckton,
+might be the last, as it was now become the most important, news she
+should hear in Suffolk. This he did, when to her equal surprise and
+delight, she heard that he was suddenly so much better, there were hopes
+of his recovery.
+
+Intelligence so joyful made her amends for almost every thing; yet she
+hesitated not in her plan of going abroad, as she knew not where to be
+in England, and could not endure to hurry Delvile from his sick mother,
+by acquainting him with her helpless and distressed situation. But so
+revived were her spirits by these unexpected tidings, that a gleam of
+brightest hope once more danced before her eyes, and she felt herself
+invigorated with fresh courage and new strength, sufficient to support
+her through all hardships and fatigues.
+
+Spirits and courage were indeed much wanted for the enterprize she had
+formed; but little used to travelling, and having never been out of
+England, she knew nothing of the route but by a general knowledge of
+geography, which, though it could guide her east or west, could teach
+her nothing of foreign customs, the preparations necessary for the
+journey, the impositions she should guard against, nor the various
+dangers to which she might be exposed, from total ignorance of the
+country through which she had to pass.
+
+Conscious of these deficiencies for such an undertaking, she deliberated
+without intermission how to obviate them. Yet sometimes, when to these
+hazards, those arising from her youth and sex were added, she was upon
+the point of relinquishing her scheme, as too perilous for execution,
+and resolving to continue privately in London till some change happened
+in her affairs.
+
+But though to every thing she could suggest, doubts and difficulties
+arose, she had no friend to consult, nor could devise any means by which
+they might be terminated. Her maid was her only companion, and Ralph,
+who had spent almost his whole life in Suffolk, her only guard and
+attendant. To hire immediately some French servant, used to travelling
+in his own country, seemed the first step she had to take, and so
+essential, that no other appeared feasible till it was done. But where
+to hear of such a man she could not tell, and to take one not
+well recommended, would be exposing herself to frauds and dangers
+innumerable.
+
+Yet so slow as Delvile travelled, from whom her last letter was still
+dated Ostend, she thought herself almost certain, could she once reach
+the continent, of overtaking him in his route within a day or two of her
+landing.
+
+The earnest inclination with which this scheme was seconded, made her
+every moment less willing to forego it. It seemed the only harbour for
+her after the storm she had weathered, and the only refuge she could
+properly seek while thus houseless and helpless. Even were Delvile in
+England, he had no place at present to offer her, nor could any thing be
+proposed so unexceptionable as her living with Mrs Delvile at Nice,
+till he knew his father's pleasure, and, in a separate journey home, had
+arranged his affairs either for her return, or her continuance abroad.
+
+With what regret did she now look back to the time when, in a distress
+such as this, she should have applied for, and received the advice of
+Mr Monckton as oracular! The loss of a counsellor so long, so implicitly
+relied upon, lost to her also, only by his own interested worthlessness,
+she felt almost daily, for almost daily some intricacy or embarrassment
+made her miss his assistance: and though glad, since she found him so
+undeserving, that she had escaped the snares he had spread for her,
+she grieved much that she knew no man of honest character and equal
+abilities, that would care for her sufficiently to supply his place in
+her confidence.
+
+As she was situated at present, she could think only of Mr Belfield to
+whom she could apply for any advice. Nor even to him was the application
+unexceptionable, the calumnies of Mr Delvile senior making it
+disagreeable to her even to see him. But he was at once a man of
+the world and a man of honour; he was the friend of Mortimer, whose
+confidence in him was great, and his own behaviour had uniformly shewn a
+respect far removed from impertinence or vanity, and a mind superior to
+being led to them by the influence of his gross mother. She had, indeed,
+when she last quitted his house, determined never to re-enter it; but
+determinations hasty or violent, are rarely observed, because rarely
+practicable; she had promised Henrietta to inform Mrs Belfield whither
+she was gone, and reconcile her to the absence she still hoped to make
+from home. She concluded, therefore, to go to Portland-street without
+delay, and enquire openly and at once whether, and when, she might
+speak with Mr Belfield; resolving, if tormented again by any forward
+insinuations, to rectify all mistakes by acknowledging her marriage.
+
+She gave directions accordingly to the post-boy and Ralph.
+
+With respect to her own lodgings while in town, as money was no longer
+unimportant to her, she meant from the Belfields to go to the Hills, by
+whom she might be recommended to some reputable and cheap place. To the
+Belfields, however, though very late when she arrived in town, she
+went first, unwilling to lose a moment in promoting her scheme of going
+abroad.
+
+She left her maid in the chaise, and sent Ralph on to Mrs Hill, with
+directions to endeavour immediately to procure her a lodging.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A PRATING.
+
+Cecilia was shewn into a parlour, where Mrs Belfield was very earnestly
+discoursing with Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins; and Belfield himself, to her
+great satisfaction, was already there, and reading.
+
+"Lack a-day!" cried Mrs Belfield, "if one does not always see the people
+one's talking of! Why it was but this morning, madam, I was saying to Mr
+Hobson, I wonder, says I, a young lady of such fortunes as Miss Beverley
+should mope herself up so in the country! Don't you remember it, Mr
+Hobson?"
+
+"Yes, madam," answered Mr Hobson, "but I think, for my part, the young
+lady's quite in the right to do as she's a mind; for that's what I call
+living agreeable: and if I was a young lady to-morrow, with such fine
+fortunes, and that, it's just what I should do myself: for what I say
+is this: where's the joy of having a little money, and being a little
+matter above the world, if one has not one's own will?"
+
+"Ma'am," said Mr Simkins, who had scarce yet raised his head from the
+profoundness of his bow upon Cecilia's entrance into the room, "if I may
+be so free, may I make bold just for to offer you this chair?"
+
+"I called, madam," said Cecilia, seizing the first moment in her power
+to speak, "in order to acquaint you that your daughter, who is perfectly
+well, has made a little change in her situation, which she was anxious
+you should hear from myself."
+
+"Ha! ha! stolen a match upon you, I warrant!" cried the facetious Mr
+Hobson; "a good example for you, young lady; and if you take my advice,
+you won't be long before you follow it; for as to a lady, let her be
+worth never so much, she's a mere nobody, as one may say, till she can
+get herself a husband, being she knows nothing of business, and is made
+to pay for every thing through the nose."
+
+"Fie, Mr Hobson, fie!" said Mr Simkins, "to talk so slighting of the
+ladies before their faces! what one says in a corner, is quite of
+another nature; but for to talk so rude in their company,--I thought you
+would scorn to do such a thing."
+
+"Sir, I don't want to be rude no more than yourself," said Mr Hobson,
+"for what I say is, rudeness is a thing that makes nobody agreeable;
+but I don't see because of that, why a man is not to speak his mind to
+a lady as well as to a gentleman, provided he does it in a complaisant
+fashion."
+
+"Mr Hobson," cried Mrs Belfield, very impatiently, "you might as well
+let _me_ speak, when the matter is all about my own daughter."
+
+"I ask pardon, ma'am," said he, "I did not mean to stop you; for as to
+not letting a lady speak, one might as well tell a man in business not
+to look at the Daily Advertiser; why, it's morally impossible!"
+
+"But sure, madam," cried Mrs Belfield, "it's no such thing? You can't
+have got her off already?"
+
+"I would I had!" thought Cecilia; who then explained her meaning; but in
+talking of Mrs Harrel, avoided all mention of Mr Arnott, well foreseeing
+that to hear such a man existed, and was in the same house with her
+daughter, would be sufficient authority to her sanguine expectations,
+for depending upon a union between them, and reporting it among her
+friends, his circumstance being made clear, Cecilia added, "I could
+by no means have consented voluntarily to parting so soon with Miss
+Belfield, but that my own affairs call me at present out of the
+kingdom." And then, addressing herself to Belfield, she enquired if he
+could recommend to her a trusty foreign servant, who would be hired only
+for the time she was to spend abroad?
+
+While Belfield was endeavouring to recollect some such person, Mr Hobson
+eagerly called out "As to going abroad, madam, to be sure you're to do
+as you like, for that, as I say, is the soul of every thing; but else I
+can't say it's a thing I much approve; for my notion is this: here's a
+fine fortune, got as a man may say, out of the bowels of one's mother
+country, and this fine fortune, in default of male issue, is obliged to
+come to a female, the law making no proviso to the contrary. Well, this
+female, going into a strange country, naturally takes with her this
+fortune, by reason it's the main article she has to depend upon; what's
+the upshot? why she gets pilfered by a set of sharpers that never saw
+England in their lives, and that never lose sight of her till she has
+not a sous in the world. But the hardship of the thing is this:
+when it's all gone, the lady can come back, but will the money come
+back?--No, you'll never see it again: now this is what I call being no
+true patriot."
+
+"I am quite ashamed for to hear you talk so, Mr Hobson!" cried Mr
+Simkins, affecting to whisper; "to go for to take a person to task at
+this rate, is behaving quite unbearable; it's enough to make the young
+lady afraid to speak before you."
+
+"Why, Mr Simkins," answered Mr Hobson, "truth is truth, whether one
+speaks it or not; and that, ma'am, I dare say, a young lady of your good
+sense knows as well as myself."
+
+"I think, madam," said Belfield, who waited their silence with great
+impatience, "that I know just such a man as you will require, and one
+upon whose honesty I believe you may rely."
+
+"That's more," said Mr Hobson, "than I would take upon me to say for
+any _Englishman_! where you may meet with such a _Frenchman_, I won't be
+bold to say."
+
+"Why indeed," said Mr Simkins, "if I might take the liberty for to put
+in, though I don't mean in no shape to go to contradicting the young
+gentleman, but if I was to make bold to speak my private opinion upon
+the head, I should be inclinable for to say, that as to putting a
+dependance upon the French, it's a thing quite dubious how it may turn
+out."
+
+"I take it as a great favour, ma'am," said Mrs Belfield, "that you have
+been so complaisant as to make me this visit to-night, for I was almost
+afraid you would not have done me the favour any more; for, to be sure,
+when you was here last, things went a little unlucky: but I had no
+notion, for my part, who the old gentleman was till after he was gone,
+when Mr Hobson told me it was old Mr Delvile: though, sure enough, I
+thought it rather upon the extraordinary order, that he should come here
+into my parlour, and make such a secret of his name, on purpose to ask
+me questions about my own son."
+
+"Why I think, indeed, if I may be so free," said Mr Simkins, "it was
+rather petickeler of the gentleman; for, to be sure, if he was so over
+curious to hear about your private concerns, the genteel thing, if I may
+take the liberty for to differ, would have been for him to say, ma'am,
+says he, I'm come to ask the favour of you just to let me a little into
+your son's goings on; and any thing, ma'am, you should take a fancy for
+to ask me upon the return, why I shall be very compliable, ma'am, says
+he, to giving of you satisfaction."
+
+"I dare say," answered Mrs Belfield, "he would not have said so much if
+you'd have gone down on your knees to ask him. Why he was upon the very
+point of being quite in a passion because I only asked him his name!
+though what harm that could do him, I'm sure I never could guess.
+However, as he was so mighty inquisitive about my son, if I had but
+known who he was in time, I should have made no scruple in the world to
+ask him if he could not have spoke a few words for him to some of those
+great people that could have done him some good. But the thing that I
+believe put him so out of humour, was my being so unlucky as to say,
+before ever I knew who he was, that I had heard he was not over and
+above good-natured; for I saw he did not seem much to like it at the
+time."
+
+"If he had done the generous thing," said Mr Simkins, "it would have
+been for him to have made the proffer of his services of his own
+free-will; and it's rather surpriseable to me he should never have
+thought of it; for what could be so natural as for him to say, I see,
+ma'am, says he, you've got a very likely young gentleman here, that's a
+little out of cash, says he, so I suppose, ma'am, says he, a place, or a
+pension, or something in that shape of life, would be no bad compliment,
+says he."
+
+"But no such good luck as that will come to my share," cried Mrs
+Belfield, "I can tell you that, for every thing I want to do goes quite
+contrary. Who would not have thought such a son as mine, though I say it
+before his face, could not have made his fortune long ago, living as he
+did, among all the great folks, and dining at their table just like one
+of themselves? yet, for all that, you see they let him go on his own
+way, and think of him no more than of nobody! I'm sure they might be
+ashamed to shew their faces, and so I should tell them at once, if I
+could but get sight of them."
+
+"I don't mean, ma'am," said Mr Simkins, "for to be finding fault with
+what you say, for I would not be unpelite in no shape; but if I might be
+so free as for to differ a little bit, I must needs say I am rather for
+going to work in anotherguess sort of a manner; and if I was as you--"
+
+"Mr Simkins," interrupted Belfield, "we will settle this matter another
+time." And then, turning to the wearied Cecilia, "The man, madam," he
+said, "whom I have done myself the honour to recommend to you, I can see
+to-morrow morning; may I then tell him to wait upon you?"
+
+"I ask pardon for just putting in," cried Mr Simkins, before Cecilia
+could answer, and again bowing down to the ground, "but I only mean to
+say I had no thought for to be impertinent, for as to what I was agoing
+to remark, is was not of no consequence in the least."
+
+"Its a great piece of luck, ma'am," said Mrs Belfield, "that you should
+happen to come here, of a holiday! If my son had not been at home, I
+should have been ready to cry for a week: and you might come any day the
+year through but a Sunday, and not meet with him any more than if he had
+never a home to come to."
+
+"If Mr Belfield's home-visits are so periodical," said Cecilia, "it must
+be rather less, than more, difficult to meet with him."
+
+"Why you know, ma'am," answered Mrs Belfield, "to-day is a red-letter
+day, so that's the reason of it."
+
+"A red-letter day?"
+
+"Good lack, madam, why have not you heard that my son is turned
+book-keeper?"
+
+Cecilia, much surprised, looked at Belfield, who, colouring very high,
+and apparently much provoked by his mother's loquacity, said, "Had Miss
+Beverley not heard it even now, madam, I should probably have lost with
+her no credit."
+
+"You can surely lose none, Sir," answered Cecilia, "by an employment too
+little pleasant to have been undertaken from any but the most laudable
+motives."
+
+"It is not, madam, the employment," said he, "for which I so much blush
+as for the person employed--for _myself_! In the beginning of the winter
+you left me just engaged in another business, a business with which
+I was madly delighted, and fully persuaded I should be enchanted
+for ever;--now, again, in the beginning of the summer,--you find me,
+already, in a new occupation!"
+
+"I am sorry," said Cecilia, "but far indeed from surprised, that you
+found yourself deceived by such sanguine expectations."
+
+"Deceived!" cried he, with energy, "I was bewitched, I was infatuated!
+common sense was estranged by the seduction of a chimera; my
+understanding was in a ferment from the ebullition of my imagination!
+But when this new way of life lost its novelty,--novelty! that
+short-liv'd, but exquisite bliss! no sooner caught than it vanishes, no
+sooner tasted than it is gone! which charms but to fly, and comes but
+to destroy what it leaves behind!--when that was lost, reason, cool,
+heartless reason, took its place, and teaching me to wonder at the
+frenzy of my folly, brought me back to the tameness--the sadness of
+reality!"
+
+"I am sure," cried Mrs Belfield, "whatever it has brought you back to,
+it has brought you back to no good! it's a hard case, you must needs
+think, madam, to a mother, to see a son that might do whatever he would,
+if he'd only set about it, contenting himself with doing nothing but
+scribble and scribe one day, and when he gets tired of that, thinking of
+nothing better than casting up two and two!"
+
+"Why, madam," said Mr Hobson, "what I have seen of the world is this;
+there's nothing methodizes a man but business. If he's never so much
+upon the stilts, that's always a sure way to bring him down, by reason
+he soon finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading. Let every man
+be his own carver; but what I say is, them gentlemen that are what one
+may call geniuses, commonly think nothing of the main chance, till they
+get a tap on the shoulder with a writ; and a solid lad, that knows three
+times five is fifteen, will get the better of them in the long run. But
+as to arguing with gentlemen of that sort, where's the good of it? You
+can never bring them to the point, say what you will; all you can get
+from them, is a farrago of fine words, that you can't understand without
+a dictionary."
+
+"I am inclinable to think," said Mr Simkins, "that the young gentleman
+is rather of opinion to like pleasure better than business; and, to be
+sure, it's very excusable of him, because it's more agreeabler. And I
+must needs say, if I may be so free, I'm partly of the young gentleman's
+mind, for business is a deal more trouble."
+
+"I hope, however," said Cecilia to Belfield, "your present situation is
+less irksome to you?"
+
+"Any situation, madam, must be less irksome than that which I quitted:
+to write by rule, to compose by necessity, to make the understanding,
+nature's first gift, subservient to interest, that meanest offspring of
+art!--when weary, listless, spiritless, to rack the head for invention,
+the memory for images, and the fancy for ornament and illusion; and when
+the mind is wholly occupied by its own affections and affairs, to call
+forth all its faculties for foreign subjects, uninteresting discussions,
+or fictitious incidents!--Heavens! what a life of struggle between
+the head and the heart! how cruel, how unnatural a war between the
+intellects and the feelings!"
+
+"As to these sort of things," said Mr Hobson, "I can't say I am much
+versed in them, by reason they are things I never much studied; but if I
+was to speak my notion, it is this; the best way to thrive in the world
+is to get money; but how is it to be got? Why by business: for business
+is to money, what fine words are to a lady, a sure road to success. Now
+I don't mean by this to be censorious upon the ladies, being they have
+nothing else to go by, for as to examining if a man knows any thing of
+the world, and that, they have nothing whereby to judge, knowing nothing
+of it themselves. So that when they are taken in by rogues and sharpers,
+the fault is all in the law, for making no proviso against their having
+money in their own hands. Let every one be trusted according to their
+headpiece and what I say is this: a lady in them cases is much to be
+pitied, for she is obligated to take a man upon his own credit, which is
+tantamount to no credit at all, being what man will speak an ill word of
+himself? you may as well expect a bad shilling to cry out don't take me!
+That's what I say, and that's my way of giving my vote."
+
+Cecilia, quite tired of these interruptions, and impatient to be gone,
+now said to Belfield, "I should be much obliged to you, Sir, if you
+could send to me the man you speak of tomorrow morning. I wished, also
+to consult you with regard to the route I ought to take. My purpose is
+to go to Nice, and as I am very desirous to travel expeditiously, you
+may perhaps be able to instruct me what is the best method for me to
+pursue."
+
+"Come, Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins," cried Mrs Belfield, with a look of
+much significance and delight, "suppose you two and I was to walk into
+the next room? There's no need for us to hear all the young lady may
+have a mind to say."
+
+"She has nothing to say, madam," cried Cecilia, "that the whole world
+may not hear. Neither is it my purpose to talk, but to listen, if Mr
+Belfield is at leisure to favour me with his advice."
+
+"I must always be at leisure, and always be proud, madam," Belfield
+began, when Hobson, interrupting him, said, "I ask pardon, Sir, for
+intruding, but I only mean to wish the young lady good night. As to
+interfering with business, that's not my way, for it's not the right
+method, by reason--"
+
+"We will listen to your reason, Sir," cried Belfield, "some other time;
+at present we will give you all credit for it unheard."
+
+"Let every man speak his own maxim, Sir," cried Hobson; "for that's what
+I call fair arguing: but as to one person's speaking, and then making an
+answer for another into the bargain, why it's going to work no-how; you
+may as well talk to a counter, and think because you make a noise upon
+it with your own hand, it gives you the reply."
+
+"Why, Mr Hobson," cried Mrs Belfield, "I am quite ashamed of you for
+being so dull! don't you see my son has something to say to the lady
+that you and I have no business to be meddling with?"
+
+"I'm sure, ma'am, for my part," said Mr Simkins, "I'm very agreeable to
+going away, for as to putting the young lady to the blush, it's what I
+would not do in no shape."
+
+"I only mean," said Mr Hobson, when he was interrupted by Mrs Belfield,
+who, out of all patience, now turned him out of the room by the
+shoulders, and, pulling Mr Simkins after, followed herself, and shut
+the door, though Cecilia, much provoked, desired she would stay, and
+declared repeatedly that all her business was public.
+
+Belfield, who had, looked ready to murder them all during this short
+scene, now approached Cecilia, and with an air of mingled spirit and
+respect, said, "I am much grieved, much confounded, madam, that your
+ears should be offended by speeches so improper to reach them; yet if
+it is possible I can have the honour of being of any use to you, in me,
+still, I hope, you feel you may confide. I am too distant from you in
+situation to give you reason to apprehend I can form any sinister views
+in serving you; and, permit me to add, I am too near you in mind, ever
+to give you the pain of bidding me remember that distance."
+
+Cecilia then, extremely unwilling to shock a sensibility not more
+generous than jealous, determined to continue her enquiries, and, at
+the same time, to prevent any further misapprehension, by revealing her
+actual situation.
+
+"I am sorry, Sir," she answered, "to have occasioned this disturbance;
+Mrs Belfield, I find, is wholly unacquainted with the circumstance which
+now carries me abroad, or it would not have happened."
+
+Here a little noise in the passage interrupting her, she heard Mrs
+Belfield, though in a low voice, say, "Hush, Sir, hush! you must not
+come in just now; you've caught me, I confess, rather upon the listening
+order; but to tell you the truth, I did not know what might be going
+forward. However, there's no admittance now, I assure you, for my son's
+upon particular business with a lady, and Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins and
+I, have all been as good as turned out by them but just now."
+
+Cecilia and Belfield, though they heard this speech with mutual
+indignation, had no time to mark or express it, as it was answered
+without in a voice at once loud and furious, "_You_, madam, may be
+content to listen here; pardon me if I am less humbly disposed!" And the
+door was abruptly opened by young Delvile!
+
+Cecilia, who half screamed from excess of astonishment, would scarcely,
+even by the presence of Belfield and his mother, have been restrained
+from flying to meet him, had his own aspect invited such a mark of
+tenderness; but far other was the case; when the door was open, he stopt
+short with a look half petrified, his feet seeming rooted to the spot
+upon which they stood.
+
+"I declare I ask pardon, ma'am," cried Mrs Belfield, "but the
+interruption was no fault of mine, for the gentleman would come in;
+and--"
+
+"It is no interruption, madam;" cried Belfield, "Mr Delvile does me
+nothing but honour."
+
+"I thank you, Sir!" said Delvile, trying to recover and come forward,
+but trembling violently, and speaking with the most frigid coldness.
+
+They were then, for a few instants, all silent; Cecilia, amazed by his
+arrival, still more amazed by his behaviour, feared to speak lest
+he meant not, as yet, to avow his marriage, and felt a thousand
+apprehensions that some new calamity had hurried him home: while
+Belfield was both hurt by his strangeness, and embarrassed for the sake
+of Cecilia; and his mother, though wondering at them all, was kept quiet
+by her son's looks.
+
+Delvile then, struggling for an appearance of more ease, said, "I seem
+to have made a general confusion here:--pray, I beg"--
+
+"None at all, Sir," said Belfield, and offered a chair to Cecilia.
+
+"No, Sir," she answered, in a voice scarce audible, "I was just going."
+And again rang the bell.
+
+"I fear I hurry you, madam?" cried Delvile, whose whole frame was now
+shaking with uncontrollable emotion; "you are upon business--I ought to
+beg your pardon--my entrance, I believe, was unseasonable."--
+
+"Sir!" cried she, looking aghast at this speech.
+
+"I should have been rather surprised," he added, "to have met you here,
+so late,--so unexpectedly,--so deeply engaged--had I not happened to see
+your servant in the street, who told me the honour I should be likely to
+have by coming."
+
+"Good God!--" exclaimed she, involuntarily; but, checking herself as
+well as she could, she courtsied to Mrs Belfield, unable to speak to
+her, and avoiding even to look at Belfield, who respectfully hung back,
+she hastened out of the room: accompanied by Mrs Belfield, who again
+began the most voluble and vulgar apologies for the intrusion she had
+met with.
+
+Delvile also, after a moment's pause, followed, saying, "Give me leave,
+madam, to see you to your carriage."
+
+Cecilia then, notwithstanding Mrs Belfield still kept talking, could no
+longer refrain saying, "Good heaven, what does all this mean?"
+
+"Rather for _me_ is that question," he answered, in such agitation he
+could not, though he meant it, assist her into the chaise, "for mine, I
+believe, is the greater surprise!"
+
+"What surprise?" cried she, "explain, I conjure you!"
+
+"By and bye I will," he answered; "go on postilion."
+
+"Where, Sir?"
+
+"Where you came from, I suppose."
+
+"What, Sir, back to Rumford?"
+
+"Rumford!" exclaimed he, with encreasing disorder, "you came then from
+Suffolk hither?--from Suffolk to this very house?"
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Cecilia, "come into the chaise, and let me speak
+and hear to be understood!"
+
+"Who is that now in it?"
+
+"My Maid."
+
+"Your maid?--and she waits for you thus at the door?"--
+
+"What, what is it you mean?"
+
+"Tell the man, madam, whither to go."
+
+"I don't know myself--any where you please--do you order him."
+
+"I order him!--you came not hither to receive orders from _me_!--where
+was it you had purposed to rest?"
+
+"I don't know--I meant to go to Mrs Hill's--I have no place taken."--
+
+"No place taken!" repeated he, in a voice faultering between passion
+and grief; "you purposed, then, to stay here?--I have perhaps driven you
+away?"
+
+"Here!" cried Cecilia, mingling, in her turn, indignation with surprise,
+"gracious heaven! what is it you mean to doubt?"
+
+"Nothing!" cried he, with emphasis, "I never have had, I never _will_
+have a doubt! I will know, I will have _conviction_ for every thing!
+Postilion, drive to St James's-square!--to Mr Delvile's. There, madam, I
+will wait upon you."
+
+"No! stay, postilion!" called out Cecilia, seized with terror
+inexpressible; "let me get out, let me speak with you at once!"
+
+"It cannot be; I will follow you in a few minutes--drive on, postilion!"
+
+"No, no!--I will not go--I dare not leave you--unkind Delvile!--what is
+it you suspect."
+
+"Cecilia," cried he, putting his hand upon the chaise-door, "I have
+ever believed you spotless as an angel! and, by heaven! I believe you so
+still, in spite of appearances--in defiance of every thing!--Now then be
+satisfied;--I will be with you very soon. Meanwhile, take this letter,
+I was just going to send to you.--Postilion, drive on, or be at your
+peril!"
+
+The man waited no further orders, nor regarded the prohibition of
+Cecilia, who called out to him without ceasing; but he would not listen
+to her till he got to the end of the street; he then stopt, and she
+broke the seal of her letter, and read, by the light of the lamps,
+enough to let her know that Delvile had written it upon the road from
+Dover to London, to acquaint her his mother was now better, and had
+taken pity of his suspense and impatience, and insisted upon his coming
+privately to England, to satisfy himself fully about Mr Monckton,
+communicate his marriage to his father, and give those orders towards
+preparing for its being made public, which his unhappy precipitation in
+leaving the kingdom had prevented.
+
+This letter, which, though written but a few hours before she received
+it, was full of tenderness, gratitude and anxiety for her happiness,
+instantly convinced her that his strange behaviour had been wholly
+the effect of a sudden impulse of jealousy; excited by so unexpectedly
+finding her in town, at the very house where his father had assured
+him she had an improper connexion, and alone, so suspiciously, with
+the young man affirmed to be her favourite. He knew nothing of the
+ejectment, nothing of any reason for her leaving Suffolk, every thing
+had the semblance of no motive but to indulge a private and criminal
+inclination.
+
+These thoughts, which confusedly, yet forcibly, rushed upon her mind,
+brought with them at once an excuse for his conduct, and an alarm for
+his danger; "He must think," she cried, "I came to town only to meet Mr
+Belfield!" then, opening the chaise-door herself, she jumpt out, and ran
+back into Portland-street, too impatient to argue with the postilion to
+return with her, and stopt not till she came to Mrs Belfield's house.
+
+She knocked at the door with violence; Mrs Belfield came to it herself;
+"Where," cried she, hastily entering as she spoke, "are the gentlemen?"
+
+"Lack-a-day! ma'am," answered Mrs Belfield, "they are both gone out."
+
+"Gone out?--where to?--which way?"
+
+"I am sure I can't tell, ma'am, no more than you can; but I am sadly
+afraid they'll have a quarrel before they've done."
+
+"Oh heaven!" cried Cecilia, who now doubted not a second duel, "tell me,
+shew me, which way they went?"
+
+"Why, ma'am, to let you into the secret," answered Mrs Belfield, "only I
+beg you'll take no notice of it to my son, but, seeing them so much out
+of sorts, I begged the favour of Mr Simkins, as Mr Hobson was gone out
+to his club, just to follow them, and see what they were after."
+
+Cecilia was much rejoiced this caution had been taken, and determined to
+wait his return. She would have sent for the chaise to follow her; but
+Mrs Belfield kept no servant, and the maid of the house was employed in
+preparing the supper.
+
+When Mr Simkins came back, she learnt, after various interruptions from
+Mrs Belfield, and much delay from his own slowness and circumlocution,
+that he had pursued the two gentlemen to the * * coffee-house.
+
+She hesitated not a moment in resolving to follow them: she feared the
+failure of any commission, nor did she know whom to entrust with
+one: and the danger was too urgent for much deliberation. She begged,
+therefore, that Mr. Simkins would walk with her to the chaise; but
+hearing that the coffee-house was another way, she desired Mrs Belfield
+to let the servant run and order it to Mrs Roberts, in Fetterlane, and
+then eagerly requested Mr Simkins to accompany her on foot till they met
+with an hackney-coach.
+
+They then set out, Mr Simkins feeling proud and happy in being allowed
+to attend her, while Cecilia, glad of any protection, accepted his offer
+of continuing with her, even after she met with an hackney-coach.
+
+When she arrived at the coffee-house, she ordered the coachman to desire
+the master of it to come and speak with her.
+
+He came, and she hastily called out, "Pray, are two gentlemen here?"
+
+"Here are several gentlemen here, madam."
+
+"Yes, yes,--but are two upon any business--any particular business--"
+
+"Two gentlemen, madam, came about half an hour ago, and asked for a room
+to themselves."
+
+"And where are they now?--are they up stairs?--down stairs?--where are
+they?"
+
+"One of them went away in about ten minutes, and the other soon after."
+
+Bitterly chagrined and disappointed, she knew not what step to take
+next; but, after some consideration, concluded upon obeying Delvile's
+own directions, and proceeding to St James's-square, where alone, now,
+she seemed to have any chance of meeting with him. Gladly, however, she
+still consented to be accompanied by Mr Simkins, for her dread of being
+alone, at so late an hour, in an hackney-coach, was invincible. Whether
+Delvile himself had any authority for directing her to his father's,
+or whether, in the perturbation of his new--excited and agonising
+sensations of jealousy, he had forgotten that any authority was
+necessary, she knew not; nor could she now interest herself in the
+doubt: a second scene, such as had so lately passed with Mr Monckton,
+occupied all her thoughts: she knew the too great probability that
+the high spirit of Belfield would disdain making the explanation which
+Delvile in his present agitation might require, and the consequence of
+such a refusal must almost inevitably be fatal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A PURSUIT.
+
+The moment the porter came to the door, Cecilia eagerly called out from
+the coach, "Is Mr Delvile here?"
+
+"Yes, madam," he answered, "but I believe he is engaged."
+
+"Oh no matter for any engagement!" cried she, "on the door,--I must speak
+to him this moment!"
+
+"If you will please to step into the parlour, madam, I will tell
+his gentleman you are here; but he will be much displeased if he is
+disturbed without notice."
+
+"Ah heaven!" exclaimed she, "what Mr Delvile are you talking of?"
+
+"My master, madam."
+
+Cecilia, who had got out of the coach, now hastily returned to it,
+and was some time in too great agony to answer either the porter, who
+desired some message, or the coachman, who asked whither he was to
+drive. To see Mr Delvile, unprotected by his son, and contrary to his
+orders, appeared to her insupportable; yet to what place could she go?
+where was she likely to meet with Delvile? how could he find her if she
+went to Mrs Hill's? and in what other house could she at present claim
+admittance?
+
+After a little recovering from this cruel shock, she ventured, though in
+a faultering voice, to enquire whether young Mr Delvile had been there?
+
+"Yes, madam," the porter answered; "we thought he was abroad, but he
+called just now, and asked if any lady had been at the house. He would
+not even stay to go up to my master, and we have not dared tell him of
+his arrival."
+
+This a little revived her; to hear that he had actually been enquiring
+for her, at least assured her of his safety from any immediate violence,
+and she began to hope she might now possibly meet with him time
+enough to explain all that had past in his absence, and occasioned her
+seemingly strange and suspicious situation at Belfield's. She compelled
+herself, therefore, to summon courage for seeing his father, since, as
+he had directed her to the house, she concluded he would return there to
+seek her, when he had wandered elsewhere to no purpose.
+
+She then, though with much timidity and reluctance, sent a message to Mr
+Delvile to entreat a moment's audience.
+
+An answer was brought her that he saw no company so late at night.
+
+Losing now all dread of his reproaches, in her superior dread of missing
+Delvile, she called out earnestly to the man, "Tell him, Sir, I beseech
+him not to refuse me! tell him I have something to communicate that
+requires his immediate attention!"
+
+The servant obeyed; but soon returning, said his master desired him to
+acquaint her he was engaged every moment he stayed in town, and must
+positively decline seeing her.
+
+"Go to him again," cried the harassed Cecilia, "assure him I come not
+from myself, but by the desire of one he most values: tell him I entreat
+but permission to wait an hour in his house, and that I have no other
+place in the world whither I can go!"
+
+Mr Delvile's own gentleman brought, with evident concern, the answer
+to this petition; which was, that while the Honourable Mr Delvile was
+himself alive, he thought the desire of any other person concerning his
+house, was taking with him a very extraordinary liberty; and that he was
+now going to bed, and had given orders to his servants to carry him no
+more messages whatsoever, upon pain of instant dismission.
+
+Cecilia now seemed totally destitute of all resource, and for a few
+dreadful minutes, gave herself up to utter despondency: nor, when she
+recovered her presence of mind, could she form any better plan than that
+of waiting in the coach to watch the return of Delvile.
+
+She told the coachman, therefore, to drive to a corner of the square,
+begging Mr Simkins to have patience, which he promised with much
+readiness, and endeavoured to give her comfort, by talking without
+cessation.
+
+She waited here near half an hour. She then feared the disappointment of
+Delvile in not meeting her at first, had made him conclude she meant
+not to obey his directions, and had perhaps urged him to call again upon
+Belfield, whom he might fancy privy to her non-appearance. This was
+new horror to her, and she resolved at all risks to drive to
+Portland-street, and enquire if Belfield himself was returned home. Yet,
+lest they should mutually be pursuing each other all night, she stopt
+again at Mr Delvile's, and left word with the porter, that if young Mr
+Delvile should come home, he would hear of the person he was enquiring
+for at Mrs Roberts's in Fetter-lane. To Belfield's she did not dare
+to direct him; and it was her intention, if there she procured no new
+intelligence, to leave the same message, and then go to Mrs Roberts
+without further delay. To make such an arrangement with a servant who
+knew not her connection with his young master, was extremely repugnant
+to her; but the exigence was too urgent for scruples, and there was
+nothing to which she would not have consented, to prevent the fatal
+catastrophe she apprehended.
+
+When she came to Belfield's, not daring to enter the house, she sent in
+Mr Simkins, to desire that Mrs Belfield would be so good as to step to
+the coach door.
+
+"Is your son, madam," she cried, eagerly, "come home? and is any body
+with him?"
+
+"No, ma'am; he has never once been across the threshold since that
+gentleman took him out; and I am half out of my wits to think"--
+
+"Has that gentleman," interrupted Cecilia, "been here anymore?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, that's what I was going to tell you; he came again just
+now, and said"--
+
+"Just now?--good heaven!--and which way is he gone?"
+
+"Why he is after no good, I am afraid, for he was in a great passion,
+and would hardly hear any thing I said."
+
+"Pray, pray answer me quick!--where, which way did he go?"
+
+"Why, he asked me if I knew whither my son was come from the * *
+coffee-house; why, says I, I'm sure I can't tell, for if it had not been
+for Mr Simkins, I should not so much as have known he ever went to the
+* * coffee-house; however, I hope he a'n't come away, because if he is,
+poor Miss Beverley will have had all that trouble for nothing; for she's
+gone after him in a prodigious hurry; and upon my only saying that, he
+seemed quite beside himself, and said, if I don't meet with your son at
+the * * coffee-house myself, pray, when he comes in, tell him I shall be
+highly obliged to him to call there; and then he went away, in as great
+a pet as ever you saw."
+
+Cecilia listened to this account with the utmost terror and misery; the
+suspicions of Delvile would now be aggravated, and the message he
+had left for Belfield, would by him be regarded as a defiance. Again,
+however, to the * * coffee-house she instantly ordered the coach, an
+immediate explanation from herself seeming the only possible chance for
+preventing the most horrible conclusion to this unfortunate and eventful
+evening.
+
+She was still accompanied by Mr Simkins, and, but that she attended to
+nothing he said, would not inconsiderably have been tormented by his
+conversation. She sent him immediately into the coffee-room, to enquire
+if either of the gentlemen were then in the house.
+
+He returned to her with a waiter, who said, "One of them, madam, called
+again just now, but he only stopt to write a note, which he left to be
+given to the gentleman who came with him at first. He is but this moment
+gone, and I don't think he can be at the bottom of the street."
+
+"Oh drive then, gallop after him!"--cried Cecilia; "coachman! go this
+moment!"
+
+"My horses are tired," said the man, "they have been out all day, and
+they will gallop no further, if I don't stop and give them a drink."
+
+Cecilia, too full of hope and impatience for this delay, forced open
+the door herself, and without saying another word, jumped out of the
+carriage, with intention to run down the street; but the coachman
+immediately seizing her, protested she should not stir till he was paid.
+
+In the utmost agony of mind at an hindrance by which she imagined
+Delvile would be lost to her perhaps for ever, she put her hand in her
+pocket, in order to give up her purse for her liberty; but Mr Simkins,
+who was making a tiresome expostulation with the coachman, took it
+himself, and declaring he would not see the lady cheated, began a
+tedious calculation of his fare.
+
+"O pay him any thing!" cried she, "and let us be gone! an instant's
+delay may be fatal!"
+
+Mr Simkins, too earnest to conquer the coachman to attend to her
+distress, continued his prolix harangue concerning a disputed shilling,
+appealing to some gathering spectators upon the justice of his cause;
+while his adversary, who was far from sober, still held Cecilia, saying
+the coach had been hired for the lady, and he would be paid by herself.
+
+"Good God!" cried the agitated Cecilia,--"give him my purse at
+once!--give him every thing he desires!"--
+
+The coachman, at this permission, encreased his demands, and Mr Simkins,
+taking the number of his coach, protested he would summons him to the
+Court of Conscience the next morning. A gentleman, who then came out
+of the coffee-house, offered to assist the lady, but the coachman, who
+still held her arm, swore he would have his right.
+
+"Let me go! let me pass!" cried she, with encreasing eagerness and
+emotion; "detain me at your peril!--release me this moment--only let me
+run to the end of the street,--good God! good Heaven! detain me not for
+mercy!"
+
+Mr Simkins, humbly desiring her not to be in haste, began a formal
+apology for his conduct; but the inebriety of the coachman became
+evident; a mob was collecting; Cecilia, breathless with vehemence and
+terror, was encircled, yet struggled in vain to break away; and the
+stranger gentleman, protesting, with sundry compliments, he would
+himself take care of her, very freely seized her hand.
+
+This moment, for the unhappy Cecilia, teemed with calamity; she was
+wholly overpowered; terror for Delvile, horror for herself, hurry,
+confusion, heat and fatigue, all assailing her at once, while all means
+of repelling them were denied her, the attack was too strong for her
+fears, feelings, and faculties, and her reason suddenly, yet totally
+failing her, she madly called out, "He will be gone! he will be gone!
+and I must follow him to Nice!"
+
+The gentleman now retreated; but Mr Simkins, who was talking to the mob,
+did not hear her; and the coachman, too much intoxicated to perceive her
+rising frenzy, persisted in detaining her.
+
+"I am going to France!" cried she, still more wildly, "why do you stop
+me? he will die if I do not see him, he will bleed to death!"
+
+The coachman, still unmoved, began to grow very abusive; but the
+stranger, touched by compassion, gave up his attempted gallantry, and Mr
+Simkins, much astonished, entreated her not to be frightened: she was,
+however, in no condition to listen to him; with a strength hitherto
+unknown to her, she forcibly disengaged herself from her persecutors;
+yet her senses were wholly disordered; she forgot her situation, her
+intention, and herself; the single idea of Delvile's danger took sole
+possession of her brain, though all connection with its occasion was
+lost, and the moment she was released, she fervently clasped her hands,
+exclaiming, "I will yet heal his wound, even at the hazard of my life!"
+and springing forward, was almost instantly out of sight.
+
+Mr Simkins now, much alarmed, and earnestly calling after her, entered
+into a compromise with the coachman, that he might attend her; but the
+length of his negociation defeated its purpose, and before he was
+at liberty to follow her, all trace was lost by which he might have
+overtaken her. He stopt every passenger he met to make enquiries, but
+though they led him on some way, they led him on in vain; and, after
+a useless and ill-managed pursuit, he went quietly to his own home,
+determining to acquaint Mrs Belfield with what had happened the next
+morning.
+
+Mean while the frantic Cecilia escaped both pursuit and insult by the
+velocity of her own motion. She called aloud upon Delvile as she flew to
+the end of the street. No Delvile was there!--she turned the corner;
+yet saw nothing of him; she still went on, though unknowing whither,
+the distraction of her mind every instant growing greater, from the
+inflammation of fatigue, heat, and disappointment. She was spoken to
+repeatedly; she was even caught once or twice by her riding habit; but
+she forced herself along by her own vehement rapidity, not hearing what
+was said, nor heeding what was thought. Delvile, bleeding by the arm of
+Belfield, was the image before her eyes, and took such full possession
+of her senses, that still, as she ran on, she fancied it in view. She
+scarce touched the ground; she scarce felt her own motion; she seemed
+as if endued with supernatural speed, gliding from place to place, from
+street to street; with no consciousness of any plan, and following no
+other direction than that of darting forward where-ever there was most
+room, and turning back when she met with any obstruction; till quite
+spent and exhausted, she abruptly ran into a yet open shop, where,
+breathless and panting, she sunk upon the floor, and, with a look
+disconsolate and helpless, sat for some time without speaking.
+
+The people of the house, concluding at first she was a woman of the
+town, were going roughly to turn her out; but soon seeing their mistake,
+by the evident distraction of her air and manner, they enquired of some
+idle people who, late as it was, had followed her, if any of them knew
+who she was, or whence she came?
+
+They could give no account of her, but supposed she was broke loose from
+Bedlam.
+
+Cecilia then, wildly starting up, exclaimed, "No, no,--I am not mad,--I
+am going to Nice--to my husband."
+
+"She's quite crazy," said the man of the house, who was a Pawn-Broker;
+"we had better get rid of her before she grows mischievous--"
+
+"She's somebody broke out from a private mad house, I dare say," said a
+man who had followed her into the shop; "and if you were to take care of
+her a little while, ten to one but you'll get a reward for it."
+
+"She's a gentlewoman, sure enough," said the mistress of the house,
+"because she's got such good things on."
+
+And then, under pretence of trying to find some direction to her upon
+a letter, or paper, she insisted upon searching her pockets: here,
+however, she was disappointed in her expectations: her purse was in the
+custody of Mr Simkins, but neither her terror nor distress had saved her
+from the daring dexterity of villainy, and her pockets, in the mob,
+had been rifled of whatever else they contained. The woman therefore
+hesitated some time whether to take charge of her or, not: but being
+urged by the man who made the proposal, and who said they might depend
+upon seeing her soon advertised, as having escaped from her keepers,
+they ventured to undertake her.
+
+Mean while she endeavoured again to get out, calling aloud upon Delvile
+to rescue her, but so wholly bereft of sense and recollection, she could
+give no account who she was, whence she came, or whither she wished to
+go.
+
+They then carried her up stairs, and attempted to make her lie down
+upon a bed; but supposing she refused because it was not of straw, they
+desisted; and, taking away the candle, locked the door, and all went to
+rest.
+
+In this miserable condition, alone and raving, she was left to pass
+the night! in the early part of it, she called upon Delvile without
+intermission, beseeching him to come to her defence in one moment, and
+deploring his death the next; but afterwards, her strength being wholly
+exhausted by these various exertions and fatigues, she threw herself
+upon the floor, and lay for some minutes quite still. Her head then
+began to grow cooler, as the fever into which terror and immoderate
+exercise had thrown her abated, and her memory recovered its functions.
+
+This was, however, only a circumstance of horror to her: she found
+herself shut up in a place of confinement, without light, without
+knowledge where she was, and not a human being near her!
+
+Yet the same returning reason which enabled her to take this view of
+her own situation, brought also to her mind that in which she had left
+Delvile;--under all the perturbation of new-kindled jealousy, just
+calling upon Belfield,--Belfield, tenacious of his honour even more than
+himself,--to satisfy doubts of which the very mention would be received
+as a challenge!
+
+"Oh yet, oh yet," cried she, "let me fly and overtake them!--I may find
+them before morning, and to-night it must surely have been too late for
+this work of death!"
+
+She then arose to feel for the door, and succeeded; but it was locked,
+and no effort she could make enabled her to open it.
+
+Her agony was unspeakable; she called out with violence upon the people
+of the house, conjured them to set her at liberty, offered any reward
+for their assistance, and threatened them with a prosecution if
+detained.
+
+Nobody, however, came near her: some slept on notwithstanding all the
+disturbance she could make, and others; though awakened by her cries,
+concluded them the ravings of a mad woman, and listened not to what she
+said.
+
+Her head was by no means in a condition to bear this violence of
+distress; every pulse was throbbing, every vein seemed bursting, her
+reason, so lately returned, could not bear the repetition of such a
+shock, and from supplicating for help with all the energy of feeling
+and understanding, she soon continued the cry from mere vehemence of
+distraction.
+
+Thus dreadfully passed the night; and in the morning, when the woman of
+the house came to see after her, she found her raving with such frenzy,
+and desperation, that her conscience was perfectly at ease in the
+treatment she had given her, being now firmly satisfied she required the
+strictest confinement.
+
+She still, however, tried to get away; talked of Delvile without
+cessation, said she should be too late to serve him, told the woman she
+desired but to prevent murder, and repeatedly called out, "Oh beloved of
+my heart! wait but a moment, and I will snatch thee from destruction!"
+
+Mrs Wyers, this woman, now sought no longer to draw from her whence she
+came, or who she was, but heard her frantic exclamations without any
+emotion, contentedly concluding that her madness was incurable: and
+though she was in a high fever, refused all sustenance, and had every
+symptom of an alarming and dangerous malady, she was fully persuaded
+that her case was that of decided insanity, and had not any notion of
+temporary or accidental alienation of reason.
+
+All she could think of by way of indulgence to her, was to bring her
+a quantity of straw, having heard that mad people were fond of it; and
+putting it in a heap in one corner of the room, she expected to see her
+eagerly fly at it.
+
+Cecilia, however, distracted as she was, was eager for nothing but to
+escape, which was constantly her aim, alike when violent or when quiet.
+Mrs Wyers, finding this, kept her closely confined, and the door always
+locked, whether absent or present.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+AN ENCOUNTER.
+
+Two whole days passed thus; no enquiries reached Mrs Wyers, and she
+found in the news-papers no advertisement. Meanwhile Cecilia grew worse
+every moment, tasted neither drink nor food, raved incessantly, called
+out twenty times in a breath, "Where is he? which way is he gone?"
+and implored the woman by the most pathetic remonstrances, to save her
+unhappy Delvile, _dearer to her than life, more precious than peace or
+rest_!
+
+At other times she talked of her marriage, of the displeasure of his
+family, and of her own remorse; entreated the woman not to betray her,
+and promised to spend the remnant of her days in the heaviness of sorrow
+and contrition.
+
+Again her fancy roved, and Mr Monckton took sole possession of it. She
+reproached him for his perfidy, she bewailed that he was massacred, she
+would not a moment out-live him, and wildly declared _her last remains
+should moulder in his hearse_! And thus, though naturally and commonly
+of a silent and quiet disposition, she was now not a moment still, for
+the irregular starts of a terrified and disordered imagination, were
+changed into the constant ravings of morbid delirium.
+
+The woman, growing uneasy from her uncertainty of pay for her trouble,
+asked the advice of some of her friends what was proper for her to do;
+and they counselled her to put an advertisement into the papers herself
+the next morning.
+
+The following, therefore, was drawn up and sent to the printer of the
+Daily Advertiser.
+
+MADNESS.
+
+Whereas a crazy young lady, tall, fair complexioned, with blue eyes and
+light hair, ran into the Three Blue Balls, in----street, on Thursday
+night, the 2nd instant, and has been kept there since out of charity.
+She was dressed in a riding habit. Whoever she belongs to is desired to
+send after her immediately. She has been treated with the utmost care
+and tenderness. She talks much of some person by the name of Delvile.
+
+N.B.--She had no money about her.
+
+May, 1780.
+
+This had but just been sent off, when Mr Wyers, the man of the house,
+coming up stairs, said, "Now we shall have two of them, for here's
+the crazy old gentleman below, that says he has just heard in the
+neighbourhood of what has happened to us, and he desires to see the poor
+lady."
+
+"It's as well let him come up, then," answered Mrs Wyers, "for he goes
+to all sort of places and people, and ten to one but he'll bustle about
+till he finds out who she is."
+
+Mr Wyers then went down stairs to send him up.
+
+He came instantly. It was Albany, who in his vagrant rambles, having
+heard an unknown mad lady was at this pawn-broker's, came, with his
+customary eagerness to visit and serve the unhappy, to see what could be
+done for her.
+
+When he entered the room, she was sitting upon the bed, her eyes
+earnestly fixed upon the window, from which she was privately indulging
+a wish to make her escape. Her dress was in much disorder, her fine hair
+was dishevelled, and the feathers of her riding hat were broken and half
+falling down, some shading her face, others reaching to her shoulder.
+
+"Poor lady!" cried Albany, approaching her, "how long has she been in
+this state?"
+
+She started at the sound of a new voice, she looked round,--but what was
+the astonishment of Albany to see who it was!--He stept back,-he came
+forward,--he doubted his own senses,--he looked at her earnestly,--he
+turned from her to look at the woman of the house,--he cast his eyes
+round the room itself, and then, lifting up his hands, "O sight of woe!"
+he cried, "the generous and good! the kind reliever of distress! the
+benign sustainer of misery!--is _This_ Cecilia!"--
+
+Cecilia, imperfectly recollecting, though not understanding him, sunk
+down at his feet, tremblingly called out, "Oh, if he is yet to be saved,
+if already he is not murdered,--go to him! fly after him! you will
+presently overtake him, he is only in the next street, I left him there
+myself, his sword drawn, and covered with human blood!"
+
+"Sweet powers of kindness and compassion!" cried the old man, "look upon
+this creature with pity! she who raised the depressed, she who cheared
+the unhappy! she whose liberal hand turned lamentations into joy! who
+never with a tearless eye could hear the voice of sorrow!--is _This_ she
+herself!--can _This_ be Cecilia!"
+
+"O do not wait to talk!" cried she, "go to him now, or you will never
+see him more! the hand of death is on him,--cold, clay-cold is its
+touch! he is breathing his last--Oh murdered Delvile! massacred husband
+of my heart! groan not so piteously! fly to him, and weep over him!--fly
+to him and pluck the poniard from his wounded bosom!"
+
+"Oh sounds of anguish and horror!" cried the melted moralist, tears
+running quick down his rugged cheeks; "melancholy indeed is this
+sight, humiliating to morality! such is human strength, such human
+felicity!--weak as our virtues, frail as our guilty natures!"
+
+"Ah," cried she, more wildly, "no one will save me now! I am married,
+and no one will listen to me! ill were the auspices under which I gave
+my hand! Oh it was a work of darkness, unacceptable and offensive! it
+has been sealed, therefore, with blood, and to-morrow it will be signed
+with murder!"
+
+"Poor distracted creature!" exclaimed he, "thy pangs I have felt, but
+thy innocence I have forfeited!--my own wounds bleed afresh,--my own
+brain threatens new frenzy."--
+
+Then, starting up, "Good woman," he added, "kindly attend her,--I will
+seek out her friends, put her into bed, comfort, sooth, compose her.--I
+will come to you again, and as soon as I can."
+
+He then hurried away.
+
+"Oh hour of joy!" cried Cecilia, "he is gone to rescue him! oh blissful
+moment! he will yet be snatched from slaughter!"
+
+The woman lost not an instant in obeying the orders she had received;
+she was put into bed, and nothing was neglected, as far as she had
+power and thought, to give a look of decency and attention to her
+accommodations.
+
+He had not left them an hour, when Mary, the maid who had attended
+her from Suffolk, came to enquire for her lady. Albany, who was now
+wandering over the town in search of some of her friends, and who
+entered every house where he imagined she was known, had hastened to
+that of Mrs Hill the first of any, as he was well acquainted with her
+obligations to Cecilia; there, Mary herself, by the directions which
+her lady had given Mrs Belfield, had gone; and there, in the utmost
+astonishment and uneasiness, had continued till Albany brought news of
+her.
+
+She was surprised and afflicted beyond measure, not only at the state of
+her mind, and her health, but to find her in a bed and an apartment so
+unsuitable to her rank of life, and so different to what she had ever
+been accustomed. She wept bitterly while she enquired at the bed-side
+how her lady did, but wept still more, when, without answering, or
+seeming to know her, Cecilia started up, and called out, "I must be
+removed this moment! I must go to St James's-square,--if I stay an
+instant longer, the passing-bell will toll, and then how shall I be in
+time for the funeral?"
+
+Mary, alarmed and amazed, turned hastily from her to the woman of the
+house, who calmly said, the lady was only in a raving fit, and must not
+be minded.
+
+Extremely frightened at this intelligence, she entreated her to be quiet
+and lie still. But Cecilia grew suddenly so violent, that force only
+could keep her from rising; and Mary, unused to dispute her commands,
+prepared to obey them.
+
+Mrs Wyers now in her turn opposed in vain; Cecilia was peremptory, and
+Mary became implicit, and, though not without much difficulty, she
+was again dressed in her riding habit. This operation over, she moved
+towards the door, the temporary strength of delirium giving, her a
+hardiness that combated fever, illness, fatigue, and feebleness. Mary,
+however averse and fearful, assisted her, and Mrs Wyers, compelled by
+the obedience of her own servant, went before them to order a chair.
+
+Cecilia, however, felt her weakness when she attempted to move down
+stairs; her feet tottered, and her head became dizzy; she leaned it
+against Mary, who called aloud for more help, and made her sit down till
+it came. Her resolution, however, was not to be altered; a stubbornness,
+wholly foreign to her genuine character, now made her stern and
+positive; and Mary, who thought her submission indispensable, cried, but
+did not offer to oppose her.
+
+Mr and Mrs Wyers both came up to assist in supporting her, and Mr Wyers
+offered to carry her in his arms; but she would not consent; when she
+came to the bottom of the stairs, her head grew worse, she again lent
+it upon Mary, but Mr Wyers was obliged to hold them both. She still,
+however, was firm in her determination, and was making another effort to
+proceed, when Delvile rushed hastily into the shop.
+
+He had just encountered Albany; who, knowing his acquaintance, though
+ignorant of his marriage, with Cecilia, had informed him where to seek
+her.
+
+He was going to make enquiry if he was come to the right house, when
+he perceived her,--feeble, shaking, leaning upon one person, and half
+carried by another!--he started back, staggered, gasped for breath,--but
+finding they were proceeding, advanced with trepidation, furiously
+calling out, "Hold! stop!--what is it you are doing? Monsters of savage
+barbarity, are you murdering my wife?"
+
+The well-known voice no sooner struck the ears of Cecilia, than
+instantly recollecting it, she screamed, and, is suddenly endeavouring
+to spring forward, fell to the ground.
+
+Delvile had vehemently advanced to catch her in his arms and save her
+fall, which her unexpected quickness had prevented her attendants from
+doing; but the sight of her changed complection, and the wildness of her
+eyes and air, again made him start,--his blood froze through his veins,
+and he stood looking at her, cold and almost petrified.
+
+Her own recollection of him seemed lost already; and exhausted by the
+fatigue she had gone through in dressing and coming down stairs, she
+remained still and quiet, forgetting her design of proceeding, and
+forming no new one for returning.
+
+Mary, to whom, as to all her fellow servants, the marriage of Cecilia
+had been known, before she left the country, now desired from Delvile
+directions what was to be done.
+
+Delvile, starting suddenly at this call from the deepest horror into the
+most desperate rage, fiercely exclaimed, "Inhuman wretches! unfeeling,
+execrable wretches, what is it you have done to her? how came she
+hither?--who brought her?--who dragged her?--by what infamous usage has
+she been sunk into this state?"
+
+"Indeed, sir, I don't know!" cried Mary.
+
+"I assure you, sir," said Mrs Wyers, "the lady--"
+
+"Peace!" cried he, furiously, "I will not hear your falsehoods!--peace,
+and begone!"--
+
+Then, casting himself upon the ground by her side, "Oh my Cecilia,"
+he cried, "where hast thou been thus long? how have I lost thee? what
+dreadful calamity has befallen thee?--answer me, my love! raise your
+sweet head and answer me!--oh speak!--say to me any thing; the bitterest
+words will be mercy to this silence!"---
+
+Cecilia then, suddenly looking up, called out with great quickness, "Who
+are you?"
+
+"Who am I!" cried he, amazed and affrighted.
+
+"I should be glad you would go away," cried she, in a hurrying manner,
+"for you are quite unknown to me."
+
+Delvile, unconscious of her insanity, and attributing to resentment
+this aversion and repulse, hastily moved from her, mournfully answering,
+"Well indeed may you disclaim me, refuse all forgiveness, load me with
+hatred and reproach, and consign me to eternal anguish! I have merited
+severer punishment still; I have behaved like a monster, and I am
+abhorrent to myself!"
+
+Cecilia now, half rising, and regarding him with mingled terror and
+anger, eagerly exclaimed, "If you do not mean to mangle and destroy me,
+begone this instant."
+
+"To mangle you!" repeated Delvile, shuddering, "how horrible!--but I
+deserve it!--look not, however, so terrified, and I will tear myself
+away from you. Suffer me but to assist in removing you from this place,
+and I will only watch you at a distance, and never see you more till you
+permit me to approach you."
+
+"Why, why," cried Cecilia, with a look of perplexity and impatience,
+"will you not tell me your name, and where you come from?"
+
+"Do you not know me?" said he, struck with new horror; "or do you only
+mean to kill me by the question?"
+
+"Do you bring me any message from Mr Monckton?"
+
+"From Mr Monckton?--no; but he lives and will recover."
+
+"I thought you had been Mr Monckton yourself."
+
+"Too cruel, yet justly cruel Cecilia!--is then Delvile utterly
+renounced?--the guilty, the unhappy Delvile!--is he cast off for ever?
+have you driven him wholly from your heart? do you deny him even a place
+in your remembrance?"
+
+"Is your name, then, Delvile?"
+
+"O what is it you mean? Is it me or my name you thus disown?"
+
+"'Tis a name," cried she, sitting up, "I well remember to have heard,
+and once I loved it, and three times I called upon it in the dead of
+night. And when I was cold and wretched, I cherished it; and when I was
+abandoned and left alone, I repeated it and sung to it."
+
+"All-gracious powers!" cried Delvile, "her reason is utterly gone!"
+And, hastily rising, he desperately added, "what is death to this
+blow?--Cecilia, I am content to part with thee!"
+
+Mary now, and Mrs Wyers, poured upon him eagerly an account of her
+illness, and insanity, her desire of removal, and their inability to
+control her.
+
+Delvile, however, made no answer; he scarce heard them: the deepest
+despair took possession of his mind, and, rooted to the spot where he
+stood, he contemplated iii dreadful stillness the fallen and altered
+object of his best hopes and affections; already in her faded cheeks
+and weakened frame, his agonising terror read the quick impending
+destruction of all his earthly happiness! the sight was too much for
+his fortitude, and almost for his understanding; and when his woe became
+utterable, he wrung his hands, and groaning aloud, called out, "Art thou
+gone so soon! my wife! my Cecilia! have I lost thee already?"
+
+Cecilia, with utter insensibility to what was passing, now suddenly, and
+with a rapid yet continued motion, turned her head from side to side,
+her eyes wildly glaring, and yet apparently regarding nothing.
+
+"Dreadful! dreadful!" exclaimed Delvile, "what a sight is this!" and
+turning from her to the people of the house, he angrily said, "why is
+she here upon the floor? could you not even allow her a bed? Who attends
+her? Who waits upon her? Why has nobody sent for help?--Don't answer
+me,--I will not hear you, fly this moment for a physician,--bring two,
+bring three--bring all you can find?"
+
+Then, still looking from Cecilia, whose sight he could no longer
+support, he consulted with Mary whither she should be conveyed: and, as
+the night was far advanced, and no place was prepared for her elsewhere,
+they soon agreed that she could only be removed up stairs.
+
+Delvile now attempted to carry her in his arms; but trembling and
+unsteady, he had not strength to sustain her; yet not enduring to behold
+the helplessness he could not assist, he conjured them to be careful
+and gentle, and, committing her to their trust, ran out himself for a
+physician.
+
+Cecilia resisted them with her utmost power, imploring them not to bury
+her alive, and averring she had received intelligence they meant to
+entomb her with Mr Monckton.
+
+They put her, however, to bed, but her raving grew still more wild and
+incessant.
+
+Delvile soon returned with a physician, but had not courage to attend
+him to her room. He waited for him at the foot of the stairs, where,
+hastily stopping him,
+
+"Well, sir," he cried, "is it not all over? is it not impossible she can
+live?"
+
+"She is very ill, indeed, sir," he answered, "but I have given
+directions which perhaps---"
+
+"_Perhaps_!" interrupted Delvile, shuddering, "do not stab me with such
+a word!"
+
+"She is very delirious," he continued, "but as her fever is very high,
+that is not so material. If the orders I have given take effect, and the
+fever is got under, all the rest will be well of course."
+
+He then went away; leaving Delvile as much thunderstruck by answers
+so alarming, as if he had consulted him in full hope, and without even
+suspicion of her danger.
+
+The moment he recovered from this shock, he flew out of the house for
+more advice.
+
+He returned and brought with him two physicians. They confirmed the
+directions already given, but would pronounce nothing decisively of her
+situation.
+
+Delvile, half mad with the acuteness of his misery, charged them all
+with want of skill, and wrote instantly into the country for Dr Lyster.
+
+He went out himself in search of a messenger to ride off express, though
+it was midnight, with his letter; and then, returning, he was hastening
+to her room, but, while yet at the door, hearing her still raving, his
+horror conquered his eagerness, and, hurrying down stairs, he spent the
+remnant of the long and seemingly endless night in the shop.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A TRIBUTE.
+
+Mean while Cecilia went through very severe discipline, sometimes
+strongly opposing it, at other times scarce sensible what was done to
+her.
+
+The whole of the next day passed in much the same manner, neither did
+the next night bring any visible alteration. She had now nurses and
+attendants even more than sufficient, for Delvile had no relief but from
+calling in more help. His terror of again seeing her encreased with his
+forbearance; the interview which had already past had almost torn him
+asunder, and losing all courage for attempting to enter her room, he now
+spent almost all his time upon the stairs which led to it. Whenever she
+was still, he seated himself at her chamber door, where, if he could
+hear her breathe or move, a sudden hope of her recovery gave to him a
+momentary extasy that recompensed all his sufferings. But the instant
+she spoke, unable to bear the sound of so loved a voice uttering nothing
+but the incoherent ravings of lightheadedness, he hastened down stairs,
+and flying out of the house, walked in the neighbouring streets, till he
+could again gather courage to enquire or to listen how she went on.
+
+The following morning, however, Dr Lyster came, and every hope revived.
+He flew to embrace him, told him instantly his marriage with Cecilia,
+and besought him by some superior effort of his extraordinary abilities
+to save him the distraction of her loss.
+
+"My good friend," cried the worthy Doctor, "what is this you ask of me?
+and how can this poor young lady herself want advice more than you do?
+Do you think these able physicians actually upon the spot, with all
+the experience of full practice in London to assist their skill, want a
+petty Doctor out of the country to come and teach them what is right?"
+
+"I have more reliance upon you," cried Delvile, than upon the whole
+faculty; come, therefore, and prescribe for her,--take some new course
+"--
+
+"Impossible, my good Sir, impossible! I must not lose my wits from
+vanity, because you have lost yours from affliction. I could not refuse
+to come to you when you wrote to me with such urgency, and I will now go
+and see the young lady, as a _friend_, with all my heart. I am sorry for
+you at my soul, Mr Mortimer! She is a lovely young creature, and has an
+understanding, for her years and sex, unequalled."
+
+"Never mention her to me!" cried the impatient Delvile, "I cannot bear
+it! Go up to her, dear Doctor, and if you want a consultation, send, if
+you please, for every physician in town."
+
+Dr Lyster desired only that those who had already attended might
+be summoned; and then, giving up to his entreaties the accustomed
+ceremonial of waiting for them, he went to Cecilia.
+
+Delvile did not dare accompany him; and so well was he acquainted with
+his plainness and sincerity, that though he expected his return with
+eagerness, he no sooner heard him upon the stairs, than fearing to know
+his opinion, he hastily snatched up his hat, and rushed vehemently out
+of the house to avoid him.
+
+He continued to walk about the streets, till even the dread of ill
+news was less horrible to him than this voluntary suspense, and then he
+returned to the house.
+
+He found Dr Lyster in a small back parlour, which Mrs Wyers, finding she
+should now be well paid, had appropriated for Delvile's use.
+
+Delvile, putting his hand upon the Doctor's shoulder, said, "Well, my
+dear Dr Lyster, _you_, still, I hope"--
+
+"I would I could make you easy!" interrupted the Doctor; "yet, if you
+are rational, one comfort, at all events, I can give you; the crisis
+seems approaching, and either she will recover, or before to-morrow
+morning"---
+
+"Don't go on, Sir!" cried Delvile, with mingled rage and horror, "I
+will not have her days limited! I sent not for you to give me such an
+account!"
+
+And again he flew out of the house, leaving Dr Lyster unaffectedly
+concerned for him, and too kind-hearted and too wise to be offended at
+the injustice of immoderate sorrow.
+
+In a few minutes, however, from the effect rather of despair than
+philosophy, Delvile grew more composed, and waited upon Dr Lyster to
+apologize for his behaviour. He received his hearty forgiveness, and
+prevailed upon him to continue in town till the whole was decided.
+
+About noon, Cecilia, from the wildest rambling and most perpetual
+agitation, sunk suddenly into a state of such utter insensibility,
+that she appeared unconscious even of her existence; and but that she
+breathed, she might already have passed for being dead.
+
+When Delvile heard this, he could no longer endure even his post upon
+the stairs; he spent his whole time in wandering about the streets, or
+stopping in Dr Lyster's parlour to enquire if all was over.
+
+That humane physician, not more alarmed at the danger of Cecilia, than
+grieved at the situation of Delvile, thought the present fearful crisis
+at least offered an opportunity of reconciling him with his father. He
+waited, therefore, upon that gentleman in St James's-square, and openly
+informed him of the dangerous state of Cecilia, and the misery of his
+son.
+
+Mr Delvile, though he would gladly, to have annulled an alliance he held
+disgraceful to his family, have received intelligence that Cecilia was
+no more, was yet extremely disconcerted to hear of sufferings to which
+his own refusal of an asylum he was conscious had largely contributed;
+and after a haughty struggle between tenderness and wrath, he begged the
+advice of Dr Lyster how his son might be drawn from such a scene.
+
+Dr Lyster, who well knew Delvile was too desperate to be tractable,
+proposed surprising him into an interview by their returning together:
+Mr Delvile, however apprehensive and relenting, conceded most
+unwillingly to a measure he held beneath him, and, when he came to the
+shop, could scarce be persuaded to enter it. Mortimer, at that time,
+was taking a solitary ramble; and Dr Lyster, to complete the work he
+had begun of subduing the hard pride of his father, contrived, under
+pretence of waiting for him, to conduct him to the room of the invalide.
+
+Mr Delvile, who knew not whither he was going, at first sight of the bed
+and the attendants, was hastily retreating; but the changed and livid
+face of Cecilia caught his eye, and, struck with sudden consternation,
+he involuntarily stopt.
+
+"Look at the poor young lady!" cried Dr Lyster; "can you wonder a sight
+such as this should make Mr Mortimer forget every thing else?"
+
+She was wholly insensible, but perfectly quiet; she seemed to
+distinguish nothing, and neither spoke nor moved.
+
+Mr Delvile regarded her with the utmost horror: the refuge he so
+implacably refused her on the night when her intellects were disordered,
+he would now gladly have offered at the expence of almost similar
+sufferings, to have relieved himself from those rising pangs which
+called him author of this scene of woe. His pride, his pomp, his ancient
+name, were now sunk in his estimation; and while he considered himself
+the destroyer of this unhappy young creature, he would have sacrificed
+them all to have called himself her protector. Little is the boast of
+insolence when it is analysed by the conscience! bitter is the agony
+of self-reproach, where misery follows hardness of heart! yet, when the
+first painful astonishment from her situation abated, the remorse she
+excited being far stronger than the pity, he gave an angry glance at Dr
+Lyster for betraying him into such a sight, and hastily left the room.
+
+Delvile, who was now impatiently waiting to see Dr Lyster in the little
+parlour, alarmed at the sound of a new step upon the stairs, came out to
+enquire who had been admitted. When he saw his father, he shrunk back;
+but Mr Delvile, no longer supported by pride, and unable to recover from
+the shock he had just received, caught him in his arms, and said "Oh
+come home to me, my son! this is a place to destroy you!"
+
+"Ah, Sir," cried Delvile, "think not of me now!--you must shew me no
+kindness; I am not in a state to bear it!" And, forcibly breaking from
+him, he hurried out of the house.
+
+Mr Delvile, all the father awakened in his bosom, saw his departure
+with more dread than anger; and returned himself to St James's-square,
+tortured with parental fears, and stung by personal remorse, lamenting
+his own inflexibility, and pursued by the pale image of Cecilia.
+
+She was still in this unconscious state, and apparently as free from
+suffering as from enjoyment, when a new voice was suddenly heard
+without, exclaiming, "Oh where is she? where is she? where is my dear
+Miss Beverley?" and Henrietta Belfield ran wildly into the room.
+
+The advertisement in the news-papers had at once brought her to town,
+and directed her to the house: the mention that the lost lady _talked
+much of a person by the name of Delvile_, struck her instantly to mean
+Cecilia; the description corresponded with this idea, and the account of
+the dress confirmed it: Mr Arnott, equally terrified with herself, had
+therefore lent her his chaise to learn the truth of this conjecture, and
+she had travelled all night.
+
+Flying up to the bedside, "Who is this?" she cried, "this is not Miss
+Beverley?" and then screaming with unrestrained horror, "Oh mercy!
+mercy!" she called out, "yes, it is indeed! and nobody would know
+her!--her own mother would not think her her child!"
+
+"You must come away, Miss Belfield," said Mary, "you must indeed,--the
+doctors all say my lady must not be disturbed."
+
+"Who shall take me away?" cried she, angrily, "nobody Mary! not all the
+doctors in the world! Oh sweet Miss Beverley! I will lie down by your
+side,--I will never quit you while you live,--and I wish, I wish I could
+die to save your precious life!"
+
+Then, leaning over her, and wringing her hands, "Oh I shall break my
+heart," she cried, "to see her in this condition! Is this the so happy
+Miss Beverley, that I thought every body born to give joy to? the
+Miss Beverley that seemed queen of the whole world! yet so good and so
+gentle, so kind to the meanest person! excusing every body's faults but
+her own, and telling them how they might mend, and trying to make them
+as good as herself!--Oh who would know her! who would know her! what
+have they done to you, my beloved Miss Beverley? how have they altered
+and disfigured you in this wicked and barbarous manner?"
+
+In the midst of this simple yet pathetic testimony, to the worth and
+various excellencies of Cecilia, Dr Lyster came into the room. The women
+all flocked around him, except Mary, to vindicate themselves from any
+share in permitting this new comer's entrance and behaviour; but Mary
+only told him who she was, and said, that if her lady was well enough to
+know her, there was nobody she was certain she would have been so glad
+to see.
+
+"Young lady," said the doctor, "I would advise you to walk into another
+room till you are a little more composed."
+
+"Every body, I find, is for hurrying me away," cried the sobbing
+Henrietta, whose honest heart swelled with its own affectionate
+integrity; "but they might all save themselves the trouble, for go I
+will not!"
+
+"This is very wrong," said the doctor, "and must not be suffered: do you
+call it friendship to come about a sick person in this manner?"
+
+"Oh my Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, "do you hear how they all
+upbraid me? how they all want to force me away from you, and to hinder
+me even from looking at you! Speak for me, sweet lady! speak for me
+yourself! tell them the poor Henrietta will not do you any harm; tell
+them she only wishes just to sit by you, and to see you!--I will hold by
+this dear hand,--I will cling to it till the last minute; and you will
+not, I know you will not, give orders to have it taken away from me!"
+
+Dr Lyster, though his own good nature was much affected by this fond
+sorrow, now half angrily represented to her the impropriety of indulging
+it: but Henrietta, unused to disguise or repress her feelings, grew only
+the more violent, the more she was convinced of Cecilia's danger: "Oh
+look but at her," she exclaimed, "and take me from her if you can!
+see how her sweet eyes are fixed! look but what a change in her
+complexion!--She does not see me, she does not know me,--she does not
+hear me! her hand seems quite lifeless already, her face is all fallen
+away!--Oh that I had died twenty deaths before I had lived to see this
+sight!--poor wretched Henrietta, thou bast now no friend left in the
+world! thou mayst go and lie down in some corner, and no one will come
+and say to thee a word of comfort!"
+
+"This must not be!" said Dr Lyster, "you must take her away."
+
+"You shall not!" cried she, desperately, "I will stay with her till she
+has breathed her last, and I will stay with her still longer! and if she
+was to speak to you this moment, she would tell you that she chose it.
+She loved the poor Henrietta, and loved to have her near her; and when
+she was ill, and in much distress, she never once bid me leave her room.
+Is it not true, my sweet Miss Beverley? do you not know it to be true?
+Oh look not so dreadfully! turn to your unhappy Henrietta; sweetest,
+best of ladies! will you not speak to her once more? will you not say to
+her one single word?"
+
+Dr Lyster now grew very angry, and telling her such violence might have
+fatal consequences, frightened her into more order, and drew her away
+himself. He had then the kindness to go with her into another room,
+where, when her first vehemence was spent, his remonstrances and
+reasoning brought her to a sense of the danger she might occasion, and
+made her promise not to return to the room till she had gained strength
+to behave better.
+
+When Dr Lyster went again to Delvile, he found him greatly alarmed
+by his long stay; he communicated to him briefly what had passed, and
+counselled him to avoid encreasing his own grief by the sight of
+what was suffered by this unguarded and ardent girl. Delvile readily
+assented, for the weight of his own woe was too heavy to bear any
+addition.
+
+Henrietta now, kept in order by Dr Lyster, contented herself with only
+sitting on the bed, without attempting to speak, and with no other
+employment than alternately looking at her sick friend, and covering
+her streaming eyes with her handkerchief; from time to time quitting the
+room wholly, for the relief of sobbing at liberty and aloud in another.
+
+But, in the evening, while Delvile and Dr Lyster were taking one of
+their melancholy rambles, a new scene was acted in the apartment of
+the still senseless Cecilia. Albany suddenly made his entrance into it,
+accompanied by three children, two girls and one boy, from the ages of
+four to six, neatly dressed, clean, and healthy.
+
+"See here!"' cried he, as he came in, "see here what I've brought
+you! raise, raise your languid head, and look this way! you think me
+rigid,--an enemy to pleasure, austere, harsh, and a forbidder of joy:
+look at this sight, and see the contrary! who shall bring you comfort,
+joy, pleasure, like this? three innocent children, clothed and fed by
+your bounty!"
+
+Henrietta and Mary, who both knew him well, were but little surprised at
+anything he said or did, and the nurses presumed not to interfere but by
+whispers.
+
+Cecilia, however, observed nothing that passed; and Albany, somewhat
+astonished, approached nearer to the bed; "Wilt thou not speak?" he
+cried.
+
+"She can't, Sir," said one of the women; "she has been speechless many
+hours."
+
+The air of triumph with which he had entered the room was now changed
+into disappointment and consternation. For some minutes he thoughtfully
+and sorrowfully contemplated her, and then, with a deep sigh, said, "How
+will the poor rue this day!" Then, turning to the children, who, awed by
+this scene, were quiet from terror. "Alas!" he said, "ye helpless babes,
+ye know not what you have lost: presumptuously we came; unheeded we must
+return! I brought you to be seen by your benefactress, but she is going
+where she will find many such."
+
+He then led them away; but, suddenly coming back, "I may see her,
+perhaps, no more! shall I not, then, pray for her? Great and aweful is
+the change she is making; what are human revolutions, how pitiful, how
+insignificant, compared with it!--Come, little babies, come; with gifts
+has she often blessed _you_, with wishes bless _her_! Come, let us kneel
+round her bed; let us all pray for her together; lift up your innocent
+hands, and for all of you I will speak."
+
+He then made the children obey his injunctions, and having knelt
+himself, while Henrietta and Mary instantly did the same, "Sweet
+flower!" he cried, "untimely cropt in years, yet in excellence mature!
+early decayed in misery, yet fragrant in innocence! Gentle be thy exit,
+for unsullied have been thy days; brief be thy pains, for few have been
+thy offences! Look at her sweet babes, and bear her in your remembrance;
+often will I visit you and revive the solemn scene. Look at her ye,
+also, who are nearer to your end--Ah! will you bear it like her!"
+
+He paused; and the nurses and Mrs Wyers, struck by this call, and moved
+by the general example, crept to the bed, and dropt on their knees,
+almost involuntarily.
+
+"She departs," resumed Albany, "the envy of the world! while yet no
+guilt had seized her soul, and no remorse had marred her peace. She was
+the hand-maid of charity, and pity dwelt in her bosom! her mouth
+was never open but to give comfort; her foot-steps were followed by
+blessings! Oh happy in purity, be thine the song of triumph!--softly
+shalt thou sink to temporary sleep,--sublimely shalt thou rise to life
+that wakes for ever!"
+
+He then got up, took the children by their little hands, and went away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER x.
+
+A TERMINATION.
+
+Dr Lyster and Delvile met them at the entrance into the house. Extremely
+alarmed lest Cecilia had received any disturbance, they both hastened
+up stairs, but Delvile proceeded only to the door. He stopt there and
+listened; but all was silent; the prayers of Albany had struck an awe
+into every one; and Dr Lyster soon returned to tell him there was no
+alteration in his patient.
+
+"And he has not disturbed her?" cried Delvile.
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+"I think, then," said he, advancing, though trembling, "I will yet see
+her once more."
+
+"No, no, Mr Mortimer," cried the doctor, "why should you give yourself
+so unnecessary a shock?"
+
+"The shock," answered he, "is over!--tell me, however, is there any
+chance I may hurt _her_?"
+
+"I believe not; I do not think, just now, she will perceive you."
+
+"Well, then,--I may grieve, perhaps, hereafter, that once more--that
+one glance!"--He stopt, irresolute the doctor would again have dissuaded
+him, but, after a little hesitation, he assured him he was prepared for
+the worst, and forced himself into the room.
+
+When again, however, he beheld Cecilia,--senseless, speechless,
+motionless, her features void of all expression, her cheeks without
+colour, her eyes without meaning,--he shrunk from the sight, he leant
+upon Dr Lyster, and almost groaned aloud.
+
+The doctor would have conducted him out of the apartment; but,
+recovering from this first agony, he turned again to view her, and
+casting up his eyes, fervently ejaculated, "Oh merciful powers! Take,
+or destroy her! let her not linger thus, rather let me lose her
+for ever!--O far rather would I see her dead, glad in this dreadful
+condition!"
+
+Then, advancing to the bed side, and yet more earnestly looking at her,
+"I pray not now," he cried, "for thy life! inhumanly as I have treated
+thee, I am not yet so hardened as to wish thy misery lengthened no;
+quick be thy restoration, or short as pure thy passage to eternity!--Oh
+my Cecilia! lovely, however altered! sweet even in the arms of death and
+insanity! and dearer to my tortured heart in this calamitous state, than
+in all thy pride of health and beauty!"--
+
+He stopt, and turned from her, yet could not tear himself away; he came
+back, he again looked at her, he hung over her in anguish unutterable;
+he kissed each burning hand, he folded to his bosom her feeble form,
+and, recovering his speech, though almost bursting with sorrow, faintly
+articulated, "Is all over? no ray of reason left? no knowledge of thy
+wretched Delvile?--no, none! the hand of death is on her, and she
+is utterly gone!--sweet suffering excellence! loved, lost, expiring
+Cecilia!--but I will not repine! peace and kindred angels are watching
+to receive thee, and if thou art parted from thyself, it were impious
+to lament thou shouldst be parted from me.--Yet in thy tomb will be
+deposited all that to me could render existence supportable, every
+frail chance of happiness, every sustaining hope, and all alleviation of
+sorrow!"--
+
+Dr Lyster now again approaching, thought he perceived some change in
+his patient, and peremptorily forced him away from her: then returning
+himself, he found that her eyes were shut, and she was dropt asleep.
+
+This was an omen the most favourable he could hope. He now seated
+himself by the bedside, and determined not to quit her till the expected
+crisis was past. He gave the strictest orders for the whole house to be
+kept quiet, and suffered no one in the room either to speak or move.
+
+Her sleep was long and heavy; yet, when she awoke, her sensibility
+was evidently returned. She started, suddenly raised her head from the
+pillow, looked round her, and called out, "where am I now?"
+
+"Thank Heaven!" cried Henrietta, and was rushing forward, when Dr
+Lyster, by a stern and angry look, compelled her again to take her seat.
+
+He then spoke to her himself, enquired how she did, and found her quite
+rational.
+
+Henrietta, who now doubted not her perfect recovery, wept as violently
+for joy as she had before wept for grief; and Mary, in the same belief,
+ran instantly to Delvile, eager to carry to him the first tidings that
+her mistress had recovered her reason.
+
+Delvile, in the utmost emotion, then returned to the chamber; but
+stood at some distance from the bed, waiting Dr Lyster's permission to
+approach it.
+
+Cecilia was quiet and composed, her recollection seemed restored,
+and her intellects sound: hut she was faint and weak, and contentedly
+silent, to avoid the effort of speaking.
+
+Dr Lyster encouraged this stillness, and suffered not anyone, not even
+Delvile, to advance to her. After a short time, however, she again, and
+very calmly, began to talk to him. She now first knew him, and seemed
+much surprised by his attendance. She could not tell, she said, what
+of late had happened to her, nor could guess where she was, or by what
+means she came into such a place. Dr Lyster desired her at present
+not to think upon the subject, and promised her a full account of
+everything, when she was stronger, and more fit for conversing.
+
+This for a while silenced her. But, after a short pause, "Tell me," she
+said, "Dr Lyster, have I no friend in this place but you?"
+
+"Yes, yes, you have several friends here," answered the Doctor, "only I
+keep them in order, lest they should hurry or disturb you."
+
+She seemed much pleased by this speech; but soon after said, "You must
+not, Doctor, keep them in order much longer, for the sight of them, I
+think, would much revive me."
+
+"Ah, Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, who could not now restrain
+herself, "may not _I_, among the rest, come and speak to you?"
+
+"Who is that?" said Cecilia, in a voice of pleasure, though very feeble;
+"is it my ever-dear Henrietta?"
+
+"Oh this is joy indeed!" cried she, fervently kissing her cheeks and
+forehead, "joy that I never, never expected to have more!"
+
+"Come, come," cried Dr Lyster, "here's enough of this; did I not do well
+to keep such people off?"
+
+"I believe you did," said Cecilia, faintly smiling; "my too kind
+Henrietta, you must be more tranquil!"
+
+"I will, I will indeed, madam!--my dear, dear Miss Beverley, I will
+indeed!--now once you have owned me, and once again I hear your sweet
+voice, I will do any thing, and every thing, for I am made happy for my
+whole life!"
+
+"Ah, sweet Henrietta!" cried Cecilia, giving her her hand, "you must
+suppress these feelings, or our Doctor here will soon part us. But tell
+me, Doctor, is there no one else that you can let me see?"
+
+Delvile, who had listened to this scene in the unspeakable perturbation
+of that hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair, was now
+springing forward; but Dr Lyster, fearful of the consequences, hastily
+arose, and with a look and air not to be disputed, took hold of his arm,
+and led him out of the room. He then represented to him strongly the
+danger of agitating or disturbing her, and charged him to keep from her
+sight till better able to bear it; assuring him at the same time that he
+might now reasonably hope her recovery.
+
+Delvile, lost in transport, could make no answer, but flew into his
+arms, and almost madly embraced him; he then hastened out of sight to
+pour forth fervent thanks, and hurrying back with equal speed, again
+embraced the Doctor, and while his manly cheeks were burnt with tears of
+joy, he could not yet articulate the glad tumult of his soul.
+
+The worthy Dr Lyster, who heartily partook of his happiness, again urged
+him to be discreet; and Delvile, no longer intractable and desperate,
+gratefully concurred in whatever he commanded. Dr Lyster then returned
+to Cecilia, and to relieve her mind from any uneasy suspense, talked to
+her openly of Delvile, gave her to understand he was acquainted with
+her marriage, and told her he had prohibited their meeting till each was
+better able to support it.
+
+Cecilia by this delay seemed half gratified, and half disappointed;
+but the rest of the physicians, who had been summoned upon this happy
+change, now appearing, the orders were yet more strictly enforced for
+keeping her quiet.
+
+She submitted, therefore, peaceably; and Delvile, whose gladdened heart
+still throbbed with speechless rapture, contentedly watched at her
+chamber door, and obeyed implicitly whatever was said to him.
+
+She now visibly, and almost hourly grew better; and, in a short time,
+her anxiety to know all that was passed, and by what means she became so
+ill, and confined in a house of which she had not any knowledge, obliged
+Dr Lyster to make himself master of these particulars, that he might
+communicate them to her with a calmness that Delvile could not attain.
+
+Delvile himself, happy to be spared the bitter task of such a relation,
+informed him all he knew of the story, and then entreated him to narrate
+to her also the motives of his own strange, and he feared unpardonable
+conduct, and the scenes which had followed their parting.
+
+He came, he said, to England, ignorant of all that had past in his
+absence, intending merely to wait upon his father, and communicate his
+marriage, before he gave directions to his lawyer for the settlements
+and preparations which were to precede its further publication. He
+meant, also, to satisfy himself, of the real situation of Mr Monckton,
+and then, after an interview with Cecilia, to have returned to his
+mother, and waited at Nice till he might publicly claim his wife.
+
+To this purpose he had written in his letter, which he meant to have put
+in the Post-office in London himself; and he had but just alighted from
+his chaise, when he met Ralph, Cecilia's servant, in the street.
+
+Hastily stopping him, he enquired if he had left his place? "No,"
+answered Ralph, "I am only come up to town with my lady."
+
+"With your lady?" cried the astonished Delvile, is your lady then in
+town?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she is at Mrs Belfield's."
+
+"At Mrs Belfield's?--is her daughter returned home?
+
+"No, sir, we left her in the country."
+
+He was then going on with a further account, but, in too much confusion
+of mind to hear him Delvile abruptly wished him good night, and marched
+on himself towards Belfield's.
+
+The pleasure with which he would have heard that Cecilia was so near to
+him, was totally lost in his perplexity to account for her journey. Her
+letters had never hinted at such a purpose,--the news reached him
+only by accident,--it was ten o'clock at night,--yet she was at
+Belfield's--though the sister was away,--though the mother was
+professedly odious to her!--In an instant, all he had formerly heard,
+all he had formerly disregarded, rushed suddenly upon his memory, and
+he began to believe he had been deluded, that his father was right, and
+that Belfield had some strange and improper influence over her heart.
+
+The suspicion was death to him; he drove it from him, he concluded
+the whole was some error: his reason as powerfully as his tenderness
+vindicated her innocence; and though he arrived at the house in much
+disorder, he yet arrived with a firm persuasion of an honourable
+explanation.
+
+The door was open,--a chaise was at it in waiting,--Mrs Belfield was
+listening in the passage; these appearances were strange, and encreased
+his agitation. He asked for her son in a voice scarce audible,--she told
+him he was engaged with a lady, and must not be disturbed.
+
+That fatal answer, at a moment so big with the most horrible surmises,
+was decisive: furiously, therefore, he forced himself past her, and
+opened the door:--but when he saw them together,--the rest of the family
+confessedly excluded, his rage turned to horror, and he could hardly
+support himself.
+
+"O Dr Lyster!" he continued, "ask of the sweet creature if these
+circumstances offer any extenuation for the fatal jealousy which seized
+me? never by myself while I live will it be forgiven, but she, perhaps,
+who is all softness, all compassion, and all peace, may some time hence
+think my sufferings almost equal to my offence."
+
+He then proceeded in his narration.
+
+When he had so peremptorily ordered her chaise to St James's-square, he
+went back to the house, and desired Belfield to walk out with him. He
+complied, and they were both silent till they came to a Coffee-house,
+where they asked for a private room. The whole way they went, his heart,
+secretly satisfied of the purity of Cecilia, smote him for the situation
+in which he had left her; yet, having unfortunately gone so far as to
+make his suspicions apparent, he thought it necessary to his character
+that their abolition should be equally public.
+
+When they were alone, "Belfield," he said, "to obviate any imputation of
+impertinence in my enquiries, I deny not, what I presume you have been
+told by herself, that I have the nearest interest in whatever concerns
+the lady from whom we are just now parted: I must beg, therefore, an
+explicit account of the purpose of your private conversation with her."
+
+"Mr Delvile," answered Belfield, with mingled candour and spirit, "I am
+not commonly much disposed to answer enquiries thus cavalierly put to
+me; yet here, as I find myself not the principal person concerned, I
+think I am bound in justice to speak for the absent who is. I assure
+you, therefore, most solemnly, that your interest in Miss Beverley I
+never heard but by common report, that our being alone together was by
+both of us undesigned and undesired, that the honour she did our house
+in calling at it, was merely to acquaint my mother with my sister's
+removal to Mrs Harrel's, and that the part which I had myself in her
+condescension, was simply to be consulted upon a journey which she has
+in contemplation to the South of France. And now, sir, having given you
+this peaceable satisfaction, you will find me extremely at your service
+to offer any other."
+
+Delvile instantly held out his hand to him; "What you assert," he said,
+"upon your honour, requires no other testimony. Your gallantry and
+your probity are equally well known to me; with either, therefore, I am
+content, and by no means require the intervention of both."
+
+They then parted; and now, his doubts removed, and his punctilio
+satisfied, he flew to St James's-square, to entreat the forgiveness of
+Cecilia for the alarm he had occasioned her, and to hear the reason of
+her sudden journey, and change of measures. But when he came there, to
+find that his father, whom he had concluded was at Delvile Castle,
+was in the house, while Cecilia had not even enquired for him at the
+door,--"Oh let me not," he continued, "even to myself, let me not trace
+the agony of that moment!--where to seek her I knew not, why she was in
+London I could not divine, for what purpose she had given the postilion
+a new direction I could form no idea. Yet it appeared that she wished to
+avoid me, and once more, in the frenzy of my disappointment, I supposed
+Belfield a party in her concealment. Again, therefore, I sought him,--at
+his own house,--at the coffee-house where I had left him,--in vain,
+wherever I came, I just missed him, for, hearing of my search, he went
+with equal restlessness, from place to place to meet me. I rejoice we
+both failed; a repetition of my enquiries in my then irritable state,
+must inevitably have provoked the most fatal resentment.
+
+"I will not dwell upon the scenes that followed,--my laborious search,
+my fruitless wanderings, the distraction of my suspense, the excess of
+my despair!--even Belfield, the fiery Belfield, when I met with him the
+next day, was so much touched by my wretchedness, that he bore with
+all my injustice; feeling, noble young man! never will I lose the
+remembrance of his high-souled patience.
+
+"And now, Dr Lyster, go to my Cecilia; tell her this tale, and try,
+for you have skill sufficient, to soften, yet not wound her with my
+sufferings. If then she can bear to see me, to bless me with the sound
+of her sweet voice, no longer at war with her intellects, to hold out
+to me her loved hand, in token of peace and forgiveness.--Oh, Dr Lyster!
+preserver of _my_ life in hers! give to me but that exquisite moment,
+and every past evil will be for ever obliterated!"
+
+"You must be calmer, Sir," said the Doctor, "before I make the attempt.
+These heroicks are mighty well for sound health, and strong nerves, but
+they will not do for an invalide."
+
+He went, however, to Cecilia, and gave her this narration, suppressing
+whatever he feared would most affect her, and judiciously enlivening the
+whole by his strictures. Cecilia was much easier for this removal of her
+perplexities, and, as her anguish and her terror had been unmixed with
+resentment, she had now no desire but to reconcile Delvile with himself.
+
+Dr Lyster, however, by his friendly authority, obliged her for some
+time to be content with this relation; but when she grew better, her
+impatience became stronger, and he feared opposition would be as hurtful
+as compliance.
+
+Delvile, therefore, was now admitted; yet slowly and with trepidation he
+advanced, terrified for her, and fearful of himself, filled with remorse
+for the injuries she had sustained, and impressed with grief and horror
+to behold her so ill and altered.
+
+Supported by pillows, she sat almost upright. The moment she saw him,
+she attempted to bend forward and welcome him, calling out in a tone of
+pleasure, though faintly, "Ah! dearest Delvile! is it you?" but too
+weak for the effort she had made, she sunk back upon her pillow, pale,
+trembling, and disordered.
+
+Dr Lyster would then have interfered to postpone their further
+conversation; but Delvile was no longer master of himself or his
+passions: he darted forward, and kneeling at the bed side, "Sweet
+injured excellence!" he cried, "wife of my heart! sole object of my
+chosen affection! dost thou yet live? do I hear thy loved voice?--do I
+see thee again?--art thou my Cecilia? and have I indeed not lost thee?"
+then regarding her more fixedly, "Alas," he cried, "art thou indeed my
+Cecilia! so pale, so emaciated!--Oh suffering angel! and couldst thou
+then call upon Delvile, the guilty, but heart-broken Delvile, thy
+destroyer, thy murderer, and yet not call to execrate him?"
+
+Cecilia, extremely affected, could not utter a word; she held out to
+him her hand, she looked at him with gentleness and kindness, but tears
+started into her eyes, and trickled in large drops down her colourless
+cheeks.
+
+"Angelic creature!" cried Delvile, his own tears overflowing, while he
+pressed to his lips the kind token of her pardon, "can you give to me
+again a hand so ill deserved? can you look with such compassion on the
+author of your woes? on the wretch, who for an instant could doubt the
+purity of a mind so seraphic!"
+
+"Ah, Delvile!" cried she, a little reviving, "think no more of what is
+past!--to see you,--to be yours,--drives all evil from my remembrance!"
+
+"I am not worthy this joy!" cried he, rising, kneeling, and rising
+again; "I know not how to sustain it! a forgiveness such as this,--when
+I believed You must hate me for ever! when repulse and aversion were
+all I dared expect,--when my own inhumanity had bereft thee of thy
+reason,--when the grave, the pitiless grave, was already open to receive
+thee."--
+
+"Too kind, too feeling Delvile!" cried the penetrated Cecilia, "relieve
+your loaded heart from these bitter recollections; mine is lightened
+already,--lightened, I think, of every thing but its affection for
+_you_!"
+
+"Oh words of transport and extacy!" cried the enraptured Delvile, "oh
+partner of my life! friend, solace, darling of my bosom! that so lately
+I thought expiring! that I folded to my bleeding heart in the agony of
+eternal separation!"--
+
+"Come away, Sir, come away," cried Dr Lyster, who now saw that Cecilia
+was greatly agitated, "I will not be answerable for the continuation of
+this scene;" and taking him by the arm, he awakened him from his frantic
+rapture, by assuring him she would faint, and forced him away from her.
+
+Soon after he was gone, and Cecilia became more tranquil, Henrietta,
+who had wept with bitterness in a corner of the room during this scene,
+approached her, and, with an attempted smile, though in a voice hardly
+audible, said, "Ah, Miss Beverley, you will, at last, then be happy!
+happy as all your goodness deserves. And I am sure I should rejoice in
+it if I was to die to make you happier!"
+
+Cecilia, who but too well knew her full meaning, tenderly embraced her,
+but was prevented by Dr Lyster from entering into any discourse with
+her.
+
+The first meeting, however, with Delvile being over, the second was
+far more quiet, and in a very short time, he would scarcely quit her a
+moment, Cecilia herself receiving from his sight a pleasure too great
+for denial, yet too serene for danger.
+
+The worthy Dr Lyster, finding her prospect of recovery thus fair,
+prepared for leaving London: but, equally desirous to do good out of his
+profession as in it, he first, at the request of Delvile, waited upon
+his father, to acquaint him with his present situation, solicit his
+directions for his future proceedings, and endeavour to negociate a
+general reconciliation.
+
+Mr Delvile, to whose proud heart social joy could find no avenue, was
+yet touched most sensibly by the restoration of Cecilia. Neither his
+dignity nor his displeasure had been able to repress remorse, a feeling
+to which, with all his foibles, he had not been accustomed. The view of
+her distraction had dwelt upon his imagination, the despondency of his
+son had struck him with fear and horror. He had been haunted by self
+reproach, and pursued by vain regret; and those concessions he had
+refused to tenderness and entreaty, he now willingly accorded to change
+repentance for tranquility. He sent instantly for his son, whom even
+with tears he embraced, and felt his own peace restored as he pronounced
+his forgiveness.
+
+New, however, to kindness, he retained it not long, and a stranger to
+generosity, he knew not how to make her welcome: the extinction of his
+remorse abated his compassion for Cecilia, and when solicited to receive
+her, he revived the charges of Mr Monckton.
+
+Cecilia, informed of this, determined to write to that gentleman
+herself, whose long and painful illness, joined to his irrecoverable
+loss of her, she now hoped might prevail with him to make reparation for
+the injuries he had done her.
+
+_To Mr Monckton_.
+
+I write not, Sir, to upbraid you; the woes which have followed your ill
+offices, and which you may some time hear, will render my reproaches
+superfluous. I write but to beseech that what is past may content you;
+and that, however, while I was single, you chose to misrepresent me to
+the Delvile family, you will have so much honour, since I am now become
+one of it, as to acknowledge my innocence of the crimes laid to my
+charge.
+
+In remembrance of my former long friendship, I send you my good wishes;
+and in consideration of my hopes from your recantation, I send you, Sir,
+if you think it worth acceptance, my forgiveness.
+
+CECILIA DELVILE.
+
+Mr Monckton, after many long and painful struggles between useless rage,
+and involuntary remorse, at length sent the following answer.
+
+_To Mrs Mortimer Delvile_.
+
+Those who could ever believe you guilty, must have been eager to think
+you so. I meant but your welfare at all times, and to have saved you
+from a connection I never thought equal to your merit. I am grieved,
+but not surprised, to hear of your injuries; from the alliance you
+have formed, nothing else could be expected: if my testimony to your
+innocence can, however, serve to mitigate them, I scruple not to declare
+I believe it without taint.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Delvile sent by Dr Lyster this letter to his father, whose rage at the
+detection of the perfidy which had deceived him, was yet inferior to
+what he felt that his family was mentioned so injuriously.
+
+His conference with Dr Lyster was long and painful, but decisive: that
+sagacious and friendly man knew well how to work upon, his passions,
+and so effectually awakened them by representing the disgrace of his own
+family from the present situation of Cecilia, that before he quitted his
+house he was authorised to invite her to remove to it.
+
+When he returned from his embassy, he found Delvile in her room, and
+each waiting with impatience the event of his negociation.
+
+The Doctor with much alacrity gave Cecilia the invitation with which he
+had been charged; but Delvile, jealous for her dignity, was angry and
+dissatisfied his father brought it not himself, and exclaimed with much
+mortification, "Is this all the grace accorded me?"
+
+"Patience, patience, Sir," answered the Doctor; "when you have thwarted
+any body in their first hope and ambition, do you expect they will send
+you their compliments and many thanks for the disappointment? Pray let
+the good gentleman have his way in some little matters, since you have
+taken such effectual care to put out of his reach the power of having it
+in greater."
+
+"O far from starting obstacles," cried Cecilia, "let us solicit a
+reconciliation with whatever concessions he may require. The misery of
+DISOBEDIENCE we have but too fatally experienced; and thinking as we
+think of filial ties and parental claims, how can we ever hope happiness
+till forgiven and taken into favour?"
+
+"True, my Cecilia," answered Delvile, "and generous and condescending
+as true; and if _you_ can thus sweetly comply, I will gratefully forbear
+making any opposition. Too much already have you suffered from the
+impetuosity of my temper, but I will try to curb it in future by the
+remembrance of your injuries."
+
+"The whole of this unfortunate business," said Dr Lyster, "has been the
+result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. Your uncle, the Dean, began it, by his
+arbitrary will, as if an ordinance of his own could arrest the course of
+nature! and as if _he_ had power to keep alive, by the loan of a name,
+a family in the male branch already extinct. Your father, Mr Mortimer,
+continued it with the same self-partiality, preferring the wretched
+gratification of tickling his ear with a favourite sound, to the solid
+happiness of his son with a rich and deserving wife. Yet this,
+however, remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so
+wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you
+will also owe their termination: for all that I could say to Mr Delvile,
+either of reasoning or entreaty,--and I said all I could suggest, and I
+suggested all a man need wish to hear,--was totally thrown away, till
+I pointed out to him his _own_ disgrace, in having a _daughter-in-law_
+immured in these mean lodgings!
+
+"Thus, my dear young lady, the terror which drove you to this house, and
+the sufferings which have confined you in it, will prove, in the event,
+the source of your future peace: for when all my best rhetorick failed
+to melt Mr Delvile, I instantly brought him to terms by coupling his
+name with a pawnbroker's! And he could not with more disgust hear his
+son called Mr Beverley, than think of his son's wife when he hears of
+the _Three Blue Balls_! Thus the same passions, taking but different
+directions, _do_ mischief and _cure_ it alternately.
+
+"Such, my good young friends, is the MORAL of your calamities. You have
+all, in my opinion, been strangely at cross purposes, and trifled, no
+one knows why, with the first blessings of life. My only hope is that
+now, having among you thrown away its luxuries, you will have known
+enough of misery to be glad to keep its necessaries."
+
+This excellent man was yet prevailed upon by Delvile to stay and assist
+in removing the feeble Cecilia to St James's-square.
+
+Henrietta, for whom Mr Arnott's equipage and servants had still remained
+in town, was then, though with much difficulty, persuaded to go back to
+Suffolk: but Cecilia, however fond of her society, was too sensible of
+the danger and impropriety of her present situation, to receive from it
+any pleasure.
+
+Mr Delvile's reception of Cecilia was formal and cold: yet, as she now
+appeared publicly in the character of his son's wife, the best
+apartment in his house had been prepared for her use, his domestics were
+instructed to wait upon her with the utmost respect, and Lady Honoria
+Pemberton, who was accidentally in town, offered from curiosity, what
+Mr Delvile accepted from parade, to be herself in St James's-square, in
+order to do honour to his daughter-in-law's first entrance.
+
+When Cecilia was a little recovered from the shock of the first
+interview, and the fatigue of her removal, the anxious Mortimer would
+instantly have had her conveyed to her own apartment; but, willing to
+exert herself, and hoping to oblige Mr Delvile, she declared she was
+well able to remain some time longer in the drawing-room.
+
+"My good friends," said Dr Lyster, "in the course of my long practice,
+I have found it impossible to study the human frame, without a little
+studying the human mind; and from all that I have yet been able to make
+out, either by observation, reflection, or comparison, it appears to me
+at this moment, that Mr Mortimer Delvile has got the best wife, and that
+you, Sir, have here the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husband
+or any father in the three kingdoms belonging to his Majesty can either
+have or desire."
+
+Cecilia smiled; Mortimer looked his delighted concurrence; Mr Delvile
+forced himself to make a stiff inclination of the head; and Lady Honoria
+gaily exclaimed, "Dr Lyster, when you say the _best_ and the most
+_faultless_, you should always add the rest of the company excepted."
+
+"Upon my word," cried the Doctor, "I beg your ladyship's pardon; but
+there is a certain unguarded warmth comes across a man now and then,
+that drives _etiquette_ out of his head, and makes him speak truth
+before he well knows where he is."
+
+"O terrible!" cried she, "this is sinking deeper and deeper. I had hoped
+the town air would have taught you better things; but I find you have
+visited at Delvile Castle till you are fit for no other place."
+
+"Whoever, Lady Honoria," said Mr Delvile, much offended, "is fit for
+Delvile Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every other
+place may by no means be fit for him."
+
+"O yes, Sir," cried she, giddily, "every possible place will be fit for
+him, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr Lyster?"
+
+"Why, when a man has the honour to see your ladyship," answered he,
+good-humouredly, "he is apt to think too much of the person, to care
+about the place."
+
+"Come, I begin to have some hopes of you," cried she, "for I see, for a
+Doctor, you have really a very pretty notion of a compliment: only you
+have one great fault still; you look the whole time as if you said it
+for a joke."
+
+"Why, in fact, madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both in
+word and look for upwards of fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick a
+reformation to demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow.
+However, give me but a little time and a little encouragement, and, with
+such a tutress, 'twill be hard if I do not, in a very few lessons,
+learn the right method of seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion of
+twisting words from meaning."
+
+"But pray," cried she, "upon those occasions, always remember to look
+serious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If you
+are tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvile Castle; 'tis an
+expedient I commonly make use of myself when I am afraid of being too
+frisky: and it always succeeds, for the very recollection of it gives me
+the head-ache in a moment. Upon my word, Mr Delvile, you must have the
+constitution of five men, to have kept such good health, after living so
+long at that horrible place. You can't imagine how you've surprised me,
+for I have regularly expected to hear of your death at the end of every
+summer: and, I assure you, once, I was very near buying mourning."
+
+"The estate which descends to a man from his own ancestors, Lady
+Honoria," answered Mr Delvile, "will seldom be apt to injure his health,
+if he is conscious of committing no misdemeanour which has degraded
+their memory."
+
+"How vastly odious this new father of yours is!" said Lady Honoria, in a
+whisper to Cecilia; "what could ever induce you to give up your charming
+estate for the sake of coming into this fusty old family! I would really
+advise you to have your marriage annulled. You have only, you know, to
+take an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you are
+an Heiress, and the Delviles are all so violent, it will easily be
+credited. And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to
+marry my little Lord Derford."
+
+"Would you only, then," said Cecilia, "have me regain my freedom in
+order to part with it?"
+
+"Certainly," answered Lady Honoria, "for you can do nothing at all
+without being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackled
+than a wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know,
+has nothing to do but just to manage her husband."
+
+"And that," said Cecilia, smiling, "you consider as a trifle?"
+
+"Yes, if you do but marry a man you don't care for."
+
+"You are right, then, indeed, to recommend to me my Lord Derford!"
+
+"O yes, he will make the prettiest husband in the world; you may fly
+about yourself as wild as a lark, and keep him the whole time as tame as
+a jack-daw: and though he may complain of you to your friends, he will
+never have the courage to find fault to your face. But as to Mortimer,
+you will not be able to govern him as long as you live; for the moment
+you have put him upon the fret, you'll fall into the dumps yourself,
+hold out your hand to him, and, losing the opportunity of gaining some
+material point, make up at the first soft word."
+
+"You think, then, the quarrel more amusing than the reconciliation?"
+
+"O, a thousand times! for while you are quarrelling, you may say any
+thing, and demand any thing, but when you are reconciled, you ought to
+behave pretty, and seem contented."
+
+"Those who presume to have any pretensions to your ladyship," said
+Cecilia, "would be made happy indeed should they hear your principles!"
+
+"O, it would not signify at all," answered she, "for one's fathers, and
+uncles, and those sort of people, always make connexions for one, and
+not a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by our
+conduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for they
+give us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the world
+while we are single, but how we can dance a minuet, or play a lesson
+upon the harpsichord."
+
+"And what else," said Mr Delvile, who advanced, and heard this last
+speech, "need a young lady of rank desire to be known for? your ladyship
+surely would not have her degrade herself by studying like an artist or
+professor?"
+
+"O no, Sir, I would not have her study at all; it's mighty well for
+children, but really after sixteen, and when one is come out, one
+has quite fatigue enough in dressing, and going to public places,
+and ordering new things, without all that torment of first and second
+position, and E upon the first line, and F upon the first, space!"
+
+"Your ladyship must, however, pardon me for hinting," said Mr Delvile,
+"that a young lady of condition, who has a proper sense of her dignity,
+cannot be seen too rarely, or known too little."
+
+"O but I hate dignity!" cried she carelessly, "for it's the dullest
+thing in the world. I always thought it was owing to that you were so
+little amusing;--really I beg your pardon, Sir, I meant to say so little
+talkative."
+
+"I can easily credit that your ladyship spoke hastily," answered he,
+highly piqued, "for I believe, indeed, a person of a family such as
+mine, will hardly be supposed to have come into the world for the office
+of amusing it!"
+
+"O no, Sir," cried she, with pretended innocence, "nobody, I am sure,
+ever saw you with such a thought." Then, turning to Cecilia, she added
+in a whisper, "You cannot imagine, my dear Mrs Mortimer, how I detest
+this old cousin of mine! Now pray tell me honestly if you don't hate him
+yourself?"
+
+"I hope," said Cecilia, "to have no reason."
+
+"Lord, how you are always upon your guard! If I were half as cautious,
+I should die of the vapours in a month; the only thing that keeps me
+at all alive, is now and then making people angry; for the folks at our
+house let me go out so seldom, and then send me with such stupid
+old chaperons, that giving them a little torment is really the only
+entertainment I can procure myself. O--but I had almost forgot to tell
+you a most delightful thing!"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why you must know I have the greatest hopes in the world that my father
+will quarrel with old Mr Delvile!"
+
+"And is that such a delightful thing!"
+
+"O yes; I have lived upon the very idea this fortnight; for then, you
+know, they'll both be in a passion, and I shall see which of them looks
+frightfullest."
+
+"When Lady Honoria whispers," cried Mortimer, "I always suspect some
+mischief."
+
+"No indeed," answered her ladyship, "I was merely congratulating Mrs
+Mortimer about her marriage. Though really, upon second thoughts, I
+don't know whether I should not rather condole with her, for I have long
+been convinced she has a prodigious antipathy to you. I saw it the whole
+time I was at Delvile Castle, where she used to change colour at the
+very sound of your name; a symptom I never perceived when I talked to
+her of my Lord Derford, who would certainly have made her a thousand
+times a better husband."
+
+"If you mean on account of his title, Lady Honoria," said Mr Delvile;
+"your ladyship must be strangely forgetful of the connections of your
+family, not to remember that Mortimer, after the death of his uncle
+and myself, must inevitably inherit one far more honourable than a
+new-sprung-up family, like my Lord Ernolf's, could offer."
+
+"Yes, Sir; but then, you know, she would have kept her estate, which
+would have been a vastly better thing than an old pedigree of new
+relations. Besides, I don't find that any body cares for the noble blood
+of the Delviles but themselves; and if she had kept her fortune, every
+body, I fancy, would have cared for _that_."
+
+"Every body, then," said Mr Delvile, "must be highly mercenary and
+ignoble, or the blood of an ancient and honourable house, would
+be thought contaminated by the most distant hint of so degrading a
+comparison."
+
+"Dear Sir, what should we all do with birth if it was not for wealth?
+it would neither take us to Ranelagh nor the Opera; nor buy us caps nor
+wigs, nor supply us with dinners nor bouquets."
+
+"Caps and wigs, dinners and bouquets!" interrupted Mr Delvile; "your
+ladyship's estimate of wealth is really extremely minute."
+
+"Why, you know, Sir, as to caps and wigs, they are very serious things,
+for we should look mighty droll figures to go about bare-headed; and
+as to dinners, how would the Delviles have lasted all these thousand
+centuries if they had disdained eating them?"
+
+"Whatever may be your ladyship's satisfaction," said Mr Delvile,
+angrily, "in depreciating a house that has the honour of being nearly
+allied with your own, you will not, I hope at least, instruct this
+lady," turning to Cecilia, "to adopt a similar contempt of its antiquity
+and dignity."
+
+"This lady," cried Mortimer, "will at least, by condescending to become
+one of it, secure us from any danger that such contempt may spread
+further."
+
+"Let me but," said Cecilia, looking gratefully at him, "be as secure
+from exciting as I am from feeling contempt, and what can I have to
+wish?"
+
+"Good and excellent young lady!" said Dr Lyster, "the first of blessings
+indeed is yours in the temperance of your own mind. When you began your
+career in life, you appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to possess
+more than your share of the good things of this world; such a union of
+riches, beauty, independence, talents, education and virtue, seemed
+a monopoly to raise general envy and discontent; but mark with what
+scrupulous exactness the good and bad is ever balanced! You have had
+a thousand sorrows to which those who have looked up to you have been
+strangers, and for which not all the advantages you possess have been
+equivalent. There is evidently throughout this world, in things as
+well as persons, a levelling principle, at war with pre-eminence, and
+destructive of perfection."
+
+"Ah!" cried Mortimer, in a low voice to Cecilia, "how much higher
+must we all rise, or how much lower must you fall, ere any levelling
+principle will approximate us with YOU!"
+
+He then entreated her to spare her strength and spirits by returning to
+her own apartment, and the conversation was broken up.
+
+"Pray permit me, Mrs Mortimer," cried Lady Honoria, in taking leave,
+"to beg that the first guest you invite to Delvile Castle may be me.
+You know my partiality to it already. I shall be particularly happy in
+waiting upon you in tempestuous weather! We can all stroll out together,
+you know, very sociably; and I sha'n't be much in your way, for if there
+should happen to be a storm, you can easily lodge me under some great
+tree, and while you amuse yourselves with a _tete-a-tete_, give me the
+indulgence of my own reflections. I am vastly fond of thinking, and
+being alone, you know,--especially in thunder and lightning!"
+
+She then ran away; and they all separated: Cecilia was conveyed up
+stairs, and the worthy Dr Lyster, loaded with acknowledgments of every
+kind, set out for the country.
+
+Cecilia, still weak, and much emaciated, for some time lived almost
+wholly in her own room, where the grateful and solicitous attendance of
+Mortimer, alleviated the pain both of her illness and confinement: but
+as soon as her health permitted travelling, he hastened with her abroad.
+
+Here tranquility once more made its abode the heart of Cecilia; that
+heart so long torn with anguish, suspense and horrour! Mrs Delvile
+received her with the most rapturous fondness, and the impression of her
+sorrows gradually wore away, from her kind and maternal cares, and from
+the watchful affection and delighted tenderness of her son.
+
+The Egglestons now took entire possession of her estate, and Delvile, at
+her entreaty, forbore shewing any personal resentment of their conduct,
+and put into the hands of a lawyer the arrangement of the affair.
+
+They continued abroad some months, and the health of Mrs Delvile was
+tolerably re-established. They were then summoned home by the death of
+Lord Delvile, who bequeathed to his nephew Mortimer his town house, and
+whatever of his estate was not annexed to his title, which necessarily
+devolved to his brother.
+
+The sister of Mrs Delvile, a woman of high spirit and strong passions,
+lived not long after him; but having, in her latter days, intimately
+connected herself with Cecilia, she was so much charmed with her
+character, and so much dazzled by her admiration of the extraordinary
+sacrifice she had made, that, in a fit of sudden enthusiasm, she altered
+her will, to leave to her, and to her sole disposal, the fortune which,
+almost from his infancy, she had destined for her nephew. Cecilia,
+astonished and penetrated, opposed the alteration; but even her sister,
+now Lady Delvile, to whom she daily became dearer, earnestly supported
+it; while Mortimer, delighted to restore to her through his own family,
+any part of that power and independence of which her generous and pure
+regard for himself had deprived her, was absolute in refusing that the
+deed should be revoked.
+
+Cecilia, from this flattering transaction, received a further conviction
+of the malignant falsehood of Mr Monckton, who had always represented
+to her the whole of the Delvile family as equally poor in their
+circumstances, and illiberal in their minds. The strong spirit of
+active benevolence which had ever marked her character, was now again
+displayed, though no longer, as hitherto, unbounded. She had learnt
+the error of profusion, even in charity and beneficence; and she had a
+motive for oeconomy, in her animated affection for Mortimer.
+
+She soon sent for Albany, whose surprise that she still existed, and
+whose rapture at her recovered prosperity, now threatened his senses
+from the tumult of his joy, with nearly the same danger they had lately
+been menaced by terror. But though her donations were circumscribed by
+prudence, and their objects were selected with discrimination, she
+gave to herself all her former benevolent pleasure, in solacing his
+afflictions, while she softened his asperity, by restoring to him his
+favourite office of being her almoner and monitor.
+
+She next sent to her own pensioners, relieved those distresses which her
+sudden absence had occasioned, and renewed and continued the salaries
+she had allowed them. All who had nourished reasonable expectations from
+her bounty she remembered, though she raised no new claimants but with
+oeconomy and circumspection. But neither Albany nor the old pensioners
+felt the satisfaction of Mortimer, who saw with new wonder the virtues
+of her mind, and whose admiration of her excellencies, made his
+gratitude perpetual for the happiness of his lot.
+
+The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,
+with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding Mr
+Arnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soon
+endeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in either
+by Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
+
+Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, took
+the earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation;
+she married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and,
+quickly forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again,
+with new hopes, new connections,--new equipages and new engagements!
+
+Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, though
+deprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar,
+she was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and so
+solitary his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her to
+town, and returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And there
+the gentle gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from the
+worthy Mr Arnott the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the wound
+of his early and hopeless passion.
+
+The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whose
+mutable and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginning
+than progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from public
+life to retirement, soured with the world, and discontented with
+himself, till vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship of
+Delvile, he consented to accept his good offices in again entering the
+army; and, being fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopes
+were revived by ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view of
+future honour.
+
+The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, still
+lived in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain of
+his wound and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led on
+by a vain belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he had
+indulged without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded by
+inclination. Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly suffered
+nothing to stop his course; and though when he began his career he would
+have started at the mention of actual dishonour, long before it was
+concluded, neither treachery nor perjury were regarded by him as
+stumbling blocks.
+
+All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk in
+interest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of the
+chace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,
+illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, that
+even in worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joins
+dishonour to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
+
+The upright mind of Cecilia, her purity, her virtue, and the moderation
+of her wishes, gave to her in the warm affection of Lady Delvile, and
+the unremitting fondness of Mortimer, all the happiness human life seems
+capable of receiving:--yet human it was, and as such imperfect! she knew
+that, at times, the whole family must murmur at her loss of fortune, and
+at times she murmured herself to be thus portionless, tho' an HEIRESS.
+Rationally, however, she surveyed the world at large, and finding that
+of the few who had any happiness, there were none without some misery,
+she checked the rising sigh of repining mortality, and, grateful with
+general felicity, bore partial evil with chearfullest resignation.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
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diff --git a/7152-8.zip b/7152-8.zip
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@@ -0,0 +1,15424 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      Cecilia, by Frances Burney
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    .side      { float: right; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em;
+               border-left: dashed thin; margin-left: 0.8em; text-align: left;
+               text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;
+               font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3)
+       Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+Author: Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7152]
+This file was first posted on March 18, 2003
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECILIA, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) ***
+
+
+
+
+Text file produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP
+
+HTML file produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      CECILIA
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      VOLUME III (of III)
+    </h3>
+    <h4>
+      Or
+    </h4>
+    <h2>
+      MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Frances Burney
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>BOOK VIII. <i>Continued</i></b>. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN EVENT. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONSTERNATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A PERTURBATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER v. &mdash; A COTTAGE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A CONTEST. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A MESSAGE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PARTING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER viii. &mdash; A TALE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SHOCK. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> <b>BOOK IX.</b> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER i. &mdash; A COGITATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER ii. &mdash; A SURPRIZE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONFABULATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A WRANGLING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER v. &mdash; A SUSPICION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A DISTURBANCE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A CALM. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER viii. &mdash; AN ALARM. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SUSPENSE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER x. &mdash; A RELATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER xi. &mdash; AN ENTERPRISE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> <b>BOOK X.</b> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER i </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN INTERVIEW. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A SUMMONS. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A DELIBERATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER v. &mdash; A DECISION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A PRATING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PURSUIT. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; AN ENCOUNTER. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A TRIBUTE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER x. &mdash; A TERMINATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK VIII. <i>Continued</i>.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN EVENT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Scarce less unhappy in her decision than in her uncertainty, and every way
+      dissatisfied with her situation, her views and herself, Cecilia was still
+      so distressed and uncomfortable, when Delvile called the next morning,
+      that he could not discover what her determination had been, and fearfully
+      enquired his doom with hardly any hope of finding favour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Cecilia was above affectation, and a stranger to art. &ldquo;I would not,
+      Sir,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;keep you an instant in suspense, when I am no longer in
+      suspense myself. I may have appeared trifling, but I have been nothing
+      less, and you would readily exculpate me of caprice, if half the distress
+      of my irresolution was known to you. Even now, when I hesitate no more, my
+      mind is so ill at ease, that I could neither wonder nor be displeased
+      should you hesitate in your turn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hesitate no more?&rdquo; cried he, almost breathless at the sound of those
+      words, &ldquo;and is it possible&mdash;Oh my Cecilia!&mdash;is it possible your
+      resolution is in my favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;how little is your reason to rejoice! a dejected and
+      melancholy gift is all you can receive!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ere I take it, then,&rdquo; cried he, in a voice that spoke joy; pain, and fear
+      all at once in commotion, &ldquo;tell me if your reluctance has its origin in <i>me</i>,
+      that I may rather even yet relinquish you, than merely owe your hand to
+      the selfishness of persecution?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your pride,&rdquo; said she, half smiling, &ldquo;has some right to be alarmed,
+      though I meant not to alarm it. No! it is with myself only I am at
+      variance, with my own weakness and want of judgment that I quarrel,&mdash;in
+      <i>you</i> I have all the reliance that the highest opinion of your honour
+      and integrity can give me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was enough for the warm heart of Delvile, not only to restore peace,
+      but to awaken rapture. He was almost as wild with delight, as he had
+      before been with apprehension, and poured forth his acknowledgments with
+      so much fervour of gratitude, that Cecilia imperceptibly grew reconciled
+      to herself, and before she missed her dejection, participated in his
+      contentment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She quitted him as soon as she had power, to acquaint Mrs Charlton with
+      what had passed, and assist in preparing her to accompany them to the
+      altar; while Delvile flew to his new acquaintance, Mr Singleton, the
+      lawyer, to request him to supply the place of Mr Monckton in giving her
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All was now hastened with the utmost expedition, and to avoid observation,
+      they agreed to meet at the church; their desire of secrecy, however
+      potent, never urging them to wish the ceremony should be performed in a
+      place less awful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the chairs, however, came, which were to carry the two ladies
+      thither, Cecilia trembled and hung back. The greatness of her undertaking,
+      the hazard of all her future happiness, the disgraceful secrecy of her
+      conduct, the expected reproaches of Mrs Delvile, and the boldness and
+      indelicacy of the step she was about to take, all so forcibly struck, and
+      so painfully wounded her, that the moment she was summoned to set out, she
+      again lost her resolution, and regretting the hour that ever Delvile was
+      known to her, she sunk into a chair, and gave up her whole soul to anguish
+      and sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The good Mrs Charlton tried in vain to console her; a sudden horror
+      against herself had now seized her spirits, which, exhausted by long
+      struggles, could rally no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this situation she was at length surprised by Delvile, whose uneasy
+      astonishment that she had failed in her appointment, was only to be
+      equalled by that with which he was struck at the sight of her tears. He
+      demanded the cause with the utmost tenderness and apprehension; Cecilia
+      for some time could not speak, and then, with a deep sigh, &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; she
+      cried, &ldquo;Mr Delvile! how weak are we all when unsupported by our own
+      esteem! how feeble, how inconsistent, how changeable, when our courage has
+      any foundation but duty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, much relieved by finding her sadness sprung not from any new
+      affliction, gently reproached her breach of promise, and earnestly
+      entreated her to repair it. &ldquo;The clergyman,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;is waiting; I have
+      left him with Mr Singleton in the vestry; no new objections have started,
+      and no new obstacles have intervened; why, then, torment ourselves with
+      discussing again the old ones, which we have already considered till every
+      possible argument upon them is exhausted? Tranquillize, I conjure you,
+      your agitated spirits, and if the truest tenderness, the most animated
+      esteem, and the gratefullest admiration, can soften your future cares, and
+      ensure your future peace, every anniversary of this day will recompense my
+      Cecilia for every pang she now suffers!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, half soothed and half ashamed, finding she had in fact nothing
+      new to say or to object, compelled herself to rise, and, penetrated by his
+      solicitations, endeavoured to compose her mind, and promised to follow
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He would not trust her, however, from his sight, but seizing the very
+      instant of her renewed consent, he dismissed the chairs, and ordering a
+      hackney-coach, preferred any risk to that of her again wavering, and
+      insisted upon accompanying her in it himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had now scarce time to breathe, before she found herself at the
+      porch of&mdash;&mdash;church. Delvile hurried her out of the carriage, and
+      then offered his arm to Mrs Charlton. Not a word was spoken by any of the
+      party till they went into the vestry, where Delvile ordered Cecilia a
+      glass of water, and having hastily made his compliments to the clergyman,
+      gave her hand to Mr Singleton, who led her to the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ceremony was now begun; and Cecilia, finding herself past all power of
+      retracting, soon called her thoughts from wishing it, and turned her whole
+      attention to the awful service; to which though she listened with
+      reverence, her full satisfaction in the object of her vows, made her
+      listen without terror. But when the priest came to that solemn adjuration,
+      <i>If any man can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined
+      together</i>, a conscious tear stole into her eye, and a sigh escaped from
+      Delvile that went to her heart: but, when the priest concluded the
+      exhortation with <i>let him now speak, or else hereafter for-ever hold his
+      peace</i>, a female voice at some distance, called out in shrill accents,
+      &ldquo;I do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The ceremony was instantly stopt. The astonished priest immediately shut
+      up the book to regard the intended bride and bridegroom; Delvile started
+      with amazement to see whence the sound proceeded; and Cecilia, aghast, and
+      struck with horror, faintly shriekt, and caught hold of Mrs Charlton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The consternation was general, and general was the silence, though all of
+      one accord turned round towards the place whence the voice issued: a
+      female form at the same moment was seen rushing from a pew, who glided out
+      of the church with the quickness of lightning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a word was yet uttered, every one seeming rooted to the spot on which
+      he stood, and regarding in mute wonder the place this form had crossed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile at length exclaimed, &ldquo;What can this mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you not know the woman, Sir?&rdquo; said the clergyman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir, I did not even see her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor you, madam?&rdquo; said he, addressing Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; she answered, in a voice that scarce articulated the two
+      syllables, and changing colour so frequently, that Delvile, apprehensive
+      she would faint, flew to her, calling out, &ldquo;Let <i>me</i> support you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned from him hastily, and still, holding by Mrs Charlton, moved
+      away from the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whither,&rdquo; cried Delvile, fearfully following her, &ldquo;whither are you
+      going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made not any answer; but still, though tottering as much from emotion
+      as Mrs Charlton from infirmity, she walked on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you stop the ceremony, Sir?&rdquo; cried Delvile, impatiently speaking
+      to the clergyman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No ceremony, Sir,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;could proceed with such an
+      interruption.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been wholly accidental,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;for we neither of us know the
+      woman, who could not have any right or authority for the prohibition.&rdquo;
+       Then yet more anxiously pursuing Cecilia, &ldquo;why,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;do you
+      thus move off?&mdash;Why leave the ceremony unfinished?&mdash;Mrs
+      Charlton, what is it you are about?&mdash;Cecilia, I beseech you return,
+      and let the service go on!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, making a motion with her hand to forbid his following her, still
+      silently proceeded, though drawing along with equal difficulty Mrs
+      Charlton and herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is insupportable!&rdquo; cried Delvile, with vehemence, &ldquo;turn, I conjure
+      you!&mdash;my Cecilia!&mdash;my wife!&mdash;why is it you thus abandon me?&mdash;Turn,
+      I implore you, and receive my eternal vows!&mdash;Mrs Charlton, bring her
+      back,&mdash;Cecilia, you <i>must</i> not go!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He now attempted to take her hand, but shrinking from his touch, in an
+      emphatic but low voice, she said, &ldquo;Yes, Sir, I must!&mdash;an interdiction
+      such as this!&mdash;for the world could I not brave it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then made an effort to somewhat quicken her pace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where,&rdquo; cried Delvile, half frantic, &ldquo;where is this infamous woman? This
+      wretch who has thus wantonly destroyed me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And he rushed out of the church in pursuit of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergyman and Mr Singleton, who had hitherto been wondering
+      spectators, came now to offer their assistance to Cecilia. She declined
+      any help for herself, but gladly accepted their services for Mrs Charlton,
+      who, thunderstruck by all that had past, seemed almost robbed of her
+      faculties. Mr Singleton proposed calling a hackney coach, she consented,
+      and they stopt for it at the church porch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergyman now began to enquire of the pew-opener, what she knew of the
+      woman, who she was, and how she had got into the church? She knew of her,
+      she answered, nothing, but that she had come in to early prayers, and she
+      supposed she had hid herself in a pew when they were over, as she had
+      thought the church entirely empty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hackney coach now drew up, and while the gentlemen were assisting Mrs
+      Charlton into it, Delvile returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have pursued and enquired,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;in vain, I can neither discover
+      nor hear of her.&mdash;But what is all this? Whither are you going?&mdash;What
+      does this coach do here?&mdash;Mrs Charlton, why do you get into it?&mdash;Cecilia,
+      what are you doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia turned away from him in silence. The shock she had received, took
+      from her all power of speech, while amazement and terror deprived her even
+      of relief from tears. She believed Delvile to blame, though she knew not
+      in what, but the obscurity of her fears served only to render them more
+      dreadful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now getting into the coach herself, but Delvile, who could neither
+      brook her displeasure, nor endure her departure, forcibly caught her hand,
+      and called out, &ldquo;You are <i>mine</i>, you are my <i>wife</i>!&mdash;I will
+      part with you no more, and go whithersoever you will, I will follow and
+      claim you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop me not!&rdquo; cried she, impatiently though faintly, &ldquo;I am sick, I am ill
+      already,&mdash;if you detain me any longer, I shall be unable to support
+      myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh then rest on <i>me</i>!&rdquo; cried he, still holding her; &ldquo;rest but upon
+      me till the ceremony is over!&mdash;you will drive me to despair and to
+      madness if you leave me in this barbarous manner!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A crowd now began to gather, and the words bride and bridegroom reached
+      the ears of Cecilia; who half dead with shame, with fear, and with
+      distress, hastily said &ldquo;You are determined to make me miserable!&rdquo; and
+      snatching away her hand, which Delvile at those words could no longer
+      hold, she threw herself into the carriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, however, jumped in after her, and with an air of authority
+      ordered the coachman to Pall-Mall, and then drew up the glasses, with a
+      look of fierceness at the mob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had neither spirits nor power to resist him; yet, offended by his
+      violence, and shocked to be thus publickly pursued by him, her looks spoke
+      a resentment far more mortifying than any verbal reproach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inhuman Cecilia!&rdquo; cried he, passionately, &ldquo;to desert me at the very
+      altar!&mdash;to cast me off at the instant the most sacred rites were
+      uniting us!&mdash;and then thus to look at me!&mdash;to treat me with this
+      disdain at a time of such distraction!&mdash;to scorn me thus injuriously
+      at the moment you unjustly abandon me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To how dreadful a scene,&rdquo; said Cecilia, recovering from her
+      consternation, &ldquo;have you exposed me! to what shame, what indignity, what
+      irreparable disgrace!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh heaven!&rdquo; cried he with horror, &ldquo;if any crime, any offence of mine has
+      occasioned this fatal blow, the whole world holds not a wretch so culpable
+      as myself, nor one who will sooner allow the justice of your rigour! my
+      veneration for you has ever equalled my affection, and could I think it
+      was through <i>me</i> you have suffered any indignity, I should soon abhor
+      myself, as you seem to abhor me. But what is it I have done? How have I
+      thus incensed you? By what action, by what guilt, have I incurred this
+      displeasure?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whence,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;came that voice which still vibrates in my ear? The
+      prohibition could not be on <i>my</i> account, since none to whom I am
+      known have either right or interest in even wishing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What an inference is this! over <i>me</i>, then, do you conclude this
+      woman had any power?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here they stopt at the lodgings. Delvile handed both the ladies out.
+      Cecilia, eager to avoid his importunities, and dreadfully disturbed,
+      hastily past him, and ran up stairs; but Mrs Charlton refused not his arm,
+      on which she lent till they reached the drawing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then rang the bell for her servant, and gave orders that a
+      post-chaise might be sent for immediately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile now felt offended in his turn; but suppressing his vehemence, he
+      gravely and quietly said &ldquo;Determined as you are to leave me, indifferent
+      to my peace, and incredulous of my word, deign, at least, before we part,
+      to be more explicit in your accusation, and tell me if indeed it is
+      possible you can suspect that the wretch who broke off the ceremony, had
+      ever from me received provocation for such an action?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know not what to suspect,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;where every thing is thus
+      involved in obscurity; but I must own I should have some difficulty to
+      think those words the effect of chance, or to credit that their speaker
+      was concealed without design.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right, then, madam,&rdquo; cried he, resentfully, &ldquo;to discard me! to
+      treat me with contempt, to banish me without repugnance, since I see you
+      believe me capable of duplicity, and imagine I am better informed in this
+      affair than I appear to be. You have said I shall make you miserable,&mdash;no,
+      madam, no! your happiness and misery depend not upon one you hold so
+      worthless!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On whatever they depend,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I am too little at ease for
+      discussion. I would no more be daring than superstitious, but none of our
+      proceedings have prospered, and since their privacy has always been
+      contrary both to my judgment and my principles, I know not how to repine
+      at a failure I cannot think unmerited. Mrs Charlton, our chaise is coming;
+      you will be ready, I hope, to set off in it directly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, too angry to trust himself to speak, now walked about the room,
+      and endeavoured to calm himself; but so little was his success, that
+      though silent till the chaise was announced, when he heard that dreaded
+      sound, and saw Cecilia steady in her purpose of departing, he was so much
+      shocked and afflicted, that, clasping his hands in a transport of passion
+      and grief, he exclaimed. &ldquo;This, then, Cecilia, is your faith! this is the
+      felicity you bid me hope! this is the recompense of my sufferings, and the
+      performing of your engagement!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, struck by these reproaches, turned back; but while she hesitated
+      how to answer them, he went on, &ldquo;You are insensible to my misery, and
+      impenetrable to my entreaties; a secret enemy has had power to make me
+      odious in your sight, though for her enmity I can assign no cause, though
+      even her existence was this morning unknown to me! Ever ready to abandon,
+      and most willing to condemn me, you have more confidence in a vague
+      conjecture, than in all you have observed of the whole tenour of my
+      character. Without knowing why, you are disposed to believe me criminal,
+      without deigning to say wherefore, you are eager to banish me your
+      presence. Yet scarce could a consciousness of guilt itself, wound me so
+      forcibly, so keenly, as your suspecting I am guilty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Again, then,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;shall I subject myself to a scene of such
+      disgrace and horror? No, never!&mdash;The punishment of my error shall at
+      least secure its reformation. Yet if I merit your reproaches, I deserve
+      not your regard; cease, therefore, to profess any for me, or make them no
+      more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shew but to them,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;the smallest sensibility, shew but for me
+      the most distant concern, and I will try to bear my disappointment without
+      murmuring, and submit to your decrees as to those from which there is no
+      appeal: but to wound without deigning even to look at what you destroy,&mdash;to
+      shoot at random those arrows that are pointed with poison,&mdash;to see
+      them fasten on the heart, and corrode its vital functions, yet look on
+      without compunction, or turn away with cold disdain,&mdash;Oh where is the
+      candour I thought lodged in Cecilia! where the justice, the equity, I
+      believed a part of herself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After all that has past,&rdquo; said Cecilia, sensibly touched by his distress,
+      &ldquo;I expected not these complaints, nor that, from me, any assurances would
+      be wanted; yet, if it will quiet your mind, if it will better reconcile
+      you to our separation&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh fatal prelude!&rdquo; interrupted he, &ldquo;what on earth can quiet my mind that
+      leads to our separation?&mdash;Give to me no condescension with any such
+      view,&mdash;preserve your indifference, persevere in your coldness,
+      triumph still in your power of inspiring those feelings you can never
+      return,&mdash;all, every thing is more supportable than to talk of our
+      separation!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet how,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;parted, torn asunder as we have been, how is it now
+      to be avoided?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Trust in my honour! Shew me but the confidence which I will venture to
+      say I deserve, and then will that union no longer be impeded, which in
+      future, I am certain, will never be repented!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven, what a request! faith so implicit would be frenzy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You doubt, then, my integrity? You suspect&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I do not; yet in a case of such importance, what ought to guide me
+      but my own reason, my own conscience, my own sense of right? Pain me not,
+      therefore, with reproaches, distress me no more with entreaties, when I
+      solemnly declare that no earthly consideration shall ever again make me
+      promise you my hand, while the terror of Mrs Delvile's displeasure has
+      possession of my heart. And now adieu.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You give me, then, up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be patient, I beseech you; and attempt not to follow me; 'tis a step I
+      cannot permit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not follow you? And who has power to prevent me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I</i> have, Sir, if to incur my endless resentment is of any
+      consequence to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then, with an air of determined steadiness, moved on; Mrs Charlton,
+      assisted by the servants, being already upon the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O tyranny!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;what submission is it you exact!&mdash;May I not
+      even enquire into the dreadful mystery of this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And may I not acquaint you with it, should it be discovered?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not be sorry to hear it. Adieu.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now half way down the stairs; when, losing all forbearance, he
+      hastily flew after her, and endeavouring to stop her, called out, &ldquo;If you
+      do not hate and detest me,&mdash;if I am not loathsome and abhorrent to
+      you, O quit me not thus insensibly!&mdash;Cecilia! my beloved Cecilia!&mdash;speak
+      to me, at least, one word of less severity! Look at me once more, and tell
+      me we part not for-ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then turned round, and while a starting tear shewed her
+      sympathetic distress, said, &ldquo;Why will you thus oppress me with entreaties
+      I ought not to gratify?&mdash;Have I not accompanied you to the altar,&mdash;and
+      can you doubt what I have thought of you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Have</i> thought?&mdash;Oh Cecilia!&mdash;is it then all over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray suffer me to go quietly, and fear not I shall go too happily!
+      Suppress your own feelings, rather than seek to awaken mine. Alas! there
+      is little occasion!&mdash;Oh Mr Delvile! were our connection opposed by no
+      duty, and repugnant to no friends, were it attended by no impropriety, and
+      carried on with no necessity of disguise,&mdash;you would not thus charge
+      me with indifference, you would not suspect me of insensibility,&mdash;Oh
+      no! the choice of my heart would then be its glory, and all I now blush to
+      feel, I should openly and with pride acknowledge!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then hurried to the chaise, Delvile pursuing her with thanks and
+      blessings, and gratefully assuring her, as he handed her into it, that he
+      would obey all her injunctions, and not even attempt to see her, till he
+      could bring her some intelligence concerning the morning's transaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chaise then drove off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONSTERNATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The journey was melancholy and tedious: Mrs Charlton, extremely fatigued
+      by the unusual hurry and exercise both of mind and body which she had
+      lately gone through, was obliged to travel very slowly, and to lie upon
+      the road. Cecilia, however, was in no haste to proceed: she was going to
+      no one she wished to see, she was wholly without expectation of meeting
+      with any thing that could give her pleasure. The unfortunate expedition in
+      which she had been engaged, left her now nothing but regret, and only
+      promised her in future sorrow and mortification.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton, after her return home, still continued ill, and Cecilia, who
+      constantly attended her, had the additional affliction of imputing her
+      indisposition to herself. Every thing she thought conspired to punish the
+      error she had committed; her proceedings were discovered, though her
+      motives were unknown; the Delvile family could not fail to hear of her
+      enterprize, and while they attributed it to her temerity, they would exult
+      in its failure: but chiefly hung upon her mind the unaccountable
+      prohibition of her marriage. Whence that could proceed she was wholly
+      without ability to divine, yet her surmizes were not more fruitless than
+      various. At one moment she imagined it some frolic of Morrice, at another
+      some perfidy of Monckton, and at another an idle and unmeaning trick of
+      some stranger to them all. But none of these suppositions carried with
+      them any air of probability; Morrice, even if he had watched their motions
+      and pursued them to the church, which his inquisitive impertinence made by
+      no means impossible, could yet hardly have either time or opportunity to
+      engage any woman in so extraordinary an undertaking; Mr Monckton, however
+      averse to the connection, she considered as a man of too much honour to
+      break it off in a manner so alarming and disgraceful; and mischief so
+      wanton in any stranger, seemed to require a share of unfeeling effrontery,
+      which could fall to the lot of so few as to make this suggestion unnatural
+      and incredible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes she imagined that Delvile might formerly have been affianced to
+      some woman, who having accidentally discovered his intentions, took this
+      desperate method of rendering them abortive: but this was a short-lived
+      thought, and speedily gave way to her esteem for his general character,
+      and her confidence in the firmness of his probity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All, therefore, was dark and mysterious; conjecture was baffled, and
+      meditation was useless. Her opinions were unfixed, and her heart was
+      miserable; she could only be steady in believing Delvile as unhappy as
+      herself, and only find consolation in believing him, also, as blameless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three days passed thus, without incident or intelligence; her time wholly
+      occupied in attending Mrs Charlton; her thoughts all engrossed upon her
+      own situation: but upon the fourth day she was informed that a lady was in
+      the parlour, who desired to speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She presently went down stairs,&mdash;and, upon entering the room,
+      perceived Mrs Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seized with astonishment and fear, she stopt short, and, looking aghast,
+      held by the door, robbed of all power to receive so unexpected and
+      unwelcome a visitor, by an internal sensation of guilt, mingled with a
+      dread of discovery and reproach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile, addressing her with the coldest politeness, said, &ldquo;I fear I
+      have surprised you; I am sorry I had not time to acquaint you of my
+      intention to wait upon you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, moving from the door, faintly answered, &ldquo;I cannot, madam,
+      but be honoured by your notice, whenever you are pleased to confer it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then sat down; Mrs Delvile preserving an air the most formal and
+      distant, and Cecilia half sinking with apprehensive dismay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a short and ill-boding silence, &ldquo;I mean not,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;to
+      embarrass or distress you; I will not, therefore, keep you in suspense of
+      the purport of my visit. I come not to make enquiries, I come not to put
+      your sincerity to any trial, nor to torture your delicacy; I dispense with
+      all explanation, for I have not one doubt to solve: I <i>know</i> what has
+      passed, I <i>know</i> that my son loves you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not all her secret alarm, nor all the perturbation of her fears, had
+      taught Cecilia to expect so direct an attack, nor enabled her to bear the
+      shock of it with any composure: she could not speak, she could not look at
+      Mrs Delvile; she arose, and walked to the window, without knowing what she
+      was doing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, however, her distress was not likely to diminish; for the first
+      sight she saw was Fidel, who barked, and jumped up at the window to lick
+      her hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God! Fidel here!&rdquo; exclaimed Mrs Delvile, amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, totally overpowered, covered her glowing face with both her
+      hands, and sunk into a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile for a few minutes was silent; and then, following her, said,
+      &ldquo;Imagine not I am making any discovery, nor suspect me of any design to
+      develop your sentiments. That Mortimer could love in vain I never,
+      believed; that Miss Beverley, possessing so much merit, could be blind to
+      it in another, I never thought possible. I mean not, therefore, to solicit
+      any account or explanation, but merely to beg your patience while I talk
+      to you myself, and your permission to speak to you with openness and
+      truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though relieved by this calmness from all apprehension of
+      reproach, found in her manner a coldness that convinced her of the loss of
+      her affection, and in the introduction to her business a solemnity that
+      assured her what she should decree would be unalterable. She uncovered her
+      face to shew her respectful attention, but she could not raise it up, and
+      could not utter a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile then seated herself next her, and gravely continued her
+      discourse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley, however little acquainted with the state of our family
+      affairs, can scarcely have been uninformed that a fortune such as hers
+      seems almost all that family can desire; nor can she have failed to
+      observe, that her merit and accomplishments have no where been more felt
+      and admired: the choice therefore of Mortimer she could not doubt would
+      have our sanction, and when she honoured his proposals with her favour,
+      she might naturally conclude she gave happiness and pleasure to all his
+      friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, superior to accepting a palliation of which she felt herself
+      undeserving, now lifted up her head, and forcing herself to speak, said
+      &ldquo;No, madam, I will not deceive you, for I have never been deceived myself:
+      I presumed not to expect your approbation,&mdash;though in missing it I
+      have for ever lost my own!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Mortimer, then,&rdquo; cried she with eagerness, &ldquo;been strictly honourable?
+      has he neither beguiled nor betrayed you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; said she, blushing, &ldquo;I have nothing to reproach him with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he is indeed my son!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, with emotion; &ldquo;had he been
+      treacherous to you, while disobedient to us, I had indisputably renounced
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who now seemed the only culprit, felt herself in a state of
+      humiliation not to be borne; she collected, therefore, all her courage,
+      and said, &ldquo;I have cleared Mr Delvile; permit me, madam, now, to say
+      something for myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly; you cannot oblige me more than by speaking without disguise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not in the hope of regaining your good opinion,&mdash;that, I see,
+      is lost!&mdash;but merely&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not lost,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;but if once it was yet higher, the
+      fault was my own, in indulging an expectation of perfection to which human
+      nature is perhaps unequal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, then, thought Cecilia, all is over! the contempt I so much feared is
+      incurred, and though it may be softened, it can never be removed!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak, then, and with sincerity,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;all you wish me to
+      hear, and then grant me your attention in return to the purpose of my
+      present journey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have little, madam,&rdquo; answered the depressed Cecilia, &ldquo;to say; you tell
+      me you already know all that has past; I will not, therefore, pretend to
+      take any merit from revealing it: I will only add, that my consent to this
+      transaction has made me miserable almost from the moment I gave it; that I
+      meant and wished to retract as soon as reflection pointed out to me my
+      error, and that circumstances the most perverse, not blindness to
+      propriety, nor stubbornness in wrong, led me to make, at last, that fatal
+      attempt, of which the recollection, to my last hour, must fill me with
+      regret and shame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder not,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;that in a situation where delicacy was
+      so much less requisite than courage, Miss Beverley should feel herself
+      distressed and unhappy. A mind such as hers could never err with impunity;
+      and it is solely from a certainty of her innate sense of right, that I
+      venture to wait upon her now, and that I have any hope to influence <i>her</i>
+      upon whose influence alone our whole family must in future depend. Shall I
+      now proceed, or is there any thing you wish to say first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam, nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me, then, I beg of you, with no predetermination to disregard me,
+      but with an equitable resolution to attend to reason, and a candour that
+      leaves an opening to conviction. Not easy, indeed, is such a task, to a
+      mind pre-occupied with an intention to be guided by the dictates of
+      inclination,&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wrong me, indeed, madam!&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, greatly hurt, &ldquo;my mind
+      harbours no such intention, it has no desire but to be guided by duty, it
+      is wretched with a consciousness of having failed in it! I pine, I sicken
+      to recover my own good opinion; I should then no longer feel unworthy of
+      yours; and whether or not I might be able to regain it, I should at least
+      lose this cruel depression that now sinks me in your presence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To regain it,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;were to exercise but half your power,
+      which at this moment enables you, if such is your wish, to make me think
+      of you more highly than one human being ever thought of another. Do you
+      condescend to hold this worth your while?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia started at the question; her heart beat quick with struggling
+      passions; she saw the sacrifice which was to be required, and her pride,
+      her affronted pride, arose high to anticipate the rejection; but the
+      design was combated by her affections, which opposed the indignant
+      rashness, and told her that one hasty speech might separate her from
+      Delvile for ever. When this painful conflict was over, of which Mrs
+      Delvile patiently waited the issue, she answered, with much hesitation,
+      &ldquo;To regain your good opinion, madam, greatly, truly as I value it,&mdash;is
+      what I now scarcely dare hope.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say not so,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;since, if you hope, you cannot miss it. I
+      purpose to point out to you the means to recover it, and to tell you how
+      greatly I shall think myself your debtor if you refuse not to employ
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt; but Cecilia hung back; fearful of her own strength, she dared
+      venture at no professions; yet, how either to support, or dispute her
+      compliance, she dreaded to think.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come to you, then,&rdquo; Mrs Delvile solemnly resumed, &ldquo;in the name of Mr
+      Delvile, and in the name of our whole family; a family as ancient as it is
+      honourable, as honourable as it is ancient. Consider me as its
+      representative, and hear in me its common voice, common opinion, and
+      common address.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, the supporter of our house, the sole guardian of its name, and
+      the heir of our united fortunes, has selected you, we know, for the lady
+      of his choice, and so fondly has, fixed upon you his affections, that he
+      is ready to relinquish us all in preference to subduing them. To yourself
+      alone, then, can we apply, and I come to you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O hold, madam, hold!&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, whose courage now revived from
+      resentment, &ldquo;I know, what you would say; you come to tell me of your
+      disdain; you come to reproach my presumption, and to kill me with your
+      contempt! There is little occasion for such a step; I am depressed, I am
+      self-condemned already; spare me, therefore, this insupportable
+      humiliation, wound me not with your scorn, oppress me not with your
+      superiority! I aim at no competition, I attempt no vindication, I
+      acknowledge my own littleness as readily as you can despise it, and
+      nothing but indignity could urge me to defend it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;I meant not to hurt or offend you, and I
+      am sorry if I have appeared to you either arrogant or assuming. The
+      peculiar and perilous situation of my family has perhaps betrayed me into
+      offensive expressions, and made me guilty myself of an ostentation which
+      in others has often disgusted me. Ill, indeed, can we any of us bear the
+      test of experiment, when tried upon those subjects which call forth our
+      particular propensities. We may strive to be disinterested, we may
+      struggle to be impartial, but self will still predominate, still shew us
+      the imperfection of our natures, and the narrowness of our souls. Yet
+      acquit me, I beg, of any intentional insolence, and imagine not that in
+      speaking highly of my own family, I, mean to depreciate yours: on the
+      contrary, I know it to be respectable, I know, too, that were it the
+      lowest in the kingdom, the first might envy it that it gave birth to such
+      a daughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, somewhat soothed by this speech, begged her pardon for having
+      interrupted her, and she proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To your family, then, I assure you, whatever may be the pride of our own,
+      <i>you</i> being its offspring, we would not object. With your merit we
+      are all well acquainted, your character has our highest esteem, and your
+      fortune exceeds even our most sanguine desires. Strange at once and
+      afflicting! that not all these requisites for the satisfaction of
+      prudence, nor all these allurements for the gratification of happiness,
+      can suffice to fulfil or to silence the claims of either! There are yet
+      other demands to which we must attend, demands which ancestry and blood
+      call upon us aloud to ratify! Such claimants are not to be neglected with
+      impunity; they assert their rights with the authority of prescription,
+      they forbid us alike either to bend to inclination, or stoop to interest,
+      and from generation to generation their injuries will call out for
+      redress, should their noble and long unsullied name be voluntarily
+      consigned to oblivion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely struck by these words, scarce wondered, since so strong
+      and so established were her opinions, that the obstacle to her marriage,
+      though but one, should be considered as insuperable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not, therefore, to <i>your</i> name are we averse,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;but
+      simply to our own more partial. To sink that, indeed, in <i>any</i> other,
+      were base and unworthy:&mdash;what, then, must be the shock of my
+      disappointment, should Mortimer Delvile, the darling of my hopes, the last
+      survivor of his house, in whose birth I rejoiced as the promise of its
+      support, in whose accomplishments I gloried, as the revival of its lustre,&mdash;should
+      <i>he</i>, should, <i>my</i> son be the first to abandon it! to give up
+      the name he seemed born to make live, and to cause in effect its utter
+      annihilation!&mdash;Oh how should I know my son when an alien to his
+      family! how bear to think I had cherished in my bosom the betrayer of its
+      dearest interests, the destroyer of its very existence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, scarce more afflicted than offended, now hastily answered, &ldquo;Not
+      for me, madam, shall he commit this crime, not on <i>my</i> account shall
+      he be reprobated by his family! Think of him, therefore, no more, with any
+      reference to me, for I would not be the cause of unworthiness or guilt in
+      him to be mistress of the universe!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nobly said!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, her eyes sparkling with joy, and her
+      cheeks glowing with pleasure, &ldquo;now again do I know Miss Beverley! now
+      again see the refined, the excellent young woman, whose virtues taught me
+      to expect the renunciation even of her own happiness, when found to be
+      incompatible with her duty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now trembled and turned pale; she scarce knew herself what she had
+      said, but, she found by Mrs Delvile's construction of her words, they had
+      been regarded as her final relinquishing of her son. She ardently wished
+      to quit the room before she was called upon to confirm the sentence, but,
+      she had not courage to make the effort, nor to rise, speak, or move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I grieve, indeed,&rdquo; continued Mrs Delvile, whose coldness and austerity
+      were changed into mildness and compassion, &ldquo;at the necessity I have been
+      under to draw from you a concurrence so painful: but no other resource was
+      in my power. My influence with Mortimer, whatever it may be, I have not
+      any right to try, without obtaining your previous consent, since I regard
+      him myself as bound to you in honour, and only to be released by your own
+      virtuous desire. I will leave you, however, for my presence, I see, is
+      oppressive to you. Farewell; and when you <i>can</i> forgive me, I think
+      you <i>will</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, coldly, &ldquo;to forgive; you have only
+      asserted your own dignity, and I have nobody to blame but myself, for
+      having given you occasion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;if worth and nobleness of soul on your part,
+      if esteem and tenderest affection on mine, were all which that dignity
+      which offends you requires, how should I crave the blessing of such a
+      daughter! how rejoice in joining my son to excellence so like his own, and
+      ensuring his happiness while I stimulated his virtue!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not talk to me of affection, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, turning away from
+      her; &ldquo;whatever you had for me is past,&mdash;even your esteem is gone,&mdash;you
+      may pity me, indeed, but your pity is mixed with contempt, and I am not so
+      abject as to find comfort from exciting it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O little,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, looking at her with the utmost tenderness,
+      &ldquo;little do you see the state of my heart, for never have you appeared to
+      me so worthy as at this moment! In tearing you from my son, I partake all
+      the wretchedness I give, but your own sense of duty must something plead
+      for the strictness with which I act up to mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then moved towards the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your carriage, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, struggling to disguise her inward
+      anguish under an appearance of sullenness, &ldquo;in waiting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile then came back, and holding out her hand, while her eyes
+      glistened with tears, said, &ldquo;To part from you thus frigidly, while my
+      heart so warmly admires you, is almost more than I can endure. Oh gentlest
+      Cecilia! condemn not a mother who is impelled to this severity, who
+      performing what she holds to be her duty, thinks the office her bitterest
+      misfortune, who forsees in the rage of her husband, and the resistance of
+      her son, all the misery of domestic contention, and who can only secure
+      the honour of her family by destroying its peace!&mdash;You will not,
+      then, give me your hand?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had affected not to see that she waited for it, now coldly
+      put it out, distantly [courtseying], and seeking to preserve her
+      steadiness by avoiding to speak. Mrs Delvile took it, and as she repeated
+      her adieu, affectionately pressed it to her lips; Cecilia, starting, and
+      breathing short, from encreasing yet smothered agitation, called out &ldquo;Why,
+      why this condescension?&mdash;pray,&mdash;I entreat you, madam!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heaven bless you, my love!&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, dropping a tear upon the
+      hand she still held, &ldquo;heaven bless you, and restore the tranquillity you
+      so nobly deserve!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, vainly striving to repress any longer the tears
+      which now forced their way down her cheeks, &ldquo;why will you break my heart
+      with this kindness! why will you still compel me to love!&mdash;when now I
+      almost wish to hate you!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, hate me not,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, kissing from her cheeks the tears
+      that watered them, &ldquo;hate me not, sweetest Cecilia, though in wounding your
+      gentle bosom, I am almost detestable to myself. Even the cruel scene which
+      awaits me with my son will not more deeply afflict me. But adieu,&mdash;I
+      must now prepare for him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then left the room: but Cecilia, whose pride had no power to resist
+      this tenderness, ran hastily after her, saying &ldquo;Shall I not see you again,
+      madam?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall yourself decide,&rdquo; answered she; &ldquo;if my coming will not give you
+      more pain than pleasure, I will wait upon you whenever you please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sighed and paused; she knew not what to desire, yet rather wished
+      any thing to be done, than quietly to sit down to uninterrupted
+      reflection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I postpone quitting this place,&rdquo; continued Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;till
+      to-morrow morning, and will you admit me this afternoon, should I call
+      upon you again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be sorry,&rdquo; said she, still hesitating, &ldquo;to detain you,&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will rejoice me,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;by bearing me in your sight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And she then went into her carriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, unfitted to attend her old friend, and unequal to the task of
+      explaining to her the cruel scene in which she had just been engaged, then
+      hastened to her own apartment. Her hitherto stifled emotions broke forth
+      in tears and repinings: her fate was finally determined, and its
+      determination was not more unhappy than humiliating; she was openly
+      rejected by the family whose alliance she was known to wish; she was
+      compelled to refuse the man of her choice, though satisfied his affections
+      were her own. A misery so peculiar she found hard to support, and almost
+      bursting with conflicting passions, her heart alternately swelled from
+      offended pride, and sunk from disappointed tenderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A PERTURBATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecelia was still in this tempestuous state, when a message was brought
+      her that a gentleman was below stairs, who begged to have the honour of
+      seeing her. She concluded he was Delvile, and the thought of meeting him
+      merely to communicate what must so bitterly afflict him, redoubled her
+      distress, and she went down in an agony of perturbation and sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He met her at the door, where, before he could speak, &ldquo;Mr Delvile,&rdquo; she
+      cried, in a hurrying manner, &ldquo;why will you come? Why will you thus insist
+      upon seeing me, in defiance of every obstacle, and in contempt of my
+      prohibition?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens,&rdquo; cried he, amazed, &ldquo;whence this reproach? Did you not
+      permit me to wait upon you with the result of my enquiries? Had I not your
+      consent&mdash;but why do you look thus disturbed?&mdash;Your eyes are red,&mdash;you
+      have been weeping.&mdash;Oh my Cecilia! have I any share in your sorrow?&mdash;Those
+      tears, which never flow weakly, tell me, have they&mdash;has <i>one</i> of
+      them been shed upon my account?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;has been the result of your enquiries?&mdash;Speak
+      quick, for I wish to know,&mdash;and in another instant I must be gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How strange,&rdquo; cried the astonished Delvile, &ldquo;is this language! how
+      strange are these looks! What new has come to pass? Has any fresh calamity
+      happened? Is there yet some evil which I do not expect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why will you not answer first?&rdquo; cried she; &ldquo;when <i>I</i> have spoken,
+      you will perhaps be less willing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You terrify, you shock, you amaze me! What dreadful blow awaits me? For
+      what horror are you preparing me?&mdash;That which I have just
+      experienced, and which tore you from me even at the foot of the altar,
+      still remains inexplicable, still continues to be involved in darkness and
+      mystery; for the wretch who separated us I have never been able to
+      discover.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you procured, then, no intelligence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, none; though since we parted I have never rested a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Make, then, no further enquiry, for now all explanation would be useless.
+      That we <i>were</i> parted, we know, though <i>why</i> we cannot tell: but
+      that again we shall ever meet&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She, stopt; her streaming eyes cast upwards, and a deep sigh bursting from
+      her heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh what,&rdquo; cried Delvile, endeavouring to take her hand, which she hastily
+      withdrew from him, &ldquo;what does this mean? loveliest, dearest Cecilia, my
+      betrothed, my affianced wife! why flow those tears which agony only can
+      wring from you? Why refuse me that hand which so lately was the pledge of
+      your faith? Am I not the same Delvile to whom so few days since you gave
+      it? Why will you not open to him your heart? Why thus distrust his honour,
+      and repulse his tenderness? Oh why, giving him such exquisite misery,
+      refuse him the smallest consolation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What consolation,&rdquo; cried the weeping Cecilia, &ldquo;can I give? Alas! it is
+      not, perhaps, <i>you</i> who most want it!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the door was opened by one of the Miss Charltons, who came into the
+      room with a message from her grandmother, requesting to see Cecilia.
+      Cecilia, ashamed of being thus surprised with Delvile, and in tears,
+      waited not either to make any excuse to him, or any answer to Miss
+      Charlton, but instantly hurried out of the room;&mdash;not, however, to
+      her old friend, whom now less than ever she could meet, but to her own
+      apartment, where a very short indulgence of grief was succeeded by the
+      severest examination of her own conduct.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A retrospection of this sort rarely brings much subject of exultation,
+      when made with the rigid sincerity of secret impartiality: so much
+      stronger is our reason than our virtue, so much higher our sense of duty
+      than our performance!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All she had done she now repented, all she had said she disapproved; her
+      conduct, seldom equal to her notions of right, was now infinitely below
+      them, and the reproaches of her judgment made her forget for a while the
+      afflictions which had misled it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sorrow to which she had openly given way in the presence of Delvile,
+      though their total separation but the moment before had been finally
+      decreed, she considered as a weak effusion of tenderness, injurious to
+      delicacy, and censurable by propriety. &ldquo;His power over my heart,&rdquo; cried
+      she, &ldquo;it were now, indeed, too late to conceal, but his power over my
+      understanding it is time to cancel. I am not to be his,&mdash;my own voice
+      has ratified the renunciation, and since I made it to his mother, it must
+      never, without her consent, be invalidated. Honour, therefore, to her, and
+      regard for myself, equally command me to fly him, till I cease to be thus
+      affected by his sight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When Delvile, therefore, sent up an entreaty that he might be again
+      admitted into her presence, she returned for answer that she was not well,
+      and could not see any body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then left the house, and, in a few minutes, she received the following
+      note from him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>. You drive me from you, Cecilia, tortured with
+      suspense, and distracted with apprehension, you drive me from you, certain
+      of my misery, yet leaving me to bear it as I may! I would call you
+      unfeeling, but that I saw you were unhappy; I would reproach you with
+      tyranny, but that your eyes when you quitted me were swollen with weeping!
+      I go, therefore, I obey the harsh mandate, since my absence is your
+      desire, and I will shut myself up at Biddulph's till I receive your
+      commands. Yet disdain not to reflect that every instant will seem endless,
+      while Cecilia must appear to me unjust, or wound my very soul by the
+      recollection of her in sorrow. MORTIMER DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mixture of fondness and resentment with which this letter was
+      dictated, marked so strongly the sufferings and disordered state of the
+      writer, that all the softness of Cecilia returned when she perused it, and
+      left her not a wish but to lessen his inquietude, by assurances of
+      unalterable regard: yet she determined not to trust herself in his sight,
+      certain they could only meet to grieve over each other, and conscious that
+      a participation of sorrow would but prove a reciprocation of tenderness.
+      Calling, therefore, upon her duty to resist her inclination, she resolved
+      to commit the whole affair to the will of Mrs Delvile, to whom, though
+      under no promise, she now considered herself responsible. Desirous,
+      however, to shorten the period of Delvile's uncertainty, she would not
+      wait till the time she had appointed to see his mother, but wrote the
+      following note to hasten their meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To the Hon. Mrs Delvile</i>. MADAM,&mdash;Your son is now at Bury;
+      shall I acquaint him of your arrival? or will you announce it yourself?
+      Inform me of your desire, and I will endeavour to fulfil it. As my own
+      Agent I regard myself no longer; if, as yours, I can give pleasure, or be
+      of service, I shall gladly receive your commands. I have the honour to be,
+      Madam, your most obedient servant, CECILIA BEVERLEY.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she had sent off this letter, her heart was more at ease, because
+      reconciled with her conscience: she had sacrificed the son, she had
+      resigned herself to the mother; it now only remained to heal her wounded
+      pride, by suffering the sacrifice with dignity, and to recover her
+      tranquility in virtue, by making the resignation without repining.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her reflections, too, growing clearer as the mist of passion was
+      dispersed, she recollected with confusion her cold and sullen behaviour to
+      Mrs Delvile. That lady had but done what she had believed was her duty,
+      and that duty was no more than she had been taught to expect from her. In
+      the beginning of her visit, and while doubtful of its success, she had
+      indeed, been austere, but the moment victory appeared in view, she became
+      tender, affectionate and gentle. Her justice, therefore, condemned the
+      resentment to which she had given way, and she fortified her mind for the
+      interview which was to follow, by an earnest desire to make all reparation
+      both to Mrs Delvile and herself for that which was past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this resolution she was not a little strengthened, by seriously
+      considering with herself the great abatement to all her possible
+      happiness, which must have been made by the humiliating circumstance of
+      forcing herself into a family which held all connection with her as
+      disgraceful. She desired not to be the wife even of Delvile upon such
+      terms, for the more she esteemed and admired him, the more anxious she
+      became for his honour, and the less could she endure being regarded
+      herself as the occasion of its diminution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, therefore, her plan of conduct settled, with calmer spirits, though a
+      heavy heart, she attended upon Mrs Charlton; but fearing to lose the
+      steadiness she had just acquired before it should be called upon, if she
+      trusted herself to relate the decision which had been made, she besought
+      her for the present to dispense with the account, and then forced herself
+      into conversation upon less interesting subjects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This prudence had its proper effect, and with tolerable tranquility she
+      heard Mrs Delvile again announced, and waited upon her in the parlour with
+      an air of composure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not so did Mrs Delvile receive her; she was all eagerness and emotion; she
+      flew to her the moment she appeared, and throwing her arms around her,
+      warmly exclaimed &ldquo;Oh charming girl! Saver of our family! preserver of our
+      honour! How poor are words to express my admiration! how inadequate are
+      thanks in return for such obligations as I owe you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You owe me none, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, suppressing a sigh; &ldquo;on my side
+      will be all the obligation, if you can pardon the petulance of my
+      behaviour this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Call not by so harsh a name,&rdquo; answered Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;the keenness of a
+      sensibility by which you have yourself alone been the sufferer. You have
+      had a trial the most severe, and however able to sustain, it was
+      impossible you should not feel it. That you should give up any man whose
+      friends solicit not your alliance, your mind is too delicate to make
+      wonderful; but your generosity in submitting, unasked, the arrangement of
+      that resignation to those for whose interest it is made, and your high
+      sense of honour in holding yourself accountable to me, though under no
+      tie, and bound by no promise, mark a greatness of mind which calls for
+      reverence rather than thanks, and which I never can praise half so much as
+      I admire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who received this applause but as a confirmation of her
+      rejection, thanked her only by courtsying; and Mrs Delvile, having seated
+      herself next her, continued her speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, you have the goodness to tell me, is here,&mdash;have you seen
+      him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; answered she, blushing, &ldquo;but hardly for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he knows not of my arrival?&rdquo; No,&mdash;I believe he certainly does
+      not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sad then, is the trial which awaits him, and heavy for me the office I
+      must perform! Do you expect to see him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&mdash;yes,&mdash;perhaps&mdash;indeed I hardly&mdash;&rdquo; She stammered,
+      and Mrs Delvile, taking her hand, said &ldquo;Tell me, Miss Beverley, <i>why</i>
+      should you see him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was thunderstruck by this question, and, colouring yet more
+      deeply, looked down, but could not answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Consider,&rdquo; continued Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;the <i>purpose</i> of any further
+      meeting; your union is impossible, you have nobly consented to relinquish
+      all thoughts of it why then tear your own heart, and torture his, by an
+      intercourse which seems nothing but an ill-judged invitation to fruitless
+      and unavailing sorrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was still silent; the truth of the expostulation her reason
+      acknowledged, but to assent to its consequence her whole heart refused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The ungenerous triumph of little female vanity,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;is
+      far, I am sure, from your mind, of which the enlargement and liberality
+      will rather find consolation from lessening than from embittering his
+      sufferings. Speak to me, then, and tell me honestly, judiciously, candidly
+      tell me, will it not be wiser and more right, to avoid rather than seek an
+      object which can only give birth to regret? an interview which can excite
+      no sensations but of misery and sadness?&rdquo; Cecilia then turned pale, she
+      endeavoured to speak, but could not; she wished to comply,&mdash;yet to
+      think she had seen him for the last time, to remember how abruptly she had
+      parted from him, and to fear she had treated him unkindly;&mdash;these
+      were obstacles which opposed her concurrence, though both judgment and
+      propriety demanded it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you, then,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, after a pause, &ldquo;can you wish to see
+      Mortimer merely to behold his grief? Can you desire he should see you,
+      only to sharpen his affliction at your loss?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, to whom this reproof restored speech and
+      resolution, &ldquo;I am not so despicable, I am not, I hope, so unworthy!&mdash;I
+      will&mdash;be ruled by you wholly; I will commit to you every thing;&mdash;yet
+      <i>once</i>, perhaps,&mdash;no more!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear Miss Beverley! to meet confessedly for <i>once</i>,&mdash;what
+      were that but planting a dagger in the heart of Mortimer? What were it but
+      infusing poison into your own?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you think so, madam,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I had better&mdash;I will certainly&mdash;&rdquo;
+       she sighed, stammered, and stopt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;and rather let me try to convince than
+      persuade you. Were there any possibility, by argument, by reflection, or
+      even by accident, to remove the obstacles to our connection, then would it
+      be well to meet, for then might discussion turn to account, and an
+      interchange of sentiments be productive of some happy expedients: but here&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated, and Cecilia, shocked and ashamed, turned away her face, and
+      cried &ldquo;I know, madam, what you would say,&mdash;here all is over! and
+      therefore&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet suffer me,&rdquo; interrupted she, &ldquo;to be explicit, since we speak upon,
+      this matter now for the last time. Here, then, I say, where not ONE doubt
+      remains, where ALL is finally, though not happily decided, what can an
+      interview produce? Mischief of every sort, pain, horror, and repining! To
+      Mortimer you may think it would be kind, and grant it to his prayers, as
+      an alleviation of his misery; mistaken notion! nothing could so greatly
+      augment it. All his passions would be raised, all his prudence would be
+      extinguished, his soul would be torn with resentment and regret, and
+      force, only, would part him from you, when previously he knew that parting
+      was to be eternal. To yourself&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk not, madam, of me,&rdquo; cried the unhappy Cecilia, &ldquo;what you say of your
+      son is sufficient, and I will yield&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet hear me,&rdquo; proceeded she, &ldquo;and believe me not so unjust as to consider
+      him alone; you, also, would be an equal, though a less stormy sufferer.
+      You fancy, at this moment, that once more to meet him would soothe your
+      uneasiness, and that to take of him a farewell, would soften the pain of
+      the separation: how false such reasoning! how dangerous such consolation!
+      acquainted ere you meet that you were to meet him no more, your heart
+      would be all softness and grief, and at the very moment when tenderness
+      should be banished from your intercourse, it would bear down all
+      opposition of judgment, spirit, and dignity: you would hang upon every
+      word, because every word would seem the last, every look, every expression
+      would be rivetted in your memory, and his image in this parting distress
+      would-be painted upon your mind, in colours that would eat into its peace,
+      and perhaps never be erased.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough, enough,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I will not see him,&mdash;I will not even
+      desire it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this compliance or conviction? Is what I have said true, or only
+      terrifying?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Both, both! I believe, indeed, the conflict would have overpowered me,&mdash;I
+      see you are right,&mdash;and I thank you, madam, for saving me from a
+      scene I might so cruelly have rued.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh Daughter of my mind!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her,
+      &ldquo;noble, generous, yet gentle Cecilia! what tie, what connection, could
+      make you more dear to me? Who is there like you? Who half so excellent? So
+      open to reason, so ingenuous in error! so rational! so just! so feeling,
+      yet so wise!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very good,&rdquo; said Cecilia, with a forced serenity, &ldquo;and I am
+      thankful that your resentment for the past obstructs not your lenity for
+      the present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, my love, how shall I resent the past, when I ought myself to have
+      foreseen this calamity! and I <i>should</i> have foreseen it, had I not
+      been informed you were engaged, and upon your engagement built our
+      security. Else had I been more alarmed, for my own admiration would have
+      bid me look forward to my son's. You were just, indeed, the woman he had
+      least chance to resist, you were precisely the character to seize his very
+      soul. To a softness the most fatally alluring, you join a dignity which
+      rescues from their own contempt even the most humble of your admirers. You
+      seem born to have all the world wish your exaltation, and no part of it
+      murmur at your superiority. Were any obstacle but this insuperable one in
+      the way, should nobles, nay, should princes offer their daughters to my
+      election, I would reject without murmuring the most magnificent proposals,
+      and take in triumph to my heart my son's nobler choice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;talk not to me thus!&mdash;speak not such
+      flattering words!&mdash;ah, rather scorn and upbraid me, tell me you
+      despise my character, my family and my connections,&mdash;load, load me
+      with contempt, but do not thus torture me with approbation!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, sweetest girl, if I have awakened those emotions you so wisely
+      seek to subdue. May my son but emulate your example, and my pride in his
+      virtue shall be the solace of my affliction for his misfortunes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then tenderly embraced her, and abruptly took her leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had now acted her part, and acted it to her own satisfaction; but
+      the curtain dropt when Mrs Delvile left the house, nature resumed her
+      rights, and the sorrow of her heart was no longer disguised or repressed.
+      Some faint ray of hope had till now broke through the gloomiest cloud of
+      her misery, and secretly flattered her that its dispersion was possible,
+      though distant: but that ray was extinct, that hope was no more; she had
+      solemnly promised to banish Delvile her sight, and his mother had
+      absolutely declared that even the subject had been discussed for the last
+      time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton, impatient of some explanation of the morning's transactions,
+      soon sent again to beg Cecilia would come to her. Cecilia reluctantly
+      obeyed, for she feared encreasing her indisposition by the intelligence
+      she had to communicate; she struggled, therefore, to appear to her with
+      tolerable calmness, and in briefly relating what had passed, forbore to
+      mingle with the narrative her own feelings and unhappiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton heard the account with the utmost concern; she accused Mrs
+      Delvile of severity, and even of cruelty; she lamented the strange
+      accident by which the marriage ceremony had been stopt, and regretted that
+      it had not again been begun, as the only means to have rendered
+      ineffectual the present fatal interposition. But the grief of Cecilia,
+      however violent, induced her not to join in this regret; she mourned only
+      the obstacle which had occasioned the separation, and not the incident
+      which had merely interrupted the ceremony: convinced, by the conversations
+      in which she had just been engaged, of Mrs Delvile's inflexibility, she
+      rather rejoiced than repined that she had put it to no nearer trial:
+      sorrow was all she felt; for her mind was too liberal to harbour
+      resentment against a conduct which she saw was dictated by a sense of
+      right; and too ductile and too affectionate to remain unmoved by the
+      personal kindness which had softened the rejection, and the many marks of
+      esteem and regard which had shewn her it was lamented, though considered
+      as indispensable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How and by whom this affair had been betrayed to Mrs Delvile she knew not;
+      but the discovery was nothing less than surprising, since, by various
+      unfortunate accidents, it was known to so many, and since, in the horror
+      and confusion of the mysterious prohibition to the marriage, neither
+      Delvile nor herself had thought of even attempting to give any caution to
+      the witnesses of that scene, not to make it known: an attempt, however,
+      which must almost necessarily have been unavailing, as the incident was
+      too extraordinary and too singular to have any chance of suppression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this conversation, one of the servants came to inform Cecilia, that
+      a man was below to enquire if there was no answer to the note he had
+      brought in the forenoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, greatly distressed, knew not upon what to resolve; that the
+      patience of Delvile should be exhausted, she did not, indeed, wonder, and
+      to relieve his anxiety was now almost her only wish; she would therefore
+      instantly have written to him, confessed her sympathy in his sufferings,
+      and besought him to endure with fortitude an evil which was no longer to
+      be withstood: but she was uncertain whether he was yet acquainted with the
+      journey of his mother to Bury, and having agreed to commit to her the
+      whole management of the affair, she feared it would be dishonourable to
+      take any step in it without her concurrence. She returned, therefore, a
+      message that she had yet no answer ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a very few minutes Delvile called himself, and sent up an earnest
+      request for permission to see her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, at least, she had no perplexity; an interview she had given her
+      positive word to refuse, and therefore, without a moment's hesitation, she
+      bid the servant inform him she was particularly engaged, and sorry it was
+      not in her power to see any company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the greatest perturbation he left the house, and immediately wrote to
+      her the following lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>. I entreat you to see me! if only for an instant,
+      I entreat, I implore you to see me! Mrs Charlton may be present, all the
+      world, if you wish it, may be present,&mdash;but deny me not admission, I
+      supplicate, I conjure you!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I will call in an hour; in that time you may have finished your present
+      engagement. I will otherwise wait longer, and call again. You will not, I
+      think, turn me from' your door, and, till I have seen you, I can only live
+      in its vicinity. M. D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man who brought this note, waited not for any answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia read it in an agony of mind inexpressible: she saw, by its style,
+      how much Delvile was irritated, and her knowledge of his temper made her
+      certain his irritation proceeded from believing himself ill-used. She
+      ardently wished to appease and to quiet him, and regretted the necessity
+      of appearing obdurate and unfeeling, even more, at that moment, than the
+      separation itself. To a mind priding in its purity, and animated in its
+      affections, few sensations can excite keener misery, than those by which
+      an apprehension is raised of being thought worthless or ungrateful by the
+      objects of our chosen regard. To be deprived of their society is less
+      bitter, to be robbed of our own tranquillity by any other means, is less
+      afflicting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet to this it was necessary to submit, or incur the only penalty which,
+      to such a mind, would be more severe, self-reproach: she had promised to
+      be governed by Mrs Delvile, she had nothing, therefore, to do but obey
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet <i>to turn</i>, as he expressed himself, <i>from the door</i>, a man
+      who, but for an incident the most incomprehensible, would now have been
+      sole master of herself and her actions, seemed so unkind and so
+      tyrannical, that she could not endure to be within hearing of his repulse:
+      she begged, therefore, the use of Mrs Charlton's carriage, and determined
+      to make a visit to Mrs Harrel till Delvile and his mother had wholly
+      quitted Bury. She was not, indeed, quite satisfied in going to the house
+      of Mr Arnott, but she had no time to weigh objections, and knew not any
+      other place to which still greater might not be started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She wrote a short letter to Mrs Delvile, acquainting her with her purpose,
+      and its reason, and repeating her assurances that she would be guided by
+      her implicitly; and then, embracing Mrs Charlton, whom she left to the
+      care of her grand-daughters, she got into a chaise, accompanied only by
+      her maid, and one man and horse, and ordered the postilion to drive to Mr
+      Arnott's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER v. &mdash; A COTTAGE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The evening was already far advanced, and before she arrived at the end of
+      her little journey it was quite dark. When they came within a mile of Mr
+      Arnott's house, the postilion, in turning too suddenly from the turnpike
+      to the cross-road, overset the carriage. The accident, however, occasioned
+      no other mischief than delaying their proceeding, and Cecilia and her maid
+      were helped out of the chaise unhurt. The servants, assisted by a man who
+      was walking upon the road, began lifting it up; and Cecilia, too busy
+      within to be attentive to what passed without, disregarded what went
+      forward, till she heard her footman call for help. She then hastily
+      advanced to enquire what was the matter, and found that the passenger who
+      had lent his aid, had, by working in the dark, unfortunately slipped his
+      foot under one of the wheels, and so much hurt it, that without great pain
+      he could not put it to the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia immediately desired that the sufferer might be carried to his own
+      home in the chaise, while she and the maid walked on to Mr Arnott's,
+      attended by her servant on horseback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This little incident proved of singular service to her upon first entering
+      the house; Mrs Harrel was at supper with her brother, and hearing the
+      voice of Cecilia in the hall, hastened with the extremest surprise to
+      enquire what had occasioned so late a visit; followed by Mr Arnott, whose
+      amazement was accompanied with a thousand other sensations too powerful
+      for speech. Cecilia, unprepared with any excuse, instantly related the
+      adventure she had met with on the road, which quieted their curiosity, by
+      turning their attention to her personal safety. They ordered a room to be
+      prepared for her, entreated her to go to rest with all speed, and postpone
+      any further account till the next day. With this request she most gladly
+      complied, happy to be spared the embarrassment of enquiry, and rejoiced to
+      be relieved from the fatigue of conversation. Her night was restless and
+      miserable: to know how Delvile would bear her flight was never a moment
+      from her thoughts, and to hear whether he would obey or oppose his mother
+      was her incessant wish. She was fixt, however, to be faithful in refusing
+      to see him, and at least to suffer nothing new from her own enterprize or
+      fault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the morning Mrs Harrel came to see her. She was eager to learn
+      why, after invitations repeatedly refused, she was thus suddenly arrived
+      without any; and she was still more eager to talk of herself, and relate
+      the weary life she led thus shut up in the country, and confined to the
+      society of her brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia evaded giving any immediate answer to her questions, and Mrs
+      Harrel, happy in an opportunity to rehearse her own complaints, soon
+      forgot that she had asked any, and, in a very short time, was perfectly,
+      though imperceptibly, contented to be herself the only subject upon which
+      they conversed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But not such was the selfishness of Mr Arnott; and Cecilia, when she went
+      down to breakfast, perceived with the utmost concern that he had passed a
+      night as sleepless as her own. A visit so sudden, so unexpected, and so
+      unaccountable, from an object that no discouragement could make him think
+      of with indifference, had been a subject to him of conjecture and wonder
+      that had revived all the hopes and the fears which had lately, though
+      still unextinguished, lain dormant. The enquiries, however, which his
+      sister had given up, he ventured not to renew, and thought himself but too
+      happy in her presence, whatever might be the cause of her visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He perceived, however, immediately, the sadness that hung upon her mind,
+      and his own was redoubled by the sight: Mrs Harrel, also, saw that she
+      looked ill, but attributed it to the fatigue and fright of the preceding
+      evening, well knowing that a similar accident would have made her ill
+      herself, or fancy that she was so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During breakfast, Cecilia sent for the postilion, to enquire of him how
+      the man had fared, whose good-natured assistance in their distress had
+      been so unfortunate to himself. He answered that he had turned out to be a
+      day labourer, who lived about half a mile off. And then, partly to gratify
+      her own humanity, and partly to find any other employment for herself and
+      friends than uninteresting conversation, she proposed that they should all
+      walk to the poor man's habitation, and offer him some amends for the
+      injury he had received. This was readily assented to, and the postilion
+      directed them whither to go. The place was a cottage, situated upon a
+      common; they entered it without ceremony, and found a clean looking woman
+      at work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia enquired for her husband, and was told that he was gone out to
+      day-labour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad to hear it,&rdquo; returned she; &ldquo;I hope then he has got the
+      better of the accident he met with last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not him, madam,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;met with the accident, it was
+      John;&mdash;there he is, working in the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To the garden then they all went, and saw him upon the ground, weeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moment they approached he arose, and, without speaking, began to limp,
+      for he could hardly walk; away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, master,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;that you are so much hurt. Have you
+      had anything put to your foot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man made no answer, but still turned away from her; a glance, however,
+      of his eye, which the next instant he fixed upon the ground, startled her;
+      she moved round to look at him again,&mdash;and perceived Mr Belfield!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; she exclaimed; but seeing him still retreat, she recollected
+      in a moment how little he would be obliged to her for betraying him, and
+      suffering him to go on, turned back to her party, and led the way again
+      into the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the first emotion of her surprise was over, she enquired how
+      long John had belonged to this cottage, and what was his way of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman answered he had only been with them a week, and that he went out
+      to day-labour with her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, finding their stay kept him from his employment, and willing
+      to save him the distress of being seen by Mr Arnott or Mrs Harrel,
+      proposed their returning home. She grieved most sincerely at beholding in
+      so melancholy an occupation a young man of such talents and abilities; she
+      wished much to assist him, and began considering by what means it might be
+      done, when, as they were walking from the cottage, a voice at some
+      distance called out &ldquo;Madam! Miss Beverley!&rdquo; and, looking round, to her
+      utter amazement she saw Belfield endeavouring to follow her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She instantly stopt, and he advanced, his hat in his hand, and his whole
+      air indicating he sought not to be disguised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Surprised at this sudden change of behaviour, she then stept forward to
+      meet him, accompanied by her friends: but when they came up to each other,
+      she checked her desire of speaking, to leave him fully at liberty to make
+      himself known, or keep concealed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed with a look of assumed gaiety and ease, but the deep scarlet that
+      tinged his whole face manifested his internal confusion; and in a voice
+      that attempted to sound lively, though its tremulous accents betrayed
+      uneasiness and distress, he exclaimed, with a forced smile, &ldquo;Is it
+      possible Miss Beverley can deign to notice a poor miserable day-labourer
+      such as I am? how will she be justified in the beau monde, when even the
+      sight of such a wretch ought to fill her with horror? Henceforth let
+      hysterics be blown to the winds, and let nerves be discarded from the
+      female vocabulary, since a lady so young and fair can stand this shock
+      without hartshorn or fainting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am happy,&rdquo; answered Cecilia, &ldquo;to find your spirits so good; yet my own,
+      I must confess, are not raised by seeing you in this strange situation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My spirits!&rdquo; cried he, with an air of defiance, &ldquo;never were they better,
+      never so good as at this moment. Strange as seems my situation, it is all
+      that I wish; I have found out, at last, the true secret of happiness! that
+      secret which so long I pursued in vain, but which always eluded my grasp,
+      till the instant of despair arrived, when, slackening my pace, I gave it
+      up as a phantom. Go from me, I cried, I will be cheated no more! thou airy
+      bubble! thou fleeting shadow! I will live no longer in thy sight, since
+      thy beams dazzle without warming me! Mankind seems only composed as matter
+      for thy experiments, and I will quit the whole race, that thy delusions
+      may be presented to me no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This romantic flight, which startled even Cecilia, though acquainted with
+      his character, gave to Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott the utmost surprize; his
+      appearance, and the account they had just heard of him, having by no means
+      prepared them for such sentiments or such language.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is then this great secret of happiness,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;nothing, at last,
+      but total seclusion from the world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;it is Labour with Independence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now wished much to ask some explanation of his affairs, but was
+      doubtful whether he would gratify her before Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott, and
+      hurt to keep him standing, though he leant upon a stick; she told him,
+      therefore, she would at present detain him no longer, but endeavour again
+      to see him before she quitted her friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Arnott then interfered, and desired his sister would entreat Miss
+      Beverley to invite whom she pleased to his house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia thanked him, and instantly asked Belfield to call upon her in the
+      afternoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam, no,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I have done with visits and society! I will
+      not so soon break through a system with much difficulty formed, when all
+      my future tranquility depends upon adhering to it. The worthlessness of
+      mankind has disgusted me with the world, and my resolution in quitting it
+      shall be immoveable as its baseness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must not venture then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to enquire&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enquire, madam,&rdquo; interrupted he, with quickness, &ldquo;what you please: there
+      is nothing I will not answer to you,&mdash;to this lady, to this
+      gentleman, to any and to every body. What can I wish to conceal, where I
+      have nothing to gain or to lose? When first, indeed, I saw you, I
+      involuntarily shrunk; a weak shame for a moment seized me, I felt fallen
+      and debased, and I wished to avoid you: but a little recollection brought
+      me back to my senses, And where, cried I, is the disgrace of exercising
+      for my subsistence the strength with which I am endued? and why should I
+      blush to lead the life which uncorrupted Nature first prescribed to man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, more and more interested to hear him, &ldquo;if you
+      will not visit us, will you at least permit us to return with you to some
+      place where you can be seated?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will with pleasure,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;go to any place where you may be seated
+      yourselves; but for me, I have ceased to regard accommodation or
+      inconvenience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then all went back to the cottage, which was now empty, the woman
+      being out at work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you then, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;give me leave to enquire whether Lord
+      Vannelt is acquainted with your retirement, and if it will not much
+      surprize and disappoint him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord Vannelt,&rdquo; cried he, haughtily, &ldquo;has no right to be surprised. I
+      would have quitted <i>his</i> house, if no other, not even this cottage,
+      had a roof to afford me shelter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, indeed, to hear it,&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;I had hoped he would have
+      known your value, and merited your regard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ill-usage,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;is as hard to relate as to be endured. There is
+      commonly something pitiful in a complaint; and though oppression in a
+      general sense provokes the wrath of mankind, the investigation of its
+      minuter circumstances excites nothing but derision. Those who give the
+      offence, by the worthy few may be hated; but those who receive it, by the
+      world at large will be despised. Conscious of this, I disdained making any
+      appeal; myself the only sufferer, I had a right to be the only judge, and,
+      shaking off the base trammels of interest and subjection, I quitted the
+      house in silent indignation, not chusing to remonstrate, where I desired
+      not to be reconciled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And was there no mode of life,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to adopt, but living with
+      Lord Vannelt, or giving up the whole world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I weighed every thing maturely,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;before I made my
+      determination, and I found it so much, the most eligible, that I am
+      certain I can never repent it. I had friends who would with pleasure have
+      presented me to some other nobleman; but my whole heart revolted against
+      leading that kind of life, and I would not, therefore, idly rove from one
+      great man to another, adding ill-will to disgrace, and pursuing hope in
+      defiance of common sense; no; when I quitted Lord Vannelt, I resolved to
+      give up patronage for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I retired to private lodgings to deliberate what next could be done. I
+      had lived in many ways, I had been unfortunate or imprudent in all. The
+      law I had tried, but its rudiments were tedious and disgusting; the army,
+      too, but there found my mind more fatigued with indolence, than my body
+      with action; general dissipation had then its turn, but the expence to
+      which it led was ruinous, and self-reproach baffled pleasure while I
+      pursued it; I have even&mdash;yes, there are few things I have left
+      untried,&mdash;I have even,&mdash;for why now disguise it?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt and coloured, but in a quicker voice presently proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Trade, also, has had its share in my experiments; for that, in truth, I
+      was originally destined,&mdash;but my education had ill suited me to such
+      a destination, and the trader's first maxim I reversed, in lavishing when
+      I ought to have accumulated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then, remained for me? to run over again the same irksome round I
+      had not patience, and to attempt any thing new I was unqualified: money I
+      had none; my friends I could bear to burthen no longer; a fortnight I
+      lingered in wretched irresolution,&mdash;a simple accident at the end of
+      it happily settled me; I was walking, one morning, in Hyde Park, forming a
+      thousand plans for my future life, but quarrelling with them all; when a
+      gentleman met me on horseback, from whom, at my Lord Vannelt's, I had
+      received particular civilities; I looked another way not to be seen by
+      him, and the change in my dress since I left his Lordship's made me easily
+      pass unnoticed. He had rode on, however, but a few yards, before, by some
+      accident or mismanagement, he had a fall from his horse. Forgetting all my
+      caution, I flew instantly to his assistance; he was bruised, but not
+      otherwise hurt; I helpt him up, and he leant 'pon my arm; in my haste of
+      enquiring how he had fared, I called him by his name. He knew me, but
+      looked surprised at my appearance; he was speaking to me, however, with
+      kindness, when seeing some gentlemen of his acquaintance gallopping up to
+      him, he hastily disengaged himself from me, and instantly beginning to
+      recount to them what had happened, he sedulously looked another way, and
+      joining his new companions, walked off without taking further notice of
+      me. For a moment I was almost tempted to trouble him to come back; but a
+      little recollection told me how ill he deserved my resentment, and bid me
+      transfer it for the future from the pitiful individual to the worthless
+      community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here finished my deliberation; the disgust to the world which I had
+      already conceived, this little incident confirmed; I saw it was only made
+      for the great and the rich;&mdash;poor, therefore, and low, what had I to
+      do in it? I determined to quit it for ever, and to end every
+      disappointment, by crushing every hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wrote to Lord Vannelt to send my trunks to my mother; I wrote to my
+      mother that I was well, and would soon let her hear more: I then paid off
+      my lodgings, and 'shaking the dust from my feet,' bid a long adieu to
+      London; and, committing my route to chance, strole on into the country,
+      without knowing or caring which way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My first thought was simply to seek retirement, and to depend for my
+      future repose upon nothing but a total seclusion from society: but my slow
+      method of travelling gave me time for reflection, and reflection soon
+      showed me the error of this notion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guilt, cried I, may, indeed, be avoided by solitude; but will misery?
+      will regret? will deep dejection of mind? no, they will follow more
+      assiduously than ever; for what is there to oppose them, where neither
+      business occupies the time, nor hope the imagination? where the past has
+      left nothing but resentment, and the future opens only to a dismal,
+      uninteresting void? No stranger to life, I knew human nature could not
+      exist on such terms; still less a stranger to books, I respected the voice
+      of wisdom and experience in the first of moralists, and most enlightened
+      of men, [Footnote: Dr Johnson.] and reading the letter of Cowley, I saw
+      the vanity and absurdity of <i>panting after solitude</i>. [Footnote: Life
+      of Cowley, p.34.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sought not, therefore, a cell; but, since I purposed to live for
+      myself, I determined for myself also to think. Servility of imitation has
+      ever been as much my scorn as servility of dependence; I resolved,
+      therefore, to strike out something new, and no more to retire as every
+      other man had retired, than to linger in the world as every other man had
+      lingered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The result of all you now see. I found out this cottage, and took up my
+      abode in it. I am here out of the way of all society, yet avoid the great
+      evil of retreat, <i>having nothing to do</i>. I am constantly, not
+      capriciously employed, and the exercise which benefits my health,
+      imperceptibly raises my spirits in despight of adversity. I am removed
+      from all temptation, I have scarce even the power to do wrong; I have no
+      object for ambition, for repining I have no time:&mdash;I have, found out,
+      I repeat, the true secret of happiness, Labour with Independence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt; and Cecilia, who had listened to this narrative with a mixture
+      of compassion, admiration and censure, was too much struck with its
+      singularity to be readily able to answer it. Her curiosity to hear him had
+      sprung wholly from her desire to assist him, and she had expected from his
+      story to gather some hint upon which her services might be offered. But
+      none had occurred; he professed himself fully satisfied with his
+      situation; and though reason and probability contradicted the profession,
+      she could not venture to dispute it with any delicacy or prudence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She thanked him, therefore, for his relation, with many apologies for the
+      trouble she had given him, and added, &ldquo;I must not express my concern for
+      misfortunes which you seem to regard as conducive to your contentment, nor
+      remonstrate at the step you have taken, since you have been led to it by
+      choice, not necessity: but yet, you must pardon me if I cannot help hoping
+      I shall some time see you happier, according to the common, however vulgar
+      ideas of the rest of the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, never, never! I am sick of mankind, not from theory, but experience;
+      and the precautions I have taken against mental fatigue, will secure me
+      from repentance, or any desire of change; for it is not the active, but
+      the indolent who weary; it is not the temperate, but the pampered who are
+      capricious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your sister, Sir, acquainted with this change in your fortune and
+      opinions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor girl, no! She and her unhappy mother have borne but too long with my
+      enterprizes and misfortunes. Even yet they would sacrifice whatever they
+      possess to enable me to play once more the game so often lost; but I will
+      not abuse their affection, nor suffer them again to be slaves to my
+      caprices, nor dupes to their own delusive expectations. I have sent them
+      word I am happy; I have not yet told them how or where. I fear much the
+      affliction of their disappointment, and, for a while, shall conceal from
+      them my situation, which they would fancy was disgraceful, and grieve at
+      as cruel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is it not cruel?&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;is labour indeed so sweet? and can
+      you seriously derive happiness from what all others consider as misery?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not sweet,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;in itself; but sweet, most sweet and salutary
+      in its effects. When I work, I forget all the world; my projects for the
+      future, my disappointments from the past. Mental fatigue is overpowered by
+      personal; I toil till I require rest, and that rest which nature, not
+      luxury demands, leads not to idle meditation, but to sound, heavy,
+      necessary sleep. I awake the next morning to the same thought-exiling
+      business, work again till my powers are exhausted, and am relieved again
+      at night by the same health-recruiting insensibility.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if this,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;is the life of happiness, why have we so
+      many complaints of the sufferings of the poor, and why so eternally do we
+      hear of their hardships and distress?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have known no other life. They are strangers, therefore, to the
+      felicity of their lot. Had they mingled in the world, fed high their fancy
+      with hope, and looked forward with expectation of enjoyment; had they been
+      courted by the great, and offered with profusion adulation for their
+      abilities, yet, even when starving, been offered nothing else!&mdash;had
+      they seen an attentive circle wait all its entertainment from their
+      powers, yet found themselves forgotten as soon as out of sight, and
+      perceived themselves avoided when no longer buffoons!&mdash;Oh had they
+      known and felt provocations such as these, how gladly would their
+      resentful spirits turn from the whole unfeeling race, and how would they
+      respect that noble and manly labour, which at once disentangles them from
+      such subjugating snares, and enables them to fly the ingratitude they
+      abhor! Without the contrast of vice, virtue unloved may be lovely; without
+      the experience of misery, happiness is simply a dull privation of evil.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And are you so content,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;with your present situation, as
+      even to think it offers you reparation for your past sufferings?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Content!&rdquo; repeated he with energy, &ldquo;O more than content, I am proud of my
+      present situation! I glory in chewing to the world, glory still more in
+      shewing to myself, that those whom I cannot but despise I will not scruple
+      to defy, and that where I have been treated unworthily, I will scorn to be
+      obliged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But will you pardon me,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;should I ask again, why in
+      quitting Lord Vannelt, you concluded no one else worthy a trial?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because it was less my Lord Vannelt, madam, than my own situation, that
+      disgusted me: for though I liked not his behaviour, I found him a man too
+      generally esteemed to flatter myself better usage would await me in merely
+      changing my abode, while my station was the same. I believe, indeed, he
+      never meant to offend me; but I was offended the more that he should think
+      me an object to receive indignity without knowing it. To have had this
+      pointed out to him, would have been at once mortifying and vain; for
+      delicacy, like taste, can only partially be taught, and will always be
+      superficial and erring where it is not innate. Those wrongs, which though
+      too trifling to resent, are too humiliating to be borne, speech can convey
+      no idea of; the soul must feel, or the understanding can never comprehend
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;though people of refinement are rare, they
+      yet exist; why, then, remove yourself from the possibility of meeting with
+      them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must I run about the nation,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;proclaiming my distress, and
+      describing my temper? telling the world that though dependent I demand
+      respect as well as assistance; and publishing to mankind, that though poor
+      I will accept no gifts if offered with contumely? Who will listen to such
+      an account? who will care for my misfortunes, but as they may humble me to
+      his service? Who will hear my mortifications, but to say I deserve them?
+      what has the world to do with my feelings and peculiarities? I know it too
+      well to think calamity will soften it; I need no new lessons to instruct
+      me that to conquer affliction is more wise than to relate it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unfortunate as you have been,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I cannot wonder at your
+      asperity; but yet, it is surely no more than justice to acknowledge, that
+      hard-heartedness to distress is by no means the fault of the present
+      times: on the contrary, it is scarce sooner made known, than every one is
+      ready to contribute to its relief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how contribute?&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;by a paltry donation of money? Yes, the
+      man whose only want is a few guineas, may, indeed, obtain them; but he who
+      asks kindness and protection, whose oppressed spirit calls for consolation
+      even more than his ruined fortune for repair, how is his struggling soul,
+      if superior to his fate, to brook the ostentation of patronage, and the
+      insolence of condescension? Yes, yes, the world will save the poor beggar
+      who is starving; but the fallen wretch, who will not cringe for his
+      support, may consume in his own wretchedness without pity and without
+      help!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now saw that the wound his sensibility had received was too
+      painful for argument, and too recent immediately to be healed. She
+      forbore, therefore, to detain him any longer, but expressing her best
+      wishes, without venturing to hint at her services, she arose, and they all
+      took their leave;&mdash;Belfield hastening, as they went, to return to the
+      garden, where, looking over the hedge as they passed, they saw him
+      employed again in weeding, with the eagerness of a man who pursues his
+      favourite occupation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia half forgot her own anxieties and sadness, in the concern which
+      she felt for this unfortunate and extraordinary young man. She wished much
+      to devise some means for drawing him from a life of such hardship and
+      obscurity; but what to a man thus &ldquo;jealous in honour,&rdquo; thus scrupulous in
+      delicacy, could she propose, without more risk of offence, than
+      probability of obliging? His account had, indeed, convinced her how much
+      he stood in need of assistance, but it had shewn her no less how
+      fastidious he would be in receiving it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was she wholly without fear that an earnest solicitude to serve him,
+      his youth, talents, and striking manners considered, might occasion even
+      in himself a misconstruction of her motives, such as she already had given
+      birth to in his forward and partial mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The present, therefore, all circumstances weighed, seemed no season for
+      her liberality, which she yet resolved to exert the first moment it was
+      unopposed by propriety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A CONTEST.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The rest of the day was passed in discussing this adventure; but in the
+      evening, Cecilia's interest in it was all sunk, by the reception of the
+      following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I grieve to interrupt the tranquillity of a retirement so judiciously
+      chosen, and I lament the necessity of again calling to trial the virtue of
+      which the exertion, though so captivating, is so painful; but alas, my
+      excellent young friend, we came not hither to enjoy, but to suffer; and
+      happy only are those whose sufferings have neither by folly been sought,
+      nor by guilt been merited, but arising merely from the imperfection of
+      humanity, have been resisted with fortitude, or endured with patience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am informed of your virtuous steadiness, which corresponds with my
+      expectations, while it excites my respect. All further conflict I had
+      hoped to have saved you; and to the triumph of your goodness I had trusted
+      for the recovery of your peace: but Mortimer has disappointed me, and our
+      work is still unfinished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He avers that he is solemnly engaged to you, and in pleading to me his
+      honour, he silences both expostulation and authority. From your own words
+      alone will he acknowledge his dismission; and notwithstanding my
+      reluctance to impose upon you this task, I cannot silence or quiet him
+      without making the request.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a purpose such as this, can you, then, admit us? Can you bear with
+      your own lips to confirm the irrevocable decision? You will feel, I am
+      sure, for the unfortunate Mortimer, and it was earnestly my desire to
+      spare you the sight of his affliction; yet such is my confidence in your
+      prudence, that since I find him bent upon seeing you, I am not without
+      hope, that from witnessing the greatness of your mind, the interview may
+      rather calm than inflame him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This proposal you will take into consideration, and if you are able, upon
+      such terms, to again meet my son, we will wait upon you together, where
+      and when you will appoint; but if the gentleness of your nature will make
+      the effort too severe for you, scruple not to decline it, for Mortimer,
+      when he knows your pleasure, will submit to it as he ought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Adieu, most amiable and but too lovely Cecilia; whatever you determine, be
+      sure of my concurrence, for nobly have you earned, and ever must you
+      retain, the esteem, the affection, and the gratitude of AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;when shall I be at rest? when cease to be
+      persecuted by new conflicts! Oh why must I so often, so cruelly, though so
+      reluctantly, reject and reprove the man who of all men I wish to accept
+      and to please!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But yet, though repining at this hard necessity, she hesitated not a
+      moment in complying with Mrs Delvile's request, and immediately sent an
+      answer that she would meet her the next morning at Mrs Charlton's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then returned to the parlour, and apologized to Mrs Harrel and Mr
+      Arnott for the abruptness of her visit, and the suddenness of her
+      departure. Mr Arnott heard her in silent dejection; and Mrs Harrel used
+      all the persuasion in her power to prevail with her to stay, her presence
+      being some relief to her solitude: but finding it ineffectual, she
+      earnestly pressed her to hasten her entrance into her own house, that
+      their absence might be shortened, and their meeting more sprightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia passed the night in planning her behaviour for the next day; she
+      found how much was expected from her by Mrs Delvile, who had even exhorted
+      her to decline the interview if doubtful of her own strength. Delvile's
+      firmness in insisting the refusal should come directly from herself,
+      surprised, gratified and perplexed her in turn; she had imagined, that
+      from the moment of the discovery, he would implicitly have submitted to
+      the award of a parent at once so reverenced and so beloved, and how he had
+      summoned courage to contend with her she could not conjecture: yet that
+      courage and that contention astonished not more than they soothed her,
+      since, from her knowledge of his filial tenderness, she considered them as
+      the most indubitable proofs she had yet received of the fervour and
+      constancy of his regard for her. But would he, when she had ratified the
+      decision of his mother, forbear all further struggle, and for ever yield
+      up all pretensions to her? this was the point upon which her uncertainty
+      turned, and the ruling subject of her thoughts and meditation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To be steady, however, herself, be his conduct what it might, was
+      invariably her intention, and was all her ambition: yet earnestly she
+      wished the meeting over, for she dreaded to see the sorrow of Delvile, and
+      she dreaded still more the susceptibility of her own heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, to her great concern, Mr Arnott was waiting in the hall
+      when she came down stairs, and so much grieved at her departure, that he
+      handed her to the chaise without being able to speak to her, and hardly
+      heard her thanks and compliments but by recollection after she was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She arrived at Mrs Charlton's very early, and found her old friend in the
+      same state she had left her. She communicated to her the purpose of her
+      return, and begged she would keep her granddaughters up stairs, that the
+      conference in the parlour might be uninterrupted and unheard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then made a forced and hasty breakfast, and went down to be ready to
+      receive them. They came not till eleven o'clock, and the time of her
+      waiting was passed in agonies of expectation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length they were announced, and at length they entered the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, with her utmost efforts for courage, could hardly stand to
+      receive them. They came in together, but Mrs Delvile, advancing before her
+      son, and endeavouring so to stand as to intercept his view of her, with
+      the hope that in a few instants her emotion would be less visible, said,
+      in the most soothing accents, &ldquo;What honour Miss Beverley does us by
+      permitting this visit! I should have been sorry to have left Suffolk
+      without the satisfaction of again seeing you; and my son, sensible of the
+      high respect he owes you, was most unwilling to be gone, before he had
+      paid you his devoirs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia courtsied; but depressed by the cruel task which awaited her, had
+      no power to speak; and Mrs Delvile, finding she still trembled, made her
+      sit down, and drew a chair next to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while Delvile, with an emotion far more violent, because wholly
+      unrestrained, waited impatiently till the ceremonial of the reception was
+      over, and then, approaching Cecilia, in a voice of perturbation and
+      resentment, said, &ldquo;In this presence, at least, I hope I may be heard;
+      though my letters have been unanswered, my visits refused, though
+      inexorably you have flown me&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mortimer,&rdquo; interrupted Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;forget not that what I have told you
+      is irrevocable; you now meet Miss Beverley for no other purpose than to
+      give and to receive a mutual release of all to or engagement with each
+      other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, madam,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;this is a condition to which I have never
+      assented. I come not to release, but to claim her! I am hers, and hers
+      wholly! I protest it in the face of the world! The time, therefore, is now
+      past for the sacrifice which you demand, since scarce are you more my
+      mother, than I consider her as my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, amazed at this dauntless declaration, now almost lost her fear in
+      her surprise; while Mrs Delvile, with an air calm though displeased,
+      answered, &ldquo;This is not a point to be at present discussed, and I had hoped
+      you knew better what was due to your auditors. I only consented to this
+      interview as a mark of your respect for Miss Beverley, to whom in
+      propriety it belongs to break off this unfortunate connexion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who at this call could no longer be silent, now gathered
+      fortitude to say, &ldquo;Whatever tie or obligation may be supposed to depend
+      upon me, I have already relinquished; and I am now ready to declare&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That you wholly give me up?&rdquo; interrupted Delvile, &ldquo;is that what you would
+      say?&mdash;Oh how have I offended you? how have I merited a displeasure
+      that can draw upon me such a sentence?&mdash;Answer, speak to me, Cecilia,
+      what is it I have done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, confounded at this language in the presence
+      of his mother, &ldquo;you have done nothing,&mdash;but yet&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet what?&mdash;have you conceived to me an aversion? has any dreadful
+      and horrible antipathy succeeded to your esteem?&mdash;tell, tell me
+      without disguise, do you hate, do you abhor me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sighed, and turned away her head; and Mrs Delvile indignantly
+      exclaimed, &ldquo;What madness and absurdity! I scarce know you under the
+      influence of such irrational violence. Why will you interrupt Miss
+      Beverley in the only speech you ought to hear from her? Why, at once,
+      oppress her, and irritate me, by words of more passion than reason? Go on,
+      charming girl, finish what so wisely, so judiciously you were beginning,
+      and then you shall be released from this turbulent persecution.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam, she must not go on!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;if she does not utterly
+      abhor me, I will not suffer her to go on;&mdash;Pardon, pardon me,
+      Cecilia, but your too exquisite delicacy is betraying not only my
+      happiness, but your own. Once more, therefore, I conjure you to hear me,
+      and then if, deliberately and unbiassed, you renounce me, I will never
+      more distress you by resisting your decree.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, abashed and changing colour, was silent, and he proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All that has past between us, the vows I have offered you of faith,
+      constancy and affection, the consent I obtained from you to be legally
+      mine, the bond of settlement I have had drawn up, and the high honour you
+      conferred upon me in suffering me to lead you to the altar,&mdash;all
+      these particulars are already known to so many, that the least reflection
+      must convince you they will soon be concealed from none: tell me, then, if
+      your own fame pleads not for me, and if the scruples which lead you to
+      refuse, by taking another direction, will not, with much more propriety,
+      urge, nay enjoin you to accept me!&mdash;You hesitate at least,&mdash;O
+      Miss Beverley!&mdash;I see in that hesitation&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, nothing!&rdquo; cried she, hastily, and checking her rising
+      irresolution; &ldquo;there is nothing for you to see, but that every way I now
+      turn I have rendered myself miserable!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mortimer,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, seized with terror as she penetrated into
+      the mental yielding of Cecilia, &ldquo;you have now spoken to Miss Beverley; and
+      unwilling as I am to obtrude upon her our difference of sentiment, it is
+      necessary, since she has heard you, that I, also, should claim her
+      attention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First let her speak!&rdquo; cried Delvile, who in her apparent wavering built
+      new hopes, &ldquo;first let her answer what she has already deigned to listen
+      to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, first let her hear!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;for so only can she judge
+      what answer will reflect upon her most honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, solemnly turning to Cecilia, she continued: &ldquo;You see here, Miss
+      Beverley, a young man who passionately adores you, and who forgets in his
+      adoration friends, family, and connections, the opinions in which he has
+      been educated, the honour of his house, his own former views, and all his
+      primitive sense of duty, both public and private!&mdash;A passion built on
+      such a defalcation of principle renders him unworthy your acceptance; and
+      not more ignoble for him would be a union which would blot his name from
+      the injured stock whence he sprung, than indelicate for you, who upon such
+      terms ought to despise him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, madam,&rdquo; exclaimed Delvile, &ldquo;what a speech!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O never,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, rising, &ldquo;may I hear such another! Indeed, madam,
+      there is no occasion to probe me so deeply, for I would not now enter your
+      family, for all that the whole world could offer me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At length, then, madam,&rdquo; cried Delvile, turning reproachfully to his
+      mother, &ldquo;are you satisfied? is your purpose now answered? and is the
+      dagger you have transfixed in my heart sunk deep enough to appease you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O could I draw it out,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;and leave upon it no stain of
+      ignominy, with what joy should my own bosom receive it, to heal the wound
+      I have most compulsatorily inflicted!&mdash;Were this excellent young
+      creature portionless, I would not hesitate in giving my consent; every
+      claim of interest would be overbalanced by her virtues, and I would not
+      grieve to see you poor, where so conscious you were happy; but here to
+      concede, would annihilate every hope with which hitherto I have looked up
+      to my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us now, then, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;break up this conference. I have
+      spoken, I have heard, the decree is past, and therefore,&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are indeed an angel!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her;
+      &ldquo;and never can I reproach my son with what has passed, when I consider for
+      what an object the sacrifice was planned. <i>You</i> cannot be unhappy,
+      you have purchased peace by the exercise of virtue, and the close of every
+      day will bring to you a reward, in the sweets of a self-approving mind.&mdash;But
+      we will part, since you think it right; I do wrong to occasion any delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, we will <i>not</i> part!&rdquo; cried Delvile, with encreasing vehemence;
+      &ldquo;if you force me, madam, from her, you will drive me to distraction! What
+      is there in this world that can offer me a recompense? And what can pride
+      even to the proudest afford as an equivalent? Her perfections you
+      acknowledge, her greatness of mind is like your own; she has generously
+      given me her heart,&mdash;Oh sacred and fascinating charge! Shall I, after
+      such a deposite, consent to an eternal separation? Repeal, repeal your
+      sentence, my Cecilia! let us live to ourselves and our consciences, and
+      leave the vain prejudices of the world to those who can be paid by them
+      for the loss of all besides!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this conflict, then,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;to last for-ever? Oh end it,
+      Mortimer, finish it, and make me happy! she is just, and will forgive you,
+      she is noble-minded, and will honour you. Fly, then, at this critical
+      moment, for in flight alone is your safety; and then will your father see
+      the son of his hopes, and then shall the fond blessings of your idolizing
+      mother soothe all your affliction, and soften all your regret!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;for mercy, for humanity, forbear this cruel
+      supplication!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, more than supplication, you have my commands; commands you have
+      never yet disputed, and misery, ten-fold misery, will follow their
+      disobedience. Hear me, Mortimer, for I speak prophetically; I know your
+      heart, I know it to be formed for rectitude and duty, or destined by their
+      neglect to repentance and horror.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, struck by these words, turned suddenly from them both, and in
+      gloomy despondence walked to the other end of the room. Mrs Delvile
+      perceived the moment of her power, and determined to pursue the blow:
+      taking, therefore, the hand of Cecilia, while her eyes sparkled with the
+      animation of reviving hope, &ldquo;See,&rdquo; she cried, pointing to her son, &ldquo;see if
+      I am deceived! can he bear even the suggestion of future contrition! Think
+      you when it falls upon him, he will support it better? No; he will sink
+      under it. And you, pure as you are of mind, and steadfast in principle,
+      what would your chance be of happiness with a man who never erring till he
+      knew you, could never look at you without regret, be his fondness what it
+      might?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam,&rdquo; cried the greatly shocked Cecilia, &ldquo;let him, then, see me no
+      more!&mdash;take, take him all to yourself! forgive, console him! I will
+      not have the misery of involving him in repentance, nor of incurring the
+      reproaches of the mother he so much reverences!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exalted creature!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile; &ldquo;tenderness such as this would
+      confer honour upon a monarch.&rdquo; Then, calling out exultingly to her son,
+      &ldquo;See,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;how great a woman can act, when stimulated by
+      generosity, and a just sense of duty! Follow then, at least, the example
+      you ought to have led, and deserve my esteem and love, or be content to
+      forego them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And can I only deserve them,&rdquo; said Delvile, in a tone of the deepest
+      anguish, &ldquo;by a compliance to which not merely my happiness, but my reason
+      must be sacrificed? What honour do I injure that is not factitious? What
+      evil threatens our union, that is not imaginary? In the general commerce
+      of the world it may be right to yield to its prejudices, but in matters of
+      serious importance, it is weakness to be shackled by scruples so
+      frivolous, and it is cowardly to be governed by the customs we condemn.
+      Religion and the laws of our country should then alone be consulted, and
+      where those are neither opposed nor infringed, we should hold ourselves
+      superior to all other considerations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mistaken notions!&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile; &ldquo;and how long do you flatter
+      yourself this independent happiness would endure? How long could you live
+      contented by mere self-gratification, in defiance of the censure of
+      mankind, the renunciation of your family, and the curses of your father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The curses of my father!&rdquo; repeated he, starting and shuddering, &ldquo;O no, he
+      could never be so barbarous!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He could,&rdquo; said she, steadily, &ldquo;nor do I doubt but he would. If now,
+      however, you are affected by the prospect of his disclaiming you, think
+      but what you will feel when first forbid to appear before either of us!
+      and think of your remorse for involving Miss Beverley in such disgrace!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O speak not such words!&rdquo; cried he, with agonizing earnestness, &ldquo;to
+      disgrace her,&mdash;to be banished by you,&mdash;present not, I conjure
+      you, such scenes to my imagination!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet would they be unavoidable,&rdquo; continued she; &ldquo;nor have I said to you
+      all; blinded as you now are by passion, your nobler feelings are only
+      obscured, not extirpated; think, then, how they will all rise in revenge
+      of your insulted dignity, when your name becomes a stranger to your ears,
+      and you are first saluted by one so meanly adopted!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold, hold, madam,&rdquo; interrupted he, &ldquo;this is more than I can bear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; still continued she, disregarding his entreaty, &ldquo;what in the
+      universe can pay you for that first moment of indignity! Think of it well
+      ere you proceed, and anticipate your sensations, lest the shock should
+      wholly overcome you. How will the blood of your wronged ancestors rise
+      into your guilty cheeks, and how will your heart throb with secret shame
+      and reproach, when wished joy upon your marriage by the name of <i>Mr
+      Beverley</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, stung to the soul, attempted not any answer, but walked about the
+      room in the utmost disorder of mind. Cecilia would have retired, but
+      feared irritating him to some extravagance; and Mrs Delvile, looking after
+      him, added &ldquo;For myself, I would still see, for I should pity your wife,&mdash;but
+      NEVER would I behold my son when sunk into an object of compassion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shall not be!&rdquo; cried he, in a transport of rage; &ldquo;cease, cease to
+      distract me!&mdash;be content, madam,&mdash;you have conquered!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you are my son!&rdquo; cried she, rapturously embracing him; &ldquo;now I know
+      again my Mortimer! now I see the fair promise of his upright youth, and
+      the flattering completion of my maternal expectations!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, finding all thus concluded, desired nothing so much as to
+      congratulate them on their reconciliation; but having only said &ldquo;Let <i>me</i>,
+      too,&mdash;&rdquo; her voice failed her, she stopt short, and hoping she had
+      been unheard, would have glided out of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Delvile, penetrated and tortured, yet delighted at this sensibility,
+      broke from his mother, and seizing her hand, exclaimed, &ldquo;Oh Miss Beverley,
+      if <i>you</i> are not happy&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am! I am!&rdquo; cried she, with quickness; &ldquo;let me pass,&mdash;and think no
+      more of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That voice,&mdash;those looks,&mdash;&rdquo; cried he, still holding her, &ldquo;they
+      speak not serenity!&mdash;Oh if I have injured your peace,&mdash;if that
+      heart, which, pure as angels, deserves to be as sacred from sorrow,
+      through my means, or for my sake, suffers any diminution of tranquility&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, none!&rdquo; interrupted she, with precipitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know well,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;your greatness of soul; and if this dreadful
+      sacrifice gives lasting torture only to myself,&mdash;if of <i>your</i>
+      returning happiness I could be assured,&mdash;I would struggle to bear
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>may</i>, be assured of it,&rdquo; cried she, with reviving dignity, &ldquo;I
+      have no right to expect escaping all calamity, but while I share the
+      common lot, I will submit to it without repining.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heaven then bless, and hovering angels watch you!&rdquo; cried he, and letting
+      go her hand, he ran hastily out of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh Virtue, how bright is thy triumph!&rdquo; exclaimed Mrs Delvile, flying up
+      to Cecilia, and folding her in her arms; &ldquo;Noble, incomparable young
+      creature! I knew not that so much worth was compatible with human
+      frailty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the heroism of Cecilia, in losing its object, lost its force; she
+      sighed, she could not speak, tears gushed into her eyes, and kissing Mrs
+      Delvile's hand with a look that shewed her inability to converse with her,
+      she hastened, though scarce able to support herself, away, with intention
+      to shut herself up in her own apartment: and Mrs Delvile, who perceived
+      that her utmost fortitude was exhausted, opposed not her going, and wisely
+      forbore to encrease her emotion, by following her even with her blessings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when she came into the hall, she started, and could proceed no
+      further; for there she beheld Delvile, who in too great agony to be seen,
+      had stopt to recover some composure before he quitted the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the first sound of an opening door, he was hastily escaping; but
+      perceiving Cecilia, and discerning her situation, he more hastily turned
+      back, saying, &ldquo;Is it possible?&mdash;To <i>me</i> were you coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head, and made a motion with her hand to say no, and would
+      then have gone on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are weeping!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;you are pale!&mdash;Oh Miss Beverley! is
+      this your happiness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very well,&mdash;&rdquo; cried she, not knowing what she answered, &ldquo;I am
+      quite well,&mdash;pray go,&mdash;I am very&mdash;&rdquo; her words died away
+      inarticulated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O what a voice is that!&rdquo; exclaimed he, &ldquo;it pierces my very soul!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile now came to the parlour door, and looked aghast at the
+      situation in which she saw them: Cecilia again moved on, and reached the
+      stairs, but tottered, and was obliged to cling to the banisters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O suffer me to support you,&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;you are not able to stand,&mdash;whither
+      is it you would go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any where,&mdash;I don't know,&mdash;&rdquo; answered she, in faltering
+      accents, &ldquo;but if you would leave me, I should be well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And, turning from him, she walked again towards the parlour, finding by
+      her shaking frame, the impossibility of getting unaided up the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me your hand, my love,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, cruelly alarmed by this
+      return; and the moment they re-entered the parlour, she said impatiently
+      to her son, &ldquo;Mortimer, why are you not gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He heard her not, however; his whole attention was upon Cecilia, who,
+      sinking into a chair, hid her face against Mrs Delvile: but, reviving in a
+      few moments, and blushing at the weakness she had betrayed, she raised her
+      head, and, with an assumed serenity, said, &ldquo;I am better,&mdash;much
+      better,&mdash;I was rather sick,&mdash;but it is over; and now, if you
+      will excuse me, I will go to my own room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then arose, but her knees trembled, and her head was giddy, and again
+      seating herself, she forced a faint smile, and said, &ldquo;Perhaps I had better
+      keep quiet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can I bear this!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;no, it shakes all my resolution!&mdash;loveliest
+      and most beloved Cecilia! forgive my rash declaration, which I hear
+      retract and forswear, and which no false pride, no worthless vanity shall
+      again surprise from me!&mdash;raise, then, your eyes&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hot-headed young man!&rdquo; interrupted Mrs Delvile, with an air of haughty
+      displeasure, &ldquo;if you cannot be rational, at least be silent. Miss
+      Beverley, we will both leave him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shame, and her own earnestness, how restored some strength to Cecilia, who
+      read with terror in the looks of Mrs Delvile the passions with which she
+      was agitated, and instantly obeyed her by rising; but her son, who
+      inherited a portion of her own spirit, rushed between them both and the
+      door, and exclaimed, &ldquo;Stay, madam, stay! I cannot let you go: I see your
+      intention, I see your dreadful purpose; you will work upon the feelings of
+      Miss Beverley, you will extort from her a promise to see me no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oppose not my passing!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, whose voice, face and manner
+      spoke the encreasing disturbance of her soul; &ldquo;I have but too long talked
+      to you in vain; I must now take some better method for the security of the
+      honour of my family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This moment appeared to Delvile decisive; and casting off in desperation
+      all timidity and restraint, he suddenly sprang forward, and snatching the
+      hand of Cecilia from his mother, he exclaimed, &ldquo;I cannot, I will not give
+      her up!&mdash;nor now, madam, nor ever!&mdash;I protest it most solemnly!
+      I affirm it by my best hopes! I swear it by all that I hold sacred!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Grief and horror next to frenzy at a disappointment thus unexpected, and
+      thus peremptory, rose in the face of Mrs Delvile, who, striking her hand
+      upon her forehead, cried, &ldquo;My brain is on fire!&rdquo; and rushed out of the
+      room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had now no difficulty to disengage herself from Delvile, who,
+      shocked at the exclamation, and confounded by the sudden departure of his
+      mother, hastened eagerly to pursue her: she had only flown into the next
+      parlour; but, upon following her thither, what was his dread and his
+      alarm, when he saw her extended, upon the floor, her face, hands and neck
+      all covered with blood! &ldquo;Great Heaven!&rdquo; he exclaimed, prostrating himself
+      by her side, &ldquo;what is it you have done!&mdash;where are you wounded?&mdash;what
+      direful curse have you denounced against your son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not able to speak, she angrily shook her head, and indignantly made a
+      motion with her hand, that commanded him from her sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had followed, though half dead with terror, had yet the
+      presence of mind to ring the bell. A servant came immediately; and
+      Delvile, starting up from his mother, ordered him to fetch the first
+      surgeon or physician he could find.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alarm now brought the rest of the servants into the room, and Mrs
+      Delvile suffered herself to be raised from the ground, and seated in a
+      chair; she was still silent, but shewed a disgust to any assistance from
+      her son, that made him deliver her into the hands of the servants, while,
+      in speechless agony, he only looked on and watched her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither did Cecilia, though forgetting her own sorrow, and no longer
+      sensible of personal weakness, venture to approach her: uncertain what had
+      happened, she yet considered herself as the ultimate cause of this
+      dreadful scene, and feared to risk the effect of the smallest additional
+      emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The servant returned with a surgeon in a few minutes: Cecilia, unable to
+      wait and hear what he would say, glided hastily out of the room; and
+      Delvile, in still greater agitation, followed her quick into the next
+      parlour; but having eagerly advanced to speak to her, he turned
+      precipitately about, and hurrying into the hall, walked in hasty steps up
+      and down it, without courage to enquire what was passing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length the surgeon came out: Delvile flew to him, and stopt him, but
+      could ask no question. His countenance, however, rendered words
+      unnecessary; the surgeon understood him, and said, &ldquo;The lady will do very
+      well; she has burst a blood vessel, but I think it will be of no
+      consequence. She must be kept quiet and easy, and upon no account suffered
+      to talk, or to use any exertion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile now let him go, and flew himself into a corner to return thanks to
+      heaven that the evil, however great, was less than he had at first
+      apprehended. He then went into the parlour to Cecilia, eagerly calling
+      out, &ldquo;Heaven be praised, my mother has not voluntarily cursed me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O now then,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;once more make her bless you! the violence
+      of her agitation has already almost destroyed her, and her frame is too
+      weak for this struggle of contending passions;&mdash;go to her, then, and
+      calm the tumult of her spirits, by acquiescing wholly in her will, and
+      being to her again the son she thinks she has lost!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said he, in a tone of the deepest dejection; &ldquo;I have been
+      preparing myself for that purpose, and waited but your commands to finally
+      determine me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us both go to her instantly,&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;the least delay may be
+      fatal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She now led the way, and approaching Mrs Delvile, who, faint and weak, was
+      seated upon an arm chair, and resting her head upon the shoulder of a maid
+      servant, said, &ldquo;Lean, dearest madam, upon <i>me</i>, and speak not, but
+      hear us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then took the place of the maid, and desired her and the other
+      servants to go out of the room. Delvile advanced, but his mother's eye,
+      recovering, at his sight, its wonted fire, darted upon him a glance of
+      such displeasure, that, shuddering with the apprehension of inflaming
+      again those passions which threatened her destruction, he hastily sank on
+      one knee, and abruptly exclaimed, &ldquo;Look at me with less abhorrence, for I
+      come but to resign myself to your will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mine, also,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;that will shall be; you need not speak it,
+      we know it, and here solemnly we promise that we will separate for ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Revive, then, my mother,&rdquo; said Delvile, &ldquo;rely upon our plighted honours,
+      and think only of your health, for your son will never more offend you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile, much surprised, and strongly affected, held out her hand to
+      him, with a look of mingled compassion and obligation, and dropping her
+      head upon the bosom of Cecilia, who with her other arm she pressed towards
+      her, she burst into an agony of tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, go, Sir!&rdquo; said Cecilia, cruelly alarmed, &ldquo;you have said all that is
+      necessary; leave Mrs Delvile now, and she will be more composed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile instantly obeyed, and then his mother, whose mouth still continued
+      to fill with blood, though it gushed not from her with the violence it had
+      begun, was prevailed upon by the prayers of Cecilia to consent to be
+      conveyed into her room; and, as her immediate removal to another house
+      might be dangerous, she complied also, though very reluctantly, with her
+      urgent entreaties, that she would take entire possession of it till the
+      next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This point gained, Cecilia left her, to communicate what had passed to Mrs
+      Charlton; but was told by one of the servants that Mr Delvile begged first
+      to speak with her in the next room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated for a moment whether to grant this request; but recollecting
+      it was right to acquaint him with his mother's intention of staying all
+      night, she went to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How indulgent you are,&rdquo; cried he, in a melancholy voice, as she opened
+      the door; &ldquo;I am now going post to Dr Lyster, whom I shall entreat to come
+      hither instantly; but I am fearful of again disturbing my mother, and must
+      therefore rely upon you to acquaint her what is become of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most certainly; I have begged her to remain here to-night, and I hope I
+      shall prevail with her to continue with me till Dr Lyster's arrival; after
+      which she will, doubtless, be guided either in staying longer, or removing
+      elsewhere, by his advice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are all goodness,&rdquo; said he, with a deep sigh; &ldquo;and how I shall
+      support&mdash;but I mean not to return hither, at least not to this house,&mdash;unless,
+      indeed, Dr Lyster's account should be alarming. I leave my mother,
+      therefore, to your kindness, and only hope, only entreat, that your own
+      health,&mdash;your own peace of mind&mdash;neither by attendance upon her&mdash;by
+      anxiety&mdash;by pity for her son&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt, and seemed gasping for breath; Cecilia turned from him to hide
+      her emotion, and he proceeded with a rapidity of speech that shewed his
+      terror of continuing with her any longer, and his struggle with himself to
+      be gone: &ldquo;The promise you have made in both our names to my mother, I
+      shall hold myself bound to observe. I see, indeed, that her reason or her
+      life would fall the sacrifice of further opposition: of myself, therefore,
+      it is no longer time to think.&mdash;I take of you no leave&mdash;I
+      cannot! yet I would fain tell you the high reverence&mdash;but it is
+      better to say nothing&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much better,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, with a forced and faint smile; &ldquo;lose not,
+      therefore, an instant, but hasten to this good Dr Lyster.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; answered he, going to the door; but there, stopping and turning
+      round, &ldquo;one thing I should yet,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;wish to say,&mdash;I have been
+      impetuous, violent, unreasonable,&mdash;with shame and with regret I
+      recollect how impetuous, and how unreasonable: I have persecuted, where I
+      ought in silence to have submitted; I have reproached, where I ought in
+      candour to have approved; and in the vehemence with which I have pursued
+      you, I have censured that very dignity of conduct which has been the basis
+      of my admiration, my esteem, my devotion! but never can I forget, and
+      never without fresh wonder remember, the sweetness with which you have
+      borne with me, even when most I offended you. For this impatience, this
+      violence, this inconsistency, I now most sincerely beg your pardon; and
+      if, before I go, you could so far condescend as to pronounce my
+      forgiveness, with a lighter heart, I think, I should quit you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not talk of forgiveness,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;you have never offended me; I
+      always knew&mdash;always was sure&mdash;always imputed&mdash;&rdquo; she stopt,
+      unable to proceed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Deeply penetrated by her apparent distress, he with difficulty restrained
+      himself from falling at her feet; but after a moment's pause and
+      recollection, he said, &ldquo;I understand the generous indulgence you have
+      shewn me, an indulgence I shall ever revere, and ever grieve to have
+      abused. I ask you not to remember me,&mdash;far, far happier do I wish you
+      than such a remembrance could make you; but I will pain the humanity of
+      your disposition no longer. You will tell my mother&mdash;but no matter!&mdash;Heaven
+      preserve you, my angelic Cecilia!&mdash;Miss Beverley, I mean, Heaven
+      guide, protect, and bless you! And should I see you no more, should this
+      be the last sad moment&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, but presently recovering himself, added, &ldquo;May I hear, at least,
+      of your tranquillity, for that alone can have any chance to quiet or
+      repress the anguish I feel here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then abruptly retreated, and ran out of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia for a while remained almost stupified with sorrow; she forgot Mrs
+      Delvile, she forgot Mrs Charlton, she forgot her own design of apologizing
+      to one, or assisting the other: she continued in the posture in which he
+      had left her, quite without motion, and almost without sensibility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A MESSAGE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      From this lethargy of sadness Cecilia was soon, however, awakened by the
+      return of the surgeon, who had brought with him a physician to consult
+      upon Mrs Delvile's situation. Terror for the mother once more drove the
+      son from her thoughts, and she waited with the most apprehensive
+      impatience to hear the result of the consultation. The physician declined
+      giving any positive opinion, but, having written a prescription, only
+      repeated the injunction of the surgeon, that she should be kept extremely
+      quiet, and on no account be suffered to talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though shocked and frightened at the occasion, was yet by no
+      means sorry at an order which thus precluded all conversation; unfitted
+      for it by her own misery, she was glad to be relieved from all necessity
+      of imposing upon herself the irksome task of finding subjects for
+      discourse to which she was wholly indifferent, while obliged with sedulity
+      to avoid those by which alone her mind was occupied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Mrs Charlton heard the events of the morning with the utmost
+      concern, but charged her grand-daughters to assist her young friend in
+      doing the honours of her house to Mrs Delvile, while she ordered another
+      apartment to be prepared for Cecilia, to whom she administered all the
+      consolation her friendly zeal could suggest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however unhappy, had too just a way of thinking to indulge in
+      selfish grief, where occasion called her to action for the benefit of
+      others: scarce a moment, therefore now did she allow to sorrow and
+      herself, but assiduously bestowed the whole of her time upon her two sick
+      friends, dividing her attention according to their own desire or
+      convenience, without consulting or regarding any choice of her own.
+      Choice, indeed, she had none; she loved Mrs Charlton, she revered Mrs
+      Delvile; the warmest wish with which her heart glowed, was the recovery of
+      both, but too deep was her affliction to receive pleasure from either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days passed thus, during which the constancy of her attendance, which
+      at another time would have fatigued her, proved the only relief she was
+      capable of receiving. Mrs Delvile was evidently affected by her vigilant
+      tenderness, but seemed equally desirous with herself to make use of the
+      prohibition to speech as an excuse for uninterrupted silence. She enquired
+      not even after her son, though the eagerness of her look towards the door
+      whenever it was opened, shewed either a hope, or an apprehension that he
+      might enter. Cecilia wished to tell her whither he was gone, but dreaded
+      trusting her voice with his name; and their silence, after a while, seemed
+      so much by mutual consent, that she had soon as little courage as she had
+      inclination to break it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arrival of Dr Lyster gave her much satisfaction, for upon him rested
+      her hopes of Mrs Delvile's re-establishment. He sent for her down stairs,
+      to enquire whether he was expected; and hearing that he was not, desired
+      her to announce him, as the smallest emotion might do mischief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She returned up stairs, and after a short preparation, said, &ldquo;Your
+      favourite Dr Lyster, madam, is come, and I shall be much the happier for
+      having you under his care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dr Lyster?&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;who sent for him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe&mdash;I fancy&mdash;Mr Delvile fetched him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son?&mdash;is he here, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&mdash;he went, the moment he left you, for Dr Lyster,&mdash;and Dr
+      Lyster is come by himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does he write to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed!&mdash;he writes not&mdash;he comes not&mdash;dearest madam be
+      satisfied, he will do neither to me ever more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exemplary young man!&rdquo; cried she, in a voice hardly audible, &ldquo;how great is
+      his loss!&mdash;unhappy Mortimer!&mdash;ill-fated, and ill-rewarded!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She sighed, and said no more; but this short conversation, the only one
+      which had passed between them since her illness, agitated her so much,
+      that Dr Lyster, who now came up stairs, found her in a state of trembling
+      and weakness that both alarmed and surprised him. Cecilia, glad of an
+      opportunity to be gone, left the room, and sent, by Dr Lyster's desire,
+      for the physician and surgeon who had already attended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After they had been some time with their patient, they retired to a
+      consultation, and when it was over, Dr Lyster waited upon Cecilia in the
+      parlour, and assured her he had no apprehension of danger for Mrs Delvile,
+      &ldquo;Though, for another week,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;I would have her continue your <i>patient</i>,
+      as she is not yet fit to be removed. But pray mind that she is kept quiet;
+      let nobody go near her, not even her own son. By the way he is waiting for
+      me at the inn, so I'll just speak again to his mother, and be gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was well pleased by this accidental information, to learn both the
+      anxiety of Delvile for his mother, and the steadiness of his forbearance
+      for himself. When Dr Lyster came down stairs again, &ldquo;I shall stay,&rdquo; he
+      said, &ldquo;till to-morrow, but I hope she will be able in another week to get
+      to Bristol. In the mean time I shall leave her, I see, with an excellent
+      nurse. But, my good young lady, in your care of her, don't neglect
+      yourself; I am not quite pleased with your looks, though it is but an old
+      fashioned speech to tell you so.&mdash;What have you been doing to
+      yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing;&rdquo; said she, a little embarrassed; &ldquo;but had you not better have
+      some tea?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why yes, I think I had;&mdash;but what shall I do with my young man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia understood the hint, but coloured, and made no answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is waiting for me,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;at the inn; however, I never yet
+      knew the young man I would prefer to a young woman, so if you will give me
+      some tea here, I shall certainly jilt him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia instantly rang the bell, and ordered tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;remember the sin of this breach of appointment lies
+      wholly at your door. I shall tell him you laid violent hands on me; and if
+      that is not, enough to excuse me, I shall desire he will try whether he
+      could be more of a stoic with you himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I must unorder the tea,&rdquo; said she, with what gaiety she could
+      assume, &ldquo;if I am to be responsible for any mischief from your drinking
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, you shan't be off now; but pray would it be quite out of rule for
+      you to send and ask him to come to us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I believe&mdash;I think&mdash;&rdquo; said she, stammering, &ldquo;it's very
+      likely he may be engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, I don't mean to propose any violent incongruity. You must
+      excuse my blundering; I understand but little of the etiquette of young
+      ladies. 'Tis a science too intricate to be learned without more study than
+      we plodding men of business can well spare time for. However, when I have
+      done <i>writing</i> prescriptions, I will set about <i>reading</i> them,
+      provided you will be my instructress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though ashamed of a charge in which prudery and affectation were
+      implied, was compelled to submit to it, as either to send for Delvile, or
+      explain her objections, was equally impossible. The Miss Charltons,
+      therefore, joined them, and they went to tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as they had done, a note was delivered to Dr Lyster; &ldquo;see here,&rdquo;
+       cried he, when he had read it, &ldquo;what a fine thing it is to be a <i>young</i>
+      man! Why now, Mr Mortimer understands as much of all this <i>etiquette</i>
+      as you ladies do yourselves; for he only writes a note even to ask how his
+      mother does.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then put it into Cecilia's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Dr Lyster</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tell me, my dear Sir, how you have found my mother? I am uneasy at your
+      long stay, and engaged with my friend Biddulph, or I should have followed
+      you in person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M.D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you see,&rdquo; continued the doctor, &ldquo;I need not do penance for engaging
+      myself to you, when this young gentleman can find such good entertainment
+      for himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia who well knew the honourable motive of Delvile's engagement, with
+      difficulty forbore speaking in his vindication. Dr Lyster immediately
+      began an answer, but before he had finished it, called out, &ldquo;Now as I am
+      told you are a very good young woman, I think you can do no less than
+      assist me to punish this gay spark, for playing the macaroni, when he
+      ought to visit his sick mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, much hurt for Delvile, and much confused for herself, looked
+      abashed, but knew not what to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My scheme,&rdquo; continued the doctor, &ldquo;is to tell him, that as he has found
+      one engagement for tea, he may find another for supper; but that as to me,
+      I am better disposed of, for you insist upon keeping me to yourself. Come,
+      what says <i>etiquette</i>? may I treat myself with this puff?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said Cecilia, endeavouring to look pleased, &ldquo;if you will
+      favour us with your company, Miss Charltons and myself will think the <i>puffing</i>
+      should rather be ours than yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, then,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;will not answer my purpose, for I mean the
+      puff to be my own, or how do I punish him? So, suppose I tell him I shall
+      not only sup with three young ladies, but be invited to a <i>tete-a-tete</i>
+      with one of them into the bargain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young ladies only laughed, and the doctor finished his note, and sent
+      it away; and then, turning gaily to Cecilia, &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;why don't
+      you give me this invitation? surely you don't mean to make me guilty of
+      perjury?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, but little disposed for pleasantry, would gladly now have dropt
+      the subject; but Dr Lyster, turning to the Miss Charltons, said, &ldquo;Young
+      ladies, I call you both to witness if this is not very bad usage: this
+      young woman has connived at my writing a downright falsehood, and all the
+      time took me in to believe it was a truth. The only way I can think of to
+      cure her of such frolics, is for both of you to leave us together, and so
+      make her keep her word whether she will or no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Miss Charltons took the hint, and went away; while Cecilia, who had
+      not at all suspected he meant seriously to speak with her, remained
+      extremely perplexed to think what he had to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs Delvile,&rdquo; cried he, continuing the same air of easy good humour,
+      &ldquo;though I allowed her not to speak to me above twenty words, took up near
+      ten of them to tell me that you had behaved to her like an angel. Why so
+      she ought, cried I; what else was she sent for here to look so like one? I
+      charged her, therefore, to take all that as a thing of course; and to
+      prove that I really think what I say, I am now going to make a trial of
+      you, that, if you are any thing less, will induce you to order some of
+      your men to drive me into the street. The truth is, I have had a little
+      commission given me, which in the first place I know not how to introduce,
+      and which, in the second, as far as I can judge, appears to be absolutely
+      superfluous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now felt uneasy and alarmed, and begged him to explain himself. He
+      then dropt the levity with which he had begun the discourse, and after a
+      grave, yet gentle preparation, expressive of his unwillingness to distress
+      her, and his firm persuasion of her uncommon worthiness, he acquainted her
+      that he was no stranger to her situation with respect to the Delvile
+      family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; cried she, blushing and much amazed; &ldquo;and who&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew it,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;from the moment I attended Mr Mortimer in his
+      illness at Delvile Castle. He could not conceal from me that the seat of
+      his disorder was his mind; and I could not know that, without readily
+      conjecturing the cause, when I saw who was his father's guest, and when I
+      knew what was his father's character. He found he was betrayed to me, and
+      upon my advising a journey, he understood me properly. His openness to
+      counsel, and the manly firmness with which he behaved in quitting you,
+      made me hope the danger was blown over. But last week, when I was at the
+      Castle, where I have for some time attended Mr Delvile, who has had a
+      severe fit of the gout, I found him in an agitation of spirits that made
+      me apprehend it would be thrown into his stomach. I desired Mrs Delvile to
+      use her influence to calm him; but she was herself in still greater
+      emotion, and acquainting me she was obliged to leave him, desired I would
+      spend with him every moment in my power. I have therefore almost lived at
+      the Castle during her absence, and, in the course of our many
+      conversations, he has acknowledged to me the uneasiness under which he has
+      laboured, from the intelligence concerning his son, which he had just
+      received.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wished here to enquire <i>how</i> received, and from whom, but had
+      not the courage, and therefore he proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was still with the father when Mr Mortimer arrived post at my house to
+      fetch me hither. I was sent for home; he informed me of his errand without
+      disguise, for he knew I was well acquainted with the original secret
+      whence all the evil arose. I told him my distress in what manner to leave
+      his father; and he was extremely shocked himself when acquainted with his
+      situation. We agreed that it would be vain to conceal from him the
+      indisposition of Mrs Delvile, which the delay of her return, and a
+      thousand other accidents, might in some unfortunate way make known to him.
+      He commissioned me, therefore, to break it to him, that he might consent
+      to my journey, and at the same time to quiet his own mind, by assuring him
+      all he had apprehended was wholly at an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt, and looked to see how Cecilia bore these words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all at an end, Sir;&rdquo; said she, with firmness; &ldquo;but I have not yet
+      heard your commission; what, and from whom is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am thoroughly satisfied it is unnecessary;&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;since the
+      young man can but submit, and you can but give him up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But still, if there is a message, it is fit I should hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you chase it, so it is. I told Mr Delvile whither I was coming, and I
+      repeated to him his son's assurances. He was relieved, but not satisfied;
+      he would not see him, and gave me for him a prohibition of extreme
+      severity, and to <i>you</i> he bid me say&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From <i>him</i>, then, is my message?&rdquo; cried Cecilia, half frightened,
+      and much disappointed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, understanding her immediately, &ldquo;for the son, after giving
+      me his first account, had the wisdom and forbearance not once to mention
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad,&rdquo; said she, with a mixture of admiration and regret, &ldquo;to
+      hear it. But, what, Sir, said Mr Delvile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He bid me tell you that either <i>he</i>, or <i>you</i> must see his son
+      never more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was indeed unnecessary,&rdquo; cried she, colouring with resentment, &ldquo;to
+      send me such a message. I meant not to see him again, he meant not to
+      desire it. I return him, however, no answer, and I will make him no
+      promise; to Mrs Delvile alone I hold myself bound; to him, send what
+      messages he may, I shall always hold myself free. But believe me, Dr
+      Lyster, if with his name, his son had inherited his character, his desire
+      of our separation would be feeble, and trifling, compared with my own!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, my good young lady,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to have given you this
+      disturbance; yet I admire your spirit, and doubt not but it will enable
+      you to forget any little disappointment you may have suffered. And what,
+      after all, have you to regret? Mortimer Delvile is, indeed, a young man
+      that any woman might wish to attach; but every woman cannot have him, and
+      you, of all women, have least reason to repine in missing him, for
+      scarcely is there another man you may not chuse or reject at your
+      pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Little as was the consolation Cecilia could draw from this speech, she was
+      sensible it became not her situation to make complaints, and therefore, to
+      end the conversation she proposed calling in the Miss Charltons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I must step up again to Mrs Delvile, and then be-gone.
+      To-morrow morning I shall but call to see how she is, and leave some
+      directions, and set off. Mr Mortimer Delvile accompanies me back: but he
+      means to return hither in a week, in order to travel with his mother to
+      Bristol. Mean time, I purpose to bring about a reconciliation between him
+      and his father, whose prejudices are more intractable than any man's I
+      ever met with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be strange indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;should a reconciliation <i>now</i>
+      be difficult!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True; but it is long since he was young himself, and the softer
+      affections he never was acquainted with, and only regards them in his son
+      as derogatory to his whole race. However, if there were not some few such
+      men, there would hardly be a family in the kingdom that could count a
+      great grand-father. I am not, I must own, of his humour myself, but I
+      think it rather peculiarly stranger, than peculiarly worse than most other
+      peoples; and how, for example, was that of <i>your</i> uncle a whit the
+      better? He was just as fond of <i>his</i> name, as if, like Mr Delvile, he
+      could trace it from the time of the Saxons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia strongly felt the truth of this observation, but not chusing to
+      discuss it, made not any answer, and Dr Lyster, after a few good-natured
+      apologies, both for his friends the Delviles and himself, went up stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What continual disturbance,&rdquo; cried she, when left alone, &ldquo;keeps me thus
+      for-ever from rest! no sooner is one wound closed, but another is opened;
+      mortification constantly succeeds distress, and when my heart is spared;
+      my pride is attacked, that not a moment of tranquility may ever be allowed
+      me! Had the lowest of women won the affections of Mr Delvile, could his
+      father with less delicacy or less decency have acquainted her with his
+      inflexible disapprobation? To send with so little ceremony a message so
+      contemptuous and so peremptory!&mdash;but perhaps it is better, for had
+      he, too, like Mrs Delvile, joined kindness with rejection, I might still
+      more keenly have felt the perverseness of my destiny.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PARTING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The next morning Dr Lyster called early, and having visited Mrs Delvile,
+      and again met the two gentlemen of the faculty in whose care she was to
+      remain, he took his leave. But not without contriving first to speak a few
+      words to Cecilia in private, in which he charged her to be careful of her
+      health, and re-animate her spirits. &ldquo;Don't suppose,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that
+      because I am a friend of the Delvile family, I am either blind to your
+      merits, or to their foibles, far from it; but then why should they
+      interfere with one another? Let them keep their prejudices, which, though
+      different, are not worse than their neighbours, and do you retain your
+      excellencies, and draw from them the happiness they ought to give you.
+      People reason and refine themselves into a thousand miseries, by chusing
+      to settle that they can only be contented one way; whereas, there are
+      fifty ways, if they would but look about them, that would commonly do as
+      well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe, indeed, you are right,&rdquo; answered Cecilia, &ldquo;and I thank you for
+      the admonition; I will do what I can towards studying your scheme of
+      philosophy, and it is always one step to amendment, to be convinced that
+      we want it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a sensible and charming girl,&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;and Mr Delvile,
+      should he find a daughter-in-law descended in a right line from Egbert,
+      first king of all England, won't be so well off as if he had satisfied
+      himself with you. However, the old gentleman has a fair right, after all,
+      to be pleased his own way, and let us blame him how we will, we shall
+      find, upon sifting, it is for no other reason but because his humour
+      happens to clash with our own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, smiling, &ldquo;is a truth incontrovertible! and a
+      truth to which, for the future, I will endeavour to give more weight. But
+      will you permit me now to ask one question?&mdash;Can you tell me from
+      whom, how, or when the intelligence which has caused all this disturbance&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated, but, comprehending her readily, he answered &ldquo;How they got
+      at it, I never heard, for I never thought it worth while to enquire, as it
+      is so generally known, that nobody I meet with seems ignorant of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was another, and a cruel shock to Cecilia, and Dr Lyster, perceiving
+      it, again attempted to comfort her. &ldquo;That the affair is somewhat spread,&rdquo;
+       said he, &ldquo;is now not to be helped, and therefore little worth thinking of;
+      every body will agree that the choice of both does honour to both, and
+      nobody need be ashamed to be successor to either, whenever the course of
+      things leads Mr Mortimer and yourself to make another election. He wisely
+      intends to go abroad, and will not return till he is his own man again.
+      And as to you, my good young lady, what, after a short time given to
+      vexation, need interrupt your happiness? You have the whole world before
+      you, with youth, fortune, talents, beauty and independence; drive,
+      therefore, from your head this unlucky affair, and remember there can
+      hardly be a family in the kingdom, this one excepted, that will not
+      rejoice in a connection with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then good-humouredly shook hands with her, and went into his chaise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though not slow in remarking the ease and philosophy with which
+      every one can argue upon the calamities, and moralize upon the misconduct
+      of others, had still the candour and good sense to see that there was
+      reason in what he urged, and to resolve upon making the best use in her
+      power of the hints for consolation she might draw from his discourse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the following week, she devoted herself almost wholly to Mrs
+      Delvile, sharing with the maid, whom she had brought with her from the
+      Castle, the fatigue of nursing her, and leaving to the Miss Charltons the
+      chief care of their grandmother. For Mrs Delvile appeared every hour more
+      sensible of her attention, and more desirous of her presence, and though
+      neither of them spoke, each was endeared to the other by the tender
+      offices of friendship which were paid and received.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this week was expired, Dr Lyster was prevailed upon to return again
+      to Bury, in order to travel himself with Mrs Delvile to Bristol. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo;
+       cried he, taking Cecilia by the first opportunity aside, &ldquo;how are you?
+      Have you studied my scheme of philosophy, as you promised me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and made, I flatter myself, no little proficiency.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a good girl,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;a very extraordinary girl! I am sure you
+      are; and upon my honour I pity poor Mortimer with all my soul! But he is a
+      noble young fellow, and behaves with a courage and spirit that does me
+      good to behold. To have obtained you, he would have moved heaven and
+      earth, but finding you out of his reach, he submits to his fate like a
+      man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's eyes glistened at this speech; &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;he long since
+      said 'tis suspence, 'tis hope, that make the misery of life,&mdash;for
+      there the Passions have all power, and Reason has none. But when evils are
+      irremediable, and we have neither resources to plan, nor castle-building
+      to delude us, we find time for the cultivation of philosophy, and flatter
+      ourselves, perhaps, that we have found inclination!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why you have considered this matter very deeply,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but I must
+      not have you give way to these serious reflections. Thought, after all,
+      has a cruel spite against happiness; I would have you, therefore, keep as
+      much as you conveniently can, out of its company. Run about and divert
+      yourself, 'tis all you have for it. The true art of happiness in this most
+      whimsical world, seems nothing more nor less than this&mdash;Let those who
+      have leisure, find employment, and those who have business, find leisure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that Mr Delvile senior was much better, and no longer
+      confined to his room: and that he had had the pleasure of seeing an entire
+      reconciliation take place between him and his son, of whom he was more
+      fond and more proud than any other father in the universe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think of him, however, my dear young lady,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;no more, for
+      the matter I see is desperate: you must pardon my being a little
+      officious, when I confess to you I could not help proposing to the old
+      gentleman an expedient of my own; for as I could not drive you out of my
+      head, I employed myself in thinking what might be done by way of
+      accommodation. Now my scheme was really a very good one, only when people
+      are prejudiced, all reasoning is thrown away upon them. I proposed sinking
+      <i>both</i> your names, since they are so at variance with one another,
+      and so adopting a third, by means of a title. But Mr Delvile angrily
+      declared, that though such a scheme might do very well for the needy Lord
+      Ernolf, a Peer of twenty years, his own noble ancestors should never, by
+      his consent, forfeit a name which so many centuries had rendered
+      honourable. His son Mortimer, he added, must inevitably inherit the title
+      of his grandfather, his uncle being old and unmarried; but yet he would
+      rather see him a beggar, than lose his dearest hope that <i>Delvile</i>,
+      Lord <i>Delvile</i>, would descend, both name and title, from generation
+      to generation unsullied and uninterrupted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;that such a proposal was made, and I
+      earnestly entreat that none of any sort may be repeated.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I would not for the world do any mischief, but who
+      would not have supposed such a proposal would have done good?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Mortimer,&rdquo; he then added, &ldquo;is to meet us at&mdash;for he would not, he
+      said, come again to this place, upon such terms as he was here last week,
+      for the whole worth of the king's dominions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The carriage was now ready, and Mrs Delvile was prepared to depart.
+      Cecilia approached to take leave of her, but Dr Lyster following, said &ldquo;No
+      talking! no thanking! no compliments of any sort! I shall carry off my
+      patient without permitting one civil speech, and for all the rudeness I
+      make her guilty of, I am willing to be responsible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia would then have retreated, but Mrs Delvile, holding out both her
+      hands, said &ldquo;To every thing else, Dr Lyster, I am content to submit; but
+      were I to die while uttering the words, I cannot leave this inestimable
+      creature without first saying how much I love her, how I honour, and how I
+      thank her! without entreating her to be careful of her health, and
+      conjuring her to compleat the greatness of her conduct, by not suffering
+      her spirits to sink from the exertion of her virtue. And now my love, God
+      bless you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then embraced her, and went on; Cecilia, at a motion of Dr Lyster's,
+      forbearing to follow her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thus,&rdquo; cried she, when they were gone, &ldquo;thus ends all my connection
+      with this family! which it seems as if I was only to have known for the
+      purpose of affording a new proof of the insufficiency of situation to
+      constitute happiness. Who looks not upon mine as the perfection of human
+      felicity?&mdash;And so, perhaps, it is, for it may be that Felicity and
+      Humanity are never permitted to come nearer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And thus, in philosophic sadness, by reasoning upon the universality of
+      misery, she restrained, at least, all violence of sorrow, though her
+      spirits were dejected, and her heart was heavy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the next day brought with it some comfort that a little lightened her
+      sadness; Mrs Charlton, almost wholly recovered, was able to go down
+      stairs, and Cecilia had at least the satisfaction of seeing an happy
+      conclusion to an illness of which, with the utmost concern and regret, she
+      considered herself as the cause. She attended her with the most
+      unremitting assiduity, and being really very thankful, endeavoured to
+      appear happy, and flattered herself that, by continual effort, the
+      appearance in a short time would become reality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton retired early, and Cecilia accompanied her up stairs: and
+      while she was with her, was informed that Mr Monckton was in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The various, afflicting, and uncommon scenes in which she had been engaged
+      since she last saw him, had almost wholly driven him from her remembrance,
+      or when at any time he recurred to it, it was only to attribute the
+      discontinuance of his visits to the offence she had given him, in refusing
+      to follow his advice by relinquishing her London expedition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Full, therefore, of the mortifying transactions which had passed since
+      their parting, and fearful of his enquiries into disgraces he had nearly
+      foretold, she heard him announced with chagrin, and waited upon him in the
+      most painful confusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Far different were the feelings of Mr Monckton; he read in her countenance
+      the dejection of disappointment, which impressed upon his heart the
+      vivacity of hope: her evident shame was to him secret triumph, her
+      ill-concealed sorrow revived all his expectations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hastily began a conversation by mentioning her debt to him, and
+      apologising for not paying it the moment she was of age. He knew but too
+      well how her time had been occupied, and assured her the delay was wholly
+      immaterial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then led to an enquiry into the present situation of her affairs; but
+      unable to endure a disquisition, which could only be productive of censure
+      and mortification, she hastily stopt it, exclaiming, &ldquo;Ask me not, I
+      entreat you, Sir, any detail of what has passed,&mdash;the event has
+      brought me sufferings that may well make blame be dispensed with;&mdash;I
+      acknowledge all your wisdom, I am sensible of my own error, but the affair
+      is wholly dropt, and the unhappy connection I was forming is broken off
+      for-ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Little now was Mr Monckton's effort in repressing his further curiosity,
+      and he started other subjects with readiness, gaiety and address. He
+      mentioned Mrs Charlton, for whom he had not the smallest regard; he talked
+      to her of Mrs Harrel, whose very existence was indifferent to him; and he
+      spoke of their common acquaintance in the country, for not one of whom he
+      would have grieved, if assured of meeting no more. His powers of
+      conversation were enlivened by his hopes; and his exhilarated spirits made
+      all subjects seem happy to him. A weight was removed from his mind which
+      had nearly borne down even his remotest hopes; the object of his eager
+      pursuit seemed still within his reach, and the rival into whose power he
+      had so lately almost beheld her delivered, was totally renounced, and no
+      longer to be dreaded. A revolution such as this, raised expectations more
+      sanguine than ever; and in quitting the house, he exultingly considered
+      himself released from every obstacle to his views&mdash;till, just as he
+      arrived home, he recollected his wife!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER viii. &mdash; A TALE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A week passed, during which Cecilia, however sad, spent her time as usual
+      with the family, denying to herself all voluntary indulgence of grief, and
+      forbearing to seek consolation from solitude, or relief from tears. She
+      never named Delvile, she begged Mrs Charlton never to mention him; she
+      called to her aid the account she had received from Dr Lyster of his
+      firmness, and endeavoured, by an emulous ambition, to fortify her mind
+      from the weakness of depression and regret.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This week, a week of struggle with all her feelings, was just elapsed,
+      when she received by the post the following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      BRISTOL, <i>Oct</i>. 21.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My sweet young friend will not, I hope, be sorry to hear of my safe
+      arrival at this place: to me every account of her health and welfare, will
+      ever be the intelligence I shall most covet to receive. Yet I mean not to
+      ask for it in return; to chance I will trust for information, and I only
+      write now to say I shall write no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Too much for thanks is what I owe you, and what I think of you is beyond
+      all power of expression. Do not, then, wish me ill, ill as I have seemed
+      to merit of you, for my own heart is almost broken by the tyranny I have
+      been compelled to practise upon yours. And now let me bid a long adieu to
+      you, my admirable Cecilia; you shall not be tormented with a useless
+      correspondence, which can only awaken painful recollections, or give rise
+      to yet more painful new anxieties. Fervently will I pray for the
+      restoration of your happiness, to which nothing can so greatly contribute
+      as that wise, that uniform command, so feminine, yet so dignified, you
+      maintain over your passions; which often I have admired, though never so
+      feelingly as at this conscious moment! when my own health is the sacrifice
+      of emotions most fatally unrestrained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Send to me no answer, even if you have the sweetness to wish it; every new
+      proof of the generosity of your nature is to me but a new wound. Forget
+      us, therefore, wholly,&mdash;alas! you have only known us for sorrow!
+      forget us, dear and invaluable Cecilia! though, ever, as you have nobly
+      deserved, must you be fondly and gratefully remembered by AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attempted philosophy, and laboured resignation of Cecilia, this letter
+      destroyed: the struggle was over, the apathy was at an end, and she burst
+      into an agony of tears, which finding the vent they had long sought, now
+      flowed unchecked down her cheeks, sad monitors of the weakness of reason
+      opposed to the anguish of sorrow!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A letter at once so caressing, yet so absolute, forced its way to her
+      heart, in spite of the fortitude she had flattered herself was its guard.
+      In giving up Delvile she was satisfied of the propriety of seeing him no
+      more, and convinced that even to talk of him would be folly and
+      imprudence; but to be told that for the future they must remain strangers
+      to the existence of each other&mdash;there seemed in this a hardship, a
+      rigour, that was insupportable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh what,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;is human nature! in its best state how imperfect!
+      that a woman such as this, so noble in character, so elevated in
+      sentiment, with heroism to sacrifice to her sense of duty the happiness of
+      a son, whom with joy she would die to serve, can herself be thus governed
+      by prejudice, thus enslaved, thus subdued by opinion!&rdquo; Yet never, even
+      when miserable, unjust or irrational; her grief was unmixed with anger,
+      and her tears streamed not from resentment, but affliction. The situation
+      of Mrs Delvile, however different, she considered to be as wretched as her
+      own. She read, therefore, with sadness, but not bitterness, her farewell,
+      and received not with disdain, but with gratitude, her sympathy. Yet
+      though her indignation was not irritated, her sufferings were doubled, by
+      a farewell so kind, yet so despotic, a sympathy so affectionate, yet so
+      hopeless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this first indulgence of grief which she had granted to her
+      disappointment, she was soon interrupted by a summons down stairs to a
+      gentleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unfit and unwilling to be seen, she begged that he might leave his name,
+      and appoint a time for calling again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her maid brought for answer, that he believed his name was unknown to her,
+      and desired to see her now, unless she was employed in some matter of
+      moment. She then put up her letter, and went into the parlour; and there,
+      to her infinite amazement, beheld Mr Albany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How little, Sir,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;did I expect this pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This pleasure,&rdquo; repeated he, &ldquo;do you call it?&mdash;what strange abuse of
+      words! what causeless trifling with honesty! is language of no purpose but
+      to wound the ear with untruths? is the gift of speech only granted us to
+      pervert the use of understanding? I can give you no pleasure, I have no
+      power to give it any one; you can give none to me-the whole world could
+      not invest you with the means!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, who had little spirit to defend herself, &ldquo;I
+      will not vindicate the expression, but of this I will unfeignedly assure
+      you, I am at least as glad to see you just now, as I should be to see
+      anybody.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your eyes,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;are red, your voice is inarticulate;&mdash;young,
+      rich, and attractive, the world at your feet; that world yet untried, and
+      its falsehood unknown, how have you thus found means to anticipate misery?
+      which way have you uncovered the cauldron of human woes? Fatal and early
+      anticipation! that cover once removed, can never be replaced; those woes,
+      those boiling woes, will pour out upon you continually, and only when your
+      heart ceases to beat, will their ebullition cease to torture you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, shuddering, &ldquo;how cruel, yet how true!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why went you,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;to the cauldron? it came not to you. Misery
+      seeks not man, but man misery. He walks out in the sun, but stops not for
+      a cloud; confident, he pursues his way, till the storm which, gathering,
+      he might have avoided, bursts over his devoted head. Scared and amazed, he
+      repents his temerity; he calls, but it is then too late; he runs, but it
+      is thunder which follows him! Such is the presumption of man, such at once
+      is the arrogance and shallowness of his nature! And thou, simple and
+      blind! hast thou, too, followed whither Fancy has led thee, unheeding that
+      thy career was too vehement for tranquility, nor missing that lovely
+      companion of youth's early innocence, till, adventurous and unthinking,
+      thou hast lost her for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the present weak state of Cecilia's spirits, this attack was too much
+      for her; and the tears she had just, and with difficulty restrained, again
+      forced their way down her cheeks, as she answered, &ldquo;It is but too true,&mdash;I
+      have lost her for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor thing,&rdquo; said he, while the rigour of his countenance was softened
+      into the gentlest commiseration, &ldquo;so young!&mdash;looking, too, so
+      innocent&mdash;'tis hard!&mdash;And is nothing left thee? no small
+      remaining hope, to cheat, humanely cheat thy yet not wholly extinguished
+      credulity?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wept without answering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me not,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;waste my compassion upon nothing; compassion is
+      with me no effusion of affectation; tell me, then, if thou deservest it,
+      or if thy misfortunes are imaginary, and thy grief is factitious?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Factitious,&rdquo; repeated she, &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Answer me, then, these questions, in which I shall comprise the only
+      calamities for which sorrow has no controul, or none from human motives.
+      Tell me, then, have you lost by death the friend of your bosom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your fortune dissipated by extravagance, and your power of relieving
+      the distressed at an end?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; the power and the will are I hope equally undiminished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O then, unhappy girl! have you been guilty of some vice, and hangs
+      remorse thus heavy on your conscience?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no; thank heaven, to that misery, at least, I am a stranger!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His countenance now again resumed its severity, and, in the sternest
+      manner, &ldquo;Whence then,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;these tears? and what is this caprice you
+      dignify with the name of sorrow?&mdash;strange wantonness of indolence and
+      luxury! perverse repining of ungrateful plenitude!&mdash;oh hadst thou
+      known what <i>I</i> have suffered!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I lessen what you have suffered,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I should sincerely
+      rejoice; but heavy indeed must be your affliction, if mine in its
+      comparison deserves to be styled caprice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Caprice!&rdquo; repeated he, &ldquo;'tis joy! 'tis extacy compared with mine!&mdash;Thou
+      hast not in licentiousness wasted thy inheritance! thou hast not by
+      remorse barred each avenue to enjoyment! nor yet has the cold grave seized
+      the beloved of thy soul!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I hope, are the evils you have yourself
+      sustained so irremediable?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have borne them all!&mdash;<i>have</i> borne? I bear them still; I
+      shall bear them while I breathe! I may rue them, perhaps, yet longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, shrinking, &ldquo;what a world is this! how full of
+      woe and wickedness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet thou, too, canst complain,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;though happy in life's only
+      blessing, Innocence! thou, too, canst murmur, though stranger to death's
+      only terror, Sin! Oh yet if thy sorrow is unpolluted with guilt, be
+      regardless of all else, and rejoice in thy destiny!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who,&rdquo; cried she, deeply sighing, &ldquo;shall teach me such a lesson of
+      joy, when all within rises to oppose it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;will teach it thee, for I will tell thee my own sad story.
+      Then wilt thou find how much happier is thy lot, then wilt thou raise thy
+      head in thankful triumph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no! triumph comes not so lightly! yet if you will venture to trust me
+      with some account of yourself, I shall be glad to hear it, and much
+      obliged by the communication.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;whatever I may suffer: to awaken thee from this
+      dream of fancied sorrow, I will open all my wounds, and thou shalt probe
+      them with fresh shame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed,&rdquo; cried Cecilia with quickness, &ldquo;I will not hear you, if the
+      relation will be so painful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon <i>me</i> this humanity is lost,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;since punishment and
+      penitence alone give me comfort. I will tell thee, therefore, my crimes,
+      that thou mayst know thy own felicity, lest, ignorant it means nothing but
+      innocence, thou shouldst lose it, unconscious of its value. Listen then to
+      me, and learn what Misery is! Guilt is alone the basis of lasting
+      unhappiness;&mdash;Guilt is the basis of mine, and therefore I am a wretch
+      for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia would again have declined hearing him, but he refused to be
+      spared: and as her curiosity had long been excited to know something of
+      his history, and the motives of his extraordinary conduct, she was glad to
+      have it satisfied, and gave him the utmost attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not speak to you of my family,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;historical accuracy
+      would little answer to either of us. I am a native of the West Indies, and
+      I was early sent hither to be educated. While I was yet at the University,
+      I saw, I adored, and I pursued the fairest flower that ever put forth its
+      sweet buds, the softest heart that ever was broken by ill-usage! She was
+      poor and unprotected, the daughter of a villager; she was untaught and
+      unpretending, the child of simplicity! But fifteen summers had she
+      bloomed, and her heart was an easy conquest; yet, once made mine, it
+      resisted all allurement to infidelity. My fellow students attacked her;
+      she was assaulted by all the arts of seduction; flattery, bribery,
+      supplication, all were employed, yet all failed; she was wholly my own;
+      and with sincerity so attractive, I determined to marry her in defiance of
+      all worldly objections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The sudden death of my father called me hastily to Jamaica; I feared
+      leaving this treasure unguarded, yet in decency could neither marry nor
+      take her directly; I pledged my faith, therefore, to return to her, as
+      soon as I had settled my affairs, and I left to a bosom friend the
+      inspection of her conduct in my absence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To leave her was madness,&mdash;to trust in man was madness,&mdash;Oh
+      hateful race! how has the world been abhorrent to me since that time! I
+      have loathed the light of the sun, I have shrunk from the commerce of my
+      fellow creatures; the voice of man I have detested, his sight I have
+      abominated!&mdash;but oh, more than all should I be abominated myself!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I came to my fortune, intoxicated with sudden power, I forgot this
+      fair blossom, I revelled in licentiousness and vice, and left it exposed
+      and forlorn. Riot succeeded riot, till a fever, incurred by my own
+      intemperance, first gave me time to think. Then was she revenged, for then
+      first remorse was my portion: her image was brought back to my mind with
+      frantic fondness, and bitterest contrition. The moment I recovered, I
+      returned to England; I flew to claim her,&mdash;but she was lost! no one
+      knew whither she was gone; the wretch I had trusted pretended to know
+      least of all; yet, after a furious search, I traced her to a cottage,
+      where he had concealed her himself!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When she saw me, she screamed and would have flown; I stopt her, and told
+      her I came faithfully and honourably to make her my wife:&mdash;her own
+      faith and honour, though sullied, were not extinguished, for she instantly
+      acknowledged the fatal tale of her undoing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I recompense this ingenuousness? this unexampled, this beautiful
+      sacrifice to intuitive integrity? Yes! with my curses!&mdash;I loaded her
+      with execrations, I reviled her in language the most opprobrious, I
+      insulted her even for her confession! I invoked all evil upon her from the
+      bottom of my heart&mdash;She knelt at my feet, she implored my forgiveness
+      and compassion, she wept with the bitterness of despair,&mdash;and yet I
+      spurned her from me!&mdash;Spurned?&mdash;let me not hide my shame! I
+      barbarously struck her!&mdash;nor single was the blow!&mdash;it was
+      doubled, it was reiterated!&mdash;Oh wretch, unyielding and unpitying!
+      where shall hereafter be clemency for thee!&mdash;So fair a form! so young
+      a culprit! so infamously seduced! so humbly penitent!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In this miserable condition, helpless and deplorable, mangled by these
+      savage hands, and reviled by this inhuman tongue, I left her, in search of
+      the villain who had destroyed her: but, cowardly as treacherous, he had
+      absconded. Repenting my fury, I hastened to her again; the fierceness of
+      my cruelty shamed me when I grew calmer, the softness of her sorrow melted
+      me upon recollection: I returned, therefore, to soothe her,&mdash;but
+      again she was gone! terrified with expectation of insult, she hid herself
+      from all my enquiries. I wandered in search of her two long years to no
+      purpose, regardless of my affairs, and of all things but that pursuit. At
+      length, I thought I saw her&mdash;in London, alone, and walking in the
+      streets at midnight,&mdash;I fearfully followed her,&mdash;and followed
+      her into an house of infamy!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wretches by whom she was surrounded were noisy and drinking, they
+      heeded me little,&mdash;but she saw and knew me at once! She did not
+      speak, nor did I,&mdash;but in two moments she fainted and fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet did I not help her; the people took their own measures to recover
+      her, and when she was again able to stand, would have removed her to
+      another apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I then went forward, and forcing them away from her with all the strength
+      of desperation, I turned to the unhappy sinner, who to chance only seemed
+      to leave what became of her, and cried, From this scene of vice and horror
+      let me yet rescue you! you look still unfit for such society, trust
+      yourself, therefore, to me. I seized her hand, I drew, I almost dragged
+      her away. She trembled, she could scarce totter, but neither consented nor
+      refused, neither shed a tear, nor spoke a word, and her countenance
+      presented a picture of affright, amazement, and horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I took her to a house in the country, each of us silent the whole way. I
+      gave her an apartment and a female attendant, and ordered for her every
+      convenience I could suggest. I stayed myself in the same house, but
+      distracted with remorse for the guilt and ruin into which I had terrified
+      her, I could not bear her sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a few days her maid assured me the life she led must destroy her; that
+      she would taste nothing but bread and water, never spoke, and never slept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alarmed by this account, I flew into her apartment; pride and resentment
+      gave way to pity and fondness, and I besought her to take comfort. I
+      spoke, however, to a statue, she replied not, nor seemed to hear me. I
+      then humbled myself to her as in the days of her innocence and first
+      power, supplicating her notice, entreating even her commiseration! all was
+      to no purpose; she neither received nor repulsed me, and was alike
+      inattentive to exhortation and to prayer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whole hours did I spend at her feet, vowing never to arise till she spoke
+      to me,&mdash;all, all, in vain! she seemed deaf, mute, insensible; her
+      face unmoved, a settled despair fixed in her eyes,&mdash;those eyes that
+      had never looked at me but with dove-like softness and compliance!&mdash;She
+      sat constantly in one chair, she never changed her dress, no persuasions
+      could prevail with her to lie down, and at meals she just swallowed so
+      much dry bread as might save her from dying for want of food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was the distraction of my soul, to find her bent upon this course to
+      her last hour!&mdash;quick came that hour, but never will it be forgotten!
+      rapidly it was gone, but eternally it will be remembered!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When she felt herself expiring, she acknowledged she had made a vow, upon
+      entering the house, to live speechless and motionless, as a pennance for
+      her offences!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I kept her loved corpse till my own senses failed me,&mdash;it was then
+      only torn from me,&mdash;and I have lost all recollection of three years
+      of my existence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia shuddered at this hint, yet was not surprised by it; Mr Gosport
+      had acquainted her he had been formerly confined; and his flightiness,
+      wildness, florid language, and extraordinary way of life, bad long led her
+      to suspect his reason had been impaired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The scene to which my memory first leads me back,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;is
+      visiting her grave; solemnly upon it I returned her vow, though not by one
+      of equal severity. To her poor remains did I pledge myself, that the day
+      should never pass in which I would receive nourishment, nor the night come
+      in which I would take rest, till I had done, or zealously attempted to do,
+      some service to a fellow-creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For this purpose have I wandered from city to city, from the town to the
+      country, and from the rich to the poor. I go into every house where I can
+      gain admittance, I admonish all who will hear me, I shame even those who
+      will not. I seek the distressed where ever they are hid, I follow the
+      prosperous to beg a mite to serve them. I look for the Dissipated in
+      public, where, amidst their licentiousness, I check them; I pursue the
+      Unhappy in private, where I counsel and endeavour to assist them. My own
+      power is small; my relations, during my sufferings, limiting me to an
+      annuity; but there is no one I scruple to solicit, and by zeal I supply
+      ability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh life of hardship and pennance! laborious, toilsome, and restless! but
+      I have merited no better, and I will not repine at it; I have vowed that I
+      will endure it, and I will not be forsworn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One indulgence alone from time to time I allow myself,&mdash;'tis Music!
+      which has power to delight me even to rapture! it quiets all anxiety, it
+      carries me out of myself, I forget through it every calamity, even the
+      bitterest anguish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now then, that thou hast heard me, tell me, hast <i>thou</i> cause of
+      sorrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;this indeed is a Picture of Misery to make <i>my</i>
+      lot seem all happiness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Art thou thus open to conviction?&rdquo; cried he, mildly; &ldquo;and dost thou not
+      fly the voice of truth! for truth and reproof are one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I would rather seek it; I feel myself wretched, however inadequate
+      may be the cause; I wish to be more resigned, and if you can instruct me
+      how, I shall thankfully attend to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet uncorrupted creature!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;with joy will I be thy monitor,&mdash;joy
+      long untasted! Many have I wished to serve, all, hitherto, have rejected
+      my offices; too honest to flatter them, they had not the fortitude to
+      listen to me; too low to advance them, they had not the virtue to bear
+      with me. You alone have I yet found pure enough not to fear inspection,
+      and good enough to wish to be better. Yet words alone will not content me;
+      I must also have deeds. Nor will your purse, however readily opened,
+      suffice, you must give to me also your time and your thoughts; for money
+      sent by others, to others only will afford relief; to enlighten your own
+      cares, you must distribute it yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall find me,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;a docile pupil, and most glad to be
+      instructed how my existence may be useful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Happy then,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;was the hour that brought me to this country; yet
+      not in search of you did I come, but of the mutable and ill-fated
+      Belfield. Erring, yet ingenious young man! what a lesson to the vanity of
+      talents, to the gaiety, the brilliancy of wit, is the sight of that green
+      fallen plant! not sapless by age, nor withered by disease, but destroyed
+      by want of pruning, and bending, breaking by its own luxuriance!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where, Sir, is he now?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Labouring wilfully in the field, with those who labour compulsatorily;
+      such are we all by nature, discontented, perverse, and changeable; though
+      all have not courage to appear so, and few, like Belfield, are worth
+      watching when they do. He told me he was happy; I knew it could not be:
+      but his employment was inoffensive, and I left him without reproach. In
+      this neighbourhood I heard of you, and found your name was coupled with
+      praise. I came to see if you deserved it; I have seen, and am satisfied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not, then, very difficult, for I have yet done nothing. How are
+      we to begin these operations you propose? You have awakened me by them to
+      an expectation of pleasure, which nothing else, I believe, could just now
+      have given me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will work,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;together, till not a woe shall remain upon your
+      mind. The blessings of the fatherless, the prayers of little children,
+      shall heal all your wounds with balm of sweetest fragrance. When sad, they
+      shall cheer, when complaining, they shall soothe you. We will go to their
+      roofless houses, and see them repaired; we will exclude from their
+      dwellings the inclemency of the weather; we will clothe them from cold, we
+      will rescue them from hunger. The cries of distress shall be changed to
+      notes of joy: your heart shall be enraptured, mine, too, shall revive&mdash;oh
+      whither am I wandering? I am painting an Elysium! and while I idly speak,
+      some fainting object dies for want of succour! Farewell; I will fly to the
+      abodes of wretchedness, and come to you to-morrow to render them the
+      abodes of happiness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This singular visit was for Cecilia most fortunately timed: it almost
+      surprised her out of her peculiar grief, by the view which it opened to
+      her of general calamity; wild, flighty, and imaginative as were his
+      language and his counsels, their morality was striking, and their
+      benevolence was affecting. Taught by him to compare her state with that of
+      at least half her species, she began more candidly to weigh what was left
+      with what was withdrawn, and found the balance in her favour. The plan he
+      had presented to her of good works was consonant to her character and
+      inclinations; and the active charity in which he proposed to engage her,
+      re-animated her fallen hopes, though to far different subjects from those
+      which had depressed them. Any scheme of worldly happiness would have
+      sickened and disgusted her; but her mind was just in the situation to be
+      impressed with elevated piety, and to adopt any design in which virtue
+      humoured melancholy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SHOCK.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecelia passed the rest of the day in fanciful projects of beneficence;
+      she determined to wander with her romantic new ally whither-so-ever he
+      would lead her, and to spare neither fortune, time, nor trouble, in
+      seeking and relieving the distressed. Not all her attempted philosophy had
+      calmed her mind like this plan; in merely refusing indulgence to grief,
+      she had only locked it up in her heart, where eternally struggling for
+      vent, she was almost overpowered by restraining it; but now her affliction
+      had no longer her whole faculties to itself; the hope of doing good, the
+      pleasure of easing pain, the intention of devoting her time to the service
+      of the unhappy, once more delighted her imagination,&mdash;that source of
+      promissory enjoyment, which though often obstructed, is never, in youth,
+      exhausted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She would not give Mrs Charlton the unnecessary pain of hearing the letter
+      with which she had been so, much affected, but she told her of the visit
+      of Albany, and pleased her with the account of their scheme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At night, with less sadness than usual, she retired to rest. In her sleep
+      she bestowed riches, and poured plenty upon the land; she humbled the
+      oppressor, she exalted the oppressed; slaves were raised to dignities,
+      captives restored to liberty; beggars saw smiling abundance, and
+      wretchedness was banished the world. From a cloud in which she was
+      supported by angels, Cecilia beheld these wonders, and while enjoying the
+      glorious illusion, she was awakened by her maid, with news that Mrs
+      Charlton was dying!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She started up, and, undressed, was running to her apartment,&mdash;when
+      the maid, calling to stop her, confessed she was already dead!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had made her exit in the night, but the time was not exactly known;
+      her own maid, who slept in the room with her, going early to her bedside
+      to enquire how she did, found her cold and motionless, and could only
+      conclude that a paralytic stroke had taken her off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Happily and in good time had Cecilia been somewhat recruited by one night
+      of refreshing slumbers and flattering dreams, for the shock she now
+      received promised her not soon another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She lost in Mrs Charlton a friend, whom nearly from her infancy she had
+      considered as a mother, and by whom she had been cherished with tenderness
+      almost unequalled. She was not a woman of bright parts, or much
+      cultivation, but her heart was excellent, and her disposition was amiable.
+      Cecilia had known her longer than her memory could look back, though the
+      earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses received from her.
+      Since she had entered into life, and found the difficulty of the part she
+      had to act, to this worthy old lady alone had she unbosomed her secret
+      cares. Though little assisted by her counsel, she was always certain of
+      her sympathy; and while her own superior judgment directed her conduct,
+      she had the relief of communicating her schemes, and weighing her
+      perplexities, with a friend to whom nothing that concerned her was
+      indifferent, and whose greatest wish and chief pleasure was the enjoyment
+      of her conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If left to herself, in the present period of her life, Mrs Charlton had
+      certainly not been the friend of her choice. The delicacy of her mind, and
+      the refinement of her ideas, had now rendered her fastidious, and she
+      would have looked out for elegancies and talents to which Mrs Charlton had
+      no pretensions: but those who live in the country have little power of
+      selection; confined to a small circle, they must be content with what it
+      offers; and however they may idolize extraordinary merit when they meet
+      with it, they must not regard it as essential to friendship, for in their
+      circumscribed rotation, whatever may be their discontent, they can make
+      but little change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such had been the situation to which Mrs Charlton and Mrs Harrel owed the
+      friendship of Cecilia. Greatly their superior in understanding and
+      intelligence, had the candidates for her favour been more numerous, the
+      election had not fallen upon either of them. But she became known to both
+      before discrimination made her difficult, and when her enlightened mind
+      discerned their deficiencies, they had already an interest in her
+      affections, which made her see them with lenity: and though sometimes,
+      perhaps, conscious she should not have chosen them from many, she adhered
+      to them with sincerity, and would have changed them for none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel, however, too weak for similar sentiments, forgot her when out
+      of sight, and by the time they met again, was insensible to everything but
+      shew and dissipation. Cecilia, shocked and surprised, first grieved from
+      disappointed affection, and then lost that affection in angry contempt.
+      But her fondness for Mrs Charlton had never known abatement, as the
+      kindness which had excited it had never known allay. She had loved her
+      first from childish gratitude; but that love, strengthened and confirmed
+      by confidential intercourse, was now as sincere and affectionate as if it
+      had originated from sympathetic admiration. Her loss, therefore, was felt
+      with the utmost severity, and neither seeing nor knowing any means of
+      replacing it, she considered it as irreparable, and mourned it with
+      bitterness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the first surprize of this cruel stroke was somewhat lessened, she
+      sent an express to Mr Monckton with the news, and entreated to see him
+      immediately. He came without delay, and she begged his counsel what step
+      she ought herself to take in consequence of this event. Her own house was
+      still unprepared for her; she had of late neglected to hasten the workmen,
+      and almost forgotten her intention of entering it. It was necessary,
+      however, to change her abode immediately; she was no longer in the house
+      of Mrs Charlton, but of her grand-daughters and co-heiresses, each of whom
+      she disliked, and upon neither of whom she had any claim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton then, with the quickness of a man who utters a thought at the
+      very moment of its projection, mentioned a scheme upon which during his
+      whole ride he had been ruminating; which was that she would instantly
+      remove to his house, and remain there till settled to her satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia objected her little right of surprising Lady Margaret; but,
+      without waiting to discuss it, lest new objections should arise, he
+      quitted her, to fetch himself from her ladyship an invitation he meant to
+      insist upon her sending.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though heartily disliking this plan, knew not at present what
+      better to adopt, and thought anything preferable to going again to Mrs
+      Harrel, since that only could be done by feeding the anxiety of Mr Arnott.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton soon returned with a message of his own fabrication; for his
+      lady, though obliged to receive whom he pleased, took care to guard
+      inviolate the independence of speech, sullenly persevering in refusing to
+      say anything, or perversely saying only what he least wished to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then took a hasty leave of Miss Charltons, who, little affected by
+      what they had lost, and eager to examine what they had gained, parted from
+      her gladly, and, with a heavy heart and weeping eyes, borrowed for the
+      last time the carriage of her late worthy old friend, and for-ever
+      quitting her hospitable house, sorrowfully set out for the Grove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK IX.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER i. &mdash; A COGITATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret Monckton received Cecilia with the most gloomy coldness: she
+      apologised for the liberty she had taken in making use of her ladyship's
+      house, but, meeting no return of civility, she withdrew to the room which
+      had been prepared for her, and resolved as much as possible to keep out of
+      her sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It now became necessary without further delay to settle her plan of life,
+      and fix her place of residence. The forbidding looks of Lady Margaret made
+      her hasten her resolves, which otherwise would for a while have given way
+      to grief for her recent misfortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent for the surveyor who had the superintendance of her estates, to
+      enquire how soon her own house would be fit for her reception; and heard
+      there was yet work for near two months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This answer made her very uncomfortable. To continue two months under the
+      roof with Lady Margaret was a penance she could not enjoin herself, nor
+      was she at all sure Lady Margaret would submit to it any better: she
+      determined, therefore, to release herself from the conscious burthen of
+      being an unwelcome visitor, by boarding with some creditable family at
+      Bury, and devoting the two months in which she was to be kept from her
+      house, to a general arrangement of her affairs, and a final settling with
+      her guardians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For these purposes it would be necessary she should go to London: but with
+      whom, or in what manner, she could not decide. She desired, therefore,
+      another conference with Mr Monckton, who met her in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then communicated to him her schemes; and begged his counsel in her
+      perplexities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was delighted at the application, and extremely well pleased with her
+      design of boarding at Bury, well knowing, he could then watch and visit
+      her at his pleasure, and have far more comfort in her society than even in
+      his own house, where all the vigilance with which he observed her, was
+      short of that with which he was himself observed by Lady Margaret. He
+      endeavoured, however, to dissuade her from going to town, but her
+      eagerness to pay the large sum she owed him, was now too great to be
+      conquered. Of age, her fortune wholly in her power, and all attendance
+      upon Mrs Charlton at an end, she had no longer any excuse for having a
+      debt in the world, and would suffer no persuasion to make her begin her
+      career in life, with a negligence in settling her accounts which she had
+      so often censured in others. To go to London therefore she was fixed, and
+      all that she desired was his advice concerning the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that in order to settle with her guardians, she must
+      write to them in form, to demand an account of the sums that had been
+      expended during her minority, and announce her intention for the future to
+      take the management of her fortune into her own hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She immediately followed his directions, and consented to remain at the
+      Grove till their answers arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Being now, therefore, unavoidably fixed for some time at the house, she
+      thought it proper and decent to attempt softening Lady Margaret in her
+      favour. She exerted all her powers to please and to oblige her; but the
+      exertion was necessarily vain, not only from the disposition, but the
+      situation of her ladyship, since every effort made for this conciliatory
+      purpose, rendered her doubly amiable in the eyes of her husband, and
+      consequently to herself more odious than ever. Her jealousy, already but
+      too well founded, received every hour the poisonous nourishment of fresh
+      conviction, which so much soured and exasperated a temper naturally harsh,
+      that her malignity and ill-humour grew daily more acrimonious. Nor would
+      she have contented herself with displaying this irascibility by general
+      moroseness, had not the same suspicious watchfulness which discovered to
+      her the passion of her husband, served equally to make manifest the
+      indifference and innocence of Cecilia; to reproach her therefore, she had
+      not any pretence, though her knowledge how much she had to dread her, past
+      current in her mind for sufficient reason to hate her. The Angry and the
+      Violent use little discrimination; whom they like, they enquire not if
+      they approve; but whoever, no matter how unwittingly, stands in their way,
+      they scruple not to ill use, and conclude they may laudably detest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though much disgusted, gave not over her attempt, which she
+      considered but as her due while she continued in her house. Her general
+      character, also, for peevishness and haughty ill-breeding, skilfully, from
+      time to time, displayed, and artfully repined at by Mr Monckton, still
+      kept her from suspecting any peculiar animosity to herself, and made her
+      impute all that passed to the mere rancour of ill-humour. She confined
+      herself, however, as much as possible to her own apartment, where her
+      sorrow for Mrs Charlton almost hourly increased, by the comparison she was
+      forced upon making of her house with the Grove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That worthy old lady left her grand-daughters her co-heiresses and sole
+      executrixes. She bequeathed from them nothing considerable, though she
+      left some donations for the poor, and several of her friends were
+      remembered by small legacies. Among them Cecilia had her picture, and
+      favourite trinkets, with a paragraph in her will, that as there was no one
+      she so much loved, had her fortune been less splendid, she should have
+      shared with her grand-daughters whatever she had to bestow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was much affected by this last and solemn remembrance. She more
+      than ever coveted to be alone, that she might grieve undisturbed, and she
+      lamented without ceasing the fatigue and the illness which, in so late a
+      period, as it proved, of her life, she had herself been the means of
+      occasioning to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton had too much prudence to interrupt this desire of solitude,
+      which indeed cost him little pain, as he considered her least in danger
+      when alone. She received in about a week answers from both her guardians.
+      Mr Delvile's letter was closely to the purpose, without a word but of
+      business, and couched in the haughtiest terms. As he had never, he said,
+      acted, he had no accounts to send in; but as he was going to town in a few
+      days, he would see her for a moment in the presence of Mr Briggs, that a
+      joint release might be signed, to prevent any future application to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia much lamented there was any necessity for her seeing him at all,
+      and looked forward to the interview as the greatest mortification she
+      could suffer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs, though still more concise, was far kinder in his language: but
+      he advised her to defer her scheme of taking the money into her own hands,
+      assuring her she would be cheated, and had better leave it to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she communicated these epistles to Mr Monckton, he failed not to
+      read, with an emphasis, by which his arrogant meaning was still more
+      arrogantly enforced, the letter of Mr Delvile aloud. Nor was he sparing in
+      comments that might render it yet more offensive. Cecilia neither
+      concurred in what he said, nor opposed it, but contented herself, when he
+      was silent, with producing the other letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton read not this with more favour. He openly attacked the
+      character of Briggs, as covetous, rapacious, and over-reaching, and warned
+      her by no means to abide by his counsel, without first taking the opinion
+      of some disinterested person. He then stated the various arts which might
+      be practised upon her inexperience, enumerated the dangers to which her
+      ignorance of business exposed her, and annotated upon the cheats, double
+      dealings, and tricks of stock jobbing, to which he assured her Mr Briggs
+      owed all he was worth, till, perplexed and confounded, she declared
+      herself at a loss how to proceed, and earnestly regretted that she could
+      not have his counsel upon the spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was his aim: to draw the wish from her, drew all suspicion of selfish
+      views from himself: and he told her that he considered her present
+      situation as so critical, the future confusion or regularity of her money
+      transactions seeming to depend upon it, that he would endeavour to arrange
+      his affairs for meeting her in London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia gave him many thanks for the kind intention, and determined to be
+      totally guided by him in the disposal and direction of her fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean time he had now another part to act; he saw that with Cecilia nothing
+      more remained to be done, and that, harbouring not a doubt of his motives,
+      she thought his design in her favour did her nothing but honour; but he
+      had too much knowledge of the world to believe it would judge him in the
+      same manner, and too much consciousness of duplicity to set its judgment
+      at defiance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To parry, therefore, the conjectures which might follow his attending her,
+      he had already prepared Lady Margaret to wish herself of the party: for
+      however disagreeable to him was her presence and her company, he had no
+      other means to be under the same roof with Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Bennet, the wretched tool of his various schemes, and the mean
+      sycophant of his lady, had been employed by him to work upon her jealousy,
+      by secretly informing her of his intention to go to town, at the same time
+      that Cecilia went thither to meet her guardians. She pretended to have
+      learned this intelligence by accident, and to communicate it from
+      respectful regard; and advised her to go to London herself at the same
+      time, that she might see into his designs, and be some check upon his
+      pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The encreasing infirmities of Lady Margaret made this counsel by no means
+      palatable: but Miss Bennet, following the artful instructions which she
+      received, put in her way so strong a motive, by assuring her how little
+      her company was wished, that in the madness of her spite she determined
+      upon the journey. And little heeding how she tormented herself while she
+      had any view of tormenting Mr Monckton, she was led on by her false
+      confident to invite Cecilia to her own house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, in whom by long practice, artifice was almost nature, well
+      knowing his wife's perverseness, affected to look much disconcerted at the
+      proposal; while Cecilia, by no means thinking it necessary to extend her
+      compliance to such a punishment, instantly made an apology, and declined
+      the invitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret, little versed in civility, and unused to the arts of
+      persuasion, could not, even for a favourite project, prevail upon herself
+      to use entreaty, and therefore, thinking her scheme defeated, looked
+      gloomily disappointed, and said nothing more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton saw with delight how much this difficulty inflamed her, though
+      the moment he could speak alone with Cecilia he made it his care to remove
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He represented to her that, however privately she might live, she was too
+      young to be in London lodgings by herself, and gave an hint which she
+      could not but understand, that in going or in staying with only servants,
+      suspicions might soon be raised, that the plan and motive of her journey
+      were different to those given out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She knew he meant to insinuate that it would be conjectured she designed
+      to meet Delvile, and though colouring, vext and provoked at the
+      suggestion, the idea was sufficient to frighten her into his plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few days, therefore, the matter was wholly arranged, Mr Monckton, by
+      his skill and address, leading every one whither he pleased, while, by the
+      artful coolness of his manner, he appeared but to follow himself. He [set]
+      out the day before, though earnestly wishing to accompany them, but having
+      as yet in no single instance gone to town in the same carriage with Lady
+      Margaret, he dared trust neither the neighbourhood nor the servants with
+      so dangerous a subject for their comments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, compelled thus to travel with only her Ladyship and Miss Bennet,
+      had a journey the most disagreeable, and determined, if possible, to stay
+      in London but two days. She had already fixed upon a house in which she
+      could board at Bury when she returned, and there she meant quietly to
+      reside till she could enter her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret herself, exhilarated by a notion of having outwitted her
+      husband, was in unusual good spirits, and almost in good humour. The idea
+      of thwarting his designs, and being in the way of his entertainment, gave
+      to her a delight she had seldom received from any thing; and the belief
+      that this was effected by the superiority of her cunning, doubled her
+      contentment, and raised it to exultation. She owed him, indeed, much
+      provocation and uneasiness, and was happy in this opportunity of paying
+      her arrears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while that consummate master in every species of hypocrisy, indulged
+      her in this notion, by the air of dissatisfaction with which he left the
+      house. It was not that she meant by her presence to obviate any
+      impropriety: early and long acquainted with the character of Cecilia, she
+      well knew, that during her life the passion of her husband must be
+      confined to his own breast: but conscious of his aversion to herself,
+      which she resented with the bitterest ill-will, and knowing how little, at
+      any time, he desired her company, she consoled herself for her inability
+      to give pleasure by the power she possessed of giving pain, and bore with
+      the fatigue of a journey disagreeable and inconvenient to her, with no
+      other view than the hope of breaking into his plan of avoiding her. Little
+      imagining that the whole time she was forwarding his favourite pursuit,
+      and only acting the part which he had appointed her to perform.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ii. &mdash; A SURPRIZE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret's town house was in Soho Square; and scarcely had Cecilia
+      entered it, before her desire to speed her departure, made her send a note
+      to each of her guardians, acquainting them of her arrival, and begging, if
+      possible, to see them the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had soon the two following answers:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Cecilia Beverley,&mdash;&mdash;These November</i> 8, 1779.
+      Miss,&mdash;Received yours of the same date; can't come tomorrow. Will,
+      Wednesday the 10th.&mdash;Am, &amp;c., Jno. Briggs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Cecilia Beverley
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile has too many affairs of importance upon his hands, to make any
+      appointment till he has deliberated how to arrange them. Mr Delvile will
+      acquaint Miss Beverley when it shall be in his power to see her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St James's-square, <i>Nov</i> 8.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These characteristic letters, which at another time might have diverted
+      Cecilia, now merely served to torment her. She was eager to quit town, she
+      was more eager to have her meeting with Mr Delvile over, who, oppressive
+      to her even when he meant to be kind, she foresaw, now he was in wrath,
+      would be imperious even to rudeness. Desirous, however, to make one
+      interview suffice for both, and to settle whatever business might remain
+      unfinished by letters, she again wrote to Mr Briggs, whom she had not
+      spirits to encounter without absolute necessity, and informing him of Mr
+      Delvile's delay, begged he would not trouble himself to call till he heard
+      from her again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days passed without any message from them; they were spent chiefly
+      alone, and very uncomfortably, Mr Monckton being content to see little of
+      her, while he knew she saw nothing of any body else. On the third morning,
+      weary of her own thoughts, weary of Lady Margaret's ill-humoured looks,
+      and still more weary of Miss Bennet's parasitical conversation, she
+      determined, for a little relief to the heaviness of her mind, to go to her
+      bookseller, and look over and order into the country such new publications
+      as seemed to promise her any pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent therefore, for a chair, and glad to have devised for herself any
+      amusement, set out in it immediately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon entering the shop, she saw the Bookseller engaged in close conference
+      with a man meanly dressed, and much muffled up, who seemed talking to him
+      with uncommon earnestness, and just as she was approaching, said, &ldquo;To
+      terms I am indifferent, for writing is no labour to me; on the contrary,
+      it is the first delight of my life, and therefore, and not for dirty pelf,
+      I wish to make it my profession.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The speech struck Cecilia, but the voice struck her more, it was
+      Belfield's! and her amazement was so great, that she stopt short to look
+      at him, without heeding a man who attended her, and desired to know her
+      commands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bookseller now perceiving her, came forward, and Belfield, turning to
+      see who interrupted them, started as if a spectre had crossed his eyes,
+      slapped his hat over his face, and hastily went out of the shop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia checking her inclination to speak to him, from observing his
+      eagerness to escape her, soon recollected her own errand, and employed
+      herself in looking over new books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her surprize, however, at a change so sudden in the condition of this
+      young man, and at a declaration of a passion for writing, so opposite to
+      all the sentiments which he had professed at their late meeting in the
+      cottage, awakened in her a strong curiosity to be informed of his
+      situation; and after putting aside some books which she desired to have
+      packed up for her, she asked if the gentleman who had just left the shop,
+      and who, she found by what he had said, was an Author, had written
+      anything that was published with his name?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am,&rdquo; answered the Bookseller, &ldquo;nothing of any consequence; he is
+      known, however, to have written several things that have appeared as
+      anonymous; and I fancy, now, soon, we shall see something considerable
+      from him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is about some great work, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why no, not exactly that, perhaps, at present; we must feel our way, with
+      some little smart <i>jeu d'esprit</i> before we undertake a great work.
+      But he is a very great genius, and I doubt not will produce something
+      extraordinary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever he produces,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;as I have now chanced to see him, I
+      shall be glad you will, at any time, send to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, ma'am; but it must be among other things, for he does not
+      chuse, just now to be known; and it is a rule in our business never to
+      tell people's names when they desire to be secret. He is a little out of
+      cash, just now, as you may suppose by his appearance, so instead of buying
+      books, he comes to sell them. However, he has taken a very good road to
+      bring himself home again, for we pay very handsomely for things of any
+      merit, especially if they deal smartly in a few touches of the times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia chose not to risk any further questions, lest her knowledge of him
+      should be suspected, but got into her chair, and returned to Lady
+      Margaret's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sight of Belfield reminded her not only of himself; the gentle
+      Henrietta again took her place in her memory, whence her various
+      distresses and suspences had of late driven from it everybody but Delvile,
+      and those whom Delvile brought into it. But her regard for that amiable
+      girl, though sunk in the busy scenes of her calamitous uncertainties, was
+      only sunk in her own bosom, and ready, upon their removal, to revive with
+      fresh vigour. She was now indeed more unhappy than even in the period of
+      her forgetfulness, yet her mind, was no longer filled with the restless
+      turbulence of hope, which still more than despondency unfitted it for
+      thinking of others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This remembrance thus awakened, awakened also a desire of renewing the
+      connection so long neglected. All scruples concerning Delvile had now lost
+      their foundation, since the doubts from which they arose were both
+      explained and removed: she was certain alike of his indifference to
+      Henrietta, and his separation from herself; she knew that nothing was to
+      be feared from painful or offensive rivalry, and she resolved, therefore,
+      to lose no time in seeking the first pleasure to which since her
+      disappointment she had voluntarily looked forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the evening, she told Lady Margaret she was going out for an hour
+      or two, and sending again for a chair, was carried to Portland-street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She enquired for Miss Belfield, and was shewn into a parlour, where she
+      found her drinking tea with her mother, and Mr Hobson, their landlord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta almost screamed at her sight, from a sudden impulse of joy and
+      surprize, and, running up to her, flung her arms round her neck, and
+      embraced her with the most rapturous emotion: but then, drawing back with
+      a look of timidity and shame, she bashfully apologized for her freedom,
+      saying, &ldquo;Indeed, dearest Miss Beverley, it is no want of respect, but I am
+      so very glad to see you it makes me quite forget myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, charmed at a reception so ingenuously affectionate, soon
+      satisfied her doubting diffidence by the warmest thanks that she had
+      preserved so much regard for her, and by doubling the kindness with which
+      she returned her caresses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mercy on me, madam,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, who during this time had been
+      busily employed in sweeping the hearth, wiping some slops upon the table,
+      and smoothing her handkerchief and apron, &ldquo;why the girl's enough to
+      smother you. Henny, how can you be so troublesome? I never saw you behave
+      in this way before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley, madam,&rdquo; said Henrietta, again retreating, &ldquo;is so kind as
+      to pardon me, and I was so much surprised at seeing her, that I hardly
+      knew what I was about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The young ladies, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;have a mighty way of saluting
+      one another till such time as they get husbands: and then I'll warrant you
+      they can meet without any salutation at all. That's my remark, at least,
+      and what I've seen of the world has set me upon making it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This speech led Cecilia to check, however artless, the tenderness of her
+      fervent young friend, whom she was much teized by meeting in such company,
+      but who seemed not to dare understand the frequent looks which she gave
+      her expressive of a wish to be alone with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, ladies,&rdquo; continued the facetious Mr Hobson, &ldquo;what if we were all to
+      sit down, and have a good dish of tea? and suppose, Mrs Belfield, you was
+      to order us a fresh round of toast and butter? do you think the young
+      ladies here would have any objection? and what if we were to have a little
+      more water in the tea-kettle? not forgetting a little more tea in the
+      teapot. What I say is this, let us all be comfortable; that's my notion of
+      things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a very good notion too,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;for you who have nothing
+      to vex you. Ah, ma'am, you have heard, I suppose, about my son? gone off!
+      nobody knows where! left that lord's house, where he might have lived like
+      a king, and gone out into the wide world nobody knows for what!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; said Cecilia, who, from seeing him in London concluded he was
+      again with his family, &ldquo;and has he not acquainted you where he is?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, no,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;he's never once told me where he is
+      gone, nor let me know the least about the matter, for if I did I would not
+      taste a dish of tea again for a twelvemonth till I saw him get back again
+      to that lord's! and I believe in my heart there's never such another in
+      the three kingdoms, for he has sent here after him I dare say a score of
+      times. And no wonder, for I will take upon me to say he won't find his
+      fellow in a hurry, Lord as he is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to his being a Lord,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;I am one of them that lay no
+      great stress upon that, unless he has got a good long purse of his own,
+      and then, to be sure, a Lord's no bad thing. But as to the matter of
+      saying Lord such a one, how d'ye do? and Lord such a one, what do you
+      want? and such sort of compliments, why in my mind, it's a mere nothing,
+      in comparison of a good income. As to your son, ma'am, he did not go the
+      right way to work. He should have begun with business, and gone into
+      pleasure afterwards and if he had but done that, I'll be bold to say we
+      might have had him at this very minute drinking tea with us over this
+      fireside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, Sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, &ldquo;was another sort of a
+      person than a person of business: he always despised it from a child, and
+      come of it what may, I am sure he was born to be a gentleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to his despising business,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, very contemptuously, &ldquo;why
+      so much the worse, for business is no such despiseable thing. And if he
+      had been brought up behind a counter, instead of dangling after these same
+      Lords, why he might have had a house of his own over his head, and been as
+      good a man as myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A house over his head?&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;why he might have had what he
+      would, and have done what he would, if he had but followed my advice, and
+      put himself a little forward. I have told him a hundred times to ask some
+      of those great people he lived amongst for a place at court, for I know
+      they've so many they hardly know what to do with them, and it was always
+      my design from the beginning that he should be something of a great man;
+      but I never could persuade him, though, for anything I know, as I have
+      often told him, if he had but had a little courage he might have been an
+      Ambassador by this time. And now, all of a sudden, to be gone nobody knows
+      where!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, who knew not whether most to pity or
+      wonder at her blind folly; &ldquo;but I doubt not you will hear of him soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to being an Ambassador, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;it's talking quite
+      out of character. Those sort of great people keep things of that kind for
+      their own poor relations and cousins. What I say is this; a man's best way
+      is to take care of himself. The more those great people see you want them,
+      the less they like your company. Let every man be brought up to business,
+      and then when he's made his fortune, he may walk with his hat on. Why now
+      there was your friend, ma'am,&rdquo; turning to Cecilia, &ldquo;that shot out his
+      brains without paying any body a souse; pray how was that being more
+      genteel than standing behind a counter, and not owing a shilling?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think a young lady,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield warmly, &ldquo;can bear to hear
+      of such a thing as standing behind a counter? I am sure if my son had ever
+      done it, I should not expect any lady would so much as look at him, And
+      yet, though I say it, she might look a good while, and not see many such
+      persons, let her look where she pleased. And then he has such a winning
+      manner into the bargain, that I believe in my heart there's never a lady
+      in the land could say no to him. And yet he has such a prodigious shyness,
+      I never could make him own he had so much as asked the question. And what
+      lady can begin first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why no,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;that would be out of character another way. Now
+      my notion is this; let every man be agreeable! and then he may ask what
+      lady he pleases. And when he's a mind of a lady, he should look upon a
+      frown or two as nothing; for the ladies frown in courtship as a thing of
+      course; it's just like a man swearing at a coachman; why he's not a bit
+      more in a passion, only he thinks he sha'n't be minded without it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, for my part,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;I am sure if I was a young lady,
+      and most especially if I was a young lady of fortune, and all that, I
+      should like a modest young gentleman, such as my son, for example, better
+      by half than a bold swearing young fellow, that would make a point to have
+      me whether I would or no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! Ha! Ha!&rdquo; cried Mr Hobson; &ldquo;but the young ladies are not of that way
+      of thinking; they are all for a little life and spirit. Don't I say right,
+      young ladies?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who could not but perceive that these speeches was levelled at
+      herself, felt offended and tired; and finding she had no chance of any
+      private conversation with Henrietta, arose to take leave: but while she
+      stopped in the passage to enquire when she could see her alone, a footman
+      knocked at the door, who, having asked if Mr Belfield lodged there, and
+      been answered in the affirmative; begged to know whether Miss Beverley was
+      then in the house?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, much surprised, went forward, and told him who she was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been, madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;with a message to you at Mr Monckton's, in
+      Soho-Square: but nobody knew where you was; and Mr Monckton came out and
+      spoke to me himself, and said that all he could suppose was that you might
+      be at this house. So he directed me to come here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And from whom, Sir, is your message?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the honourable Mr Delvile, madam, in St James's-Square. He desires
+      to know if you shall be at home on Saturday morning, the day after
+      to-morrow, and whether you can appoint Mr Briggs to meet him by twelve
+      o'clock exactly, as he sha'n't be able to stay above three minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia gave an answer as cold as the message; that she would be in
+      Soho-Square at the time he mentioned, and acquaint Mr Briggs of his
+      intention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The footman then went away; and Henrietta told her, that if she could call
+      some morning she might perhaps contrive to be alone with her, and added,
+      &ldquo;indeed I wish much to see you, if you could possibly do me so great an
+      honour; for I am very miserable, and have nobody to tell so! Ah, Miss
+      Beverley! you that have so many friends, and that deserve as many again,
+      you little know what a hard thing it is to have none!&mdash;but my
+      brother's strange disappearing has half broke our hearts!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was beginning a consolatory speech, in which she meant to give her
+      private assurances of his health and safety, when she was interrupted by
+      Mr Albany, who came suddenly into the passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta received him with a look of pleasure, and enquired why he had so
+      long been absent; but, surprised by the sight of Cecilia, he exclaimed,
+      without answering her, &ldquo;why didst thou fail me? why appoint me to a place
+      thou wert quitting thyself?&mdash;thou thing of fair professions! thou
+      inveigler of esteem! thou vain, delusive promiser of pleasure!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You condemn me too hastily,&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;if I failed in my promise, it
+      was not owing to caprice or insincerity, but to a real and bitter
+      misfortune which incapacitated me from keeping it. I shall soon, however,&mdash;nay,
+      I am already at your disposal, if you have any commands for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have always,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;commands for the rich, for I have always
+      compassion for the poor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come to me, then, at Mr Monckton's in Soho-Square,&rdquo; cried she, and
+      hastened into her chair, impatient to end a conference which she saw
+      excited the wonder of the servants, and which also now drew out from the
+      parlour Mr Hobson and Mrs Belfield. She then kissed her hand to Henrietta,
+      and ordered the chairmen to carry her home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had not been without difficulty that she had restrained herself from
+      mentioning what she knew of Belfield, when she found his mother and sister
+      in a state of such painful uncertainty concerning him. But her utter
+      ignorance of his plans, joined to her undoubted knowledge of his wish of
+      concealment, made her fear doing mischief by officiousness, and think it
+      wiser not to betray what she had seen of him, till better informed of his
+      own views and intentions. Yet, willing to shorten a suspence so uneasy to
+      them, she determined to entreat Mr Monckton would endeavour to find him
+      out, and acquaint him with their anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That gentleman, when she returned to his house, was in a state of mind by
+      no means enviable. Missing her at tea, he had asked Miss Bennet where she
+      was, and hearing she had not left word, he could scarce conceal his
+      chagrin. Knowing, however, how few were her acquaintances in town, he soon
+      concluded she was with Miss Belfield, but, not satisfied with sending Mr
+      Delvile's messenger after her, he privately employed one in whom he
+      trusted for himself, to make enquiries at the house without saying whence
+      he came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though this man was returned, and he knew her safety, he still felt
+      alarmed; he had flattered himself, from the length of time in which she
+      had now done nothing without consulting him, she would scarce even think
+      of any action without his previous concurrence. And he had hoped, by a
+      little longer use, to make his counsel become necessary, which he knew to
+      be a very short step from rendering it absolute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was he well pleased to perceive, by this voluntary excursion, a
+      struggle to cast off her sadness, and a wish to procure herself
+      entertainment: it was not that he desired her misery, but he was earnest
+      that all relief from it should spring from himself: and though far from
+      displeased that Delvile should lose his sovereignty over her thoughts, he
+      was yet of opinion that, till his own liberty was restored, he had less to
+      apprehend from grief indulged, than grief allayed; one could but lead her
+      to repining retirement, the other might guide her to a consolatory rival.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He well knew, however, it was as essential to his cause to disguise his
+      disappointments as his expectations, and, certain that by pleasing alone
+      he had any chance of acquiring power, he cleared up when Cecilia returned,
+      who as unconscious of feeling, as of owing any subjection to him,
+      preserved uncontrolled the right of acting for herself, however desirous
+      and glad of occasional instruction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told him where she had been, and related her meeting Belfield, and the
+      unhappiness of his friends, and hinted her wish that he could be informed
+      what they suffered. Mr Monckton, eager to oblige her, went instantly in
+      search of him, and returning to supper, told her he had traced him through
+      the Bookseller, who had not the dexterity to parry his artful enquiries,
+      and had actually appointed him to breakfast in Soho-Square the next
+      morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had found him, he said, writing, but in high spirits and good humour.
+      He had resisted, for a while, his invitation on account of his dress, all
+      his clothes but the very coat which he had on being packed up and at his
+      mother's: but, when laughed at by Mr Monckton for still retaining some
+      foppery, he gaily protested what remained of it should be extinguished;
+      and acknowledging that his shame was no part of his philosophy, declared
+      he would throw it wholly aside, and, in spite of his degradation, renew
+      his visits at his house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would not tell him,&rdquo; Mr Monckton continued, &ldquo;of the anxiety of his
+      family; I thought it would come more powerfully from yourself, who, having
+      seen, can better enforce it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was very thankful for this compliance with her request, and
+      anticipated the pleasure she hoped soon to give Henrietta, by the
+      restoration of a brother so much loved and so regretted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent, mean time, to Mr Briggs the message she had received from Mr
+      Delvile, and had the satisfaction of an answer that he would observe the
+      appointment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONFABULATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, while the family was at breakfast, Belfield, according
+      to his promise, made his visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A high colour overspread his face as he entered the room, resulting from a
+      sensation of grief at his fallen fortune, and shame at his altered
+      appearance, which though he endeavoured to cover under an air of gaiety
+      and unconcern, gave an awkwardness to his manners, and a visible distress
+      to his countenance: Mr Monckton received him with pleasure, and Cecilia,
+      who saw the conflict of his philosophy with his pride, dressed her
+      features once more in smiles, which however faint and heartless, shewed
+      her desire to reassure him. Miss Bennet, as usual when not called upon by
+      the master or lady of the house, sat as a cypher; and Lady Margaret,
+      always disagreeable and repulsive to the friends of her husband, though
+      she was not now more than commonly ungracious, struck the quick-feeling
+      and irritable Belfield, to wear an air of rude superiority meant to
+      reproach him with his disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This notion, which strongly affected him, made him, for one instant,
+      hesitate whether he should remain another in the same room with her: but
+      the friendliness of Mr Monckton, and the gentleness and good breeding of
+      Cecilia, seemed so studious to make amends for her moroseness, that he
+      checked his too ready indignation, and took his seat at the table. Yet was
+      it some time before he could recover even the assumed vivacity which this
+      suspected insult had robbed him of, sufficiently to enter into
+      conversation with any appearance of ease or pleasure. But, after a while,
+      soothed by the attentions of Cecilia and Mr Monckton, his uneasiness wore
+      off, and the native spirit and liveliness of his character broke forth
+      with their accustomed energy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This good company, I hope,&rdquo; said he, addressing himself, however, only to
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;will not so much <i>mistake the thing</i> as to criticise my
+      dress of this morning; since it is perfectly according to rule, and to
+      rule established from time immemorial: but lest any of you should so much
+      err as to fancy shabby what is only characteristic, I must endeavour to be
+      beforehand with the malice of conjecture, and have the honour to inform
+      you, that I am enlisted in the Grub-street regiment, of the third story,
+      and under the tattered banner of scribbling volunteers! a race which, if
+      it boasts not the courage of heroes, at least equals them in enmity. This
+      coat, therefore, is merely the uniform of my corps, and you will all, I
+      hope, respect it as emblematical of wit and erudition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must at least respect you,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;who thus gaily can sport
+      with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, madam!&rdquo; said he, more seriously, &ldquo;it is not from you I ought to look
+      for respect! I must appear to you the most unsteady and coward-hearted of
+      beings. But lately I blushed to see you from poverty, though more worthily
+      employed than when I had been seen by you in affluence; that shame
+      vanquished, another equally narrow took its place, and yesterday I blushed
+      again that you detected me in a new pursuit, though I had only quitted my
+      former one from a conviction it was ill chosen. There seems in human
+      nature a worthlessness not to be conquered! yet I will struggle with it to
+      the last, and either die in the attempt, or dare seem that which I am,
+      without adding to the miseries of life, the sting, the envenomed sting of
+      dastardly false shame!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your language is wonderfully altered within this twelvemonth,&rdquo; said Mr
+      Monckton; &ldquo;<i>the worthlessness of human nature</i>! the <i>miseries of
+      life</i>! this from you! so lately the champion of human nature, and the
+      panegyrist of human life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Soured by personal disappointment,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;I may perhaps speak
+      with too much acrimony; yet, ultimately, my opinions have not much
+      changed. Happiness is given to us with more liberality than we are willing
+      to confess; it is judgment only that is dealt us sparingly, and of that we
+      have so little, that when felicity is before us, we turn to the right or
+      left, or when at the right or left, we proceed strait forward. It has been
+      so with me; I have sought it at a distance, amidst difficulty and danger,
+      when all that I could wish has been immediately within my grasp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be owned,&rdquo; said Mr Monckton, &ldquo;after what you have suffered from
+      this world you were wont to defend, there is little reason to wonder at
+      some change in your opinion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet whatever have been my sufferings,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I have generally
+      been involved in them by my own rashness or caprice. My last enterprise
+      especially, from which my expectations were highest, was the most
+      ill-judged of any. I considered not how little my way of life had fitted
+      me for the experiment I was making, how irreparably I was enervated by
+      long sedentary habits, and how insufficient for bodily strength was mental
+      resolution. We may fight against partial prejudices, and by spirit and
+      fortitude we may overcome them; but it will not do to war with the general
+      tenor of education. We may blame, despise, regret as we please, but
+      customs long established, and habits long indulged, assume an empire
+      despotic, though their power is but prescriptive. Opposing them is vain;
+      Nature herself, when forced aside, is not more elastic in her rebound.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you not then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;since your experiment has failed,
+      return again to your family, and to the plan of life you formerly
+      settled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak of them together,&rdquo; said he, with a smile, &ldquo;as if you thought
+      them inseparable; and indeed my own apprehension they would be deemed so,
+      has made me thus fear to see my friends, since I love not resistance, yet
+      cannot again attempt the plan of life they would have me pursue. I have
+      given up my cottage, but my independence is as dear to me as ever; and all
+      that I have gathered from experience, is to maintain it by those
+      employments for which my education has fitted me, instead of seeking it
+      injudiciously by the very road for which it has unqualified me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what is this independence,&rdquo; cried Mr Monckton, &ldquo;which has thus
+      bewitched your imagination? a mere idle dream of romance and enthusiasm;
+      without existence in nature, without possibility in life. In uncivilised
+      countries, or in lawless times, independence, for a while, may perhaps
+      stalk abroad; but in a regular government, 'tis only the vision of a
+      heated brain; one part of a community must inevitably hang upon another,
+      and 'tis a farce to call either independent, when to break the chain by
+      which they are linked would prove destruction to both. The soldier wants
+      not the officer more than the officer the soldier, nor the tenant the
+      landlord, more than the landlord the tenant. The rich owe their
+      distinction, their luxuries, to the poor, as much as the poor owe their
+      rewards, their necessaries, to the rich.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Man treated as an Automaton,&rdquo; answered Belfield, &ldquo;and considered merely
+      with respect to his bodily operations, may indeed be called dependent,
+      since the food by which he lives, or, rather, without which he dies,
+      cannot wholly be cultivated and prepared by his own hands: but considered
+      in a nobler sense, he deserves not the degrading epithet; speak of him,
+      then, as a being of feeling and understanding, with pride to alarm, with
+      nerves to tremble, with honour to satisfy, and with a soul to be immortal!&mdash;as
+      such, may he not claim the freedom of his own thoughts? may not that claim
+      be extended to the liberty of speaking, and the power of being governed by
+      them? and when thoughts, words, and actions are exempt from controul, will
+      you brand him with dependency merely because the Grazier feeds his meat,
+      and the Baker kneads his bread?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who is there in the whole world,&rdquo; said Mr Monckton, &ldquo;extensive as it
+      is, and dissimilar as are its inhabitants, that can pretend to assert, his
+      thoughts, words, and actions, are exempt from controul? even where
+      interest, which you so much disdain, interferes not,&mdash;though where
+      that is I confess I cannot tell!&mdash;are we not kept silent where we
+      wish to reprove by the fear of offending? and made speak where we wish to
+      be silent by the desire of obliging? do we not bow to the scoundrel as low
+      as to the man of honour? are we not by mere forms kept standing when
+      tired? made give place to those we despise? and smiles to those we hate?
+      or if we refuse these attentions, are we not regarded as savages, and shut
+      out of society?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All these,&rdquo; answered Belfield, &ldquo;are so merely matters of ceremony, that
+      the concession can neither cost pain to the proud, nor give pleasure to
+      the vain. The bow is to the coat, the attention is to the rank, and the
+      fear of offending ought to extend to all mankind. Homage such as this
+      infringes not our sincerity, since it is as much a matter of course as the
+      dress that we wear, and has as little reason to flatter a man as the
+      shadow which follows him. I no more, therefore, hold him deceitful for not
+      opposing this pantomimical parade, than I hold him to be dependent for
+      eating corn he has not sown.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where, then, do you draw the line? and what is the boundary beyond which
+      your independence must not step?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hold that man,&rdquo; cried he, with energy, &ldquo;to be independent, who treats
+      the Great as the Little, and the Little as the Great, who neither exults
+      in riches nor blushes in poverty, who owes no man a groat, and who spends
+      not a shilling he has not earned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not, indeed, then, have a very numerous acquaintance, if this is
+      the description of those with whom you purpose to associate! but is it
+      possible you imagine you can live by such notions? why the Carthusian in
+      his monastery, who is at least removed from temptation, is not mortified
+      so severely as a man of spirit living in the world, who would prescribe
+      himself such rules.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not merely have I prescribed,&rdquo; returned Belfield, &ldquo;I have already put
+      them in practice; and far from finding any pennance, I never before found
+      happiness. I have now adopted, though poor, the very plan of life I should
+      have elected if rich; my pleasure, therefore, is become my business, and
+      my business my pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is this plan,&rdquo; cried Monckton, &ldquo;nothing more than turning
+      Knight-errant to the Booksellers?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis a Knight-errantry,&rdquo; answered Belfield, laughing, &ldquo;which, however
+      ludicrous it may seem to you, requires more soul and more brains than any
+      other. Our giants may, indeed, be only windmills, but they must be
+      attacked with as much spirit, and conquered with as much bravery, as any
+      fort or any town, in time of war [to] be demolished; and though the siege,
+      I must confess, may be of less national utility, the assailants of the
+      quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the sword.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose then,&rdquo; said Monckton, archly, &ldquo;if a man wants a biting lampoon,
+      or an handsome panegyric, some newspaper scandal, or a sonnet for a lady&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; interrupted Belfield eagerly, &ldquo;if you imagine me a hireling
+      scribbler for the purposes of defamation or of flattery, you as little
+      know my situation as my character. My subjects shall be my own, and my
+      satire shall be general. I would as much disdain to be personal with an
+      anonymous pen, as to attack an unarmed man in the dark with a dagger I had
+      kept concealed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A reply of rallying incredulity was rising to the lips of Mr Monckton,
+      when reading in the looks of Cecilia an entire approbation of this
+      sentiment, he checked his desire of ridicule, and exclaimed, &ldquo;spoken like
+      a man of honour, and one whose works may profit the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From my earliest youth to the present hour,&rdquo; continued Belfield,
+      &ldquo;literature has been the favourite object of my pursuit, my recreation in
+      leisure, and my hope in employment. My propensity to it, indeed, has been
+      so ungovernable, that I may properly call it the source of my several
+      miscarriages throughout life. It was the bar to my preferment, for it gave
+      me a distaste to other studies; it was the cause of my unsteadiness in all
+      my undertakings, because to all I preferred it. It has sunk me to
+      distress, it has involved me in difficulties; it has brought me to the
+      brink of ruin by making me neglect the means of living, yet never, till
+      now, did I discern it might itself be my support.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am heartily glad, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;your various enterprizes and
+      struggles have at length ended in a project which promises you so much
+      satisfaction. But you will surely suffer your sister and your mother to
+      partake of it? for who is there that your prosperity will make so happy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do them infinite honour, madam, by taking any interest in their
+      affairs; but to own to you the truth, what to me appears prosperity, will
+      to them wear another aspect. They have looked forward to my elevation with
+      expectations the most improbable, and thought everything within my grasp,
+      with a simplicity incredible. But though their hopes were absurd, I am
+      pained by their disappointment, and I have not courage to meet their
+      tears, which I am sure will not be spared when they see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis from tenderness, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, half smiling, &ldquo;that you are
+      cruel, and from affection to your friends that you make them believe you
+      have forgotten them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a delicacy in this reproach exactly suited to work upon
+      Belfield, who feeling it with quickness, started up, and cried, &ldquo;I believe
+      I am wrong!&mdash;I will go to them this moment!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia felt eager to second the generous impulse; but Mr Monckton,
+      laughing at his impetuosity, insisted he should first finish his
+      breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your friends,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;can have no mortification so hard to bear
+      as your voluntary absence; and if they see but that you are happy, they
+      will soon be reconciled to whatever situation you may chuse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Happy!&rdquo; repeated he, with animation, &ldquo;Oh I am in Paradise! I am come from
+      a region in the first rude state of nature, to civilization and
+      refinement! the life I led at the cottage was the life of a savage; no
+      intercourse with society, no consolation from books; my mind locked up,
+      every source dried of intellectual delight, and no enjoyment in my power
+      but from sleep and from food. Weary of an existence which thus levelled me
+      with a brute, I grew ashamed of the approximation, and listening to the
+      remonstrance of my understanding, I gave up the precipitate plan, to
+      pursue one more consonant to reason. I came to town, hired a room, and
+      sent for pen, ink and paper: what I have written are trifles, but the
+      Bookseller has not rejected them. I was settled, therefore, in a moment,
+      and comparing my new occupation with that I had just quitted, I seemed
+      exalted on the sudden from a mere creature of instinct, to a rational and
+      intelligent being. But when first I opened a book, after so long an
+      abstinence from all mental nourishment,&mdash;Oh it was rapture! no
+      half-famished beggar regaled suddenly with food, ever seized on his repast
+      with more hungry avidity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let fortune turn which way it will,&rdquo; cried Monckton, &ldquo;you may defy all
+      its malice, while possessed of a spirit of enjoyment which nothing can
+      subdue!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But were you not, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;as great an enthusiast the other
+      day for your cottage, and for labour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was, madam; but there my philosophy was erroneous: in my ardour to fly
+      from meanness and from dependence, I thought in labour and retirement I
+      should find freedom and happiness; but I forgot that my body was not
+      seasoned for such work, and considered not that a mind which had once been
+      opened by knowledge, could ill endure the contraction of dark and
+      perpetual ignorance. The approach, however, of winter, brought me
+      acquainted with my mistake. It grew cold, it grew bleak; little guarded
+      against the inclemency of the &mdash;&mdash;, I felt its severity in every
+      limb, and missed a thousand indulgencies which in possession I had never
+      valued. To rise at break of day, chill, freezing, and comfortless! no sun
+      abroad, no fire at home! to go out in all weather to work, that work
+      rough, coarse, and laborious!&mdash;unused to such hardships, I found I
+      could not bear them, and, however unwillingly, was compelled to relinquish
+      the attempt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Breakfast now being over, he again arose to take leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are going, then, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;immediately to your friends?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; answered he hesitating, &ldquo;not just this moment; to-morrow
+      morning perhaps,&mdash;but it is now late, and I have business for the
+      rest of the day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Mr Monckton!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;what mischief have you done by
+      occasioning this delay!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This goodness, madam,&rdquo; said Belfield, &ldquo;my sister can never sufficiently
+      acknowledge. But I will own, that though, just now, in a warm moment, I
+      felt eager to present myself to her and my mother, I rather wish, now I am
+      cooler, to be saved the pain of telling them in person my situation. I
+      mean, therefore, first to write to them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not fail, then, to see them to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly&mdash;I think not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, but certainly you <i>must</i> not, for I shall call upon them
+      to-day, and assure them they may expect you. Can I soften your task of
+      writing by giving them any message from you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, madam, have a care!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;this condescension to a poor author
+      may be more dangerous than you have any suspicion! and before you have
+      power to help yourself, you may see your name prefixed to the Dedication
+      of some trumpery pamphlet!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will run,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;all risks; remember, therefore, you will be
+      responsible for the performance of my promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will be sure,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;not to forget what reflects so much honour
+      upon myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was satisfied by this assent, and he then went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A strange flighty character!&rdquo; cried Mr Monckton, &ldquo;yet of uncommon
+      capacity, and full of genius. Were he less imaginative, wild and
+      eccentric, he has abilities for any station, and might fix and distinguish
+      himself almost where-ever he pleased.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew not,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;the full worth of steadiness and prudence
+      till I knew this young man; for he has every thing else; talents the most
+      striking, a love of virtue the most elevated, and manners the most
+      pleasing; yet wanting steadiness and prudence, he can neither act with
+      consistency nor prosper with continuance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is well enough,&rdquo; said Lady Margaret, who had heard the whole argument
+      in sullen taciturnity, &ldquo;he is well enough, I say; and there comes no good
+      from young women's being so difficult.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, offended by a speech which implied a rude desire to dispose of
+      her, went up stairs to her own room; and Mr Monckton, always enraged when
+      young men and Cecilia were alluded to in the same sentence, retired to his
+      library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then ordered a chair, and went to Portland-street, to fulfil what she
+      had offered to Belfield, and to revive his mother and sister by the
+      pleasure of the promised interview.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She found them together: and her intelligence being of equal consequence
+      to both, she did not now repine at the presence of Mrs Belfield. She made
+      her communication with the most cautious attention to their characters,
+      softening the ill she had to relate with respect to Belfield's present way
+      of living, by endeavouring to awaken affection and joy from the prospect
+      of the approaching meeting. She counselled them as much as possible to
+      restrain their chagrin at his misfortunes, which he would but construe
+      into reproach of his ill management; and she represented that when once he
+      was restored to his family, he might almost imperceptibly be led into some
+      less wild and more profitable scheme of business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she had told all she thought proper to relate, kindly interspersing
+      her account with the best advice and best comfort she could suggest, she
+      made an end of her visit; for the affliction of Mrs Belfield upon hearing
+      the actual situation of her son, was so clamorous and unappeaseable, that,
+      little wondering at Belfield's want of courage to encounter it, and having
+      no opportunity in such a storm to console the soft Henrietta, whose tears
+      flowed abundantly that her brother should thus be fallen, she only
+      promised before she left town to see her again, and beseeching Mrs
+      Belfield to moderate her concern, was glad to leave the house, where her
+      presence had no power to quiet their distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She passed the rest of the day in sad reflections upon the meeting she was
+      herself to have the next morning with Mr Delvile. She wished ardently to
+      know whether his son was gone abroad, and whether Mrs Delvile was
+      recovered, whose health, in her own letter, was mentioned in terms the
+      most melancholy: yet neither of these enquiries could she even think of
+      making, since reasonably, without them, apprehensive of some reproach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A WRANGLING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, the next day, as soon as breakfast was over, went out, to
+      avoid showing, even to Cecilia, the anxiety he felt concerning the
+      regulation of her fortune, and arrangement of her affairs. He strongly,
+      however, advised her not to mention her large debt, which, though
+      contracted in the innocence of the purest benevolence, would incur nothing
+      but reproof and disapprobation, from all who only heard of it, when they
+      heard of its inutility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At eleven o'clock, though an hour before the time appointed, while Cecilia
+      was sitting in Lady Margaret's dressing room, &ldquo;with sad civility and an
+      aching head,&rdquo; she was summoned to Mr Briggs in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He immediately began reproaching her with having eloped from him, in the
+      summer, and with the various expences she had caused him from useless
+      purchases and spoilt provisions. He then complained of Mr Delvile, whom he
+      charged with defrauding him of his dues; but observing in the midst of his
+      railing her dejection of countenance, he suddenly broke off, and looking
+      at her with some concern, said, &ldquo;what's the matter, Ducky? a'n't well?
+      look as if you could not help it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;I thank you, Sir, I am very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you look so blank for, then?&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;bay? what are fretting
+      for?&mdash;crossed in love?&mdash;lost your sweetheart?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, no,&rdquo; cried she, with quickness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind, my chick, never mind,&rdquo; said he, pinching her cheek, with
+      resumed good humour, &ldquo;more to be had; if one won't snap, another will; put
+      me in a passion by going off from me with that old grandee, or would have
+      got one long ago. Hate that old Don; used me very ill; wish I could
+      trounce him. Thinks more of a fusty old parchment than the price of
+      stocks. Fit for nothing but to be stuck upon an old monument for a Death's
+      head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that her accounts were all made out, and he was ready at
+      any time to produce them; he approved much of her finishing wholly with
+      the <i>old Don</i>, who had been a mere cypher in the executorship; but he
+      advised her not to think of taking her money into her own hands, as he was
+      willing to keep the charge of it himself till she was married.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, thanking him for the offer, said she meant now to make her
+      acknowledgments for all the trouble he had already taken, but by no means
+      purposed to give him any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He debated the matter with her warmly, told her she had no chance to save
+      herself from knaves and cheats, but by trusting to nobody but himself, and
+      informing her what interest he had already made of her money, enquired how
+      she would set about getting more?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though prejudiced against him by Mr Monckton, knew not how to
+      combat his arguments; yet conscious that scarce any part of the money to
+      which he alluded was in fact her own, she could not yield to them. He was,
+      however, so stubborn and so difficult to deal with, that she at length let
+      him talk without troubling herself to answer, and privately determined to
+      beg Mr Monckton would fight her battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was not, therefore, displeased by his interruption, though very much
+      surprised by the sight of his person, when, in the midst of Mr Briggs's
+      oratory, Mr Hobson entered the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon, ma'am,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;if I intrude; but I made free to call
+      upon the account of two ladies that are acquaintances of yours, that are
+      quite, as one may say, at their wit's ends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with them, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, ma'am, no great matter, but mothers are soon frightened, and when
+      once they are upon the fret, one may as well talk to the boards! they know
+      no more of reasoning and arguing, than they do of a shop ledger! however,
+      my maxim is this; every body in their way; one has no more right to expect
+      courageousness from a lady in them cases, than one has from a child in
+      arms; for what I say is, they have not the proper use of their heads,
+      which makes it very excusable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what has occasioned any alarm? nothing, I hope, is the matter with
+      Miss Belfield?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am; thank God, the young lady enjoys her health very well: but she
+      is taking on just in the same way as her mamma, as what can be more
+      natural? Example, ma'am, is apt to be catching, and one lady's crying
+      makes another think she must do the same, for a little thing serves for a
+      lady's tears, being they can cry at any time: but a man is quite of
+      another nature, let him but have a good conscience, and be clear of the
+      world, and I'll engage he'll not wash his face without soap! that's what I
+      say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will, will!&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs, &ldquo;do it myself! never use soap; nothing but
+      waste; take a little sand; does as well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let every man have his own proposal;&rdquo; answered Hobson; &ldquo;for my part, I
+      take every morning a large bowl of water, and souse my whole head in it;
+      and then when I've rubbed it dry, on goes my wig, and I am quite fresh and
+      agreeable: and then I take a walk in Tottenham Court Road as far as the
+      Tabernacle, or thereabouts, and snuff in a little fresh country air, and
+      then I come back, with a good wholesome appetite, and in a fine breathing
+      heat, asking the young lady's pardon; and I enjoy my pot of fresh tea, and
+      my round of hot toast and butter, with as good a relish as if I was a
+      Prince.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pot of fresh tea,&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;bring a man to ruin; toast and butter!
+      never suffer it in my house. Breakfast on water-gruel, sooner done; fills
+      one up in a second. Give it my servants; can't eat much of it. Bob 'em
+      there!&rdquo; nodding significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Water-gruel!&rdquo; exclaimed Mr Hobson, &ldquo;why I could not get it down if I
+      might have the world for it! it would make me quite sick, asking the young
+      lady's pardon, by reason I should always think I was preparing for the
+      small-pox. My notion is quite of another nature; the first thing I do is
+      to have a good fire; for what I say is this, if a man is cold in his
+      fingers, it's odds if ever he gets warm in his purse! ha! ha! warm, you
+      take me, Sir? I mean a pun. Though I ought to ask pardon, for I suppose
+      the young lady don't know what I am a saying.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should indeed be better pleased, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to hear what you
+      have to say about Miss Belfield.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, ma'am, the thing is this; we have been expecting the young 'Squire,
+      as I call him, all the morning, and he has never come; so Mrs Belfield,
+      not knowing where to send after him, was of opinion he might be here,
+      knowing your kindness to him, and that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make the enquiry at the wrong place, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, much
+      provoked by the implication it conveyed; &ldquo;if Mr Belfield is in this house,
+      you must seek him with Mr Monckton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You take no offence, I hope, ma'am, at my just asking of the question?
+      for Mrs Belfield crying, and being in that dilemma, I thought I could do
+      no less than oblige her by coming to see if the young gentleman was here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's this? what's this?&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs eagerly; &ldquo;who are talking of?
+      hay?&mdash;who do mean? is this the sweet heart? eh, Duck?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Sir,&rdquo; cried Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No tricks! won't be bit! who is it? will know; tell me, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I'll</i> tell Sir,&rdquo; cried Mr Hobson; &ldquo;it's a very handsome young
+      gentleman, with as fine a person, and as genteel a way of behaviour, and
+      withal, as pretty a manner of dressing himself, and that, as any lady need
+      desire. He has no great head for business, as I am told, but the ladies
+      don't stand much upon that topic, being they know nothing of it
+      themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has got the ready?&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs, impatiently; &ldquo;can cast an account?
+      that's the point; can come down handsomely? eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why as to that, Sir, I'm not bound to speak to a gentleman's private
+      affairs. What's my own, is my own, and what is another person's, is
+      another person's; that's my way of arguing, and that's what I call talking
+      to the purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dare say he's a rogue! don't have him, chick. Bet a wager i'n't worth two
+      shillings; and that will go for powder and pomatum; hate a plaistered
+      pate; commonly a numscull: love a good bob-jerom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why this is talking quite wide of the mark,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;to suppose
+      a young lady of fortunes would marry a man with a bob-jerom. What I say
+      is, let every body follow their nature; that's the way to be comfortable;
+      and then if they pay every one his own, who's a right to call 'em to
+      account, whether they wear a bob-jerom, or a pig-tail down to the calves
+      of their legs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, ay,&rdquo; cried Briggs, sneeringly, &ldquo;or whether they stuff their gullets
+      with hot rounds of toast and butter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what if they do, Sir?&rdquo; returned Hobson, a little angrily; &ldquo;when a
+      man's got above the world, where's the harm of living a little genteel? as
+      to a round of toast and butter, and a few oysters, fresh opened, by way of
+      a damper before dinner, no man need be ashamed of them, provided he pays
+      as he goes: and as to living upon water-gruel, and scrubbing one's flesh
+      with sand, one might as well be a galley-slave at once. You don't
+      understand life, Sir, I see that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do! do!&rdquo; cried Briggs, speaking through his shut teeth; &ldquo;you're out
+      there! oysters!&mdash;come to ruin, tell you! bring you to jail!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To jail, Sir?&rdquo; exclaimed Hobson, &ldquo;this is talking quite ungenteel! let
+      every man be civil; that's what I say, for that's the way to make every
+      thing agreeable but as to telling a man he'll go to jail, and that, it's
+      tantamount to affronting him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A rap at the street-door gave now a new relief to Cecilia, who began to
+      grow very apprehensive lest the delight of spending money, thus warmly
+      contested with that of hoarding it, should give rise to a quarrel, which,
+      between two such sturdy champions for their own opinions, might lead to a
+      conclusion rather more rough and violent than she desired to witness: but
+      when the parlour-door opened, instead of Mr Delvile, whom she now fully
+      expected, Mr Albany made his entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was rather distressing, as her real business with her guardians made
+      it proper her conference with them should be undisturbed: and Albany was
+      not a man with whom a hint that she was engaged could be risked: but she
+      had made no preparation to guard against interruption, as her little
+      acquaintance in London had prevented her expecting any visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced with a solemn air to Cecilia, and, looking as if hardly
+      determined whether to speak with severity or gentleness, said, &ldquo;once more
+      I come to prove thy sincerity; now wilt thou go with me where sorrow calls
+      thee? sorrow thy charity can mitigate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much concerned,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;but indeed at present it is
+      utterly impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Again,&rdquo; cried he, with a look at once stern and disappointed, &ldquo;again thou
+      failest me? what wanton trifling! why shouldst thou thus elate a worn-out
+      mind, only to make it feel its lingering credulity? or why, teaching me to
+      think I had found an angel, so unkindly undeceive me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, much affected by this reproof, &ldquo;if you knew how
+      heavy a loss I had personally suffered&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do know it,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;and I grieved for thee when I heard it. Thou
+      hast lost a faithful old friend, a loss which with every setting sun thou
+      mayst mourn, for the rising sun will never repair it! but was that a
+      reason for shunning the duties of humanity? was the sight of death a
+      motive for neglecting the claims of benevolence? ought it not rather to
+      have hastened your fulfilling them? and should not your own suffering
+      experience of the brevity of life, have taught you the vanity of all
+      things but preparing for its end?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps so, but my grief at that time made me think only of myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And of what else dost thou think now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most probably of the same person still!&rdquo; said she, half smiling, &ldquo;but yet
+      believe me, I have real business to transact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frivolous, unmeaning, ever-ready excuses! what business is so important
+      as the relief of a fellow-creature?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not, I hope, there,&rdquo; answered she, with alacrity, &ldquo;be backward;
+      but at least for this morning I must beg to make you my Almoner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then took out her purse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs and Mr Hobson, whose quarrel had been suspended by the
+      appearance of a third person, and who had stood during this short dialogue
+      in silent amazement, having first lost their anger in their mutual
+      consternation, now lost their consternation in their mutual displeasure
+      Mr. Hobson felt offended to hear business spoken of slightly, and Mr
+      Briggs felt enraged at the sight of Cecilia's ready purse. Neither of
+      them, however, knew which way to interfere, the stem gravity of Albany,
+      joined to a language too lofty for their comprehension, intimidating them
+      both. They took, however, the relief of communing with one another, and Mr
+      Hobson said in a whisper &ldquo;This, you must know, is, I am told, a very
+      particular old gentleman; quite what I call a genius. He comes often to my
+      house, to see my lodger Miss Henny Belfield, though I never happen to
+      light upon him myself, except once in the passage: but what I hear of him
+      is this; he makes a practice, as one may say, of going about into people's
+      houses, to do nothing but find fault.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shan't get into mine!&rdquo; returned Briggs, &ldquo;promise him that! don't half
+      like him; be bound he's an old sharper.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, mean time, enquired what he desired to have.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half a guinea,&rdquo; he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will that do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For those who have nothing,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is much. Hereafter, you may
+      assist them again. Go but and see their distresses, and you will wish to
+      give them every thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs now, when actually between her fingers he saw the half guinea,
+      could contain no longer; he twitched the sleeve of her gown, and pinching
+      her arm, with a look of painful eagerness, said in a whisper &ldquo;Don't give
+      it! don't let him have it! chouse him, chouse him! nothing but an old
+      bite!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a low voice, &ldquo;his character is very
+      well known to me.&rdquo; And then, disengaging her arm from him, she presented
+      her little offering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this sight, Mr Briggs was almost outrageous, and losing in his wrath,
+      all fear of the stranger, he burst forth with fury into the following
+      outcries, &ldquo;Be ruined! see it plainly; be fleeced! be stript! be robbed!
+      won't have a gown to your back! won't have a shoe to your foot! won't have
+      a rag in the world! be a beggar in the street! come to the parish! rot in
+      a jail!&mdash;half a guinea at a time!&mdash;enough to break the Great
+      Mogul!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inhuman spirit of selfish parsimony!&rdquo; exclaimed Albany, &ldquo;repinest thou at
+      this loan, given from thousands to those who have worse than nothing? who
+      pay to-day in hunger for bread they borrowed yesterday from pity? who to
+      save themselves from the deadly pangs of famine, solicit but what the rich
+      know not when they possess, and miss not when they give?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anan!&rdquo; cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of his
+      understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly unaccustomed,
+      &ldquo;what d'ye say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If to thyself distress may cry in vain,&rdquo; continued Albany, &ldquo;if thy own
+      heart resists the suppliant's prayer, callous to entreaty, and hardened in
+      the world, suffer, at least, a creature yet untainted, who melts at
+      sorrow, and who glows with charity, to pay from her vast wealth a generous
+      tax of thankfulness, that fate has not reversed her doom, and those whom
+      she relieves, relieve not her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anan!&rdquo; was again all the wondering Mr Briggs could say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, to Cecilia, &ldquo;if it's no offence, was the
+      Gentleman ever a player?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fancy not, indeed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon, then, ma'am; I mean no harm; but my notion was the
+      gentleman might be speaking something by heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it but on the stage, humanity exists?&rdquo; cried Albany, indignantly; &ldquo;Oh
+      thither hasten, then, ye monopolizers of plenty! ye selfish, unfeeling
+      engrossers of wealth, which ye dissipate without enjoying, and of
+      abundance, which ye waste while ye refuse to distribute! thither, thither
+      haste, if there humanity exists!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to engrossing,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, happy to hear at last a word with
+      which he was familiar, &ldquo;it's what I never approved myself. My maxim is
+      this; if a man makes a fair penny, without any underhand dealings, why he
+      has as much a title to enjoy his pleasure as the Chief Justice, or the
+      Lord Chancellor: and it's odds but he's as happy as a greater man. Though
+      what I hold to be best of all, is a clear conscience, with a neat income
+      of 2 or 3000 a year. That's my notion; and I don't think it's a bad one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Weak policy of short-sighted ignorance!&rdquo; cried Albany, &ldquo;to wish for what,
+      if used, brings care, and if neglected, remorse! have you not now beyond
+      what nature craves? why then still sigh for more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs, who by dint of deep attention began now better to
+      comprehend him, &ldquo;why to buy in, to be sure! ever hear of stocks, eh? know
+      any thing of money?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still to make more and more,&rdquo; cried Albany, &ldquo;and wherefore? to spend in
+      vice and idleness, or hoard in chearless misery! not to give succour to
+      the wretched, not to support the falling; all is for self, however little
+      wanted, all goes to added stores, or added luxury; no fellow-creature
+      served, nor even one beggar relieved!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad of it!&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;glad of it; would not have 'em relieved;
+      don't like 'em; hate a beggar; ought to be all whipt; live upon spunging.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why as to a beggar, I must needs say,&rdquo; cried Mr Hobson, &ldquo;I am by no means
+      an approver of that mode of proceeding; being I take 'em all for cheats:
+      for what I say is this, what a man earns, he earns, and it's no man's
+      business to enquire what he spends, for a free-born Englishman is his own
+      master by the nature of the law, and as to his being a subject, why a duke
+      is no more, nor a judge, nor the Lord High Chancellor, and the like of
+      those; which makes it tantamount to nothing, being he is answerable to
+      nobody by the right of Magna Charta: except in cases of treason, felony,
+      and that. But as to a beggar, it's quite another thing; he comes and asks
+      me for money; but what has he to shew for it? what does he bring me in
+      exchange? why a long story that he i'n't worth a penny! what's that to me?
+      nothing at all. Let every man have his own; that's my way of arguing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ungentle mortals!&rdquo; cried Albany, &ldquo;in wealth exulting; even in inhumanity!
+      think you these wretched outcasts have less sensibility than yourselves?
+      think you, in cold and hunger, they lose those feelings which even in
+      voluptuous prosperity from time to time disturb you? you say they are all
+      cheats? 'tis but the niggard cant of avarice, to lure away remorse from
+      obduracy. Think you the naked wanderer begs from choice? give him your
+      wealth and try.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give him a whip!&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;sha'n't have a souse! send him to
+      Bridewell! nothing but a pauper; hate 'em; hate 'em all! full of tricks;
+      break their own legs, put out their arms, cut off their fingers, snap
+      their own ancles,&mdash;all for what? to get at the chink! to chouse us of
+      cash! ought to be well flogged; have 'em all sent to the Thames; worse
+      than the Convicts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor subterfuge of callous cruelty! you cheat yourselves, to shun the
+      fraud of others! and yet, how better do you use the wealth so guarded?
+      what nobler purpose can it answer to you, than even a chance to snatch
+      some wretch from sinking? think less how <i>much</i> ye save, and more for
+      <i>what</i>; and then consider how thy full coffers may hereafter make
+      reparation, for the empty catalogue of thy virtues.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anan!&rdquo; said Mr Briggs, again lost in perplexity and wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet,&rdquo; continued Albany, turning towards Cecilia, &ldquo;preach not here the
+      hardness which ye practice; rather amend yourselves than corrupt her; and
+      give with liberality what ye ought to receive with gratitude!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is not my doctrine,&rdquo; cried Hobson; &ldquo;I am not a near man, neither,
+      but as to giving at that rate, it's quite out of character. I have as good
+      a right to my own savings, as to my own gettings; and what I say is this,
+      who'll give to <i>me</i>? let me see that, and it's quite another thing:
+      and begin who will, I'll be bound to go on with him, pound for pound, or
+      pence for pence. But as to giving to them beggars, it's what I don't
+      approve; I pay the poor's rate, and that's what I call charity enough for
+      any man. But for the matter of living well, and spending one's money
+      handsomely, and having one's comforts about one, why it's a thing of
+      another nature, and I can say this for myself, and that is, I never
+      grudged myself any thing in my life. I always made myself agreeable, and
+      lived on the best. That's my way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad way too,&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;never get on with it, never see beyond your
+      nose; won't be worth a plum while your head wags!&rdquo; then, taking Cecilia
+      apart, &ldquo;hark'ee, my duck,&rdquo; he added, pointing to Albany, &ldquo;who is that Mr
+      Bounce, eh? what is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have known him but a short time, Sir; but I think of him very highly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is he a <i>good</i> man? that's the point, is he a <i>good</i> man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed he appears to me uncommonly benevolent and charitable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that i'n't the thing; is he <i>warm</i>? that's the point, is he <i>warm</i>?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean <i>passionate</i>,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I believe the energy of
+      his manner is merely to enforce what he says.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't take me, don't take me,&rdquo; cried he, impatiently; &ldquo;can come down with
+      the ready, that's the matter; can chink the little gold boys? eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I rather fear not by his appearance; but I know nothing of his
+      affairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does come for? eh? come a courting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mercy on me, no!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What for then? only a spunging?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed. He seems to have no wish but to assist and plead for others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All fudge! think he i'n't touched? ay, ay; nothing but a trick! only to
+      get at the chink: see he's as poor as a rat, talks of nothing but giving
+      money; a bad sign! if he'd got any, would not do it. Wanted to make us
+      come down; warrant thought to bam us all! out there! a'n't so soon
+      gulled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A knock at the street door gave now a new interruption, and Mr Delvile at
+      length appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, whom his sight could not fail to disconcert, felt doubly
+      distressed by the unnecessary presence of Albany and Hobson; she regretted
+      the absence of Mr Monckton, who could easily have taken them away; for
+      though without scruple she could herself have acquainted Mr Hobson she had
+      business, she dreaded offending Albany, whose esteem she was ambitious of
+      obtaining.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile entered the room with an air stately and erect; he took off his
+      hat, but deigned not to make the smallest inclination of his head, nor
+      offered any excuse to Mr Briggs for being past the hour of his
+      appointment: but having advanced a few paces, without looking either to
+      the right or left, said, &ldquo;as I have never acted, my coming may not,
+      perhaps, be essential; but as my name is in the Dean's Will, and I have
+      once or twice met the other executors mentioned in it, I think it a duty I
+      owe to my own heirs to prevent any possible future enquiry or trouble to
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This speech was directly addressed to no one, though meant to be attended
+      to by every one, and seemed proudly uttered as a mere apology to himself
+      for not having declined the meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though she recovered from her confusion by the help of her
+      aversion to this self-sufficiency, made not any answer. Albany retired to
+      a corner of the room; Mr Hobson began to believe it was time for him to
+      depart; and Mr Briggs thinking only of the quarrel in which he had
+      separated with Mr Delvile in the summer, stood swelling with venom, which
+      he longed for an opportunity to spit out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, who regarded this silence as the effect of his awe-inspiring
+      presence, became rather more complacent; but casting his eyes round the
+      room, and perceiving the two strangers, he was visibly surprised, and
+      looking at Cecilia for some explanation, seemed to stand suspended from
+      the purpose of his visit till he heard one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, earnest to have the business concluded, turned to Mr Briggs, and
+      said, &ldquo;Sir, here is pen and ink: are you to write, or am I? or what is to
+      be done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; said he, with a sneer, &ldquo;give it t'other; all in our turn; don't
+      come before his Grace the Right Honourable Mr Vampus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before whom, Sir?&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, reddening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before my Lord Don Pedigree,&rdquo; answered Briggs, with a spiteful grin,
+      &ldquo;know him? eh? ever hear of such a person?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile coloured still deeper, but turning contemptuously from him,
+      disdained making any reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs, who now regarded him as a defeated man, said exultingly to Mr
+      Hobson, &ldquo;what do stand here for?&mdash;hay?&mdash;fall o' your
+      marrowbones; don't see 'Squire High and Mighty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to falling on my marrowbones,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;it's what I shall
+      do to no man, except he was the King himself, or the like of that, and
+      going to make me Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Commissioner of Excise.
+      Not that I mean the gentleman any offence; but a man's a man, and for one
+      man to worship another is quite out of law.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must, must!&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;tell all his old grand-dads else: keeps 'em
+      in a roll; locks 'em in a closet; says his prayers to 'em; can't live
+      without 'em: likes 'em better than cash!&mdash;wish had 'em here! pop 'em
+      all in the sink!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your intention, Sir,&rdquo; cried Mr Delvile, fiercely, &ldquo;is only to insult
+      me, I am prepared for what measures I shall take. I declined seeing you in
+      my own house, that I might not be under the same restraint as when it was
+      my unfortunate lot to meet you last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who cares?&rdquo; cried Briggs, with an air of defiance, &ldquo;what can do, eh? poke
+      me into a family vault? bind me o' top of an old monument? tie me to a
+      stinking carcase? make a corpse of me, and call it one of your famous
+      cousins?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For heaven's sake, Mr Briggs,&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, who saw that Mr
+      Delvile, trembling with passion, scarce refrained lifting up his stick,
+      &ldquo;be appeased, and let us finish our business!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Albany now, hearing in Cecilia's voice the alarm with which she was
+      seized, came forward and exclaimed, &ldquo;Whence this unmeaning dissension? to
+      what purpose this irritating abuse? Oh vain and foolish! live ye so
+      happily, last ye so long, that time and peace may thus be trifled with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, there!&rdquo; cried Briggs, holding up his finger at Mr Delvile, &ldquo;have
+      it now! got old Mr Bounce upon you! give you enough of it; promise you
+      that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Restrain,&rdquo; continued Albany, &ldquo;this idle wrath; and if ye have ardent
+      passions, employ them to nobler uses; let them stimulate acts of virtue,
+      let them animate deeds of beneficence! Oh waste not spirits that may urge
+      you to good, lead you to honour, warm you to charity, in poor and angry
+      words, in unfriendly, unmanly debate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, who from the approach of Albany, had given him his whole
+      attention, was struck with astonishment at this address, and almost
+      petrified with wonder at his language and exhortations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I must own,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;as to this matter I am much of the same
+      mind myself; for quarreling's a thing I don't uphold; being it advances
+      one no way; for what I say is this, if a man gets the better, he's only
+      where he was before, and if he gets worsted, why it's odds but the laugh's
+      against him: so, if I may make bold to give my verdict, I would have one
+      of these gentlemen take the other by the hand, and so put an end to bad
+      words. That's my maxim, and that's what I call being agreeable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, at the words <i>one of these gentlemen take the other by the
+      hand</i>, looked scornfully upon Mr Hobson, with a frown that expressed
+      his highest indignation, at being thus familiarly coupled with Mr Briggs.
+      And then, turning from him to Cecilia, haughtily said, &ldquo;Are these two
+      persons,&rdquo; pointing towards Albany and Hobson, &ldquo;waiting here to be
+      witnesses to any transaction?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir, no,&rdquo; cried Hobson, &ldquo;I don't mean to intrude, I am going
+      directly. So you can give me no insight, ma'am,&rdquo; addressing Cecilia, &ldquo;as
+      to where I might light upon Mr Belfield?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me? no!&rdquo; cried she, much provoked by observing that Mr Delvile suddenly
+      looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, ma'am, well, I mean no harm: only I hold it that the right way to
+      hear of a young gentleman, is to ask for him of a young lady: that's my
+      maxim. Come, Sir,&rdquo; to Mr Briggs, &ldquo;you and I had like to have fallen out,
+      but what I say is this; let no man bear malice; that's my way: so I hope
+      we part without ill blood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, ay;&rdquo; said Mr Briggs, giving him a nod.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; added Hobson, &ldquo;I hope the good-will may go round, and that
+      not only you and I, but these two good old gentlemen will also lend a
+      hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile now was at a loss which way to turn for very rage; but after
+      looking at every one with a face flaming with ire, he said to Cecilia, &ldquo;If
+      you have collected together these persons for the purpose of affronting
+      me, I must beg you to remember I am not one to be affronted with
+      impunity!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, half frightened, was beginning an answer that disclaimed any such
+      intention, when Albany, with the most indignant energy, called out, &ldquo;Oh
+      pride of heart, with littleness of soul! check this vile arrogance, too
+      vain for man, and spare to others some part of that lenity thou nourishest
+      for thyself, or justly bestow on thyself that contempt thou nourishest for
+      others!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And with these words he sternly left the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The thunderstruck Mr Delvile began now to fancy that all the demons of
+      torment were designedly let loose upon him, and his surprise and
+      resentment operated so powerfully that it was only in broken sentences he
+      could express either. &ldquo;Very extraordinary!&mdash;a new method of conduct!&mdash;liberties
+      to which I am not much used!&mdash;impertinences I shall not hastily
+      forget,&mdash;treatment that would scarce be pardonable to a person wholly
+      unknown!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why indeed, Sir,&rdquo; said Hobson, &ldquo;I can't but say it was rather a cut up;
+      but the old gentleman is what one may call a genius, which makes it a
+      little excusable; for he does things all his own way, and I am told it's
+      the same thing who he speaks to, so he can but find fault, and that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; interrupted the still more highly offended Mr Delvile, &ldquo;what <i>you</i>
+      may be told is extremely immaterial to <i>me</i>; and I must take the
+      liberty to hint to you, a conversation of this easy kind is not what I am
+      much in practice in hearing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, I ask pardon,&rdquo; said Hobson, &ldquo;I meant nothing but what was agreeable;
+      however, I have done, and I wish you good day. Your humble servant, ma'am,
+      and I hope, Sir,&rdquo; to Mr Briggs, &ldquo;you won't begin bad words again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; said Briggs, &ldquo;ready to make up; all at end; only don't much like
+      <i>Spain</i>, that's all!&rdquo; winking significantly, &ldquo;nor a'n't over fond of
+      a <i>skeleton</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Hobson now retired; and Mr Delvile and Mr Briggs, being both wearied
+      and both in haste to have done, settled in about five minutes all for
+      which they met, after passing more than an hour in agreeing what that was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs then, saying he had an engagement upon business, declined
+      settling his own accounts till another time, but promised to see Cecilia
+      again soon, and added, &ldquo;be sure take care of that old Mr Bounce! cracked
+      in the noddle; see that with half an eye! better not trust him! break out
+      some day: do you a mischief!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away: but while the parlour-door was still open, to the no
+      little surprise of Cecilia, the servant announced Mr Belfield. He hardly
+      entered the room, and his countenance spoke haste and eagerness. &ldquo;I have
+      this moment, madam,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;been informed a complaint has been lodged
+      against me here, and I could not rest till I had the honour of assuring
+      you, that though I have been rather dilatory, I have not neglected my
+      appointment, nor has the condescension of your interference been thrown
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then bowed, shut the door, and ran off Cecilia, though happy to
+      understand by this speech that he was actually restored to his family, was
+      sorry at these repeated intrusions in the presence of Mr Delvile, who was
+      now the only one that remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She expected every instant that he would ring for his chair, which he kept
+      in waiting; but, after a pause of some continuance, to her equal surprise
+      and disturbance, he made the following speech. &ldquo;As it is probable I am now
+      for the last time alone with you, ma'am, and as it is certain we shall
+      meet no more upon business, I cannot, in justice to my own character, and
+      to the respect I retain for the memory of the Dean, your uncle, take a
+      final leave of the office with which he was pleased to invest me, without
+      first fulfilling my own ideas of the duty it requires from me, by giving
+      you some counsel relating to your future establishment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was not a preface much to enliven Cecilia; it prepared her for such
+      speeches as she was least willing to hear, and gave to her the mixt and
+      painful sensation of spirits depressed, with ride alarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My numerous engagements,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and the appropriation of my
+      time, already settled, to their various claims, must make me brief in what
+      I have to represent, and somewhat, perhaps, abrupt in coming to the
+      purpose. But that you will excuse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia disdained to humour this arrogance by any compliments or
+      concessions: she was silent, therefore; and when they were both seated, he
+      went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are now at a time of life when it is natural for young women to wish
+      for some connection: and the largeness of your fortune will remove from
+      you such difficulties as prove bars to the pretensions, in this expensive
+      age, of those who possess not such advantages. It would have been some
+      pleasure to me, while I yet considered you as my Ward, to have seen you
+      properly disposed of: but as that time is past, I can only give you some
+      general advice, which you may follow or neglect as you think fit. By
+      giving it, I shall satisfy myself; for the rest, I am not responsible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused; but Cecilia felt less and less inclination to make use of the
+      opportunity by speaking in her turn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet though, as I just now hinted, young women of large fortunes may have
+      little trouble in finding themselves establishments, they ought not,
+      therefore, to trifle when proper ones are in their power, nor to suppose
+      themselves equal to any they may chance to desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia coloured high at this pointed reprehension; but feeling her
+      disgust every moment encrease, determined to sustain herself with dignity,
+      and at least not suffer him to perceive the triumph of his ostentation and
+      rudeness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The proposals,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;of the Earl of Ernolf had always my
+      approbation; it was certainly an ill-judged thing to neglect such an
+      opportunity of being honourably settled. The clause of the name was, to <i>him</i>,
+      immaterial; since his own name half a century ago was unheard of, and
+      since he is himself only known by his title. He is still, however, I have
+      authority to acquaint you, perfectly well disposed to renew his
+      application to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia coldly, &ldquo;to hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have, perhaps, some other better offer in view?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; cried she, with spirit, &ldquo;nor even in desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I, then, to infer that some inferior offer has more chance of your
+      approbation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no reason, Sir, to infer any thing; I am content with my actual
+      situation, and have, at present, neither prospect nor intention of
+      changing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I perceive, but without surprise, your unwillingness to discuss the
+      subject; nor do I mean to press it: I shall merely offer to your
+      consideration one caution, and then relieve you from my presence. Young
+      women of ample fortunes, who are early independent, are sometimes apt to
+      presume they may do every thing with impunity; but they are mistaken; they
+      are as liable to censure as those who are wholly unprovided for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, staring, &ldquo;this at least is a caution rather
+      drawn from my situation than my behaviour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean not, ma'am, narrowly to go into, or investigate the subject; what
+      I have said you may make your own use of; I have only to observe further,
+      that when young women, at your time of life, are at all negligent of so
+      nice a thing as reputation, they commonly live to repent it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then arose to go, but Cecilia, not more offended than amazed, said, &ldquo;I
+      must beg, Sir, you will explain yourself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly this matter,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;must be immaterial to <i>me</i>:
+      yet, as I have once been your guardian by the nomination of the Dean your
+      uncle, I cannot forbear making an effort towards preventing any
+      indiscretion: and frequent visits to a young man&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God! Sir,&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, &ldquo;what is it you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It can certainly, as I said before, be nothing to <i>me</i>, though I
+      should be glad to see you in better hands: but I cannot suppose you have
+      been led to take such steps without some serious plan; and I would advise
+      you, without loss of time, to think better of what you are about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Should I think, Sir, to eternity,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;I could never
+      conjecture what you mean!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may not chuse,&rdquo; said he, proudly, &ldquo;to understand me; but I have done.
+      If it had been in my power to have interfered in your service with my Lord
+      Derford, notwithstanding my reluctance to being involved in any fresh
+      employment, I should have made a point of not refusing it: but this young
+      man is nobody,&mdash;a very imprudent connection&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What young man, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, <i>I</i> know nothing of him! it is by no means likely I should: but
+      as I had already been informed of your attention to him, the corroborating
+      incidents of my servant's following you to his house, his friend's seeking
+      him at yours, and his own waiting upon you this morning; were not well
+      calculated to make me withdraw my credence to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it, then, Mr Belfield, Sir, concerning whom you draw these inferences,
+      from circumstances the most accidental and unmeaning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is by no means my practice,&rdquo; cried he, haughtily, and with evident
+      marks of high displeasure at this speech, &ldquo;to believe any thing lightly,
+      or without even unquestionable authority; what once, therefore, I have
+      credited, I do not often find erroneous. Mistake not, however, what I have
+      said into supposing I have any objection to your marrying; on the
+      contrary, it had been for the honour of my family had you been married a
+      year ago I should not then have suffered the degradation of seeing a son
+      of the first expectations in the kingdom upon the point of renouncing his
+      birth, nor a woman of the first distinction ruined in her health, and
+      broken for ever in her constitution.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The emotions of Cecilia at this speech were too powerful for concealment;
+      her colour varied, now reddening with indignation, now turning pale with
+      apprehension; she arose, she trembled and sat down, she arose again, but
+      not knowing what to say or what to do, again sat down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile then, making a stiff bow, wished her good morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go not so, Sir!&rdquo; cried she, in faltering accents; &ldquo;let me at least
+      convince you of the mistake with regard to Mr Belfield&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My mistakes, ma'am,&rdquo; said he, with a contemptuous smile, &ldquo;are perhaps not
+      easily convicted: and I may possibly labour under others that would give
+      you no less trouble: it may therefore be better to avoid any further
+      disquisition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not better,&rdquo; answered she, again recovering her courage from this
+      fresh provocation; &ldquo;I fear no disquisition; on the contrary, it is my
+      interest to solicit one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This intrepidity in a young woman,&rdquo; said he, ironically, &ldquo;is certainly
+      very commendable; and doubtless, as you are your own mistress, your having
+      run out great part of your fortune, is nothing beyond what you have a
+      right to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, astonished, &ldquo;run out great part of my fortune!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps that is another <i>mistake</i>! I have not often been so
+      unfortunate; and you are not, then, in debt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In debt, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, I have no intention to inquire into your affairs. Good morning to
+      you, ma'am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg, I entreat, Sir, that you will stop!&mdash;make me, at least,
+      understand what you mean, whether you deign to hear my justification or
+      not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, I am mistaken, it seems! misinformed, deceived; and you have neither
+      spent more than you have received, nor taken up money of Jews? your
+      minority has been clear of debts? and your fortune, now you are of age,
+      will be free from incumbrances?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who now began to understand him, eagerly answered, &ldquo;do you mean,
+      Sir, the money which I took up last spring?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no; by no means, I conceive the whole to be a <i>mistake</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And he went to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me but a moment, Sir!&rdquo; cried she hastily, following him; &ldquo;since you
+      know of that transaction, do not refuse to listen to its occasion; I took
+      up the money for Mr Harrel; it was all, and solely for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Mr Harrel, was it?&rdquo; said he, with an air of supercilious incredulity;
+      &ldquo;that was rather an unlucky step. Your servant, ma'am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And he opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not hear me, then? you will not credit me?&rdquo; cried she in the
+      cruellest agitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some other time, ma'am; at present my avocations are too numerous to
+      permit me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And again, stiffly bowing, he called to his servants, who were waiting in
+      the hall, and put himself into his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER v. &mdash; A SUSPICION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was now left in a state of perturbation that was hardly to be
+      endured. The contempt with which she had been treated during the whole
+      visit was nothing short of insult, but the accusations with which it was
+      concluded did not more irritate than astonish her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That some strange prejudice had been taken against her, even more than
+      belonged to her connection with young Delvile, the message brought her by
+      Dr Lyster had given her reason to suppose: what that prejudice was she now
+      knew, though how excited she was still ignorant; but she found Mr Delvile
+      had been informed she had taken up money of a Jew, without having heard it
+      was for Mr Harrel, and that he had been acquainted with her visits in
+      Portland-street, without seeming to know Mr Belfield had a sister. Two
+      charges such as these, so serious in their nature, and so destructive of
+      her character, filled her with horror and consternation, and even somewhat
+      served to palliate his illiberal and injurious behaviour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But how reports thus false and thus disgraceful should be raised, and by
+      what dark work of slander and malignity they had been spread, remained a
+      doubt inexplicable. They could not, she was certain, be the mere rumour of
+      chance, since in both the assertions there was some foundation of truth,
+      however cruelly perverted, or basely over-charged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This led her to consider how few people there were not only who had
+      interest, but who had power to propagate such calumnies; even her
+      acquaintance with the Belfields she remembered not ever mentioning, for
+      she knew none of their friends, and none of her own knew them. How, then,
+      should it be circulated, that she &ldquo;visited often at the house?&rdquo; however be
+      invented that it was from her &ldquo;attention to the young man?&rdquo; Henrietta, she
+      was sure, was too good and too innocent to be guilty of such perfidy; and
+      the young man himself had always shewn a modesty and propriety that
+      manifested his total freedom from the vanity of such a suspicion, and an
+      elevation of sentiment that would have taught him to scorn the boast, even
+      if he believed the partiality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mother, however, had neither been so modest nor so rational; she had
+      openly avowed her opinion that Cecilia was in love with her son; and as
+      that son, by never offering himself, had never been refused, her opinion
+      had received no check of sufficient force, for a mind so gross and
+      literal, to change it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This part, therefore, of the charge she gave to Mrs Belfield, whose
+      officious and loquacious forwardness she concluded had induced her to
+      narrate her suspicions, till, step by step, they had reached Mr Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though able, by the probability of this conjecture, to account for the
+      report concerning Belfield, the whole affair of the debt remained a
+      difficulty not to be solved. Mr Harrel, his wife, Mr Arnott, the Jew and
+      Mr Monckton, were the only persons to whom the transaction was known; and
+      though from five, a secret, in the course of so many months, might easily
+      be supposed likely to transpire, those five were so particularly bound to
+      silence, not only for her interest but their own, that it was not
+      unreasonable to believe it as safe among them all, as if solely consigned
+      to one. For herself, she had revealed it to no creature but Mr Monckton;
+      not even to Delvile; though, upon her consenting to marry him, he had an
+      undoubted right to be acquainted with the true state of her affairs; but
+      such had been the hurry, distress, confusion and irresolution of her mind
+      at that period, that this whole circumstance had been driven from it
+      entirely, and she had, since, frequently blamed herself for such want of
+      recollection. Mr Harrel, for a thousand reasons, she was certain had never
+      named it; and had the communication come from his widow or from Mr Arnott,
+      the motives would have been related as well as the debt, and she had been
+      spared the reproach of contracting it for purposes of her own
+      extravagance. The Jew, indeed, was, to her, under no obligation of
+      secrecy, but he had an obligation far more binding,&mdash;he was tied to
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A suspicion now arose in her mind which made it thrill with horror; &ldquo;good
+      God! she exclaimed, can Mr Monckton&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt, even to herself;&mdash;she checked the idea;&mdash;she drove it
+      hastily from her;&mdash;she was certain it was false and cruel,&mdash;she
+      hated herself for having started it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;he is my friend, the confirmed friend of many years, my
+      well-wisher from childhood, my zealous counsellor and assistant almost
+      from my birth to this hour:&mdash;such perfidy from him would not even be
+      human!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet still her perplexity was undiminished; the affair was undoubtedly
+      known, and it only could be known by the treachery of some one entrusted
+      with it: and however earnestly her generosity combated her rising
+      suspicions, she could not wholly quell them; and Mr Monckton's strange
+      aversion to the Delviles, his earnestness to break off her connexion with
+      them, occurred to her remembrance, and haunted her perforce with surmises
+      to his disadvantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That gentleman, when he came home, found her in this comfortless and
+      fluctuating state, endeavouring to form conjectures upon what had
+      happened, yet unable to succeed, but by suggestions which one moment
+      excited her abhorrence of him, and the next of herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He enquired, with his usual appearance of easy friendliness, into what had
+      passed with her two guardians, and how she had settled her affairs. She
+      answered without hesitation all his questions, but her manner was cold and
+      reserved, though her communication was frank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was not unheeded by Mr Monckton, who, after a short time, begged to
+      know if any thing had disturbed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, ashamed of her doubts, though unable to get rid of them, then
+      endeavoured to brighten up, and changed the subject to the difficulties
+      she had had to encounter from the obstinacy of Mr Briggs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton for a while humoured this evasion; but when, by her own
+      exertion, her solemnity began to wear off, he repeated his interrogatory,
+      and would not be satisfied without an answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, earnest that surmises so injurious should be removed, then
+      honestly, but without comments, related the scene which had just past
+      between Mr Delvile and herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No comments were, however, wanting to explain to Mr Monckton the change of
+      her behaviour. &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; he cried hastily, &ldquo;what you cannot but suspect;
+      and I will go myself to Mr Delvile, and insist upon his clearing me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, shocked to have thus betrayed what was passing within her,
+      assured him his vindication required not such a step, and begged he would
+      counsel her how to discover this treachery, without drawing from her
+      concern at it a conclusion so offensive to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was evidently, however, and greatly disturbed; he declared his own
+      wonder equal to hers how the affair had been betrayed, expressed the
+      warmest indignation at the malevolent insinuations against her conduct,
+      and lamented with mingled acrimony and grief, that there should exist even
+      the possibility of casting the odium of such villainy upon himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, distressed, perplexed, and ashamed at once, again endeavoured to
+      appease him, and though a lurking doubt obstinately clung to her
+      understanding, the purity of her own principles, and the softness of her
+      heart, pleaded strongly for his innocence, and urged her to detest her
+      suspicion, though to conquer it they were unequal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said he, with an air ingenuous though mortified, &ldquo;I dislike
+      the Delviles, and have always disliked them; they appear to me a jealous,
+      vindictive, and insolent race, and I should have thought I betrayed the
+      faithful regard I professed for you, had I concealed my opinion when I saw
+      you in danger of forming an alliance with them; I spoke to you, therefore,
+      with honest zeal, thoughtless of any enmity I might draw upon myself; but
+      though it was an interference from which I hoped, by preventing the
+      connection, to contribute to your happiness, it was not with a design to
+      stop it at the expence of your character,&mdash;a design black, horrible,
+      and diabolic! a design which must be formed by a Daemon, but which even a
+      Daemon could never, I think, execute!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The candour of this speech, in which his aversion to the Delviles was
+      openly acknowledged, and rationally justified, somewhat quieted the
+      suspicions of Cecilia, which far more anxiously sought to be confuted than
+      confirmed: she began, therefore, to conclude that some accident,
+      inexplicable as unfortunate, had occasioned the partial discovery to Mr
+      Delvile, by which her own goodness proved the source of her defamation:
+      and though something still hung upon her mind that destroyed that firm
+      confidence she had hitherto felt in the friendship of Mr Monckton, she
+      held it utterly unjust to condemn him without proof, which she was not
+      more unable to procure, than to satisfy herself with any reason why so
+      perfidiously he should calumniate her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Comfortless, however, and tormented with conjectures equally vague and
+      afflicting, she could only clear him to be lost in perplexity, she could
+      only accuse him to be penetrated with horror. She endeavoured to suspend
+      her judgment till time should develop the mystery, and only for the
+      present sought to finish her business and leave London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She renewed, therefore, again, the subject of Mr Briggs, and told him how
+      vain had been her effort to settle with him. Mr Monckton instantly offered
+      his services in assisting her, and the next morning they went together to
+      his house, where, after an obstinate battle, they gained a complete
+      victory: Mr Briggs gave up all his accounts, and, in a few days, by the
+      active interference of Mr Monckton, her affairs were wholly taken out of
+      his hands. He stormed, and prophesied all ill to Cecilia, but it was not
+      to any purpose; he was so disagreeable to her, by his manners, and so
+      unintelligible to her in matters of business, that she was happy to have
+      done with him; even though, upon inspecting his accounts, they were all
+      found clear and exact, and his desire to retain his power over her
+      fortune, proved to have no other motive than a love of money so potent,
+      that to manage it, even for another, gave him a satisfaction he knew not
+      how to relinquish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, who, though a man of pleasure, understood business perfectly
+      well, now instructed and directed her in making a general arrangement of
+      her affairs. The estate which devolved to her from her uncle, and which
+      was all in landed property, she continued to commit to the management of
+      the steward who was employed in his life-time; and her own fortune from
+      her father, which was all in the stocks, she now diminished to nothing by
+      selling out to pay Mr Monckton the principal and interest which she owed
+      him, and by settling with her Bookseller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these matters were transacting, which, notwithstanding her eagerness
+      to leave town, could not be brought into such a train as to permit her
+      absence in less than a week, she passed her time chiefly alone. Her wishes
+      all inclined her to bestow it upon Henrietta, but the late attack of Mr
+      Delvile had frightened her from keeping up that connection, since however
+      carefully she might confine it to the daughter, Mrs Belfield, she was
+      certain, would impute it all to the son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That attack rested upon her mind, in defiance of all her endeavours to
+      banish it; the contempt with which it was made seemed intentionally
+      offensive, as if he had been happy to derive from her supposed ill
+      conduct, a right to triumph over as well as reject her. She concluded,
+      also, that Delvile would be informed of these calumnies, yet she judged
+      his generosity by her own, and was therefore convinced he would not credit
+      them: but what chiefly at this time encreased her sadness and uneasiness,
+      was the mention of Mrs Delvile's broken constitution and ruined health.
+      She had always preserved for that lady the most affectionate respect, and
+      could not consider herself as the cause of her sufferings, without feeling
+      the utmost concern, however conscious she had not wilfully occasioned
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was this scene the only one by which her efforts to forget this family
+      were defeated; her watchful monitor, Albany, failed not again to claim her
+      promise; and though Mr Monckton earnestly exhorted her not to trust
+      herself out with him, she preferred a little risk to the keenness of his
+      reproaches, and the weather being good on the morning that he called, she
+      consented to accompany him in his rambles: only charging her footman to
+      follow where-ever they went, and not to fail enquiring for her if she
+      stayed long out of his sight. These precautions were rather taken to
+      satisfy Mr Monckton than herself, who, having now procured intelligence of
+      the former disorder of his intellects, was fearful of some extravagance,
+      and apprehensive for her safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took her to a miserable house in a court leading into Piccadilly,
+      where, up three pair of stairs, was a wretched woman ill in bed, while a
+      large family of children were playing in the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See here,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;what human nature can endure! look at that poor
+      wretch, distracted with torture, yet lying in all this noise! unable to
+      stir in her bed, yet without any assistant! suffering the pangs of acute
+      disease, yet wanting the necessaries of life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia went up to the bed-side, and enquired more particularly into the
+      situation of the invalid; but finding she could hardly speak from pain,
+      she sent for the woman of the house, who kept a Green Grocer's shop on the
+      ground floor, and desired her to hire a nurse for her sick lodger, to call
+      all the children down stairs, and to send for an apothecary, whose bill
+      she promised to pay. She then gave her some money to get what necessaries
+      might be wanted, and said she would come again in two days to see how they
+      went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Albany, who listened to these directions with silent, yet eager attention,
+      now clasped both his hands with a look of rapture, and exclaimed &ldquo;Virtue
+      yet lives,&mdash;and I have found her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, proud of such praise, and ambitious to deserve it, chearfully
+      said, &ldquo;where, Sir, shall we go now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Home;&rdquo; answered he with an aspect the most benign; &ldquo;I will not wear out
+      thy pity by rendering woe familiar to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though at this moment more disposed for acts of charity than for
+      business or for pleasure, remembered that her fortune however large was
+      not unlimited, and would not press any further bounty for objects she knew
+      not, certain that occasions and claimants, far beyond her ability of
+      answering, would but too frequently arise among those with whom she was
+      more connected, she therefore yielded herself to his direction, and
+      returned to Soho-Square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, however, he failed not to call the time she had appointed for
+      re-visiting the invalid, to whom, with much gladness, he conducted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The poor woman, whose disease was a rheumatic fever, was already much
+      better; she had been attended by an apothecary who had given her some
+      alleviating medicine; she had a nurse at her bedside, and the room being
+      cleared of the children, she had had the refreshment of some sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now able to raise her head, and make her acknowledgments to her
+      benefactress; but not a little was the surprise of Cecilia, when, upon
+      looking in her face, she said, &ldquo;Ah, madam, I have seen you before!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had not the smallest recollection of her, in return desired
+      to know when, or where?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you were going to be married, madam, I was the Pew-Opener at &mdash;&mdash;
+      Church.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia started with secret horror, and involuntarily retreated from the
+      bed; while Albany with a look of astonishment exclaimed, &ldquo;Married!&mdash;why,
+      then, is it unknown?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ask me not!&rdquo; cried she, hastily; &ldquo;it is all a mistake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor thing!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;this, then, is the string thy nerves endure not
+      to have touched! sooner will I expire than a breath of mine shall make it
+      vibrate! Oh sacred be thy sorrow, for thou canst melt at that of the
+      indigent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then made a few general enquiries, and heard that the poor woman,
+      who was a widow, had been obliged to give up her office, from the frequent
+      attacks which she suffered of the rheumatism; that she had received much
+      assistance both from the Rector and the Curate of &mdash;&mdash; Church,
+      but her continual illness, with the largeness of her family, kept her
+      distressed in spite of all help.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia promised to consider what she could do for her, and then giving
+      her more money, returned to Lady Margaret's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Albany, who found that the unfortunate recollection of the Pew-Opener had
+      awakened in his young pupil a melancholy train of reflections, seemed now
+      to compassionate the sadness which hitherto he had reproved, and walking
+      silently by her side till she came to Soho-Square, said in accents of
+      kindness, &ldquo;Peace light upon thy head, and dissipate thy woes!&rdquo; and left
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah when!&rdquo; cried she to herself, &ldquo;if thus they are to be revived
+      for-ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, who observed that something had greatly affected her, now
+      expostulated warmly against Albany and his wild schemes; &ldquo;You trifle with
+      your own happiness,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;by witnessing these scenes of distress,
+      and you will trifle away your fortune upon projects you can never fulfil:
+      the very air in those miserable houses is unwholesome for you to breathe;
+      you will soon be affected with some of the diseases to which you so
+      uncautiously expose yourself, and while not half you give in charity will
+      answer the purpose you wish, you will be plundered by cheats and sharpers
+      till you have nothing left to bestow. You must be more considerate for
+      yourself, and not thus governed by Albany, whose insanity is but partially
+      cured, and whose projects are so boundless, that the whole capital of the
+      East India Company would not suffice to fulfil them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though she liked not the severity of this remonstrance,
+      acknowledged there was some truth in it, and promised to be discreet, and
+      take the reins into her own hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There remained for her, however, no other satisfaction; and the path which
+      had thus been pointed out to her, grew more and more alluring every step.
+      Her old friends, the poor Hills, now occurred to her memory, and she
+      determined to see herself in what manner they went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scene which this enquiry presented to her, was by no means calculated
+      to strengthen Mr Monckton's doctrine, for the prosperity in which she
+      found this little family, amply rewarded the liberality she had shewn to
+      it, and proved an irresistible encouragement to similar actions. Mrs Hill
+      wept for joy in recounting how well she succeeded, and Cecilia, delighted
+      by the power of giving such pleasure, forgot all cautions and promises in
+      the generosity which she displayed. She paid Mrs Roberts the arrears that
+      were due to her, she discharged all that was owing for the children who
+      had been put to school, desired they might still be sent to it solely at
+      her expense, and gave the mother a sum of money to be laid out in presents
+      for them all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To perform her promise with the Pew Opener was however more difficult; her
+      ill health, and the extreme youth of her children making her utterly
+      helpless: but these were not considerations for Cecilia to desert her, but
+      rather motives for regarding her as more peculiarly an object of charity.
+      She found she had once been a clear starcher, and was a tolerable plain
+      work-woman; she resolved, therefore, to send her into the country, where
+      she hoped to be able to get her some business, and knew that at least, she
+      could help her, if unsuccessful, and see that her children were brought up
+      to useful employments. The woman herself was enchanted at the plan, and
+      firmly persuaded the country air would restore her health. Cecilia told
+      her only to wait till she was well enough to travel, and promised, in the
+      mean time, to look out some little habitation for her. She then gave her
+      money to pay her bills, and for her journey, and writing a full direction
+      where she would hear of her at Bury, took leave of her till that time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These magnificent donations and designs, being communicated to Albany,
+      seemed a renovation to him of youth, spirit, and joy! while their effect
+      upon Mr Monckton resembled an annihilation of all three! to see money thus
+      sported away, which he had long considered as his own, to behold those
+      sums which he had destined for his pleasures, thus lavishly bestowed upon
+      beggars, excited a rage he could with difficulty conceal, and an
+      uneasiness he could hardly endure; and he languished, he sickened for the
+      time, when he might put a period to such romantic proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were the only occupations which interrupted the solitude of Cecilia,
+      except those which were given to her by actual business; and the moment
+      her affairs were in so much forwardness that they could be managed by
+      letters, she prepared for returning into the country. She acquainted Lady
+      Margaret and Mr Monckton with her design, and gave orders to her servants
+      to be ready to set off the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton made not any opposition, and refused himself the satisfaction
+      of accompanying her: and Lady Margaret, whose purpose was now answered,
+      and who wished to be in the country herself, determined to follow her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A DISTURBANCE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This matter being settled at breakfast, Cecilia, having but one day more
+      to spend in London, knew not how to let it pass without taking leave of
+      Henrietta, though she chose not again to expose herself to the forward
+      insinuations of her mother; she sent her, therefore, a short note, begging
+      to see her at Lady Margaret's, and acquainting her that the next day she
+      was going out of town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta returned the following answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madam,&mdash;My mother is gone to market, and I must not go out without
+      her leave; I have run to the door at every knock this whole week in hopes
+      you were coming, and my heart has jumpt at every coach that has gone
+      through the street. Dearest lady, why did you tell me you would come? I
+      should not have thought of such a great honour if you had not put it in my
+      head. And now I have got the use of a room where I can often be alone for
+      two or three hours together. And so I shall this morning, if it was
+      possible my dear Miss Beverley could come. But I don't mean to be teasing,
+      and I would not be impertinent or encroaching for the world; but only the
+      thing is I have a great deal to say to you, and if you was not so rich a
+      lady, and so much above me, I am sure I should love you better than any
+      body in the whole world, almost; and now I dare say I shan't see you at
+      all; for it rains very hard, and my mother, I know, will be sadly angry if
+      I ask to go in a coach. O dear! I don't know what I can do! for it will
+      half break my heart, if my dear Miss Beverley should go out of town, and I
+      not see her!&mdash;I am, Madam, with the greatest respectfulness, your
+      most humble servant,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      HENRIETTA BELFIELD.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This artless remonstrance, joined to the intelligence that she could see
+      her alone, made Cecilia instantly order a chair, and go herself to
+      Portland-street: for she found by this letter there was much doubt if she
+      could otherwise see her, and the earnestness of Henrietta made her now not
+      endure to disappoint her. &ldquo;She has much,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;to say to me, and I
+      will no longer refuse to hear her; she shall unbosom to me her gentle
+      heart, for we have now nothing to fear from each other. She promises
+      herself pleasure from the communication, and doubtless it must be some
+      relief to her. Oh were there any friendly bosom, in which I might myself
+      confide!&mdash;happier Henrietta! less fearful of thy pride, less
+      tenacious of thy dignity! thy sorrows at least seek the consolation of
+      sympathy,&mdash;mine, alas! fettered by prudence, must fly it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was shewn into the parlour, which she had the pleasure to find empty;
+      and, in an instant, the warm-hearted Henrietta was in her arms. &ldquo;This is
+      sweet of you indeed,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;for I did not know how to ask it, though
+      it rains so hard I could not have walked to you, and I don't know what I
+      should have done, if you had gone away and quite forgot me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then took her into the back parlour, which she said they had lately
+      hired, and, as it was made but little use of, she had it almost entirely
+      to herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had passed a sad scene, she told her, at the meeting with her
+      brother, though now they were a little more comfortable; yet, her mother,
+      she was sure, would never be at rest till he got into some higher way of
+      life; &ldquo;And, indeed, I have some hopes,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;that we shall be
+      able by and bye to do something better for him; for he has got one friend
+      in the world, yet; thank God, and such a noble friend!&mdash;indeed I
+      believe he can do whatever he pleases for him,&mdash;that is I mean I
+      believe if he was to ask any thing for him, there's nobody would deny him.
+      And this is what I wanted to talk to you about.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who doubted not but she meant Delvile, scarce knew how to press
+      the subject, though she came with no other view: Henrietta, however, too
+      eager to want solicitation, went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the question is whether we shall be able to prevail upon my brother
+      to accept any thing, for he grows more and more unwilling to be obliged,
+      and the reason is, that being poor, he is afraid, I believe, people should
+      think he wants to beg of them: though if they knew him as well as I do,
+      they would not long think that, for I am sure he would a great deal rather
+      be starved to death. But indeed, to say the truth, I am afraid he has been
+      sadly to blame in this affair, and quarrelled when there was no need to be
+      affronted; for I have seen a gentleman who knows a great deal better than
+      my brother what people should do, and he says he took every thing wrong
+      that was done, all the time he was at Lord Vannelt's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how does this gentleman know it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O because he went himself to enquire about it; for he knows Lord Vannelt
+      very well, and it was by his means my brother came acquainted with him.
+      And this gentleman would not have wished my brother to be used ill any
+      more than I should myself, so I am sure I may believe what he says. But my
+      poor brother, not being a lord himself, thought every body meant to be
+      rude to him, and because he knew he was poor, he suspected they all
+      behaved disrespectfully to him. But this gentleman gave me his word that
+      every body liked him and esteemed him, and if he would not have been so
+      suspicious, they would all have done any thing for him in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know this gentleman very well, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, madam!&rdquo; she answered hastily, &ldquo;I don't know him at all! he only
+      comes here to see my brother; it would be very impertinent for me to call
+      him an acquaintance of mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it before your brother, then, he held this conversation with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, my brother would have been affronted with him, too, if he had! but
+      he called here to enquire for him at the time when he was lost to us, and
+      my mother quite went down upon her knees to him to beg him to go to Lord
+      Vannelt's, and make excuses for him, if he had not behaved properly: but
+      if my brother was to know this, he would hardly speak to her again! so
+      when this gentleman came next, I begged him not to mention it, for my
+      mother happened to be out, and so I saw him alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And did he stay with you long?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, a very short time indeed; but I asked him questions all the
+      while, and kept him as long as I could, that I might hear all he had to
+      say about my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you never seen him since?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, not once! I suppose he does not know my brother is come back
+      to us. Perhaps when he does, he will call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you wish him to call?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; cried she, blushing, &ldquo;a little;&mdash;sometimes I do;&mdash;for my
+      brother's sake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For your brother's sake! Ah my dear Henrietta! but tell me,&mdash;or <i>don't</i>
+      tell me if you had rather not,&mdash;did I not once see you kissing a
+      letter? perhaps it was from this same noble friend?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not a letter, madam,&rdquo; said she, looking down, &ldquo;it was only the
+      cover of one to my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The cover of a letter only!&mdash;and that to your brother!&mdash;is it
+      possible you could so much value it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam! <i>You</i>, who are always used to the good and the wise, who
+      see no other sort of people but those in high life, <i>you</i> can have no
+      notion how they strike those that they are new to!&mdash;but I who see
+      them seldom, and who live with people so very unlike them&mdash;Oh you
+      cannot guess how sweet to <i>me</i> is every thing that belongs to them!
+      whatever has but once been touched by their hands, I should like to lock
+      up, and keep for ever! though if I was used to them, as you are, perhaps I
+      might think less of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Alas! thought Cecilia, who by <i>them</i> knew she only meant <i>him</i>,
+      little indeed would further intimacy protect you!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are all over-ready,&rdquo; continued Henrietta, &ldquo;to blame others, and that
+      is the way I have been doing all this time myself; but I don't blame my
+      poor brother now for living so with the great as I used to do, for now I
+      have seen a little more of the world, I don't wonder any longer at his
+      behaviour: for I know how it is, and I see that those who have had good
+      educations, and kept great company, and mixed with the world,&mdash;O it
+      is another thing!&mdash;they seem quite a different species!&mdash;they
+      are so gentle, so soft-mannered! nothing comes from them but what is meant
+      to oblige! they seem as if they only lived to give pleasure to other
+      people, and as if they never thought at all of themselves!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Henrietta!&rdquo; said Cecilia, shaking her head, &ldquo;you have caught the
+      enthusiasm of your brother, though you so long condemned it! Oh have a
+      care lest, like him also, you find it as pernicious as it is alluring!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, is no danger for <i>me</i>, madam,&rdquo; answered she, &ldquo;for the people
+      I so much admire are quite out of my reach. I hardly ever even see them;
+      and perhaps it may so happen I may see them no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The people?&rdquo; said Cecilia, smiling, &ldquo;are there, then, many you so much
+      distinguish?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no indeed!&rdquo; cried she, eagerly, &ldquo;there is only one! there <i>can</i>
+      be&mdash;I mean there are only a few&mdash;&rdquo; she checked herself, and
+      stopt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whoever you admire,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;your admiration cannot but honour:
+      yet indulge it not too far, lest it should wander from your heart to your
+      peace, and make you wretched for life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&mdash;I see you know who is the particular person I was
+      thinking of! but indeed you are quite mistaken if you suppose any thing
+      bad of me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad of you!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, embracing her, &ldquo;I scarce think so well of any
+      one!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I mean, madam, if you think I forget he is so much above me. But
+      indeed I never do; for I only admire him for his goodness to my brother,
+      and never think of him at all, but just by way of comparing him,
+      sometimes, to the other people that I see, because he makes me hate them
+      so, that I wish I was never to see them again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His acquaintance, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;has done you but an ill office,
+      and happy it would be for you could you forget you had ever made it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, I shall never do that! for the more I think of him, the more I am out
+      of humour with every body else! O Miss Beverley! we have a sad
+      acquaintance indeed! I'm sure I don't wonder my brother was so ashamed of
+      them. They are all so rude, and so free, and put one so out of
+      countenance,&mdash;O how different is this person you are thinking of! he
+      would not distress anybody, or make one ashamed for all the world! <i>You</i>
+      only are like him! always gentle, always obliging!&mdash;sometimes I think
+      you must be his sister&mdash;once, too, I heard&mdash;but that was
+      contradicted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep sigh escaped Cecilia at this speech; she guessed too well what she
+      might have heard, and she knew too well how it might be contradicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely, <i>you</i> cannot be unhappy, Miss Beverley!&rdquo; said Henrietta,
+      with a look of mingled surprise and concern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have much, I own,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, assuming more chearfulness, &ldquo;to be
+      thankful for, and I endeavour not to forget it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O how often do I think,&rdquo; cried Henrietta, &ldquo;that you, madam, are the
+      happiest person in the world! with every thing at your own disposal,&mdash;with
+      every body in love with you, with all the money that you can wish for, and
+      so much sweetness that nobody can envy you it! with power to keep just
+      what company you please, and every body proud to be one of the number!&mdash;Oh
+      if I could chuse who I would be, I should sooner say Miss Beverley than
+      any princess in the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, thought Cecilia, if such is my situation,&mdash;how cruel that by one
+      dreadful blow all its happiness should be thrown away!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were I a rich lady, like you,&rdquo; continued Henrietta, &ldquo;and quite in my own
+      power, then, indeed, I might soon think of nothing but those people that I
+      admire! and that makes me often wonder that <i>you</i>, madam, who are
+      just such another as himself&mdash;but then, indeed, you may see so many
+      of the same sort, that just this one may not so much strike you: and for
+      that reason I hope with all my heart that he will never be married as long
+      as he lives, for as he must take some lady in just such high life as his
+      own, I should always be afraid that she would never love him as she ought
+      to do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He need not now be single, thought Cecilia, were that all he had cause to
+      apprehend!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I often think,&rdquo; added Henrietta, &ldquo;that the rich would be as much happier
+      for marrying the poor, as the poor for marrying the rich, for then they
+      would take somebody that would try to deserve their kindness, and now they
+      only take those that know they have a right to it. Often and often have I
+      thought so about this very gentleman! and sometimes when I have been in
+      his company, and seen his civility and his sweetness, I have fancied I was
+      rich and grand myself, and it has quite gone out of my head that I was
+      nothing but poor Henrietta Belfield!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he, then,&rdquo; cried Cecilia a little alarmed, &ldquo;ever seek to ingratiate
+      himself into your favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, never! but when treated with so much softness, 'tis hard always to
+      remember one's meanness! You, madam, have no notion of that task: no more
+      had I myself till lately, for I cared not who was high, nor who was low:
+      but now, indeed, I must own I have some times wished myself richer! yet he
+      assumes so little, that at other times, I have almost forgot all distance
+      between us, and even thought&mdash;Oh foolish thought!&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell it, sweet Henrietta, however!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, madam, every thing! for my heart has been bursting to
+      open itself, and nobody have I dared trust. I have thought, then, I have
+      sometimes thought,&mdash;my true affection, my faithful fondness, my glad
+      obedience,&mdash;might make him, if he did but know them, happier in me
+      than in a greater lady!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, extremely affected by this plaintive tenderness,
+      &ldquo;I believe it&mdash;and were I him, I could not, I think, hesitate a
+      moment in my choice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta now, hearing her mother coming in, made a sign to her to be
+      silent; but Mrs Belfield had not been an instant in the passage, before a
+      thundering knocking at the street-door occasioned it to be instantly
+      re-opened. A servant then enquired if Mrs Belfield was at home, and being
+      answered by herself in the affirmative, a chair was brought into the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But what was the astonishment of Cecilia, when, in another moment, she
+      heard from the next parlour the voice of Mr Delvile senior, saying, &ldquo;Your
+      servant, ma'am; Mrs Belfield, I presume?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no occasion, now, to make a sign to her of silence, for her own
+      amazement was sufficient to deprive her of speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sir,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield; &ldquo;but I suppose, Sir, you are some
+      gentleman to my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;my business is with yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now recovering from her surprise, determined to hasten unnoticed
+      out of the house, well knowing that to be seen in it would be regarded as
+      a confirmation of all that he had asserted. She whispered, therefore, to
+      Henrietta, that she must instantly run away, but, upon softly opening the
+      door leading to the passage, she found Mr Delvile's chairmen, and a
+      footman there in waiting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She closed it again, irresolute what to do: but after a little
+      deliberation, she concluded to out-stay him, as she was known to all his
+      servants, who would not fail to mention seeing her; and a retreat so
+      private was worse than any other risk. A chair was also in waiting for
+      herself, but it was a hackney one, and she could not be known by it; and
+      her footman she had fortunately dismissed, as he had business to transact
+      for her journey next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean-while the thinness of the partition between the two parlours made her
+      hearing every word that was said unavoidable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure, Sir, I shall be very willing to oblige you,&rdquo; Mrs Belfield
+      answered; &ldquo;but pray, Sir, what's your name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name, ma'am,&rdquo; he replied, in a rather elevated voice, &ldquo;I am seldom
+      obliged to announce myself; nor is there any present necessity I should
+      make it known. It is sufficient I assure you, you are speaking to no very
+      common person, and probably to one you will have little chance to meet
+      with again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how can I tell your business, Sir, if I don't so much as know your
+      name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My business, madam, I mean to tell myself; your affair is only to hear
+      it. I have some questions, indeed, to ask, which I must trouble you to
+      answer, but they will sufficiently explain themselves to prevent any
+      difficulty upon your part. There is no need, therefore, of any
+      introductory ceremonial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, wholly insensible of this ambiguous
+      greatness, &ldquo;if you mean to make your name a secret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Few names, I believe, ma'am,&rdquo; cried he, haughtily, &ldquo;have less the
+      advantage of secrecy than mine! on the contrary, this is but one among a
+      very few houses in this town to which my person would not immediately
+      announce it. That, however, is immaterial; and you will be so good as to
+      rest satisfied with my assurances, that the person with whom you are now
+      conversing, will prove no disgrace to your character.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Belfield, overpowered, though hardly knowing, with what, only said <i>he
+      was very welcome</i>, and begged him to sit down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, ma'am,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;My business is but of a moment, and my
+      avocations are too many to suffer my infringing that time. You say you
+      have a son; I have heard of him, also, somewhere before; pray will you
+      give me leave to enquire&mdash;I don't mean to go deep into the matter,&mdash;but
+      particular family occurrences make it essential for me to know,&mdash;whether
+      there is not a young person of rather a capital fortune, to whom he is
+      supposed to make proposals?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lack-a-day, no, Sir!&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, to the infinite relief of
+      Cecilia, who instantly concluded this question referred to herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, then; good morning to you, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, in
+      a tone that spoke his disappointment; but added &ldquo;And there is no such
+      young person, you say, who favours his pretensions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear Sir,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;why there's nobody he'll so much as put the
+      question to! there's a young lady at this very time, a great fortune, that
+      has as much a mind to him, I tell him, as any man need desire to see; but
+      there's no making him think it! though he has been brought up at the
+      university, and knows more about all the things, or as much, as any body
+      in the king's dominions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, then,&rdquo; cried Mr Delvile, in a voice of far more complacency, &ldquo;it is
+      not on the side of the young woman that the difficulty seems to rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, no, Sir! he might have had her again and again only for asking! She
+      came after him ever so often; but being brought up, as I said, at the
+      university, he thought he knew better than me, and so my preaching was all
+      as good as lost upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The consternation of Cecilia at these speeches could by nothing be
+      equalled but by the shame of Henrietta, who, though she knew not to whom
+      her mother made them, felt all the disgrace and the shock of them herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose, Sir,&rdquo; continued Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;you know my son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, my acquaintance is&mdash;not very universal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Sir, you are no judge how well he might make his own terms. And as
+      to this young lady, she found him out, Sir, when not one of his own
+      natural friends could tell where in the world he was gone! She was the
+      first, Sir, to come and tell me news of him though I was his own mother!
+      Love, Sir, is prodigious for quickness! it can see, I sometimes think,
+      through bricks and mortar. Yet all this would not do, he was so obstinate
+      not to take the hint!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now felt so extremely provoked, she was upon the point of bursting
+      in upon them to make her own vindication; but as her passions, though they
+      tried her reason never conquered it, she restrained herself by considering
+      that to issue forth from a room in that house, would do more towards
+      strengthening what was thus boldly asserted, than all her protestations
+      could have chance to destroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And as to young ladies themselves,&rdquo; continued Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;they know no
+      more how to make their minds known than a baby does: so I suppose he'll
+      shilly shally till somebody else will cry snap, and take her. It is but a
+      little while ago that it was all the report she was to have young Mr
+      Delvile, one of her guardian's sons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry report was so impertinent,&rdquo; cried Mr Delvile, with much
+      displeasure; &ldquo;young Mr Delvile is not to be disposed of with so little
+      ceremony; he knows better what is due to his family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia here blushed from indignation, and Henrietta sighed from
+      despondency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, Sir,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;what should his family do better? I
+      never heard they were any so rich, and I dare say the old gentleman, being
+      her guardian, took care to put his son enough in her way, however it came
+      about that they did not make a match of it: for as to old Mr Delvile, all
+      the world says&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the world takes a very great liberty,&rdquo; angrily interrupted Mr
+      Delvile, &ldquo;in saying any thing about him: and you will excuse my informing
+      you that a person of his rank and consideration, is not lightly to be
+      mentioned upon every little occasion that occurs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, Sir,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, somewhat surprised at this unexpected
+      prohibition, &ldquo;I don't care for my part if I never mention the old
+      gentleman's name again! I never heard any good of him in my life, for they
+      say he's as proud as Lucifer, and nobody knows what it's of, for they say&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>They</i> say?&rdquo; cried he, firing with rage, &ldquo;and who are <i>they</i>?
+      be so good as inform me that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, every body, Sir! it's his common character.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then every body is extremely indecent,&rdquo; speaking very loud, &ldquo;to pay no
+      more respect to one of the first families in England. It is a
+      licentiousness that ought by no means to be suffered with impunity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, the street-door being kept open by the servants in waiting, a new
+      step was heard in the passage, which Henrietta immediately knowing,
+      turned, with uplifted hands to Cecilia, and whispered, &ldquo;How unlucky! it's
+      my brother! I thought he would not have returned till night!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely he will not come in here?&rdquo; re-whispered Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, at the same moment, he opened the door, and entered the room. He was
+      immediately beginning an apology, and starting back, but Henrietta
+      catching him by the arm, told him in a low voice, that she had made use of
+      his room because she had thought him engaged for the day, but begged him
+      to keep still and quiet, as the least noise would discover them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Belfield then stopt; but the embarrassment of Cecilia was extreme; to find
+      herself in his room after the speeches she had heard from his mother, and
+      to continue with him in it by connivance, when she knew she had been
+      represented as quite at his service, distressed and provoked her
+      immeasurably; and she felt very angry with Henrietta for not sooner
+      informing her whose apartment she had borrowed. Yet now to remove, and to
+      be seen, was not to be thought of; she kept, therefore, fixed to her seat,
+      though changing colour every moment from the variety of her emotions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this painful interruption she lost Mrs Belfield's next answer, and
+      another speech or two from Mr Delvile, to whose own passion and loudness
+      was owing Belfield's entering his room unheard: but the next voice that
+      called their attention was that of Mr Hobson, who just then walked into
+      the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why what's to do here?&rdquo; cried he, facetiously, &ldquo;nothing but chairs and
+      livery servants! Why, ma'am, what is this your rout day? Sir your most
+      humble servant. I ask pardon, but I did not know you at first. But come,
+      suppose we were all to sit down? Sitting's as cheap as standing, and what
+      I say is this; when a man's tired, it's more agreeable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any thing further, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, with great
+      solemnity, &ldquo;to communicate to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, &ldquo;it's no business of mine to
+      be communicating myself to a gentleman that I don't know the name of. Why,
+      Mr Hobson, how come you to know the gentleman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To know <i>me</i>!&rdquo; repeated Mr Delvile, scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I can't say much, ma'am,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;as to my knowing the
+      gentleman, being I have been in his company but once; and what I say is,
+      to know a person if one leaves but a quart in a hogshead, it's two pints
+      too much. That's my notion. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business at
+      'Squire Monckton's t'other morning. Every body was no-how, as one may say.
+      But, Sir, if I may be so free, pray what is your private opinion of that
+      old gentleman that talked so much out of the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My private opinion, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sir; I mean if it's no secret, for as to a secret, I hold it's what
+      no man has a right to enquire into, being of its own nature it's a thing
+      not to be told. Now as to what I think myself, my doctrine is this; I am
+      quite of the old gentleman's mind about some things, and about others I
+      hold him to be quite wide of the mark. But as to talking in such a whisky
+      frisky manner that nobody can understand him, why its tantamount to not
+      talking at all, being he might as well hold his tongue. That's what <i>I</i>
+      say. And then as to that other article, of abusing a person for not giving
+      away all his lawful gains to every cripple in the streets, just because he
+      happens to have but one leg, or one eye, or some such matter, why it's
+      knowing nothing of business! it's what <i>I</i> call talking at random.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you have finished, Sir,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, &ldquo;you will be so good to
+      let me know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mean to intrude, Sir; that's not my way, so if you are upon
+      business&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What else, Sir, could you suppose brought me hither? However, I by no
+      means purpose any discussion. I have only a few words more to say to this
+      gentlewoman, and as my time is not wholly inconsequential, I should not be
+      sorry to have an early opportunity of being heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall leave you with the lady directly, Sir; for I know business better
+      than to interrupt it: but seeing chairs in the entry, my notion was I
+      should see ladies in the parlour, not much thinking of gentlemen's going
+      about in that manner, being I never did it myself. But I have nothing to
+      offer against that; let every man have his own way; that's what <i>I</i>
+      say. Only just let me ask the lady before I go, what's the meaning of my
+      seeing two chairs in the entry, and only a person for one in the parlour?
+      The gentleman, I suppose, did not come in <i>both</i>; ha! ha! ha!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why now you put me in mind,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;I saw a chair as soon as
+      I come in; and I was just going to say who's here, when this gentleman's
+      coming put it out of my head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why this is what I call Hocus Pocus work!&rdquo; said Mr Hobson; &ldquo;but I shall
+      make free to ask the chairmen who they are waiting for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Belfield, however, anticipated him; for running into the passage, she
+      angrily called out, &ldquo;What do you do here, Misters? do you only come to be
+      out of the rain? I'll have no stand made of my entry, I can tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why we are waiting for the lady,&rdquo; cried one of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Waiting for a fiddlestick!&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield; &ldquo;here's no lady here, nor
+      no company; so if you think I'll have my entry filled up by two hulking
+      fellows for nothing, I shall shew you the difference. One's dirt enough of
+      one's own, without taking people out of the streets to help one. Who do
+      you think's to clean after you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's no business of ours; the lady bid us wait,&rdquo; answered the man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia at this dispute could with pleasure have cast herself out of the
+      window to avoid being discovered; but all plan of escape was too late; Mrs
+      Belfield called aloud for her daughter, and then, returning to the front
+      parlour, said, &ldquo;I'll soon know if there's company come to my house without
+      my knowing it!&rdquo; and opened a door leading to the next room!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had hitherto sat fixed to her chair, now hastily arose, but
+      in a confusion too cruel for speech: Belfield, wondering even at his own
+      situation, and equally concerned and surprised at her evident distress,
+      had himself the feeling of a culprit, though without the least knowledge
+      of any cause: and Henrietta, terrified at the prospect of her mother's
+      anger, retreated as much as possible out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the situation of the discovered, abashed, perplexed, and
+      embarrassed! while that of the discoverers, far different, was bold,
+      delighted, and triumphant!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So!&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;why here's Miss Beverley!&mdash;in my son's
+      back room!&rdquo; winking at Mr Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why here's a lady, sure enough!&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;and just where she
+      should be, and that is with a gentleman. Ha! ha! that's the right way,
+      according to my notion! that's the true maxim for living agreeable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I came to see Miss Belfield,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, endeavouring, but vainly, to
+      speak with composure, &ldquo;and she brought me into this room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am but this moment,&rdquo; cried Belfield, with eagerness, &ldquo;returned home;
+      and unfortunately broke into the room, from total ignorance of the honour
+      which Miss Beverley did my sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      These speeches, though both literally true, sounded, in the circumstances
+      which brought them out, so much as mere excuses, that while Mr Delvile
+      haughtily marked his incredulity by a motion of his chin, Mrs Belfield
+      continued winking at him most significantly, and Mr Hobson, with still
+      less ceremony, laughed aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing more, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile to Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;to
+      enquire, for the few doubts with which I came to this house are now
+      entirely satisfied. Good morning to you, ma'am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me leave, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, advancing with more spirit, &ldquo;to
+      explain, in presence of those who can best testify my veracity, the real
+      circumstances&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would by no means occasion you such unnecessary trouble, ma'am,&rdquo;
+       answered he, with an air at once exulting and pompous, &ldquo;the situation in
+      which I see you abundantly satisfies my curiosity, and saves me from the
+      apprehension I was under of being again convicted of a <i>mistake</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then made her a stiff bow, and went to his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, colouring deeply at this contemptuous treatment, coldly took
+      leave of Henrietta, and courtsying to Mrs Belfield, hastened into the
+      passage, to get into her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta was too much intimidated to speak, and Belfield was too delicate
+      to follow her; Mr Hobson only said &ldquo;The young lady seems quite dashed;&rdquo;
+       but Mrs Belfield pursued her with entreaties she would stay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was too angry, however, to make any answer but by a distant bow of the
+      head, and left the house with a resolution little short of a vow never
+      again to enter it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her reflections upon this unfortunate visit were bitter beyond measure;
+      the situation in which she had been surprised,&mdash;clandestinely
+      concealed with only Belfield and his sister&mdash;joined to the positive
+      assertions of her partiality for him made by his mother, could not, to Mr
+      Delvile, but appear marks irrefragable that his charge in his former
+      conversation was rather mild than over-strained, and that the connection
+      he had mentioned, for whatever motives denied, was incontestably formed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The apparent conviction of this part of the accusation, might also
+      authorise, to one but too happy in believing ill of her, an implicit faith
+      in that which regarded her having run out her fortune. His determination
+      not to hear her shewed the inflexibility of his character; and it was
+      evident, notwithstanding his parading pretensions of wishing her welfare,
+      that his inordinate pride was inflamed, at the very supposition he could
+      be mistaken or deceived for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even Delvile himself, if gone abroad, might now hear this account with
+      exaggerations that would baffle all his confidence: his mother, too,
+      greatly as she esteemed and loved her, might have the matter so
+      represented as to stagger her good opinion;&mdash;these were thoughts the
+      most afflicting she could harbour, though their probability was such that
+      to banish them was impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To apply again to Mr Delvile to hear her vindication, was to subject
+      herself to insolence, and almost to court indignity. She disdained even to
+      write to him, since his behaviour called for resentment, not concession;
+      and such an eagerness to be heard, in opposition to all discouragement,
+      would be practising a meanness that would almost merit repulsion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her first inclination was to write to Mrs Delvile, but what now, to her,
+      was either her defence or accusation? She had solemnly renounced all
+      further intercourse with her, she had declared against writing again, and
+      prohibited her letters: and, therefore, after much fluctuation of opinion,
+      her delicacy concurred with her judgment, to conclude it would be most
+      proper, in a situation so intricate, to leave the matter to chance, and
+      commit her character to time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the evening, while she was at tea with Lady Margaret and Miss Bennet,
+      she was suddenly called out to speak to a young woman; and found, to her
+      great surprise, she was no other than Henrietta.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;how angrily did you go away this morning! it has
+      made me miserable ever since, and if you go out of town without forgiving
+      me, I shall fret myself quite ill! my mother is gone out to tea, and I
+      have run here all alone, and in the dark, and in the wet, to beg and pray
+      you will forgive me, for else I don't know what I shall do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sweet, gentle girl!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, affectionately embracing her, &ldquo;if you
+      had excited all the anger I am capable of feeling, such softness as this
+      would banish it, and make me love you more than ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta then said, in her excuse, that she had thought herself quite
+      sure of her brother's absence, who almost always spent the whole day at
+      the bookseller's, as in writing himself he perpetually wanted to consult
+      other authors, and had very few books at their lodgings: but she would not
+      mention that the room was his, lest Cecilia should object to making use of
+      it, and she knew she had no other chance of having the conversation with
+      her she had so very long wished for. She then again begged her pardon, and
+      hoped the behaviour of her mother would not induce her to give her up, as
+      she was shocked at it beyond measure, and as her brother, she assured her,
+      was as innocent of it as herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia heard her with pleasure, and felt for her an encreasing regard.
+      The openness of her confidence in the morning had merited all her
+      affection, and she gave her the warmest protestations of a friendship
+      which she was certain would be lasting as her life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta then, with a countenance that spoke the lightness of her heart,
+      hastily took her leave, saying she did not dare be out longer, lest her
+      mother should discover her excursion. Cecilia insisted, however, upon her
+      going in a chair, which she ordered her servant to attend, and take care
+      himself to discharge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This visit, joined to the tender and unreserved conversation of the
+      morning, gave Cecilia the strongest desire to invite her to her house in
+      the country; but the terror of Mrs Belfield's insinuations, added to the
+      cruel interpretations she had to expect from Mr Delvile, forbid her
+      indulging this wish, though it was the only one that just now she could
+      form.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A CALM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia took leave over night of the family, as she would not stay their
+      rising in the morning: Mr Monckton, though certain not to sleep when she
+      was going, forbearing to mark his solicitude by quitting his apartment at
+      any unusual hour. Lady Margaret parted from her with her accustomed
+      ungraciousness, and Miss Bennet, because in her presence, in a manner
+      scarcely less displeasing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, with only her servants, the moment it was light, she set
+      out. Her journey was without incident or interruption, and she went
+      immediately to the house of Mrs Bayley, where she had settled to board
+      till her own was finished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Bayley was a mere good sort of woman, who lived decently well with her
+      servants, and tolerably well with her neighbours, upon a small annuity,
+      which made her easy and comfortable, though by no means superior to such
+      an addition to her little income as an occasional boarder might produce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Cecilia continued a full month: which time had no other employment
+      than what she voluntarily gave to herself by active deeds of benevolence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Christmas, to the no little joy of the neighbourhood, she took
+      possession of her own house, which was situated about three miles from
+      Bury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The better sort of people were happy to see her thus settled amongst them,
+      and the poorer, who by what they already had received, knew well what they
+      still might expect, regarded the day in which she fixed herself in her
+      mansion, as a day to themselves of prosperity and triumph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she was no longer, as hitherto, repairing to a temporary habitation,
+      which at pleasure she might quit, and to which, at a certain period, she
+      could have no possible claim, but to a house which was her own for ever,
+      or, at least, could solely by her own choice be transferred, she
+      determined, as much as was in her power, in quitting her desultory
+      dwellings, to empty her mind of the transactions which had passed in them,
+      and upon entering a house where she was permanently to reside, to make the
+      expulsion of her past sorrows, the basis upon which to establish her
+      future serenity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And this, though a work of pain and difficulty, was not impracticable; her
+      sensibility, indeed, was keen, and she had suffered from it the utmost
+      torture; but her feelings were not more powerful than her understanding
+      was strong, and her fortitude was equal to her trials. Her calamities had
+      saddened, but not weakened her mind, and the words of Delvile in speaking
+      of his mother occurred to her now with all the conviction of experience,
+      that &ldquo;evils inevitable are always best supported, because known to be past
+      amendment, and felt to give defiance to struggling.&rdquo; [Footnote: See Vol.
+      ii. p. 317.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A plan by which so great a revolution was to be wrought in her mind, was
+      not to be effected by any sudden effort of magnanimity, but by a regular
+      and even tenour of courage mingled with prudence. Nothing, therefore,
+      appeared to her so indispensable as constant employment, by which a
+      variety of new images might force their way in her mind to supplant the
+      old ones, and by which no time might be allowed for brooding over
+      melancholy retrospections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her first effort, in this work of mental reformation, was to part with
+      Fidel, whom hitherto she had almost involuntarily guarded, but whom she
+      only could see to revive the most dangerous recollections. She sent him,
+      therefore, to the castle, but without any message; Mrs Delvile, she was
+      sure, would require none to make her rejoice in his restoration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her next step was writing to Albany, who had given her his direction, to
+      acquaint him she was now ready to put in practice their long concerted
+      scheme. Albany instantly hastened to her, and joyfully accepted the office
+      of becoming at once her Almoner and her Monitor. He made it his business
+      to seek objects of distress, and always but too certain to find them, of
+      conducting her himself to their habitations, and then leaving to her own
+      liberality the assistance their several cases demanded: and, in the
+      overflowing of his zeal upon these occasions, and the rapture of his heart
+      in thus disposing, almost at his pleasure, of her noble fortune, he
+      seemed, at times, to feel an extasy that, from its novelty and its excess,
+      was almost too exquisite to be borne. He joined with the beggars in
+      pouring blessings upon her head, he prayed for her with the poor, and he
+      thanked her with the succoured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pew-opener and her children failed not to keep their appointment, and
+      Cecilia presently contrived to settle them in her neighbourhood: where the
+      poor woman, as she recovered her strength, soon got a little work, and all
+      deficiencies in her power of maintaining herself were supplied by her
+      generous patroness. The children, however, she ordered to be coarsely
+      brought up, having no intention to provide for them but by helping them to
+      common employments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The promise, also, so long made to Mrs Harrel of an apartment in her
+      house, was now performed. That lady accepted it with the utmost alacrity,
+      glad to make any change in her situation, which constant solitude had
+      rendered wholly insupportable. Mr Arnott accompanied her to the house, and
+      spent one day there; but receiving from Cecilia, though extremely civil
+      and sweet to him, no hint of any invitation for repeating his visit, he
+      left it in sadness, and returned to his own in deep dejection. Cecilia saw
+      with concern how he nourished his hopeless passion, but knew that to
+      suffer his visits would almost authorise his feeding it; and while she
+      pitied unaffectedly the unhappiness she occasioned, she resolved to double
+      her own efforts towards avoiding similar wretchedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This action, however, was a point of honour, not of friendship, the time
+      being long since past that the society of Mrs Harrel could afford her any
+      pleasure; but the promises she had so often made to Mr Harrel in his
+      distresses, though extorted from her merely by the terrors of the moment,
+      still were promises, and, therefore, she held herself bound to fulfil
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet far from finding comfort in this addition to her family, Mrs Harrel
+      proved to her nothing more than a trouble and an incumbrance; with no
+      inherent resources, she was continually in search of occasional supplies;
+      she fatigued Cecilia with wonder at the privacy of her life, and tormented
+      her with proposals of parties and entertainments. She was eternally in
+      amazement that with powers so large, she had wishes so confined, and was
+      evidently disappointed that upon coming to so ample an estate, she lived,
+      with respect to herself and her family, with no more magnificence or shew
+      than if Heiress to only ú500 a year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Cecilia was determined to think and to live for herself, without
+      regard to unmeaning wonder or selfish remonstrances; she had neither
+      ambition for splendour, nor spirits for dissipation; the recent sorrow of
+      her heart had deadened it for the present to all personal taste of
+      happiness, and her only chance for regaining it, seemed through the medium
+      of bestowing it upon others. She had seen, too, by Mr Harrel, how
+      wretchedly external brilliancy could cover inward woe, and she had learned
+      at Delvile Castle to grow sick of parade and grandeur. Her equipage,
+      therefore, was without glare, though not without elegance, her table was
+      plain, though hospitably plentiful, her servants were for use, though too
+      numerous to be for labour. The system of her oeconomy, like that of her
+      liberality, was formed by rules of reason, and her own ideas of right, and
+      not by compliance with example, nor by emulation with the gentry in her
+      neighbourhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though thus deviating in her actions from the usual customs of the
+      young and rich, she was peculiarly careful not to offend them by
+      singularity of manners. When she mixed with them, she was easy,
+      unaffected, and well bred, and though she saw them but seldom, her good
+      humour and desire of obliging kept them always her friends. The plan she
+      had early formed at Mrs Harrel's she now studied daily to put in practice;
+      but that part by which the useless or frivolous were to be excluded her
+      house, she found could only be supported by driving from her half her
+      acquaintance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another part, also, of that project she found still less easy of adoption,
+      which was solacing herself with the society of the wise, good, and
+      intelligent. Few answered this description, and those few were with
+      difficulty attainable. Many might with joy have sought out her liberal
+      dwelling, but no one had idly waited till the moment it was at her
+      disposal. All who possessed at once both talents and wealth, were so
+      generally courted they were rarely to be procured; and all who to talents
+      alone owed their consequence, demanded, if worth acquiring, time and
+      delicacy to be obtained. Fortune she knew, however, was so often at war
+      with Nature, that she doubted not shortly meeting those who would gladly
+      avail themselves of her offered protection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet, tired of the murmurs of Mrs Harrel, she longed for some relief from
+      her society, and her desire daily grew stronger to owe that relief to
+      Henrietta Belfield. The more she meditated upon this wish, the less
+      unattainable it appeared to her, till by frequently combating its
+      difficulties, she began to consider them imaginary: Mrs Belfield, while
+      her son was actually with herself, might see she took not Henrietta as his
+      appendage; and Mr Delvile, should he make further enquiries, might hear
+      that her real connection was with the sister, since she received her in
+      the country, where the brother made no pretence to follow her. She
+      considered, too, how ill she should be rewarded in giving up Henrietta for
+      Mr Delvile, who was already determined to think ill of her, and whose
+      prejudices no sacrifice would remove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having hesitated, therefore, some time between the desire of present
+      alleviation, and the fear of future mischief, the consciousness of her own
+      innocence at length vanquished all dread of unjust censure, and she wrote
+      an invitation to Henrietta enclosed in a letter to her mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer of Henrietta expressed her rapture at the proposal; and that of
+      Mrs Belfield made no objection but to the expence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, therefore, sent her own maid to travel with her into Suffolk,
+      with proper directions to pay for the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gratitude of the delighted Henrietta at the meeting was boundless; and
+      her joy at so unexpected a mark of favour made her half wild. Cecilia
+      suffered it not to languish for want of kindness to support it; she took
+      her to her bosom, became the soother of all her cares, and reposed in her,
+      in return, every thought that led not to Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There, however, she was uniformly silent; solemnly and eternally parted
+      from him, far from trusting the secret of her former connexion to
+      Henrietta, the whole study of her life was to drive the remembrance of it
+      from herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta now tasted a happiness to which as yet her whole life had been a
+      stranger; she was suddenly removed from turbulent vulgarity to the
+      enjoyment of calm elegance; and the gentleness of her disposition, instead
+      of being tyrannically imposed upon, not only made her loved with
+      affection, but treated with the most scrupulous delicacy. Cecilia had her
+      share in all the comfort she bestowed; she had now a friend to oblige, and
+      a companion to converse with. She communicated to her all her schemes, and
+      made her the partner of her benevolent excursions; she found her
+      disposition as amiable upon trial, as her looks and her manners had been
+      engaging at first sight; and her constant presence and constant sweetness,
+      imperceptibly revived her spirits, and gave a new interest to her
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime Mr Monckton, who returned in about a fortnight to the Grove,
+      observed the encreasing influence of Albany with the most serious concern.
+      The bounties of Cecilia, extensive, magnificent, unlimited, were the theme
+      of every tongue, and though sometimes censured and sometimes admired, they
+      were wondered at universally. He suffered her for a while to go on without
+      remonstrance, hoping her enthusiasm would abate, as its novelty wore out:
+      but finding that week following week was still distinguished by some fresh
+      act of beneficence, he grew so alarmed and uneasy, he could restrain
+      himself no longer. He spoke to her with warmth, he represented her conduct
+      as highly dangerous in its consequence; he said she would but court
+      impostors from every corner of the kingdom, called Albany a lunatic, whom
+      she should rather avoid than obey; and insinuated that if a report was
+      spread of her proceedings, a charity so prodigal, would excite such alarm,
+      that no man would think even her large and splendid fortune, would ensure
+      him from ruin in seeking her alliance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia heard this exhortation without either terror or impatience, and
+      answered it with the utmost steadiness. His influence over her mind was no
+      longer uncontrolled, for though her suspicions were not strengthened, they
+      had never been removed, and friendship has no foe so dangerous as
+      distrust! She thanked him, however, for his zeal, but assured him his
+      apprehensions were groundless, since though she acted from inclination,
+      she acted not without thought. Her income was very large, and she was
+      wholly without family or connection; to spend it merely upon herself would
+      be something still worse than extravagance, it must result from wilfulness
+      the most inexcusable, as her disposition was naturally averse to luxury
+      and expence. She might save indeed, but for whom? not a creature had such
+      a claim upon her; and with regard to herself, she was so provided for it
+      would be unnecessary. She would never, she declared, run in debt even for
+      a week, but while her estate was wholly clear, she would spend it without
+      restriction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To his hint of any future alliance, she only said that those who
+      disapproved her conduct, would probably be those she should disapprove in
+      her turn; should such an event however take place, the retrenching from
+      that time all her present peculiar expences, would surely, in a clear
+      ú3000 a-year, leave her rich enough for any man, without making it
+      incumbent upon her at present, to deny herself the only pleasure she could
+      taste, in bestowing that money which to her was superfluous, upon those
+      who received it as the prolongation of their existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A firmness so deliberate in a system he so much dreaded, greatly shocked
+      Mr Monckton, though it intimidated him from opposing it; he saw she was
+      too earnest, and too well satisfied she was right, to venture giving her
+      disgust by controverting her arguments; the conversation, therefore, ended
+      with new discontent to himself, and with an impression upon the mind of
+      Cecilia, that though he was zealous and friendly, he was somewhat too
+      worldly and suspicious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She went on, therefore, as before, distributing with a lavish hand all she
+      could spare from her own household; careful of nothing but of guarding
+      against imposition, which, though she sometimes unavoidably endured, her
+      discernment, and the activity of her investigating diligence, saved her
+      from suffering frequently. And the steadiness with which she repulsed
+      those whom she detected in deceit, was a check upon tricks and fraud,
+      though it could not wholly put a stop to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Money, to her, had long appeared worthless and valueless; it had failed to
+      procure her the establishment for which she once flattered herself it
+      seemed purposely designed; it had been disdained by the Delviles, for the
+      sake of whose connection she had alone ever truly rejoiced in possessing
+      it; and after such a conviction of its inefficacy to secure her happiness,
+      she regarded it as of little importance to herself, and therefore thought
+      it almost the due of those whose distresses gave it a consequence to which
+      with her it was a stranger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this manner with Cecilia passed the first winter of her majority. She
+      had sedulously filled it with occupations, and her occupations had proved
+      fertile in keeping her mind from idleness, and in restoring it to
+      chearfulness. Calls upon her attention so soothing, and avocations so
+      various for her time, had answered the great purpose for which originally
+      she had planned them, in almost forcing from her thoughts those sorrows
+      which, if indulged, would have rested in them incessantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER viii. &mdash; AN ALARM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The spring was now advancing, and the weather was remarkably fine; when
+      one morning, while Cecilia was walking with Mrs Harrel and Henrietta on
+      the lawn before her house, to which the last dinner bell was just
+      summoning them, to return, Mrs Harrel looked round and stopt at sight of a
+      gentleman galloping towards them, who in less than a minute approached,
+      and dismounting and leaving his horse to his servant, struck them all at
+      the same instant to be no other than young Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A sight so unexpected, so unaccountable, so wonderful, after an absence so
+      long, and to which they were mutually bound, almost wholly over-powered
+      Cecilia from surprise and a thousand other feelings, and she caught Mrs
+      Harrel by the arm, not knowing what she did, as if for succour; while
+      Henrietta with scarce less, though much more glad emotion, suddenly
+      exclaimed, &ldquo;'tis Mr Delvile!&rdquo; and sprang forward to meet him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had reached them, and in a voice that spoke hurry and perturbation,
+      respectfully made his compliments to them all, before Cecilia recovered
+      even the use of her feet: but no sooner were they restored to her, than
+      she employed them with the quickest motion in her power, still leaning
+      upon Mrs Harrel, to hasten into the house. Her solemn promise to Mrs
+      Delvile became uppermost in her thoughts, and her surprise was soon
+      succeeded by displeasure, that thus, without any preparation, he forced
+      her to break it by an interview she had no means to prevent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as they reached the entrance into the house, the Butler came to tell
+      Cecilia that dinner was upon the table. Delvile then went up to her, and
+      said, &ldquo;May I wait upon you for one instant before&mdash;or after you
+      dine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am engaged, Sir,&rdquo; answered she, though hardly able to speak, &ldquo;for the
+      whole day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not, I hope, refuse to hear me,&rdquo; cried he, eagerly, &ldquo;I cannot
+      write what I have to say,&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no occasion that you should, Sir,&rdquo; interrupted she, &ldquo;since I
+      should scarcely find time to read it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then courtsied, though without looking at him, and went into the
+      house; Delvile remaining in utter dismay, not daring, however wishing, to
+      follow her. But when Mrs Harrel, much surprised at behaviour so unusual
+      from Cecilia, approached him with some civil speeches, he started, and
+      wishing her good day, bowed, and remounted his horse: pursued by the soft
+      eyes of Henrietta till wholly out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then both followed Cecilia to the dining-parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had not Mrs Harrel been of this small party, the dinner would have been
+      served in vain; Cecilia, still trembling with emotion, bewildered with
+      conjecture, angry with Delvile for thus surprising her, angry with herself
+      for so severely receiving him, amazed what had tempted him to such a
+      violation of their joint agreement, and irresolute as much what to wish as
+      what to think, was little disposed for eating, and with difficulty
+      compelled herself to do the honours of her table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, whom the sight of Delvile had at once delighted and disturbed,
+      whom the behaviour of Cecilia had filled with wonder and consternation,
+      and whom the evident inquietude and disappointment which that behaviour
+      had given to Delvile, had struck with grief and terror, could not swallow
+      even a morsel, but having cut her meat about her plate, gave it,
+      untouched, to a servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel, however, though she had had her share in the surprise, had
+      wholly escaped all other emotion; and only concluded in her own mind, that
+      Cecilia could sometimes be out of humour and ill bred, as well as the rest
+      of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the dessert was serving, a note was brought to Henrietta, which a
+      servant was waiting in great haste to have answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, stranger to all forms of politeness, though by nature soft,
+      obliging and delicate, opened it immediately; she started as she cast her
+      eye over it, but blushed, sparkled, and looked enchanted, and hastily
+      rising, without even a thought of any apology, ran out of the room to
+      answer it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, whose quick eye, by a glance unavoidable, had seen the hand of
+      Delvile, was filled with new amazement at the sight. As soon as the
+      servants were gone, she begged Mrs Harrel to excuse her, and went to her
+      own apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, in a few minutes, she was followed by Henrietta, whose countenance
+      beamed with pleasure, and whose voice spoke tumultuous delight. &ldquo;My dear,
+      dear Miss Beverley!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I have such a thing to tell you!&mdash;you
+      would never guess it,&mdash;I don't know how to believe it myself,&mdash;but
+      Mr Delvile has written to me!&mdash;he has indeed! that note was from him.&mdash;I
+      have been locking it up, for fear of accidents, but I'll run and fetch it,
+      that you may see it yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then ran away; leaving Cecilia much perplexed, much uneasy for
+      herself, and both grieved and alarmed for the too tender, too susceptible
+      Henrietta, who was thus easily the sport of every airy and credulous hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I did not shew it you,&rdquo; cried Henrietta, running back in a moment,
+      &ldquo;you would never think it possible, for it is to make such a request&mdash;that
+      it has frightened me almost out of my wits!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then read the note.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Belfield</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile presents his compliments to Miss Belfield, and begs to be
+      permitted to wait upon her for a few minutes, at any time in the afternoon
+      she will be so good as to appoint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only think,&rdquo; cried the rapturous Henrietta, &ldquo;it was <i>me</i>, poor
+      simple <i>me</i>, of all people, that he wanted so to speak with!&mdash;I
+      am sure I thought a different thought when he went away! but do, dearest
+      Miss Beverley, tell me this one thing, what do you think he can have to
+      say to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; replied Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, &ldquo;it is impossible for me
+      to conjecture.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If <i>you</i> can't, I am sure, then, it is no wonder <i>I</i> can't! and
+      I have been thinking of a million of things in a minute. It can't be about
+      any business, because I know nothing in the world of any business; and it
+      can't be about my brother, because he would go to our house in town about
+      him, and there he would see him himself; and it can't be about my dear
+      Miss Beverley, because then he would have written the note to her and it
+      can't be about any body else, because I know nobody else of his
+      acquaintance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus went on the sanguine Henrietta, settling whom and what it could <i>not</i>
+      be about, till she left but the one thing to which her wishes pointed that
+      it <i>could</i> be about. Cecilia heard her with true compassion, certain
+      that she was deceiving herself with imaginations the most pernicious; yet
+      unable to know how to quell them, while in such doubt and darkness
+      herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This conversation was soon interrupted, by a message that a gentleman in
+      the parlour begged to speak with Miss Belfield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O dearest, dearest Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, with encreasing
+      agitation, &ldquo;what in the world shall I say to him, advise me, pray advise
+      me, for I can't think of a single word!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible, my dear Henrietta, unless I knew what he would say to you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O but I can guess, I can guess!&rdquo;&mdash;cried she, her cheeks glowing,
+      while her whole frame shook, &ldquo;and I sha'n't know what in the whole world
+      to answer him! I know I shall behave like a fool,&mdash;I know I shall
+      disgrace myself sadly!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, truly sorry Delvile should see her in such emotion, endeavoured
+      earnestly to compose her, though never less tranquil herself. But she
+      could not succeed, and she went down stairs with expectations of happiness
+      almost too potent for her reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not such were those of Cecilia; a dread of some new conflict took
+      possession of her mind, that mind so long tortured with struggles, so
+      lately restored to serenity!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta soon returned, but not the same Henrietta she went;&mdash;the
+      glow, the hope, the flutter were all over; she looked pale and wan, but
+      attempting, as she entered the room, to call up a smile, she failed, and
+      burst into tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia threw her arms round her neck, and tried to console her; but,
+      happy to hide her face in her bosom, she only gave the freer indulgence to
+      her grief, and rather melted than comforted by her tenderness, sobbed
+      aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia too easily conjectured the disappointment she had met, to pain her
+      by asking it; she forbore even to gratify her own curiosity by questions
+      that could not but lead to her mortification, and suffering her therefore
+      to take her own time for what she had to communicate, she hung over her in
+      silence with the most patient pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta was very sensible of this kindness, though she knew not half its
+      merit: but it was a long time before she could articulate, for sobbing,
+      that <i>all</i> Mr Delvile wanted, at last, was only to beg she would
+      acquaint Miss Beverley, that he had done himself the honour of waiting
+      upon her with a message from Mrs Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From Mrs Delvile?&rdquo; exclaimed Cecilia, all emotion in her turn, &ldquo;good
+      heaven! how much, then, have I been to blame? where is he now?&mdash;where
+      can I send to him?&mdash;tell me, my sweet Henrietta, this instant!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, bursting into a fresh flood of tears, &ldquo;how
+      foolish have I been to open my silly heart to you!&mdash;he is come to pay
+      his addresses to you!&mdash;I am sure he is!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, no!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;indeed he is not!&mdash;but I must, I ought
+      to see him,&mdash;where, my love, is he?&rdquo;,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the parlour,&mdash;waiting for an answer.&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who at any other time would have been provoked at such a delay in
+      the delivery of a message so important, felt now nothing but concern for
+      Henrietta, whom she hastily kissed, but instantly, however, quitted, and
+      hurried to Delvile, with expectations almost equally sanguine as those her
+      poor friend but the moment before had crushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh now,&rdquo; thought she, &ldquo;if at last Mrs Delvile herself has relented, with
+      what joy will I give up all reserve, all disguise, and frankly avow the
+      faithful affection of my heart!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile received her not with the eagerness with which he had first
+      addressed her; he looked extremely disturbed, and, even after her
+      entrance, undetermined how to begin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited, however, his explanation in silence; and, after an irresolute
+      pause, he said, with a gravity not wholly free from resentment, &ldquo;I
+      presumed, madam, to wait upon you from the permission of my mother; but I
+      believe I have obtained it so late, that the influence I hoped from it is
+      past!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no means, Sir,&rdquo; answered she, chearfully, &ldquo;to know that you came
+      from her: I should else have received her commands without any
+      hesitation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would thank you for the honour you do her, were it less pointedly
+      exclusive. I have, however, no right of reproach! yet suffer me to ask,
+      could you, madam, after such a parting, after a renunciation so absolute
+      of all future claim upon you, which though extorted from me by duty, I was
+      bound, having promised, to fulfil by principle,-could you imagine me so
+      unsteady, so dishonourable, as to obtrude myself into your presence while
+      that promise was still in force?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I find,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, in whom a secret hope every moment grew stronger,
+      &ldquo;I have been too hasty; I did indeed believe Mrs Delvile would never
+      authorise such a visit; but as you have so much surprised me, I have a
+      right to your pardon for a little doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There spoke Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Delvile, reanimating at this little
+      apology, &ldquo;the same, the unaltered Miss Beverley I hoped to find!&mdash;yet
+      <i>is</i> she unaltered? am I not too precipitate? and is the tale I have
+      heard about Belfield a dream? an error? a falsehood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that so quick a succession of quarrels,&rdquo; said Cecilia, half smiling,
+      &ldquo;would be endless perplexity, I, now, would be affronted that you can ask
+      me such a question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had I, indeed, <i>thought</i> it a question,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I would not have
+      asked it: but never for a moment did I credit it, till the rigour of your
+      repulse alarmed me. You have condescended, now, to account for that, and I
+      am therefore encouraged to make known to you the purpose of my venturing
+      this visit. Yet not with confidence shall I speak if, scarce even with
+      hope!&mdash;it is a purpose that is the offspring of despair,&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One thing, Sir,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, who now became frightened again, &ldquo;let me
+      say before you proceed; if your purpose has not the sanction of Mrs
+      Delvile, as well as your visit, I would gladly be excused hearing it,
+      since I shall most certainly refuse it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would mention nothing,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;without her concurrence; she has
+      given it me: and my father himself has permitted my present application.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;is it possible!&rdquo; clasping her hands
+      together in the eagerness of her surprise and delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Is it possible</i>!&rdquo; repeated Delvile, with a look of rapture; &ldquo;ah
+      Miss Beverley!&mdash;once my own Cecilia!&mdash;do you, can you <i>wish</i>
+      it possible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, No!&rdquo; cried she, while pleasure and expectation sparkled in her eyes,
+      &ldquo;I wish nothing about it.&mdash;Yet tell me how it has happened,&mdash;I
+      am <i>curious</i>,&rdquo; added she, smiling, &ldquo;though not interested in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What hope would this sweetness give me,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;were my scheme almost
+      any other than it is!&mdash;but you cannot,&mdash;no, it would be
+      unreasonable, it would be madness to expect your compliance!&mdash;it is
+      next to madness even in me to wish it,&mdash;but how shall a man who is
+      desperate be prudent and circumspect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Spare, spare yourself,&rdquo; cried the ingenuous Cecilia, &ldquo;this, unnecessary
+      pain!&mdash;you will find from me no unnecessary scruples.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know not what you say!&mdash;all noble as you are, the sacrifice I
+      have to propose&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak it,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;with confidence! speak it even with certainty of
+      success! I will be wholly undisguised, and openly, honestly own to you,
+      that no proposal, no sacrifice can be mentioned, to which I will not
+      instantly agree, if first it has had the approbation of Mrs Delvile.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile's gratitude and thanks for a concession never before so
+      voluntarily made to him, interrupted for a while, even his power of
+      explaining himself. And now, for the first time, Cecilia's sincerity was
+      chearful, since now, for the first time, it seemed opposed by no duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When still, therefore, he hesitated, she herself held out her hand to him,
+      saying, &ldquo;what must I do more? must I offer this pledge to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my life would I not resign it!&rdquo; cried he, delightedly receiving it;
+      &ldquo;but oh, how soon will you withdraw it, when the only terms upon which I
+      can hold it, are those of making it sign from itself its natural right and
+      inheritance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, not comprehending him, only looked amazed, and he proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you, for my sake, make such a sacrifice as this? can you for a man
+      who for yours is not permitted to give up his name, give up yourself the
+      fortune of your late uncle? consent to such settlements as I can make upon
+      you from my own? part with so splendid an income wholly and for-ever?&mdash;and
+      with only your paternal L10,000 condescend to become mine, as if your
+      uncle had never existed, and you had been Heiress to no other wealth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This, indeed, was a stroke to Cecilia unequalled by any she had met, and
+      more cruel than any she could have in reserve. At the proposal of parting
+      with her uncle's fortune, which, desirable as it was, had as yet been only
+      productive to her of misery, her heart, disinterested, and wholly careless
+      of money, was prompt to accede to the condition; but at the mention of her
+      paternal fortune, that fortune, of which, now, not the smallest vestige
+      remained, horror seized all her faculties! she turned pale, she trembled,
+      she involuntarily drew back her hand, and betrayed, by speechless
+      agitation, the sudden agonies of her soul!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, struck by this evident dismay, instantly concluded his plan had
+      disgusted her. He waited some minutes in anxious expectation of an answer,
+      but finding her silence continued while her emotion encreased, the deepest
+      crimson dyed his face, and unable to check his chagrin, though not daring
+      to confess his disappointment, he suddenly quitted her, and walked, in
+      much disorder, about the room. But soon recovering some composure, from
+      the assistance of pride, &ldquo;Pardon, madam,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a trial such as no man
+      can be vindicated in making. I have indulged a romantic whim, which your
+      better judgment disapproves, and I receive but the mortification my
+      presumption deserved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know not then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a faint voice, &ldquo;my inability to
+      comply?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ability or inability, I presume, are elective?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no!&mdash;my power is lost&mdash;my fortune itself is gone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible! utterly impossible!&rdquo; cried he with vehemence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh that it were!&mdash;your father knows it but too well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he, then, never hint it to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh distraction!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;what horrible confirmation is coming!&rdquo;
+       and again he walked away, as if wanting courage to hear her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was too much shocked to force upon him her explanation; but
+      presently returning to her, he said, &ldquo;<i>you</i>, only, could have made
+      this credible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had you, then, actually heard it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh I had heard it as the most infamous of falsehoods! my heart swelled
+      with indignation at so villainous a calumny, and had it not come from my
+      father, my resentment at it had been inveterate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;the fact is undeniable! yet the circumstances you
+      may have heard with it, are I doubt not exaggerated.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exaggerated indeed!&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;I was told you had been surprised
+      concealed with Belfield in a back room, I was told that your parental
+      fortune was totally exhausted, and that during your minority you had been
+      a dealer with Jews!&mdash;I was told all this by my father; you may
+      believe I had else not easily been made hear it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet thus far,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;he told you but what is true; though&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True!&rdquo; interrupted Delvile, with a start almost frantic. &ldquo;Oh never, then,
+      was truth so scandalously wronged!&mdash;I denied the whole charge!-I
+      disbelieved every syllable!&mdash;I pledged my own honour to prove every
+      assertion false!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Generous Delvile!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, melting into tears, &ldquo;this is what I
+      expected from you! and, believe me, in <i>your</i> integrity my reliance
+      had been similar!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why does Miss Beverley weep?&rdquo; cried he, softened, and approaching her,
+      &ldquo;and why has she given me this alarm? these things must at least have been
+      misrepresented, deign, then, to clear up a mystery in which suspense is
+      torture!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, then, with what precision and clearness her agitation allowed
+      her, related the whole history of her taking up the money of the Jew for
+      Mr Harrel, and told, without reserve, the reason of her trying to abscond
+      from his father at Mrs Belfield's. Delvile listened to her account with
+      almost an agony of attention, now admiring her conduct; now resenting her
+      ill usage; now compassionating her losses; but though variously moved by
+      different parts, receiving from the whole the delight he most coveted in
+      the establishment of her innocence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thanks and applause the warmest, both accompanied and followed her
+      narration; and then, at her request, he related in return the several
+      incidents and circumstances to which he had owed the permission of this
+      visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had meant immediately to have gone abroad; but the indisposition of his
+      mother made him unwilling to leave the kingdom till her health seemed in a
+      situation less precarious. That time, however, came not; the Winter
+      advanced, and she grew evidently worse. He gave over, therefore, his
+      design till the next Spring, when, if she were able, it was her desire to
+      try the South of France for her recovery, whither he meant to conduct her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, during his attendance upon her, the plan he had just mentioned
+      occurred to him, and he considered how much greater would be his chance of
+      happiness in marrying Cecilia with scarce any fortune at all, than in
+      marrying another with the largest. He was convinced she was far other than
+      expensive, or a lover of shew, and soon flattered himself she might be
+      prevailed upon to concur with him, that in living together, though
+      comparatively upon little, they should mutually be happier than in living
+      asunder upon much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he started this scheme to his mother, she heard it with mingled
+      admiration of his disinterestedness, and regret at its occasion: yet the
+      loftiness of her own mind, her high personal value for Cecilia, her
+      anxiety to see her son finally settled while she lived, lest his
+      disappointment should keep him single from a lasting disgust, joined to a
+      dejection of spirits from an apprehension that her interference had been
+      cruel, all favoured his scheme, and forbid her resistance. She had often
+      protested, in their former conflicts, that had Cecilia been portionless,
+      her objections had been less than to an estate so conditioned; and that to
+      give to her son a woman so exalted in herself, she would have conquered
+      the mere opposition of interest, though that of family honour she held
+      invincible. Delvile now called upon her to remember those words, and ever
+      strict in fidelity, she still promised to abide by them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah! thought Cecilia, is virtue, then, as inconsistent as vice? and can the
+      same character be thus high-souled, thus nobly disinterested with regard
+      to riches, whose pride is so narrow and so insurmountable, with respect to
+      family prejudice!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet such a sacrifice from Cecilia herself, whose income intitled her to
+      settlements the most splendid, Mrs Delvile thought scarcely to be
+      solicited; but as her son was conscious he gave up in expectation no less
+      than she would give up in possession, he resolved upon making the
+      experiment, and felt an internal assurance of success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This matter being finally settled with his mother, the harder task
+      remained of vanquishing the father, by whom, and before whom the name of
+      Cecilia was never mentioned, not even after his return from town, though
+      loaded with imaginary charges against her. Mr Delvile held it a diminution
+      of his own in the honour of his son, to suppose he wanted still fresh
+      motives for resigning her. He kept, therefore, to himself the ill opinion
+      he brought down, as a resource in case of danger, but a resource he
+      disdained to make use of, unless driven to it by absolute necessity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, at the new proposal of his son, the accusation held in reserve broke
+      out; he called Cecilia a dabler with Jews, and said she had been so from
+      the time of her uncle's death; he charged her with the grossest general
+      extravagance, to which he added a most insidious attack upon her
+      character, drawn from her visits at Belfield's of long standing, as well
+      as the particular time when he had himself surprised her concealed with
+      the young man in a back parlour: and he asserted, that most of the large
+      sums she was continually taking up from her fortune, were lavished without
+      scruple upon this dangerous and improper favourite.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile had heard this accusation with a rage scarce restrained from
+      violence; confident in her innocence, he boldly pronounced the whole a
+      forgery, and demanded the author of such cruel defamation. Mr Delvile,
+      much offended, refused to name any authority, but consented, with an air
+      of triumph, to abide by the effect of his own proposal, and gave him a
+      supercilious promise no longer to oppose the marriage, if the terms he
+      meant to offer to Miss Beverley, of renouncing her uncle's estate, and
+      producing her father's fortune, were accepted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O little did I credit,&rdquo; said Delvile in conclusion, &ldquo;that he knew indeed
+      so well this last condition was impracticable! his assertions were without
+      proof; I thought them prejudiced surmises; and I came in the full hope I
+      should convict him of his error. My mother, too, who warmly and even
+      angrily defended you, was as firmly satisfied as myself that the whole was
+      a mistake, and that enquiry would prove your fortune as undiminished as
+      your purity. How will she be shocked at the tale I have now to unfold! how
+      irritated at your injuries from Harrel! how grieved that your own too
+      great benevolence should be productive of such black aspersions upon your
+      character!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;too facile and too unguarded; yet always,
+      at the moment, I seemed but guided by common humanity. I have ever thought
+      myself secure of more wealth than I could require, and regarded the want
+      of money as an evil from which I was unavoidably exempted. My own fortune,
+      therefore, appeared to me of small consequence, while the revenue of my
+      uncle insured me perpetual prosperity.&mdash;Oh had I foreseen this moment&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you, then, have listened to my romantic proposal?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would I have listened?&mdash;do you not see too plainly I could not have
+      hesitated!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet, then, most generous of human beings, yet then be mine! By our own
+      oeconomy we will pay off our mortgages; by living a while abroad, we will
+      clear all our estates; I will still keep the name to which my family is
+      bigotted, and my gratitude for your compliance shall make you forget what
+      you lose by it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak not to me such words!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, hastily rising; &ldquo;your friends
+      will not listen to them, neither, therefore, must I.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friends,&rdquo; cried he with energy, &ldquo;are henceforth out of the question:
+      my father's concurrence with a proposal he <i>knew</i> you had not power
+      to grant, was in fact a mere permission to insult you; for if, instead of
+      dark charges, he had given any authority for your losses, I had myself
+      spared you the shock you have so undeservedly received from hearing it.&mdash;But
+      to consent to a plan which <i>could</i> not be accepted!&mdash;to make me
+      a tool to offer indignity to Miss Beverley!&mdash;He has released me from
+      his power by so erroneous an exertion of it, and my own honour has a claim
+      to which his commands must give place. That honour binds me to Miss
+      Beverley as forcibly as my admiration, and no voice but her own shall
+      determine my future destiny.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That voice, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;again refers you to your mother. Mr
+      Delvile, indeed, has not treated me kindly; and this last mock concession
+      was unnecessary cruelty; but Mrs Delvile merits my utmost respect, and I
+      will listen to nothing which has not her previous sanction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But will her sanction be sufficient? and may I hope, in obtaining it, the
+      security of yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I have said I will hear nothing without it, may you not almost infer&mdash;I
+      will refuse nothing with it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The acknowledgments he would now have poured forth, Cecilia would not
+      hear, telling him, with some gaiety, they were yet unauthorized by Mrs
+      Delvile. She insisted upon his leaving her immediately, and never again
+      returning, without his mother's express approbation. With regard to his
+      father, she left him totally to his own inclination; she had received from
+      him nothing but pride and incivility, and determined to skew publicly her
+      superior respect for Mrs Delvile, by whose discretion and decision she was
+      content to abide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you not, then, from time to time,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;suffer me to
+      consult with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; answered she, &ldquo;do not ask it! I have never been insincere with
+      you, never but from motives not to be overcome, reserved even for a
+      moment; I have told you I will put every thing into the power of Mrs
+      Delvile, but I will not a second time risk my peace by any action unknown
+      to her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile gratefully acknowledged her goodness, and promised to require
+      nothing more. He then obeyed her by taking leave, eager himself to put an
+      end to this new uncertainty, and supplicating only that her good wishes
+      might follow his enterprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And thus, again, was wholly broken the tranquility of Cecilia; new hopes,
+      however faint, awakened all her affections, and strong fears, but too
+      reasonable, interrupted her repose. Her destiny, once more, was as
+      undecided as ever, and the expectations she had crushed, retook possession
+      of her heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The suspicions she had conceived of Mr Monckton again occurred to her;
+      though unable to ascertain and unwilling to believe them, she tried to
+      drive them from her thoughts. She lamented, however, with bitterness, her
+      unfortunate connexion with Mr Harrel, whose unworthy impositions upon her
+      kindness of temper and generosity, now proved to her an evil far more
+      serious and extensive, than in the midst of her repugnance to them she had
+      ever apprehended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SUSPENSE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Delvile had been gone but a short time, before Henrietta, her eyes still
+      red, though no longer streaming, opened the parlour door, and asked if she
+      might come in?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wished to be alone, yet could not refuse her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, madam,&rdquo; cried she, with a forced smile, and constrained air of
+      bravery, &ldquo;did not I guess right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what?&rdquo; said Cecilia, unwilling to understand her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what I said would happen?&mdash;I am sure you know what I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, made no answer; she much regretted the
+      circumstances which had prevented an earlier communication, and was
+      uncertain whether, now, it would prove most kind or most cruel to acquaint
+      her with what was in agitation, which, should it terminate in nothing, was
+      unnecessarily wounding her delicacy for the openness of her confidence,
+      and which, however serviceable it might prove to her in the end, was in
+      the means so rough and piercing she felt the utmost repugnance to the
+      experiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think me, madam, too free,&rdquo; said Henrietta, &ldquo;in asking such a
+      question; and indeed your kindness has been so great, it may well make me
+      forget myself: but if it does, I am sure I deserve you should send me home
+      directly, and then there is not much fear I shall soon be brought to my
+      senses!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, my dear Henrietta, I can never think you too free; I have told you
+      already every thing I thought you would have pleasure in hearing; whatever
+      I have concealed, I have been fearful would only pain you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have <i>deserved</i>, madam,&rdquo; said she, with spirit, &ldquo;to be pained, for
+      I have behaved with the folly of a baby. I am very angry with myself
+      indeed! I was old enough to have known better,&mdash;and I ought to have
+      been wise enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must then be angry with yourself, next,&rdquo; said Cecilia, anxious to
+      re-encourage her, &ldquo;for all the love that I bear you; since to your
+      openness and frankness it was entirely owing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But there are some things that people should <i>not</i> be frank in;
+      however, I am only come now to beg you will tell me, madam, when it is to
+      be;&mdash;and don't think I ask out of nothing but curiosity, for I have a
+      very great reason for it indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What be, my dear Henrietta?&mdash;you are very rapid in your ideas!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, madam, what my reason is; I shall go away to my own
+      home,&mdash;and so I would if it were ten times a worse home than it is!&mdash;just
+      exactly the day before. Because afterwards I shall never like to look that
+      gentleman in the face,&mdash;never, never!&mdash;for married ladies I know
+      are not to be trusted!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be not apprehensive; you have no occasion. Whatever may be my fate, I
+      will never be so treacherous as to betray my beloved Henrietta to <i>any</i>
+      body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask you, madam, one question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did all this never happen before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, much distressed, &ldquo;I know not that it will happen
+      now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why what, dear madam, can hinder it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A thousand, thousand things! nothing can be less secure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then I am still as much puzzled as ever. I heard, a good while ago,
+      and we all heard that it was to be; and I thought that it was no wonder, I
+      am sure, for I used often to think it was just what was most likely; but
+      afterwards we heard it was no such thing, and from that moment I always
+      believed there had been nothing at all in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must speak to you, I find, with sincerity; my affairs have long been in
+      strange perplexity: I have not known myself what to expect; one day has
+      perpetually reversed the prospect of another, and my mind has been in a
+      state of uncertainty and disorder, that has kept it&mdash;that still keeps
+      it from comfort and from rest!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This surprises me indeed, madam! I thought <i>you</i> were all happiness!
+      but I was sure you deserved it, and I thought you had it for that reward.
+      And this has been the thing that has made me behave so wrong; for I took
+      it into my head I might tell you every thing, because I concluded it could
+      be nothing to you; for if great people loved one another, I always
+      supposed they married directly; poor people, indeed, must stay till they
+      are able to settle; but what in the whole world, thought I, if they like
+      one another, should hinder such a rich lady as Miss Beverley from marrying
+      such a rich gentleman at once?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now, finding there was no longer any chance for concealment,
+      thought it better to give the poor Henrietta at least the gratification of
+      unreserved confidence, which might somewhat sooth her uneasiness by
+      proving her reliance in her faith. She frankly, therefore, confessed to
+      her the whole of her situation. Henrietta wept at the recital with
+      bitterness, thought Mr Delvile a monster, and Mrs Delvile herself scarce
+      human; pitied Cecilia with unaffected tenderness, and wondered that the
+      person could exist who had the heart to give grief to young Delvile! She
+      thanked her most gratefully for reposing such trust in her; and Cecilia
+      made use of this opportunity, to enforce the necessity of her struggling
+      more seriously to recover her indifferency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She promised she would not fail; and forbore steadily from that time to
+      name Delvile any more: but the depression of her spirits shewed she had
+      suffered a disappointment such as astonished even Cecilia. Though modest
+      and humble, she had conceived hopes the most romantic, and though she
+      denied, even to herself, any expectations from Delvile, she involuntarily
+      nourished them with the most sanguine simplicity. To compose and to
+      strengthen her became the whole business of Cecilia; who, during her
+      present suspense, could find no other employment in which she could take
+      any interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, to whom nothing was unknown that related to Cecilia, was soon
+      informed of Delvile's visit, and hastened in the utmost alarm, to learn
+      its event. She had now lost all the pleasure she had formerly derived from
+      confiding in him, but though averse and confused, could not withstand his
+      enquiries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unlike the tender Henrietta's was his disappointment at this relation, and
+      his rage at such repeated trials was almost more than he could curb. He
+      spared neither the Delviles for their insolence of mutability in rejecting
+      or seeking her at their pleasure, nor herself for her easiness of
+      submission in being thus the dupe of their caprices. The subject was
+      difficult for Cecilia to dilate upon; she wished to clear, as he deserved,
+      Delvile himself from any share in the censure, and she felt hurt and
+      offended at the charge of her own improper readiness; yet shame and pride
+      united in preventing much vindication of either, and she heard almost in
+      silence what with pain she bore to hear at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He now saw, with inexpressible disturbance, that whatever was his power to
+      make her uneasy, he had none to make her retract, and that the conditional
+      promise she had given Delvile to be wholly governed by his mother, she was
+      firm in regarding to be as sacred as one made at the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perceiving this, he dared trust his temper with no further debate; he
+      assumed a momentary calmness for the purpose of taking leave of her, and
+      with pretended good wishes for her happiness, whatever might be her
+      determination, he stifled the reproaches with which his whole heart was
+      swelling, and precipitately left her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, affected by his earnestness, yet perplexed in all her opinions,
+      was glad to be relieved from useless exhortations, and not sorry, in her
+      present uncertainty, that his visit was not repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She neither saw nor heard from Delvile for a week, and augured nothing but
+      evil from such delay. The following letter then came by the post.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley. April 2d</i>, 1780
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I must write without comments, for I dare not trust myself with making
+      any; I must write without any beginning address, for I know not how you
+      will permit me to address you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have lived a life of tumult since last compelled to leave you, and when
+      it may subside, I am still in utter ignorance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The affecting account of the losses you have suffered through your
+      beneficence to the Harrels, and the explanatory one of the calumnies you
+      have sustained from your kindness to the Belfields, I related with the
+      plainness which alone I thought necessary to make them felt. I then told
+      the high honour I had received, in meeting with no other repulse to my
+      proposal, than was owing to an inability to accede to it; and informed my
+      mother of the condescending powers with which you had invested her. In
+      conclusion I mentioned my new scheme, and firmly, before I would listen to
+      any opposition, I declared that though wholly to their decision I left the
+      relinquishing my own name or your fortune, I was not only by your
+      generosity more internally yours than ever, but that since again I had
+      ventured, and with permission to apply to you, I should hold myself hence
+      forward unalterably engaged to you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so I do, and so I shall! nor, after a renewal so public, will any
+      prohibition but yours have force to keep me from throwing myself at your
+      feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My father's answer I will not mention; I would I could forget it! his
+      prejudices are irremediable, his resolutions are inflexible. Who or what
+      has worked him into an animosity so irreclaimable, I cannot conjecture,
+      nor will he tell; but something darkly mysterious has part in his wrath
+      and his injustice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My mother was much affected by your reference to herself. Words of the
+      sweetest praise broke repeatedly from her; no other such woman, she said,
+      existed; no other such instance could be found of fidelity so exalted! her
+      son must have no heart but for low and mercenary selfishness, if, after a
+      proof of regard so unexampled, he could bear to live without her! Oh how
+      did such a sentence from lips so highly reverenced, animate, delight,
+      confirm, and oblige me at once!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The displeasure of my father at this declaration was dreadful; his
+      charges, always as improbable as injurious, now became too horrible for my
+      ears; he disbelieved you had taken up the money for Harrel, he discredited
+      that you visited the Belfields for Henrietta: passion not merely banished
+      his justice, but, clouded his reason, and I soon left the room, that at
+      least I might not hear the aspersions he forbid me to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I left not, however, your fame to a weak champion: my mother defended it
+      with all the spirit of truth, and all the confidence of similar virtue!
+      yet they parted without conviction, and so mutually irritated with each
+      other, that they agreed to meet no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was too terrible! and I instantly consolidated my resentment to my
+      father, and my gratitude to my mother, into concessions and supplications
+      to both; I could not, however, succeed; my mother was deeply offended, my
+      father was sternly inexorable: nor here rests the evil of their
+      dissention, for the violence of the conflict has occasioned a return more
+      alarming than ever of the illness of my mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All her faith in her recovery is now built upon going abroad; she is
+      earnest to set off immediately; but Dr Lyster has advised her to make
+      London in her way, and have a consultation of physicians before she
+      departs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this she has agreed; and we are now upon the road thither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such is, at present, the melancholy state of my affairs. My mother <i>advised</i>
+      me to write; forgive me, therefore, that I waited not something more
+      decisive to say. I could prevail upon neither party to meet before the
+      journey; nor could I draw from my father the base fabricator of the
+      calumnies by which he has been thus abused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unhappily, I have nothing more to add: and whether intelligence, such as
+      this, or total suspense, would be least irksome, I know not. If my mother
+      bears her journey tolerably well, I have yet one more effort to make; and
+      of that the success or the failure will be instantly communicated to Miss
+      Beverley, by her eternally devoted, but half distracted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mortimer Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely could Cecilia herself decide whether this comfortless letter or
+      none at all were preferable. The implacability of Mr Delvile was shocking,
+      but his slandering her character was still more intolerable; yet the
+      praises of the mother, and her generous vindication, joined to the
+      invariable reliance of Delvile upon her innocence, conferred upon her an
+      honour that offered some alleviation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mention of a fabricator again brought Mr Monckton to her mind, and not
+      all her unwillingness to think him capable of such treachery, could now
+      root out her suspicions. Delvile's temper, however, she knew was too
+      impetuous to be trusted with this conjecture, and her fear of committing
+      injustice being thus seconded by prudence, she determined to keep to
+      herself doubts that could not without danger be divulged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She communicated briefly to Henrietta, who looked her earnest curiosity,
+      the continuance of her suspense; and to her own fate Henrietta became
+      somewhat more reconciled, when she saw that no station in life rendered
+      happiness certain or permanent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER x. &mdash; A RELATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Another week past still without any further intelligence. Cecilia was then
+      summoned to the parlour, and to Delvile himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked hurried and anxious; yet the glow of his face, and the animation
+      of his eyes, immediately declared he at least came not to take leave of
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you forgive,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;the dismal and unsatisfactory letter I wrote
+      you? I would not disobey you twice in the same manner, and I could not
+      till now have written in any other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The consultation with the physicians, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;is over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, yes; and the result is most alarming; they all agree my mother is
+      in a dangerous way, and they rather forbear to oppose, than advise her
+      going abroad: but upon that she is earnestly bent, and intends to set out
+      without delay. I shall return to her, therefore, with all speed, and mean
+      not to take any rest till I have seen her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia expressed with tenderness her sorrow for Mrs Delvile: nor were her
+      looks illiberal in including her son in her concern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must hasten,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;to the credentials by which I am authorised
+      for coming, and I must hasten to prove if Miss Beverley has not flattered
+      my mother in her appeal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then informed her that Mrs Delvile, apprehensive for herself, and
+      softened for him by the confession of her danger, which she had extorted
+      from her physicians, had tenderly resolved upon making one final effort
+      for his happiness, and ill and impatient as she was, upon deferring her
+      journey to wait its effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Generously, therefore, giving up her own resentment, she wrote to Mr
+      Delvile in terms of peace and kindness, lamenting their late dissention,
+      and ardently expressing her desire to be reconciled to him before she left
+      England. She told him the uncertainty of her recovery which had been
+      acknowledged by her physicians, who had declared a calmer mind was more
+      essential to her than a purer air. She then added, that such serenity was
+      only to be given her, by the removal of her anxiety at the comfortless
+      state of her son. She begged him, therefore, to make known the author of
+      Miss Beverley's defamation, assuring him, that upon enquiry, he would find
+      her character and her fame as unsullied as his own; and strongly
+      representing, that after the sacrifice to which she had consented, their
+      son would be utterly dishonourable in thinking of any other connexion. She
+      then to this reasoning joined the most earnest supplication, protesting,
+      in her present disordered state, of health, her life might pay the
+      forfeiture of her continual uneasiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I held out,&rdquo; she concluded, &ldquo;while his personal dignity, and the honour
+      of his name and family were endangered; but where interest alone is
+      concerned, and that interest is combated by the peace of his mind, and the
+      delicacy of his word, my opposition is at an end. And though our extensive
+      and well founded views for a splendid alliance are abolished, you will
+      agree with me hereafter, upon a closer inspection, that the object for
+      whom he relinquishes them, offers in herself the noblest reparation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia felt gratified, humbled, animated and depressed at once by this
+      letter, of which Delvile brought her a copy. &ldquo;And what,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;was
+      the answer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot in decency,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;speak my opinion of it: read it
+      yourself,&mdash;and let me hear yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To the Honourable Mrs Delvile</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Your extraordinary letter, madam, has extremely surprised me. I had been
+      willing to hope the affair over from the time my disapprobation of it was
+      formally announced. I am sorry you are so much indisposed, but I cannot
+      conclude your health would be restored by my acceding to a plan so
+      derogatory to my house. I disapprove it upon every account, not only of
+      the name and the fortune, but the lady herself. I have reasons more
+      important than those I assign, but they are such as I am bound in honour
+      not to mention. After such a declaration, nobody, I presume, will affront
+      me by asking them. Her defence you have only from herself, her accusation
+      I have received from authority less partial. I command, therefore, that my
+      son, upon pain of my eternal displeasure, may never speak to me on the
+      subject again, and I hope, madam, from you the same complaisance to my
+      request. I cannot explain myself further, nor is it necessary; it is no
+      news, I flatter myself, to Mortimer Delvile or his mother, that I do
+      nothing without reason, and I believe nothing upon slight grounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few cold compliments concerning her journey, and the re-establishment of
+      her health, concluded the letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, having read, hastily returned it, and indignantly said, &ldquo;My
+      opinion, Sir, upon this letter, must surely be yours; that we had done
+      wiser, long since, to have spared your mother and ourselves, those vain
+      and fruitless conflicts which we ought better to have foreseen were liable
+      to such a conclusion. Now, at least, let them be ended, and let us not
+      pursue disgrace wilfully, after suffering from it with so much rigour
+      involuntarily.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;rather let us now spurn it for ever! those
+      conflicts must indeed be ended, but not by a separation still more bitter
+      than all of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her, that his mother, highly offended to observe by the
+      extreme coldness of this letter, the rancour he still nourished for the
+      contest preceding her leaving him, no longer now refused even her separate
+      consent, for a measure which she thought her son absolutely engaged to
+      take.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, much amazed, &ldquo;this from Mrs Delvile!&mdash;a
+      separate consent?&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has always maintained,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;an independent mind, always
+      judged for herself, and refused all other arbitration: when so impetuously
+      she parted us, my father's will happened to be her's, and thence their
+      concurrence: my father, of a temper immoveable and stern, retains
+      stubbornly the prejudices which once have taken possession of him; my
+      mother, generous as fiery, and noble as proud, is open to conviction, and
+      no sooner convinced, than ingenuous in acknowledging it: and thence their
+      dissention. From my father I may hope forgiveness, but must never expect
+      concession; from my mother I may hope all she ought to grant, for pardon
+      but her vehemence,&mdash;and she has every great quality that can dignify
+      human nature!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, whose affection and reverence for Mrs Delvile were unfeigned, and
+      who loved in her son this filial enthusiasm, readily concurred with him in
+      praising her, and sincerely esteemed her the first among women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, then,&rdquo; cried he, with earnestness, &ldquo;now is the time when your
+      generous admiration of her is put to the test; see what she writes to you;&mdash;she
+      has left to me all explanation: but I insisted upon some credential, lest
+      you should believe I only owed her concurrence to a happy dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia in much trepidation took the letter, and hastily run it over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Misery, my sweet young friend, has long been busy with us all; much have
+      we owed to the clash of different interests, much to that rapacity which
+      to enjoy any thing, demands every thing, and much to that general
+      perverseness which labours to place happiness in what is with-held. Thus
+      do we struggle on till we can struggle no longer; the felicity with which
+      we trifle, at best is but temporary; and before reason and reflection shew
+      its value, sickness and sorrow are commonly become stationary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Be it yours, my love, and my son's, to profit by the experience, while you
+      pity the errors, of the many who illustrate this truth. Your mutual
+      partiality has been mutually unfortunate, and must always continue so for
+      the interests of both: but how blind is it to wait, in our own peculiar
+      lots, for that perfection of enjoyment we can all see wanting in the lot
+      of others! My expectations for my son had &ldquo;outstepped the modesty of&rdquo;
+       probability. I looked for rank and high birth, with the fortune of
+      Cecilia, and Cecilia's rare character. Alas! a new constellation in the
+      heavens might as rationally have been looked for!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My extravagance, however, has been all for his felicity, dearer to me than
+      life,&mdash;dearer to me than all things but his own honour! Let us but
+      save that, and then let wealth, ambition, interest, grandeur and pride,
+      since they cannot constitute his happiness, be removed from destroying it.
+      I will no longer play the tyrant that, weighing good and evil by my own
+      feelings and opinions, insists upon his acting by the notions I have
+      formed, whatever misery they may bring him by opposing all his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I leave the kingdom with little reason to expect I shall return to it; I
+      leave it&mdash;Oh blindness of vanity and passion!&mdash;from the effect
+      of that violence with which so lately I opposed what now I am content to
+      advance! But the extraordinary resignation to which you have agreed, shews
+      your heart so wholly my son's, and so even more than worthy the whole
+      possession of his, that it reflects upon him an honour more bright and
+      more alluring, than any the most illustrious other alliance could now
+      confer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I would fain see you ere I go, lest I should see you no more; fain ratify
+      by word of mouth the consent that by word of mouth I so absolutely
+      refused! I know not how to come to Suffolk,&mdash;is it not possible you
+      can come to London? I am told you leave to me the arbitration of your
+      fate, in giving you to my son, I best shew my sense of such an honour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hasten then, my love, to town, that I may see you once more! wait no
+      longer a concurrence thus unjustly with-held, but hasten, that I may bless
+      the daughter I have so often wished to own! that I may entreat her
+      forgiveness for all the pain I have occasioned her, and committing to her
+      charge the future happiness of my son, fold to my maternal heart the two
+      objects most dear to it!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wept over this letter with tenderness, grief and alarm; but
+      declared, had it even summoned her to follow her abroad, she could not,
+      after reading it, have hesitated in complying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O now, then,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;let our long suspenses end! hear me with
+      the candour; my mother has already listened to me&mdash;be mine, my
+      Cecilia, at once,&mdash;and force me not, by eternal scruples, to risk
+      another separation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven, Sir!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, starting, &ldquo;in such a state as Mrs
+      Delvile thinks herself, would you have her journey delayed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not a moment! I would but ensure you mine, and go with her all over
+      the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wild and impossible!&mdash;and what is to be done with Mr Delvile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is on his account wholly I am thus earnestly precipitate. If I do not
+      by an immediate marriage prevent his further interference, all I have
+      already suffered may again be repeated, and some fresh contest with my
+      mother may occasion another relapse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who now understood him, ardently protested she would not listen
+      for a moment to any clandestine expedient.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He besought her to be patient; and then anxiously represented to her their
+      peculiar situations. All application to his father he was peremptorily
+      forbid making, all efforts to remove his prejudices their impenetrable
+      mystery prevented; a public marriage, therefore, with such obstacles,
+      would almost irritate him to phrenzy, by its daring defiance of his
+      prohibition and authority.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; exclaimed Cecilia, &ldquo;we can never do right but in parting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say it not,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I conjure you! we shall yet live, I hope, to
+      prove the contrary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And can you, then,&rdquo; cried she, reproachfully, &ldquo;Oh Mr Delvile! can you
+      again urge me to enter your family in secret?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I grieve, indeed,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;that your goodness should so severely be
+      tried; yet did you not condescend to commit the arbitration to my mother?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True; and I thought her approbation would secure my peace of mind; but
+      how could I have expected Mrs Delvile's consent to such a scheme!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has merely accorded it from a certainty there is no other resource.
+      Believe me, therefore, my whole hope rests upon your present compliance.
+      My father, I am certain, by his letter, will now hear neither petition nor
+      defence; on the contrary, he will only enrage at the temerity of offering
+      to confute him. But when he knows you are his daughter, his honour will
+      then be concerned in yours, and it will be as much his desire to have it
+      cleared, as it is now to have it censured.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait at least your return, and let us try what can be done with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh why,&rdquo; cried Delvile, with much earnestness, &ldquo;must I linger out month
+      after month in this wretched uncertainty! If I wait I am undone! my
+      father, by the orders I must unavoidably leave, will discover the
+      preparations making without his consent, and he will work upon you in my
+      absence, and compel you to give me up!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you sure,&rdquo; said she, half smiling, &ldquo;he would have so much power?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am but too sure, that the least intimation, in his present irritable
+      state of mind, reaching him of my intentions, would make him not scruple,
+      in his fury, pronouncing some malediction upon my disobedience that <i>neither</i>
+      of us, I must own, could tranquilly disregard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was an argument that came home to Cecilia, whose deliberation upon
+      it, though silent, was evidently not unfavourable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that with respect to settlements, he would instantly have
+      a bond drawn up, similar to that prepared for their former intended union,
+      which should be properly signed and sealed, and by which he would engage
+      himself to make, upon coming to his estate, the same settlement upon her
+      that was made upon his mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And as, instead of keeping up three houses,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;in the manner
+      my father does at present, I mean to put my whole estate <i>out to nurse</i>,
+      while we reside for a while abroad, or in the country, I doubt not but in
+      a very few years we shall be as rich and as easy as we shall desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He told her, also, of his well-founded expectations from the Relations
+      already mentioned; which the concurrence of his mother with his marriage
+      would thence forward secure to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then, with more coherence, stated his plan at large. He purposed,
+      without losing a moment, to return to London; he conjured her, in the name
+      of his mother, to set out herself early the next day, that the following
+      evening might be dedicated wholly to Mrs Delvile: through her intercession
+      he might then hope Cecilia's compliance, and every thing on the morning
+      after should be prepared for their union. The long-desired ceremony over,
+      he would instantly ride post to his father, and pay him, at least, the
+      respect of being the first to communicate it. He would then attend his
+      mother to the Continent, and leave the arrangement of everything to his
+      return. &ldquo;Still, therefore, as a single man,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I mean to make
+      the journey, and I shall take care, by the time I return, to have all
+      things in readiness for claiming my sweet Bride. Tell me, then, now, if
+      you can reasonably oppose this plan?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, after some hesitation, &ldquo;I cannot see the necessity
+      of such violent precipitancy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not try me too much,&rdquo; cried Delvile, impatiently, &ldquo;to talk now of
+      precipitancy! after such painful waiting, such wearisome expectation! I
+      ask you not to involve your own affairs in confusion by accompanying me
+      abroad; sweet to me as would be such an indulgence, I would not make a
+      run-away of you in the opinion of the world. All I wish is the secret
+      certainty I cannot be robbed of you, that no cruel machinations may again
+      work our separation, that you are mine, unalterably mine, beyond the power
+      of caprice or ill fortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia made no answer; tortured with irresolution, she knew not upon what
+      to determine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might then, according to the favour or displeasure of my father,
+      settle wholly abroad for the present, or occasionally visit him in
+      England; my mother would be always and openly our friend&mdash;Oh be firm,
+      then, I conjure you, to the promise you have given her, and deign to be
+      mine on the conditions she prescribes. She will be bound to you for ever
+      by so generous a concession, and even her health may be restored by the
+      cessation of her anxieties. With such a wife, such a mother, what will be
+      wanting for <i>me</i>! Could I lament not being richer, I must be
+      rapacious indeed!&mdash;Speak, then, my Cecilia! relieve me from the agony
+      of this eternal uncertainty, and tell me your word is invariable as your
+      honour, and tell me my mother gives not her sanction in vain!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sighed deeply, but, after some hesitation, said, &ldquo;I little knew
+      what I had promised, nor know I now what to perform!&mdash;there must
+      ever, I find, be some check to human happiness! yet, since upon these
+      terms, Mrs Delvile herself is content to wish me of her family&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt; but, urged earnestly by Delvile, added &ldquo;I must not, I think,
+      withdraw the powers with which I entrusted her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, grateful and enchanted, now forgot his haste and his business,
+      and lost every wish but to re-animate her spirits: she compelled him,
+      however, to leave her, that his visit might less be wondered at, and sent
+      by him a message to Mrs. Delvile, that, wholly relying upon her wisdom,
+      she implicitly submitted to her decree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER xi. &mdash; AN ENTERPRISE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now had no time for afterthoughts or anxious repentance, since
+      notwithstanding the hurry of her spirits, and the confusion of her mind,
+      she had too much real business, to yield to pensive indulgence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Averse to all falsehood, she invented none upon this occasion; she merely
+      told her guests she was summoned to London upon an affair of importance;
+      and though she saw their curiosity, not being at liberty to satisfy it
+      with the truth, she attempted not to appease it by fiction, but quietly
+      left it to its common fare, conjecture. She would gladly have made
+      Henrietta the companion of her journey, but Henrietta was the last to whom
+      that journey could give pleasure. She only, therefore, took her maid in
+      the chaise, and, attended by one servant on horseback, at six o'clock the
+      next morning, she quitted her mansion, to enter into an engagement by
+      which soon she was to resign it for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Disinterested as she was, she considered her situation as peculiarly
+      perverse, that from the time of her coming to a fortune which most others
+      regarded as enviable, she had been a stranger to peace, a fruitless seeker
+      of happiness, a dupe to the fraudulent, and a prey to the needy! the
+      little comfort she had received, had been merely from dispensing it, and
+      now only had she any chance of being happy herself, when upon the point of
+      relinquishing what all others built their happiness upon obtaining!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These reflections only gave way to others still more disagreeable; she was
+      now a second time engaged in a transaction she could not approve, and
+      suffering the whole peace of her future life to hang upon an action dark,
+      private and imprudent: an action by which the liberal kindness of her late
+      uncle would be annulled, by which the father of her intended husband would
+      be disobeyed, and which already, in a similar instance, had brought her to
+      affliction and disgrace. These melancholy thoughts haunted her during the
+      whole journey, and though the assurance of Mrs Delvile's approbation was
+      some relief to her uneasiness, she involuntarily prepared herself for
+      meeting new mortifications, and was tormented with an apprehension that
+      this second attempt made her merit them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She drove immediately, by the previous direction of Delvile, to a
+      lodging-house in Albemarle Street, which he had taken care to have
+      prepared for her reception. She then sent for a chair, and went to Mrs
+      Delvile's. Her being seen by the servants of that house was not very
+      important, as their master was soon to be acquainted with the real motive
+      of her journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was shewn into a parlour, while Mrs Delvile was informed of her
+      arrival, and there flown to by Delvile with the most grateful eagerness.
+      Yet she saw in his countenance that all was not well, and heard upon
+      enquiry that his mother was considerably worse. Extremely shocked by this
+      intelligence, she already began to lament her unfortunate enterprise.
+      Delvile struggled, by exerting his own spirits, to restore hers, but
+      forced gaiety is never exhilarating; and, full of care and anxiety, he was
+      ill able to appear sprightly and easy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were soon summoned upstairs into the apartment of Mrs Delvile, who
+      was lying upon a couch, pale, weak, and much altered. Delvile led the way,
+      saying, &ldquo;Here, madam, comes one whose sight will bring peace and pleasure
+      to you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This, indeed,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, half rising and embracing her, &ldquo;is the
+      form in which they are most welcome to me! virtuous, noble Cecilia! what
+      honour you do my son! with what joy, should I ever recover, shall I assist
+      him in paying the gratitude he owes you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, grieved at her situation, and affected by her kindness, could
+      only answer with her tears; which, however, were not shed alone; for
+      Delvile's eyes were full, as he passionately exclaimed, &ldquo;This, this is the
+      sight my heart has thus long desired! the wife of my choice taken to the
+      bosom of the parent I revere! be yet but well, my beloved mother, and I
+      will be thankful for every calamity that has led to so sweet a
+      conclusion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Content yourself, however, my son, with one of us,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile,
+      smiling; &ldquo;and content yourself, if you can, though your hard lot should
+      make that one this creature of full bloom, health, and youth! Ah, my
+      love,&rdquo; added she, more seriously, and addressing the still weeping
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;should now Mortimer, in losing me, lose those cares by which
+      alone, for some months past, my life has been rendered tolerable, how
+      peaceably shall I resign him to one so able to recompense his filial
+      patience and services!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was not a speech to stop the tears of Cecilia, though such warmth of
+      approbation quieted her conscientious scruples. Delvile now earnestly
+      interfered; he told her that his mother had been ordered not to talk or
+      exert herself, and entreated her to be composed, and his mother to be
+      silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be it <i>your</i> business, then,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, more gaily, &ldquo;to find
+      us entertainment. We will promise to be very still if you will take that
+      trouble upon yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;be rallied from my purpose; if I cannot
+      entertain, it will be something to weary you, for that may incline you to
+      take rest, which will he answering a better purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mortimer,&rdquo; returned she, &ldquo;is this the ingenuity of duty or of love? and
+      which are you just now thinking of, my health, or a conversation
+      uninterrupted with Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps a little of both!&rdquo; said he, chearfully, though colouring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you rather meant it should pass,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;you were
+      thinking only of me? I have always observed, that where one scheme answers
+      two purposes, the ostensive is never the purpose most at heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why it is but common prudence,&rdquo; answered Delvile, &ldquo;to feel our way a
+      little before we mention what we most wish, and so cast the hazard of the
+      refusal upon something rather less important.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Admirably settled!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile: &ldquo;so my rest is but to prove Miss
+      Beverley's disturbance!&mdash;Well, it is only anticipating our future way
+      of life, when her disturbance, in taking the management of you to herself,
+      will of course prove my rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then quietly reposed herself, and Delvile discoursed with Cecilia upon
+      their future plans, hopes and actions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He meant to set off from the church-door to Delvile Castle, to acquaint
+      his father with his marriage, and then to return instantly to London:
+      there he entreated Cecilia to stay with his mother, that, finding them
+      both together, he might not exhaust her patience, by making his parting
+      visit occasion another journey to Suffolk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But here Cecilia resolutely opposed him; saying, her only chance to escape
+      discovery, was going instantly to her own house; and representing so
+      earnestly her desire that their marriage should be unknown till his return
+      to England, upon a thousand motives of delicacy, propriety, and
+      fearfulness, that the obligation he owed already to a compliance which he
+      saw grew more and more reluctant, restrained him both in gratitude and
+      pity from persecuting her further. Neither would she consent to seeing him
+      in Suffolk; which could but delay his mother's journey, and expose her to
+      unnecessary suspicions; she promised, however, to write to him often, and
+      as, from his mother's weakness, he must travel very slowly, she took a
+      plan of his route, and engaged that he should find a letter from her at
+      every great town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bond which he had already had altered, he insisted upon leaving in her
+      own custody, averse to applying to Mr Monckton, whose behaviour to him had
+      before given him disgust, and in whom Cecilia herself no longer wished to
+      confide. He had again applied to the same lawyer, Mr Singleton, to give
+      her away; for though to his secrecy he had no tie, he had still less to
+      any entire stranger. Mrs Delvile was too ill to attend them to church, nor
+      would Delvile have desired from her such absolute defiance of his father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now gave another sigh to her departed friend Mrs Charlton, whose
+      presence upon this awful occasion would else again have soothed and
+      supported her. She had no female friend in whom she could rely; but
+      feeling a repugnance invincible to being accompanied only by men, she
+      accepted the attendance of Mrs Delvile's own woman, who had lived many
+      years in the family, and was high in the favour and confidence of her
+      lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arrangement of these and other articles, with occasional interruptions
+      from Mrs Delvile, fully employed the evening. Delvile would not trust
+      again to meeting her at the church; but begged her to send out her
+      servants between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, at which time he
+      would himself call for her with a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She went away early, that Mrs Delvile might go to rest, and it was
+      mutually agreed they should risk no meeting the next day. Delvile conjured
+      them to part with firmness and chearfulness, and Cecilia, fearing her own
+      emotion, would have retired without bidding her adieu. But Mrs Delvile,
+      calling after her, said, &ldquo;Take with you my blessing!&rdquo; and tenderly
+      embracing her, added, &ldquo;My son, as my chief nurse, claims a prescriptive
+      right to govern me, but I will break from his control to tell my sweet
+      Cecilia what ease and what delight she has already given to my mind! my
+      best hope of recovery is founded on the pleasure I anticipate to
+      witnessing your mutual happiness: but should my illness prove fatal, and
+      that felicity be denied me, my greatest earthly care is already removed by
+      the security I feel of Mortimer's future peace. Take with you, then, my
+      blessing, for you are become one to me! long daughter of my affection, now
+      wife of my darling son! love her, Mortimer, as she merits, and cherish her
+      with tenderest gratitude!&mdash;banish, sweetest Cecilia, every
+      apprehension that oppresses you, and receive in Mortimer Delvile a husband
+      that will revere your virtues, and dignify your choice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then embraced her again, and seeing that her heart was too full for
+      speech, suffered her to go without making any answer. Delvile attended her
+      to her chair, scarce less moved than herself, and found only opportunity
+      to entreat her punctuality the next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had, indeed, no inclination to fail in her appointment, or risk the
+      repetition of scenes so affecting, or situations so alarming. Mrs
+      Delvile's full approbation somewhat restored to her her own, but nothing
+      could remove the fearful anxiety, which still privately tormented her with
+      expectations of another disappointment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning she arose with the light, and calling all her courage to
+      her aid, determined to consider this day as decisive of her destiny with
+      regard to Delvile, and, rejoicing that at least all suspense would be
+      over, to support herself with fortitude, be that destiny what it might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the appointed time she sent her maid to visit Mrs Hill, and gave some
+      errands to her man that carried him to a distant part of the town: but she
+      charged them both to return to the lodgings by nine o'clock, at which hour
+      she ordered a chaise for returning into the country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, who was impatiently watching for their quitting the house, only
+      waited till they were out of sight, to present himself at the door. He was
+      shewn into a parlour, where she instantly attended him; and being told
+      that the clergyman, Mr Singleton, and Mrs Delvile's woman, were already in
+      the church, she gave him her hand in silence, and he led her to the chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The calmness of stifled hope had now taken place in Cecilia of quick
+      sensations and alarm. Occupied with a firm belief she should never be the
+      wife of Delvile, she only waited, with a desperate sort of patience, to
+      see when and by whom she was next to be parted from him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they arrived near the church, Delvile stopt the chair. He handed
+      Cecilia out of it, and discharging the chairmen, conducted her into the
+      church. He was surprised himself at her composure, but earnestly wishing
+      it to last, took care not to say to her a word that should make any answer
+      from her necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave her, as before, to Mr Singleton, secretly praying that not, as
+      before, she might be given him in vain: Mrs Delvile's woman attended her;
+      the clergyman was ready, and they all proceeded to the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ceremony was begun; Cecilia, rather mechanically than with
+      consciousness, appearing to listen to it but at the words, <i>If any man
+      can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together</i>,
+      Delvile himself shook with terror, lest some concealed person should again
+      answer it, and Cecilia, with a sort of steady dismay in her countenance,
+      cast her eyes round the church, with no other view than that of seeing
+      from what corner the prohibiter would start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked, however, to no purpose; no prohibiter appeared, the ceremony
+      was performed without any interruption, and she received the thanks of
+      Delvile, and the congratulations of the little set, before the idea which
+      had so strongly pre-occupied her imagination, was sufficiently removed
+      from it to satisfy her she was really married.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then went to the vestry, where their business was not long; and
+      Delvile again put Cecilia into a chair, which again he accompanied on
+      foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her sensibility now soon returned, though still attended with strangeness
+      and a sensation of incredulity. But the sight of Delvile at her lodgings,
+      contrary to their agreement, wholly recovered her senses from the stupor
+      which had dulled them. He came, however, but to acknowledge how highly she
+      had obliged him, to see her himself restored to the animation natural to
+      her, character, and to give her a million of charges, resulting from
+      anxiety and tenderness. And then, fearing the return of her servants, he
+      quitted her, and set out for Delvile Castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The amazement of Cecilia was still unconquerable; to be actually united
+      with Delvile! to be his with the full consent of his mother,&mdash;to have
+      him her's, beyond the power of his father,&mdash;she could not reconcile
+      it with possibility; she fancied it a dream,&mdash;but a dream from which
+      she wished not to wake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK X.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER i
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A DISCOVERY.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's journey back to the country was as safe and free from
+      interruption as her journey had been to town, and all that distinguished
+      them was what passed in her own mind: the doubts, apprehensions, and
+      desponding suspense which had accompanied her setting out, were now all
+      removed, and certainty, ease, the expectation of happiness, and the
+      cessation of all perplexity, had taken their place. She had nothing left
+      to dread but the inflexibility of Mr Delvile, and hardly any thing even to
+      hope but the recovery of his lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her friends at her return expressed their wonder at her expedition, but
+      their wonder at what occasioned it, though still greater, met no
+      satisfaction. Henrietta rejoiced in her sight, though her absence had been
+      so short; and Cecilia, whose affection with her pity increased, intimated
+      to her the event for which she wished her to prepare herself, and frankly
+      acknowledged she had reason to expect it would soon take place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta endeavoured with composure to receive this intelligence, and to
+      return such a mark of confidence with chearful congratulations: but her
+      fortitude was unequal to an effort so heroic, and her character was too
+      simple to assume a greatness she felt not: she sighed and changed colour;
+      and hastily quitted the room that she might sob aloud in another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Warm-hearted, tender, and susceptible, her affections were all
+      undisguised: struck with the elegance of Delvile, and enchanted by his
+      services to her brother, she had lost to him her heart at first without
+      missing it, and, when missed, without seeking to reclaim it. The
+      hopelessness of such a passion she never considered, nor asked herself its
+      end, or scarce suspected its aim; it was pleasant to her at the time, and
+      she looked not to the future, but fed it with visionary schemes, and
+      soothed it with voluntary fancies. Now she knew all was over, she felt the
+      folly she had committed, but though sensibly and candidly angry at her own
+      error, its conviction offered nothing but sorrow to succeed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The felicity of Cecilia, whom she loved, admired and revered, she wished
+      with the genuine ardour of zealous sincerity; but that Delvile, the very
+      cause and sole subject of her own personal unhappiness, should himself
+      constitute that felicity, was too much for her spirits, and seemed to her
+      mortified mind too cruel in her destiny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who in the very vehemence of her sorrow saw its innocence, was
+      too just and too noble to be offended by it, or impute to the bad passions
+      of envy or jealousy, the artless regret of an untutored mind. To be
+      penetrated too deeply with the merit of Delvile, with her wanted no
+      excuse, and she grieved for her situation with but little mixture of
+      blame, and none of surprise. She redoubled her kindness and caresses with
+      the hope of consoling her, but ventured to trust her no further, till
+      reflection, and her natural good sense, should better enable her to bear
+      an explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was this friendly exertion any longer a hardship to her; the sudden
+      removal, in her own feelings and affairs, of distress and expectation, had
+      now so much lightened her heart, that she could spare without repining,
+      some portion of its spirit to her dejected young friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But an incident happened two mornings after which called back, and most
+      unpleasantly, her attention to herself. She was told that Mrs Matt, the
+      poor woman she had settled in Bury, begged an audience, and upon sending
+      for her up stairs, and desiring to know what she could do for her,
+      &ldquo;Nothing, madam, just now,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;for I don't come upon my own
+      business, but to tell some news to you, madam. You bid me never take
+      notice of the wedding, that was to be, and I'm sure I never opened my
+      mouth about it from that time to this; but I have found out who it was put
+      a stop to it, and so I come to tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely amazed, eagerly desired her to go on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, madam, I don't know the gentlewoman's name quite right yet, but I
+      can tell you where she lives, for I knew her as soon as I set eyes on her,
+      when I see her at church last Sunday, and I would have followed her home,
+      but she went into a coach, and I could not walk fast enough; but I asked
+      one of the footmen where she lived, and he said at the great house at the
+      Grove: and perhaps, madam, you may know where that is: and then he told me
+      her name, but that I can't just now think of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia,&mdash;&ldquo;it could not be Bennet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, ma'am, that's the very name; I know it again now I hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then hastily dismissed her, first desiring her not to mention the
+      circumstance to any body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shocked and dismayed, she now saw, but saw with horror, the removal of all
+      her doubts, and the explanation of all her difficulties, in the full and
+      irrefragable discovery of the perfidy of her oldest friend and confident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Bennet herself she regarded in the affair as a mere tool, which,
+      though in effect it did the work, was innocent of its mischief, because
+      powerless but in the hand of its employer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That employer,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;must be Mr Monckton! Mr Monckton whom so long
+      I have known, who so willingly has been my counsellor, so ably my
+      instructor! in whose integrity I have confided, upon whose friendship I
+      have relied! my succour in all emergencies, my guide in all perplexities!&mdash;Mr
+      <i>Monckton</i> thus dishonourably, thus barbarously to betray me! to turn
+      against me the very confidence I had reposed in his regard for me! and
+      make use of my own trust to furnish the means to injure me!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now wholly confirmed that he had wronged her with Mr Delvile; she
+      could not have two enemies so malignant without provocation, and he who so
+      unfeelingly could dissolve a union at the very altar, could alone have the
+      baseness to calumniate her so cruelly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evil thoughts thus awakened, stopt not merely upon facts; conjecture
+      carried her further, and conjecture built upon probability. The
+      officiousness of Morrice in pursuing her to London, his visiting her when
+      there, and his following and watching Delvile, she now reasonably
+      concluded were actions directed by Mr Monckton, whose house he had but
+      just left, and whose orders, whatever they might be, she was almost
+      certain he would obey. Availing himself, therefore, of the forwardness and
+      suppleness which met in this young man, she doubted not but his
+      intelligence had contributed to acquaint him with her proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The motive of such deep concerted and accumulated treachery was next to be
+      sought: nor was the search long; one only could have tempted him to
+      schemes so hazardous and costly; and, unsuspicious as she was, she now saw
+      into his whole design.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long accustomed to regard him as a safe and disinterested old friend, the
+      respect with which, as a child, she had looked up to him, she had
+      insensibly preserved when a woman. That respect had taught her to consider
+      his notice as a favour, and far from suspiciously shunning, she had
+      innocently courted it: and his readiness in advising and tutoring her, his
+      frank and easy friendliness of behaviour, had kept his influence
+      unimpaired, by preventing its secret purpose from being detected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But now the whole mystery was revealed; his aversion to the Delviles, to
+      which hitherto she had attributed all she disapproved in his behaviour,
+      she was convinced must be inadequate to stimulate him to such lengths.
+      That aversion itself was by this late surmise accounted for, and no sooner
+      did it occur to her, than a thousand circumstances confirmed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first among these was the evident ill will of Lady Margaret, which
+      though she had constantly imputed to the general irascibility for which
+      her character was notorious, she had often wondered to find impenetrable
+      to all endeavours to please or soften her. His care of her fortune, his
+      exhortations against her expences, his wish to make her live with Mr
+      Briggs, all contributed to point out the selfishness of his attentions,
+      which in one instance rendered visible, became obvious in every other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet various as were the incidents that now poured upon her memory to his
+      disgrace, not one among them took its rise from his behaviour to herself,
+      which always had been scrupulously circumspect, or if for a moment
+      unguarded, only at a season when her own distress or confusion had
+      prevented her from perceiving it. This recollection almost staggered her
+      suspicions; yet so absolute seemed the confirmation they received from
+      every other, that her doubt was overpowered, and soon wholly extinguished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was yet ruminating on this subject, when, word was brought her that Mr
+      Monckton was in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mingled disgust and indignation made her shudder at his name, and without
+      pausing a moment, she sent him word she was engaged, and could not
+      possibly leave her room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Astonished by such a dismission, he left the house in the utmost
+      confusion. But Cecilia could not endure to see him, after a discovery of
+      such hypocrisy and villainy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She considered, however, that the matter could not rest here: he would
+      demand an explanation, and perhaps, by his unparalleled address, again
+      contrive to seem innocent, notwithstanding appearances were at present so
+      much against him. Expecting, therefore, some artifice, and determined not
+      to be duped by it, she sent again for the Pew-opener, to examine her more
+      strictly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman was out at work in a private family, and could not come till the
+      evening: but, when further questioned, the description she gave of Miss
+      Bennet was too exact to be disputed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then desired her to call again the next morning and sent a servant to
+      the Grove, with her compliments to Miss Bennet, and a request that she
+      might send her carriage for her the next day, at any time she pleased, as
+      she wished much to speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This message, she was aware, might create some suspicion, and put her upon
+      her guard; but she thought, nevertheless, a sudden meeting with the
+      Pew-opener, whom she meant abruptly to confront with her, would baffle the
+      security of any previously settled scheme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To a conviction such as this even Mr Monckton must submit, and since he
+      was lost to her as a friend, she might at least save herself the pain of
+      keeping up his acquaintance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN INTERVIEW.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The servant did not return till it was dark; and then, with a look of much
+      dismay, said he had been able to meet with nobody who could either give or
+      take a message; that the Grove was all in confusion, and the whole country
+      in an uproar, for Mr Monckton, just as he arrived, had been brought home
+      dead!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia screamed with involuntary horror; a pang like remorse seized her
+      mind, with the apprehension she had some share in this catastrophe, and
+      innocent as she was either of his fall or his crimes, she no sooner heard
+      he was no more, than she forgot he had offended her, and reproached
+      herself with severity for the shame to which she meant to expose him the
+      next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dreadfully disturbed by this horrible incident, she entreated Mrs Harrel
+      and Henrietta to sup by themselves, and going into her own room,
+      determined to write the whole affair to Delvile, in a letter she should
+      direct to be left at the post-office for him at Margate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And here strongly she felt the happiness of being actually his wife; she
+      could now without reserve make him acquainted with all her affairs, and
+      tell to the master of her heart every emotion that entered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While engaged in this office, the very action of which quieted her, a
+      letter was brought her from Delvile himself. She received it with
+      gratitude and opened it with joy; he had promised to write soon, but so
+      soon she had thought impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reading took not much time; the letter contained but the following
+      words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MY CECILIA!&mdash;Be alone, I conjure you; dismiss every body, and admit
+      me this moment!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great was her astonishment at this note! no name to it, no conclusion, the
+      characters indistinct, the writing crooked, the words so few, and those
+      few scarce legible!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He desired to see her, and to see her alone; she could not hesitate in her
+      compliance,&mdash;but whom could she dismiss?&mdash;her servants, if
+      ordered away, would but be curiously upon the watch,&mdash;she could think
+      of no expedient, she was all hurry and amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She asked if any one waited for an answer? The footman said no; that the
+      note was given in by somebody who did not speak, and who ran out of sight
+      the moment he had delivered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She could not doubt this was Delvile himself,&mdash;Delvile who should now
+      be just returned from the castle to his mother, and whom she had thought
+      not even a letter would reach if directed any where nearer than Margate!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All she could devise in obedience to him, was to go and wait for him alone
+      in her dressing-room, giving orders that if any one called they might be
+      immediately brought up to her, as she expected somebody upon business,
+      with whom she must not be interrupted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was extremely disagreeable to her; yet, contrary as it was to their
+      agreement, she felt no inclination to reproach Delvile; the abruptness of
+      his note, the evident hand-shaking with which it had been written, the
+      strangeness of the request in a situation such as theirs,&mdash;all
+      concurred to assure her he came not to her idly, and all led her to
+      apprehend he came to her with evil tidings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What they might be, she had no time to conjecture; a servant, in a few
+      minutes, opened the dressing-room door, and said, &ldquo;Ma'am, a gentleman;&rdquo;
+       and Delvile, abruptly entering, shut it himself, in his eagerness to get
+      rid of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At his sight, her prognostication of ill became stronger! she went forward
+      to meet him, and he advanced to her smiling and in haste; but that smile
+      did not well do its office; it concealed not a pallid countenance, in
+      which every feature spoke horror; it disguised not an aching heart, which
+      almost visibly throbbed with intolerable emotion! Yet he addressed her in
+      terms of tenderness and peace; but his tremulous voice counteracted his
+      words, and spoke that all within was tumult and war!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, amazed, affrighted, had no power to hasten an explanation, which,
+      on his own part, he seemed unable, or fearful to begin. He talked to her
+      of his happiness in again seeing her before he left the kingdom, entreated
+      her to write to him continually, said the same thing two and three times
+      in a breath, began with one subject, and seemed unconscious he wandered
+      presently into another, and asked her questions innumerable about her
+      health, journey, affairs, and ease of mind, without hearing from her any answer,
+      or seeming to miss that she had none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia grew dreadfully terrified; something strange and most alarming she
+      was sure must have happened, but <i>what</i>, she had no means to know,
+      nor courage, nor even words to enquire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, at length, the first hurry of his spirits abating, became more
+      coherent and considerate: and looking anxiously at her, said, &ldquo;Why this
+      silence, my Cecilia?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know not!&rdquo; said she, endeavouring to recover herself, &ldquo;but your coming
+      was unexpected: I was just writing to you at Margate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Write still, then; but direct to Ostend; I shall be quicker than the
+      post; and I would not lose a letter&mdash;a line&mdash;a word from you,
+      for all the world can offer me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quicker than the post?&rdquo; cried Cecilia; &ldquo;but how can Mrs Delvile&mdash;&rdquo;
+       she stopt; not knowing what she might venture to ask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is now on the road to Margate; I hope to be there to receive her. I
+      mean but to bid you adieu, and be gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia made no answer; she was more and more astonished, more and more
+      confounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are thoughtful?&rdquo; said he, with tenderness; &ldquo;are you unhappy?&mdash;sweetest
+      Cecilia! most excellent of human creatures! if I have made you unhappy&mdash;and
+      I must!&mdash;it is inevitable!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh Delvile!&rdquo; cried she, now assuming more courage, &ldquo;why will you not
+      speak to me openly?&mdash;something, I see, is wrong; may I not hear it?
+      may I not tell you, at least, my concern that any thing has distressed
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are too good!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;to deserve you is not possible, but to
+      afflict you is inhuman!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why so?&rdquo; cried she, more chearfully; &ldquo;must I not share the common lot? or
+      expect the whole world to be new modelled, lest I should meet in it any
+      thing but happiness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is not, indeed, much danger! Have you pen and ink here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She brought them to him immediately, with paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been writing to me, you say?&mdash;I will begin a letter
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To me?&rdquo; cried she.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He made no answer, but took up the pen, and wrote a few words, and then,
+      flinging it down, said, &ldquo;Fool!&mdash;I could have done this without
+      coming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I look at it?&rdquo; said she; and, finding he made no opposition, advanced
+      and read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>I fear to alarm you by rash precipitation,&mdash;I fear to alarm you by
+      lingering suspense,&mdash;but all is not well&mdash;</i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fear nothing!&rdquo; cried she, turning to him with the kindest earnestness;
+      &ldquo;tell me, whatever it may be!&mdash;Am I not your wife? bound by every tie
+      divine and human to share in all your sorrows, if, unhappily, I cannot
+      mitigate them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since you allow me,&rdquo; cried he, gratefully, &ldquo;so sweet a claim, a claim to
+      which all others yield, and which if you repent not giving me, will make
+      all others nearly immaterial to me,&mdash;I will own to you that all,
+      indeed, is not well! I have been hasty,&mdash;you will blame me; I
+      deserve, indeed, to be blamed!&mdash;entrusted with your peace and
+      happiness, to suffer rage, resentment, violence, to make me forego what I
+      owed to such a deposite!&mdash;If your blame, however, stops short of
+      repentance&mdash;but it cannot!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then,&rdquo; cried she with warmth, &ldquo;must you have done? for there is not
+      an action of which I believe you capable, there is not an event which I
+      believe to be possible, that can ever make me repent belonging to you
+      wholly!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Generous, condescending Cecilia!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;Words such as these, hung
+      there not upon me an evil the most depressing, would be almost more than I
+      could bear&mdash;would make me too blest for mortality!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But words such as these,&rdquo; said she more gaily, &ldquo;I might long have
+      coquetted ere I had spoken, had you not drawn them from me by this alarm.
+      Take, therefore, the good with the ill, and remember, if all does not go
+      right, you have now a trusty friend, as willing to be the partner of your
+      serious as your happiest hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shew but as much firmness as you have shewn sweetness,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;and I
+      will fear to tell you nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She reiterated her assurances; they then both sat down, and he began his
+      account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Immediately from your lodgings I went where I had ordered a chaise, and
+      stopped only to change horses till I reached Delvile Castle. My father saw
+      me with surprise, and received me with coldness. I was compelled by my
+      situation to be abrupt, and told him I came, before I accompanied my
+      mother abroad, to make him acquainted with an affair which I thought
+      myself bound in duty and respect to suffer no one to communicate to him
+      but myself. He then sternly interrupted me, and declared in high terms,
+      that if this affair concerned <i>you</i>, he would not listen to it. I
+      attempted to remonstrate upon this injustice, when he passionately broke
+      forth into new and horrible charges against you, affirming that he had
+      them from authority as indisputable as ocular demonstration. I was then
+      certain of some foul play.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Foul play indeed!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, who now knew but too well by whom she
+      had been injured. &ldquo;Good heaven, how have I been deceived, where most I
+      have trusted!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told him,&rdquo; continued Delvile, &ldquo;some gross imposition had been practiced
+      upon him, and earnestly conjured him no longer to conceal from me by whom.
+      This, unfortunately, encreased his rage; imposition, he said, was not so
+      easily played upon him, he left that for <i>me</i> who so readily was
+      duped; while for himself, he had only given credit to a man of much
+      consideration in Suffolk, who had known you from a child, who had solemnly
+      assured him he had repeatedly endeavoured to reclaim you, who had rescued
+      you from the hands of Jews at his own hazard and loss, and who actually
+      shewed him bonds acknowledging immense debts, which were signed with your
+      own hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horrible!&rdquo; exclaimed Cecilia, &ldquo;I believed not such guilt and perfidy
+      possible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was scarce myself,&rdquo; resumed Delvile, &ldquo;while I heard him: I demanded
+      even with fierceness his author, whom I scrupled not to execrate as he
+      deserved; he coldly answered he was bound by an oath never to reveal him,
+      nor should he repay his honourable attention to his family by a breach of
+      his own word, were it even less formally engaged. I then lost all
+      patience; to mention honour, I cried, was a farce, where such infamous
+      calumnies were listened to;&mdash;but let me not shock you unnecessarily,
+      you may readily conjecture what passed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah me!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;you have then quarrelled with your father!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have!&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;nor does he yet know I am married: in so much wrath
+      there was no room for narration; I only pledged myself by all I held
+      sacred, never to rest till I had cleared your fame, by the detection of
+      this villainy, and then left him without further explanation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh return, then, to him directly!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;he is your father, you
+      are bound to bear with his displeasure;&mdash;alas! had you never known
+      me, you had never incurred it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I am ill at ease under it: if you wish it,
+      when you have heard me, I will go to him immediately; if not, I will
+      write, and you shall yourself dictate what.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia thanked him, and begged he would continue his account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My first step, when I left the Castle, was to send a letter to my mother,
+      in which I entreated her to set out as soon as possible for Margate, as I
+      was detained from her unavoidably, and was unwilling my delay should
+      either retard our journey, or oblige her to travel faster. At Margate I
+      hoped to be as soon as herself, if not before her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;did you not go to town as you had promised, and
+      accompany her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had business another way. I came hither.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Directly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; but soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you go first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My Cecilia, it is now you must summon your fortitude: I left my father
+      without an explanation on my part;&mdash;but not till, in his rage of
+      asserting his authority, he had unwarily named his informant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That informant&mdash;the most deceitful of men!&mdash;was your long
+      pretended friend, Mr Monckton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I feared!&rdquo; said Cecilia, whose blood now ran cold through her veins
+      with sudden and new apprehensions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rode to the Grove, on hack-horses, and on a full gallop the whole way.
+      I got to him early in the evening. I was shewn into his library. I told
+      him my errand.&mdash;You look pale, my love? You are not well?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, too sick for speech, leant her head upon a table. Delvile was
+      going to call for help; but she put her hand upon his arm to stop him,
+      and, perceiving she was only mentally affected, he rested, and endeavoured
+      by every possible means to revive her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while, she again raised her head, faintly saying, &ldquo;I am sorry I
+      interrupted you; but the conclusion I already know,&mdash;Mr Monckton is
+      dead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not dead,&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;dangerously, indeed, wounded, but thank heaven, not
+      actually dead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not dead?&rdquo; cried Cecilia, with recruited strength and spirits, &ldquo;Oh then
+      all yet may be well!&mdash;if he is not dead; he may recover!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may; I hope he will!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, then,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;tell me all: I can bear any intelligence but of
+      death by human means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I meant not to have gone such lengths; far from it; I hold duels in
+      abhorrence, as unjustifiable acts of violence, and savage devices of
+      revenge. I have offended against my own conviction,&mdash;but, transported
+      with passion at his infamous charges, I was not master of my reason; I
+      accused hum of his perfidy; he denied it; I told him I had it from my
+      father,&mdash;he changed the subject to pour abuse upon him; I insisted on
+      a recantation to clear you; he asked by what right? I fiercely answered;
+      by a husband's! His countenance, then, explained at least the motives of
+      his treachery,&mdash;he loves you himself! he had probably schemed to keep
+      you free till his wife died, and then concluded his machinations would
+      secure you his own. For this purpose, finding he was in danger of losing
+      you, he was content even to blast your character, rather than suffer you
+      to escape him! But the moment I acknowledged my marriage he grew more
+      furious than myself; and, in short-for why relate the frenzies of rage? we
+      walked out together; my travelling pistols were already charged; I gave
+      him his choice of them, and, the challenge being mine, for insolence
+      joined with guilt had robbed me of all forbearance, he fired first, but
+      missed me: I then demanded whether he would clear your fame? he called out
+      'Fire! I will make no terms,'&mdash;I did fire,&mdash;and unfortunately
+      aimed better! We had neither of us any second, all was the result of
+      immediate passion; but I soon got people to him, and assisted in conveying
+      him home. He was at, first believed to be dead, and I was seized by his
+      servants; but he afterwards shewed signs of life, and by sending for my
+      friend Biddulph, I was released. Such is the melancholy transaction I came
+      to relate to you, flattering myself it would something less shock you from
+      me than from another: yet my own real concern for the affair, the
+      repentance with which from the moment the wretch fell, I was struck in
+      being his destroyer, and the sorrow, the remorse, rather, which I felt, in
+      coming to wound you with such black, such fearful intelligence,&mdash;you
+      to whom all I owe is peace and comfort!&mdash;these thoughts gave me so
+      much disturbance, that, in fact, I knew less than any other how to prepare
+      you for such a tale.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt; but Cecilia could say nothing: to censure him now would both be
+      cruel and vain; yet to pretend she was satisfied with his conduct, would
+      be doing violence to her judgment and veracity. She saw, too, that his
+      error had sprung wholly from a generous ardor in her defence, and that his
+      confidence in her character, had resisted, without wavering, every attack
+      that menaced it. For this she felt truly grateful; yet his quarrel with
+      his father,&mdash;the danger of his mother,&mdash;his necessary absence,&mdash;her
+      own clandestine situation,&mdash;and more than all, the threatened death
+      of Mr Monckton by his hands, were circumstances so full of dread and
+      sadness, she knew not upon which to speak,&mdash;how to offer him comfort,&mdash;how
+      to assume a countenance that looked able to receive any, or by what means
+      to repress the emotions which to many ways assailed her. Delvile, having
+      vainly waited some reply, then in a tone the most melancholy, said, &ldquo;If it
+      is yet possible you can be sufficiently interested in my fate to care what
+      becomes of me, aid me now with your counsel, or rather with your
+      instructions; I am scarce able to think for myself, and to be thought for
+      by you, would yet be a consolation that would give me spirit for any
+      thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, starting from her reverie, repeated, &ldquo;To care what becomes of
+      you-? Oh Delvile!&mdash;make not my heart bleed by words of such
+      unkindness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I meant not a reproach; I meant but to state my
+      own consciousness how little I deserve from you. You talked to me of going
+      to my father? do you still wish it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so!&rdquo; cried she; too much disturbed to know what she said, yet
+      fearing again to hurt him by making him wait her answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go then,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;without doubt: too happy to be guided by you,
+      which-ever way I steer. I have now, indeed much to tell him; but whatever
+      may be his wrath, there is little fear, at this time, that my own temper
+      cannot bear it! what next shall I do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What next?&rdquo; repeated she; &ldquo;indeed I know not!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I go immediately to Margate? or shall I first ride hither?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please,&rdquo; said she, much perturbed, and deeply sighing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I please nothing but by your direction, to follow that is my only chance
+      of pleasure. Which, then, shall I do?-you will not, now, refuse to direct
+      me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, certainly, not for the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak to me, then, my love, and tell me;&mdash;why are you thus silent?&mdash;is
+      it painful to you to counsel me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed!&rdquo; said she, putting her hand to her head, &ldquo;I will speak to you
+      in a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh my Cecilia!&rdquo; cried he, looking at her with much alarm, &ldquo;call back your
+      recollection! you know not what you say, you take no interest in what you
+      answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I do!&rdquo; said she, sighing deeply, and oppressed beyond the power of
+      thinking, beyond any power but an internal consciousness of wretchedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sigh not so bitterly,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;if you have any compassion! sigh not so
+      bitterly,&mdash;I cannot bear to hear you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very sorry indeed!&rdquo; said she, sighing again, and not seeming
+      sensible she spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; cried he, rising, &ldquo;distract me not with this horror!&mdash;speak
+      not to me in such broken sentences!&mdash;Do you hear me, Cecilia?&mdash;why
+      will you not answer me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She started and trembled, looked pale and affrighted, and putting both her
+      hands upon her heart, said, &ldquo;Oh yes!&mdash;but I have an oppression here,&mdash;a
+      tightness, a fulness,&mdash;I have not room for breath!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh beloved of my heart!&rdquo; cried he, wildly casting himself at her feet,
+      &ldquo;kill me not with this terror!&mdash;call back your faculties,&mdash;awake
+      from this dreadful insensibility! tell me at least you know me!&mdash;tell
+      me I have not tortured you quite to madness!&mdash;sole darling of my
+      affections! my own, my wedded Cecilia!&mdash;rescue me from this agony! it
+      is more than I can support!&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This energy of distress brought back her scattered senses, scarce more
+      stunned by the shock of all this misery, than by the restraint of her
+      feelings in struggling to conceal it. But these passionate exclamations
+      restoring her sensibility, she burst into tears, which happily relieved
+      her mind from the conflict with which it was labouring, and which, not
+      thus effected, might have ended more fatally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never had Delvile more rejoiced in her smiles than now in these seasonable
+      tears, which he regarded and blest as the preservers of her reason. They
+      flowed long without any intermission, his soothing and tenderness but
+      melting her to more sorrow: after a while, however, the return of her
+      faculties, which at first seemed all consigned over to grief, was
+      manifested by the returning strength of her mind: she blamed herself
+      severely for the little fortitude she had shewn, but having now given vent
+      to emotions too forcible to be wholly stiffed, she assured him he might
+      depend upon her' better courage for the future, and entreated him to
+      consider and settle his affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not speedily, however, could Delvile himself recover. The torture he had
+      suffered in believing, though only for a few moments, that the terror he
+      had given to Cecilia had affected her intellects, made even a deeper
+      impression upon his imagination, than the scene of fury and death, which
+      had occasioned that terror: and Cecilia, who now strained every nerve to
+      repair by her firmness, the pain which by her weakness she had given him,
+      was sooner in a condition for reasoning and deliberation than himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Delvile!&rdquo; she cried, comprehending what passed within him, &ldquo;do you
+      allow nothing for surprize? and nothing for the hard conflict of
+      endeavouring to suppress it? do you think me still as unfit to advise
+      with, and as worthless, as feeble a counsellor, as during the first
+      confusion of my mind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hurry not your tender spirits, I beseech you,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;we have time
+      enough; we will talk about business by and by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What time?&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;what is it now o'clock?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; cried he, looking at his watch, &ldquo;already past ten! you must
+      turn me out, my Cecilia, or calumny will still be busy, even though poor
+      Monckton is quiet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I <i>will</i> turn you out,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;I am indeed most earnest to have
+      you gone. But tell me your plan, and which way you mean to go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That;&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;you shall decide for me yourself: whether to Delvile
+      Castle, to finish one tale, and wholly communicate another, or to Margate,
+      to hasten my mother abroad, before the news of this calamity reaches her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go to Margate,&rdquo; cried she, eagerly, &ldquo;set off this very moment! you can
+      write to your father from Ostend. But continue, I conjure you, on the
+      continent, till we see if this unhappy man lives, and enquire, of those
+      who can judge, what must follow if he should not!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A trial,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;must follow, and it will go, I fear, but hardly with
+      me! the challenge was mine; his servants can all witness I went to him,
+      not he to me,&mdash;Oh my Cecilia! the rashness of which I have been
+      guilty, is so opposite to my principles, and, all generous as is your
+      silence, I know it so opposite to yours, that never, should his blood be
+      on my hands, wretch as he was, never will my heart be quiet more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will live, he will live!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, repressing her horror, &ldquo;fear
+      nothing, for he will live;&mdash;and as to his wound and his sufferings,
+      his perfidy has deserved them. Go, then, to Margate; think only of Mrs
+      Delvile, and save her, if possible, from hearing what has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go,&mdash;stay,&mdash;do which and whatever you bid me: but,
+      should what I fear come to pass, should my mother continue ill, my father
+      inflexible, should this wretched man die, and should England no longer be
+      a country I shall love to dwell in,&mdash;could you, then, bear to own,&mdash;would
+      you, then, consent to follow me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I?&mdash;am I not yours? may you not command me? tell me, then, you
+      have only to say,&mdash;shall I accompany you at once?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, affected by her generosity, could scarce utter his thanks; yet he
+      did not hesitate in denying to avail himself of it; &ldquo;No, my Cecilia,&rdquo; he
+      cried, &ldquo;I am not so selfish. If we have not happier days, we will at least
+      wait for more desperate necessity. With the uncertainty if I have not this
+      man's life to answer for at the hazard of my own, to take my wife&mdash;my
+      bride,&mdash;from the kingdom I must fly!&mdash;to make her a fugitive and
+      an exile in the first publishing that she is mine! No, if I am not a
+      destined alien for life I can never permit it. Nothing less, believe me,
+      shall ever urge my consent to wound the chaste propriety of your
+      character, by making you an eloper with a duelist.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then again consulted upon their future plans; and concluded that in
+      the present disordered state of their affairs, it would be best not to
+      acknowledge even to Mr Delvile their marriage, to whom the news of the
+      duel, and Mr Monckton's danger, would be a blow so severe, that, to add to
+      it any other might half distract him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the few people already acquainted with it, Delvile therefore determined
+      to write from Ostend, re-urging his entreaties for their discretion and
+      secrecy. Cecilia promised every post to acquaint him how Mr Monckton went
+      on, and she then besought him to go instantly, that he might out-travel
+      the ill news to his mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He complied, and took leave of her in the tenderest manner, conjuring her
+      to support her spirits, and be careful of her health. &ldquo;Happiness,&rdquo; said
+      he, &ldquo;is much in arrears with us, and though my violence may have
+      frightened it away, your sweetness and gentleness will yet attract it
+      back: all that for me is in store must be received at your hands,&mdash;what
+      is offered in any other way, I shall only mistake for evil! droop not,
+      therefore, my generous Cecilia, but in yourself preserve me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not droop,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;you will find, I hope, you have not
+      intrusted yourself in ill hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Peace then be with you, my love!&mdash;my comforting, my soul-reviving
+      Cecilia! Peace, such as angels give, and such as may drive from your mind
+      the remembrance of this bitter hour!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then tore himself away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who to his blessings could almost, like the tender Belvidera,
+      have exclaimed,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+           &ldquo;O do not leave me!&mdash;stay with me and curse me!&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      listened to his steps till she could hear them no longer, as if the
+      remaining moments of her life were to be measured by them: but then,
+      remembering the danger both to herself and him of his stay, she
+      endeavoured to rejoice that he was gone, and, but that her mind was in no
+      state for joy, was too rational not to have succeeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grief and horror for what was past, apprehension and suspense for what was
+      to come, so disordered her whole frame, so confused even her intellects,
+      that when not all the assistance of fancy could persuade her she still
+      heard the footsteps of Delvile, she went to the chair upon which he had
+      been seated, and taking possession of it, sat with her arms crossed,
+      silent, quiet, and erect, almost vacant of all thought, yet with a secret
+      idea she was doing something right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here she continued till Henrietta came to wish her good night; whose
+      surprise and concern at the strangeness of her look and attitude, once
+      more recovered her. But terrified herself at this threatened wandering of
+      her reason, and certain she must all night be a stranger to rest, she
+      accepted the affectionate offer of the kind-hearted girl to stay with her,
+      who was too much grieved for her grief to sleep any more than herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told her not what had passed; that, she knew, would be fruitless
+      affliction to her: but she was soothed by her gentleness, and her
+      conversation was some security from the dangerous rambling of her ideas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta herself found no little consolation in her own private sorrows,
+      that she was able to give comfort to her beloved Miss Beverley, from whom
+      she had received favours and kind offices innumerable. She quitted her not
+      night nor day, and in the honest pride of a little power to skew the
+      gratefulness of her heart, she felt a pleasure and self-consequence she
+      had never before experienced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A SUMMONS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's earliest care, almost at break of day, was to send to the Grove;
+      from thence she heard nothing but evil; Mr Monckton was still alive, but
+      with little or no hope of recovery, constantly delirious, and talking of
+      Miss Beverley, and of her being married to young Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who knew well this, at least, was no delirium, though shocked
+      that he talked of it, hoped his danger less than was apprehended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next day, however, more fatal news was brought her, though not from
+      the quarter she expected it: Mr Monckton, in one of his raving fits, had
+      sent for Lady Margaret to his bed side, and used her almost inhumanly: he
+      had railed at her age and her infirmities with incredible fury, called her
+      the cause of all his sufferings, and accused her as the immediate agent of
+      Lucifer in his present wound and danger. Lady Margaret, whom neither
+      jealousy nor malignity had cured of loving him, was dismayed and
+      affrighted; and in hurrying out of the room upon his attempting, in his
+      frenzy, to strike her, she dropt down dead in an apoplectic fit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; thought Cecilia, &ldquo;what an exemplary punishment has this
+      man! he loses his hated wife at the very moment when her death could no
+      longer answer his purposes! Poor Lady Margaret! her life has been as
+      bitter as her temper! married from a view of interest, ill used as a bar
+      to happiness, and destroyed from the fruitless ravings of despair!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She wrote all this intelligence to Ostend, whence she received a letter
+      from Delvile, acquainting her he was detained from proceeding further by
+      the weakness and illness of his mother, whose sufferings from seasickness
+      had almost put an end to her existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus passed a miserable week; Monckton still merely alive, Delvile
+      detained at Ostend, and Cecilia tortured alike by what was recently
+      passed, actually present, and fearfully expected; when one morning she was
+      told a gentleman upon business desired immediately to speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hastily obeyed the summons; the constant image of her own mind,
+      Delvile, being already present to her, and a thousand wild conjectures
+      upon what had brought him back, rapidly occurring to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her expectations, however, were ill answered, for she found an entire
+      stranger; an elderly man, of no pleasant aspect or manners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She desired to know his business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I presume, madam, you are the lady of this house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She bowed an assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I take the liberty, madam, to ask your name?'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do me a favour, madam, by telling it me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible you are come hither without already knowing it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it only by common report, madam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Common report, sir, I believe is seldom wrong in a matter where to be
+      right is so easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any objection, madam, to telling me your name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; but your business can hardly be very important, if you are yet
+      to learn whom you are to address. It will be time enough, therefore, for
+      us to meet when you are elsewhere satisfied in this point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She would then have left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg, madam,&rdquo; cried the stranger, &ldquo;you will have patience; it is
+      necessary, before I can open my business, that I should hear your name
+      from yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; cried she with some hesitation, &ldquo;you can scarce have come to
+      this house, without knowing that its owner is Cecilia Beverley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, is your maiden name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My maiden name?&rdquo; cried she, starting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you not married, madam?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Married, sir?&rdquo; she repeated, while her cheeks were the colour of scarlet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is, properly, therefore, madam, the name of your husband that I mean
+      to ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And by what authority, sir,&rdquo; cried she, equally astonished and offended,
+      &ldquo;do you make these extraordinary enquiries?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am deputed, madam, to wait upon you by Mr Eggleston, the next heir to
+      this estate, by your uncle's will, if you die without children, or change
+      your name when you marry. His authority of enquiry, madam, I presume you
+      will allow, and he has vested it in me by a letter of attorney.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's distress and confusion were now unspeakable; she knew not what
+      to own or deny, she could not conjecture how she had been betrayed, and
+      she had never made the smallest preparation against such an attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Eggleston, madam,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;has been pretty credibly informed
+      that you are actually married: he is very desirous, therefore, to know
+      what are your intentions, for your continuing to be called <i>Miss</i>
+      Beverley, as if still single, leaves him quite in the dark: but, as he is
+      so deeply concerned in the affair, he expects, as a lady of honour, you
+      will deal with him without prevarication.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This demand, sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, stammering, &ldquo;is so extremely&mdash;so&mdash;so
+      little expected&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The way, madam, in these cases, is to keep pretty closely to the point;
+      are you married or are you not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, quite confounded, made no answer: to disavow her marriage, when
+      thus formally called upon, was every way unjustifiable; to acknowledge it
+      in her present situation, would involve her in difficulties innumerable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is not, madam, a slight thing; Mr Eggleston has a large family and a
+      small fortune, and that, into the bargain, very much encumbered; it
+      cannot, therefore, be expected that he will knowingly connive at cheating
+      himself, by submitting to your being actually married, and still enjoying
+      your estate though your husband does not take your name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, now, summoning more presence of mind, answered, &ldquo;Mr Eggleston,
+      sir, has, at least, nothing to fear from imposition: those with whom he
+      has, or may have any transactions in this affair, are not accustomed to
+      practice it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am far from meaning any offence, madam; my commission from Mr Eggleston
+      is simply this, to beg you will satisfy him upon what grounds you now
+      evade the will of your late uncle, which, till cleared up, appears a point
+      manifestly to his prejudice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell him, then, sir, that whatever he wishes to know shall be explained
+      to him in about a week. At present I can give no other answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, madam; he will wait that time, I am sure, for he does not wish
+      to put you to any inconvenience. But when he heard the gentleman was gone
+      abroad without owning his marriage, he thought it high time to take some
+      notice of the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who by this speech found she was every way discovered, was again
+      in the utmost confusion, and with much trepidation, said, &ldquo;since you seem
+      so well, sir, acquainted with this affair, I should be glad you would
+      inform me by what means you came to the knowledge of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it, madam, from Mr Eggleston himself, who has long known it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Long, sir?&mdash;impossible! when it is not yet a fortnight&mdash;not ten
+      days, or no more, that&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt, recollecting she was making a confession better deferred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;may perhaps bear a little contention: for
+      when this business comes to be settled, it will be very essential to be
+      exact as to the time, even to the very hour; for a large income per annum,
+      divides into a small one per diem: and if your husband keeps his own name,
+      you must not only give up your uncle's inheritance from the time of
+      relinquishing yours, but refund from the very day of your marriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is not the least doubt of it,&rdquo; answered she; &ldquo;nor will the smallest
+      difficulty be made.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will please, then, to recollect, madam, that this sum is every hour
+      encreasing; and has been since last September, which made half a year
+      accountable for last March. Since then there is now added&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven, Sir,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;what calculation are you making out?
+      do you call last week last September?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam; but I call last September the month in which you were
+      married.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will find yourself, then, sir, extremely mistaken; and Mr Eggleston
+      is preparing himself for much disappointment, if he supposes me so long in
+      arrears with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Eggleston, madam, happens to be well informed of this transaction, as,
+      if there is any dispute in it, you will find. He was your immediate
+      successor in the house to which you went last September in Pall-Mall; the
+      woman who kept it acquainted his servants that the last lady who hired it
+      stayed with her but a day, and only came to town, she found, to be
+      married: and hearing, upon enquiry, this lady was Miss Beverley, the
+      servants, well knowing that their master was her conditional heir, told
+      him the circumstance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will find all this, sir, end in nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, as I said before, remains to be proved. If a young lady at
+      eight o'clock in the morning, is seen,&mdash;and she was seen, going into
+      a church with a young gentleman, and one female friend; and is afterwards
+      observed to come out of it, followed by a clergyman and another person,
+      supposed to have officiated as father, and is seen get into a coach with
+      same young gentleman, and same female friend, why the circumstances are
+      pretty strong!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may seem so, Sir; but all conclusions drawn from them will be
+      erroneous. I was not married then, upon my honour!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have little, madam, to do with professions; the circumstances are
+      strong enough to bear a trial, and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A trial!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have traced, madam, many witnesses able to stand to divers
+      particulars; and eight months share of such an estate as this, is well
+      worth a little trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am amazed, sir! surely Mr Eggleston never desired you to make use of
+      this language to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Eggleston, madam, has behaved very honourably; though he knew the
+      whole affair so long ago, he was persuaded Mr Delvile had private reasons
+      for a short concealment; and expecting every day when they would be
+      cleared up by his taking your name, he never interfered: but being now
+      informed he set out last week for the continent, he has been advised by
+      his friends to claim his rights.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That claim, sir, he need not fear will be satisfied; and without any
+      occasion for threats of enquiries or law suits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The truth, madam, is this; Mr Eggleston is at present in a little
+      difficulty about some money matters, which makes it a point with him of
+      some consequence to have the affair settled speedily: unless you could
+      conveniently compromise the matter, by advancing a particular sum, till it
+      suits you to refund the whole that is due to him, and quit the premises.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, sir, is due to him! at least, nothing worth mentioning. I shall
+      enter into no terms, for I have no compromise to make. As to the premises,
+      I will quit them with all the expedition in my power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do well, madam; for the truth is, it will not be convenient to
+      him to wait much longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When, next,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;shall I again be weak, vain, blind enough to
+      form any plan with a hope of secresy? or enter, with <i>any</i> hope, into
+      a clandestine scheme! betrayed by those I have trusted, discovered by
+      those I have not thought of, exposed to the cruellest alarms, and
+      defenceless from the most shocking attacks!&mdash;Such has been the life I
+      have led since the moment I first consented to a private engagement!&mdash;Ah
+      Delvile! your mother, in her tenderness, forgot her dignity, or she would
+      not have concurred in an action which to such disgrace made me liable!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A DELIBERATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was necessary, however, not to moralize, but to act; Cecilia had
+      undertaken to give her answer in a week, and the artful attorney had drawn
+      from her an acknowledgment of her situation, by which he might claim it
+      yet sooner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The law-suit with which she was threatened for the arrears of eight
+      months, alarmed her not, though it shocked her, as she was certain she
+      could prove her marriage so much later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was easy to perceive that this man had been sent with a view of working
+      from her a confession, and terrifying from her some money; the confession,
+      indeed, in conscience and honesty she could not wholly elude, but she had
+      suffered too often by a facility in parting with money to be there easily
+      duped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing, however, was more true, than that she now lived upon an estate of
+      which she no longer was the owner, and that all she either spent or
+      received was to be accounted for and returned, since by the will of her
+      uncle, unless her husband took her name, her estate on the very day of her
+      marriage was to be forfeited, and entered upon by the Egglestons.
+      Delvile's plan and hope of secresy had made them little weigh this matter,
+      though this premature discovery so unexpectedly exposed her to their
+      power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first thought that occurred to her, was to send an express to Delvile,
+      and desire his instructions how to proceed; but she dreaded his
+      impetuosity of temper, and was almost certain that the instant he should
+      hear she was in any uneasiness or perplexity, he would return to her, at
+      all hazards, even though Mr Monckton were dead, and his mother herself
+      dying. This step, therefore, she did not dare risk, preferring any
+      personal hardship, to endangering the already precarious life of Mrs
+      Delvile, or to hastening her son home while Mr Monckton was in so
+      desperate a situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though what to avoid was easy to settle, what to seek was difficult to
+      devise. She bad now no Mrs Charlton to receive her, not a creature in whom
+      she could confide. To continue her present way of living was deeply
+      involving Delvile in debt, a circumstance she had never considered, in the
+      confusion and hurry attending all their plans and conversations, and a
+      circumstance which, though to him it might have occurred, he could not in
+      common delicacy mention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet to have quitted her house, and retrenched her expences, would have
+      raised suspicions that must have anticipated the discovery she so much
+      wished to have delayed. That wish, by the present danger of its failure,
+      was but more ardent; to have her affairs and situation become publicly
+      known at the present period, she felt would half distract her.&mdash;Privately
+      married, parted from her husband at the very moment of their union, a
+      husband by whose hand the apparent friend of her earliest youth was all
+      but killed, whose father had execrated the match, whose mother was now
+      falling a sacrifice to the vehemence with which she had opposed it, and
+      who himself, little short of an exile, knew not yet if, with personal
+      safety, he might return to his native land! To circumstances so dreadful,
+      she had now the additional shock of being uncertain whether her own house
+      might not be seized, before any other could be prepared for her reception!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet still whither to go, what to do, or what to resolve, she was wholly
+      unable to determine; and after meditating almost to madness in the search
+      of some plan or expedient, she was obliged to give over the attempt, and
+      be satisfied with remaining quietly where she was, till she had better
+      news from Delvile of his mother, or better news to send him of Mr
+      Monckton; carefully, mean time, in all her letters avoiding to alarm him
+      by any hint of her distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet was she not idle, either from despair or helplessness: she found her
+      difficulties encreased, and she called forth more resolution to combat
+      them: she animated herself by the promise she had made Delvile, and
+      recovering from the sadness to which she had at first given way, she now
+      exerted herself with vigour to perform it as she ought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She began by making an immediate inspection into her affairs, and
+      endeavouring, where expence seemed unnecessary, to lessen it. She gave
+      Henrietta to understand she feared they must soon part; and so afflicted
+      was the unhappy girl at the news, that she found it the most cruel office
+      she had to execute. The same intimation she gave to Mrs Harrel, who
+      repined at it more openly, but with a selfishness so evident that it
+      blunted the edge of pity. She then announced to Albany her inability to
+      pursue, at present, their extensive schemes of benevolence; and though he
+      instantly left her, to carry on his laborious plan elsewhere, the
+      reverence she had now excited in him of her character, made him leave her
+      with no sensation but of regret, and readily promise to return when her
+      affairs were settled, or her mind more composed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These little preparations, which were all she could make, with enquiries
+      after Mr Monckton, and writing to Delvile, sufficiently filled up her
+      time, though her thoughts were by no means confined to them. Day after day
+      passed, and Mr Monckton continued to linger rather than live; the letters
+      of Delvile, still only dated from Ostend, contained the most melancholy
+      complaints of the illness of his mother; and the time advanced when her
+      answer would be claimed by the attorney.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The thought of such another visit was almost intolerable; and within two
+      days of the time that she expected it, she resolved to endeavour herself
+      to prevail with Mr Eggleston to wait longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Eggleston was a gentleman whom she knew little more than by sight; he
+      was no relation to her family, nor had any connection with the Dean, but
+      by being a cousin to a lady he had married, and who had left him no
+      children. The dean had no particular regard for him, and had rather
+      mentioned him in his will as the successor of Cecilia, in case she died
+      unmarried or changed her name, as a mark that he approved of her doing
+      neither, than as a matter he thought probable, if even possible, to turn
+      out in his favour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a man of a large family, the sons of which, who were extravagant
+      and dissipated, had much impaired his fortune by prevailing with him to
+      pay their debts, and much distressed him in his affairs by successfully
+      teasing him for money.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, acquainted with these circumstances, knew but too well with what
+      avidity her estate would be seized by them, and how little the sons would
+      endure delay, even if the father consented to it. Yet since the sacrifice
+      to which she had agreed must soon make it indisputably their own, she
+      determined to deal with them openly; and acknowledged, therefore, in her
+      letter, her marriage without disguise, but begged their patience and
+      secresy, and promised, in a short time, the most honourable retribution
+      and satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent this letter by a man and horse, Mr Eggleston's habitation being
+      within fifteen miles of her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer was from his eldest son, who acquainted her that his father was
+      very ill, and had put all his affairs into the hands of Mr Carn, his
+      attorney, who was a man of great credit, and would see justice done on all
+      sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If this answer, which she broke open the instant she took it into her
+      hand, was in itself a cruel disappointment to her, how was that
+      disappointment embittered by shame and terror, when, upon again folding it
+      up, she saw it was directed to Mrs Mortimer Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a decisive stroke; what they wrote to her, she was sure they
+      would mention to all others; she saw they were too impatient for her
+      estate to be moved by any representations to a delay, and that their
+      eagerness to publish their right, took from them all consideration of what
+      they might make her suffer. Mr Eggleston, she found, permitted himself to
+      be wholly governed by his son; his son was a needy and profligate
+      spendthrift, and by throwing the management of the affair into the hands
+      of an attorney, craftily meant to shield himself from the future
+      resentment of Delvile, to whom, hereafter, he might affect, at his
+      convenience, to disapprove Mr Carn's behaviour, while Mr Carn was always
+      secure, by averring he only exerted himself for the interest of his
+      client.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The discerning Cecilia, though but little experienced in business, and
+      wholly unsuspicious by nature, yet saw into this management, and doubted
+      not these excuses were already arranged. She had only, therefore, to save
+      herself an actual ejectment, by quitting a house in which she was exposed
+      to such a disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But still whither to go she knew not! One only attempt seemed in her power
+      for an honourable asylum, and that was more irksomely painful to her than
+      seeking shelter in the meanest retreat: it was applying to Mr Delvile
+      senior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The action of leaving her house, whether quietly or forcibly, could not
+      but instantly authenticate the reports spread by the Egglestons of her
+      marriage: to hope therefore for secresy any longer would be folly, and Mr
+      Delvile's rage at such intelligence might be still greater to hear it by
+      chance than from herself. She now lamented that Delvile had not at once
+      told the tale, but, little foreseeing such a discovery as the present,
+      they had mutually concluded to defer the communication till his return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her own anger at the contemptuous ill treatment she had repeatedly met
+      from him, she was now content not merely to suppress but to dismiss,
+      since, as the wife of his son without his consent, she considered herself
+      no longer as wholly innocent of incurring it. Yet, such was her dread of
+      his austerity and the arrogance of his reproaches, that, by choice, she
+      would have preferred an habitation with her own pensioner, the pew-opener,
+      to the grandest apartment in Delvile Castle while he continued its lord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In her present situation, however, her choice was little to be consulted:
+      the honour of Delvile was concerned in her escaping even temporary
+      disgrace, and nothing, she knew, would so much gratify him, as any
+      attention from her to his father. She wrote to him, therefore, the
+      following letter, which she sent by an express.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To the Hon. Compton Delvile. </i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      April 29th, 1780.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      SIR,&mdash;I should not, even by letter, presume thus to force myself upon
+      your remembrance, did I not think it a duty I now owe your son, both to
+      risk and to bear the displeasure it may unhappily occasion. After such an
+      acknowledgment, all other confession would be superfluous; and uncertain
+      as I am if you will ever deign to own me, more words than are necessary
+      would be merely impertinent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the intention of your son, Sir, when he left the kingdom, to submit
+      wholly to your arbitration, at his return, which should be resigned, his
+      own name or my fortune: but his request for your decision, and his
+      supplication for your forgiveness, are both, most unfortunately,
+      prevented, by a premature and unforeseen discovery of our situation, which
+      renders an immediate determination absolutely unavoidable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this distance from him, I cannot, in time, receive his directions upon
+      the measures I have to take; pardon me then, Sir, if well knowing my
+      reference to him will not be more implicit than his own to you, I venture,
+      in the present important crisis of my affairs, to entreat those commands
+      instantly, by which I am certain of being guided ultimately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I would commend myself to your favour but that I dread exciting your
+      resentment. I will detain you, therefore, only to add, that the father of
+      Mr Mortimer Delvile, will ever meet the most profound respect from her
+      who, without his permission, dare sign no name to the honour she now has
+      in declaring herself his most humble, and most obedient servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her mind was somewhat easier when this letter was written, because she
+      thought it a duty, yet felt reluctance in performing it. She wished to
+      have represented to him strongly the danger of Delvile's hearing her
+      distress, but she knew so well his inordinate self-sufficiency, she feared
+      a hint of that sort might be construed into an insult, and concluded her
+      only chance that he would do any thing, was by leaving wholly to his own
+      suggestions the weighing and settling what.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though nothing was more uncertain than whether she should be received
+      at Delvile Castle, nothing was more fixed than that she must quit her own
+      house, since the pride of Mr Delvile left not even a chance that his
+      interest would conquer it. She deferred not, therefore, any longer making
+      preparations for her removal, though wholly unsettled whither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her first, which was also her most painful task, was to acquaint Henrietta
+      with her situation: she sent, therefore, to desire to speak with her, but
+      the countenance of Henrietta shewed her communication would not surprise
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with my dear Henrietta?&rdquo; cried Cecilia; &ldquo;who is it has
+      already afflicted that kind heart which I am now compelled to afflict for
+      myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, in whom anger appeared to be struggling with sorrow, answered,
+      &ldquo;No, madam, not afflicted for <i>you</i>! it would be strange if I were,
+      thinking as I think!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; said Cecilia, calmly, &ldquo;if you are not, for I would give to
+      you, were it possible, nothing but pleasure and joy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, bursting into tears, &ldquo;why will you say so
+      when you don't care what becomes of me! when you are going to cast me off!&mdash;and
+      when you will soon be too happy ever to think of me more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I am never happy till then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;sad, indeed, will be my
+      life! no, my gentlest friend, you will always have your share in my heart;
+      and always, to me, would have been the welcomest guest in my house, but
+      for those unhappy circumstances which make our separating inevitable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet you suffered me, madam, to hear from any body that you was married
+      and going away; and all the common servants in the house knew it before
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am amazed!&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;how and which way can they have heard it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man that went to Mr Eggleston brought the first news of it, for he
+      said all the servants there talked of nothing else, and that their master
+      was to come and take possession here next Thursday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia started at this most unwelcome intelligence; &ldquo;Yet you envy me,&rdquo;
+       she cried, &ldquo;Henrietta, though I am forced from my house! though in
+      quitting it, I am unprovided with any other, and though him for whom I
+      relinquish it, is far off, without means of protecting, or power of
+      returning to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you are married to him, madam!&rdquo; cried she, expressively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True, my love; but, also, I am parted from him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh how differently,&rdquo; exclaimed Henrietta, &ldquo;do the great think from the
+      little! were <i>I</i> married,&mdash;and <i>so</i> married, I should want
+      neither house, nor fine cloaths, nor riches, nor any thing;&mdash;I should
+      not care where I lived,&mdash;every place would be paradise! I would walk
+      to him barefoot if he were a thousand miles off, and I should mind nobody
+      else in the world while I had him to take care of me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Delvile! thought Cecilia, what powers of fascination are yours! should
+      I be tempted to repine at what I have to bear, I will think of this
+      heroick girl and blush!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel now broke in upon them, eager to be informed of the truth or
+      falsehood of the reports which were buzzed throughout the house. Cecilia
+      briefly related to them both the state of her affairs, earnestly
+      expressing her concern at the abrupt separation which must take place, and
+      for which she had been unable to prepare them, as the circumstances which
+      led to it had been wholly unforeseen by herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel listened to the account with much curiosity and surprize; but
+      Henrietta wept incessantly in hearing it: the object of a passion ardent
+      as it was romantic, lost to her past recovery; torn herself, probably for
+      ever, from the best friend she had in the world; and obliged to return
+      thus suddenly to an home she detested,&mdash;Henrietta possessed not the
+      fortitude to hear evils such as these, which, to her inexperienced heart,
+      appeared the severest that could be inflicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This conversation over, Cecilia sent for her Steward, and desired him,
+      with the utmost expedition, to call in all her bills, and instantly to go
+      round to her tenants within twenty miles, and gather in, from those who
+      were able to pay, the arrears now due to her; charging him, however, upon
+      no account, to be urgent with such as seemed distressed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bills she had to pay were collected without difficulty; she never owed
+      much, and creditors are seldom hard of access; but the money she hoped to
+      receive fell very short of her expectations, for the indulgence she had
+      shewn to her tenants had ill prepared them for so sudden a demand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER v. &mdash; A DECISION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This business effectually occupied the present and following day; the
+      third, Cecilia expected her answer from Delvile Castle, and the visit she
+      so much dreaded from the attorney.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer arrived first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MADAM,&mdash;As my son has never apprized me of the extraordinary step
+      which your letter intimates, I am too unwilling to believe him capable of
+      so far forgetting what he owes his family, to ratify any such intimation
+      by interfering with my counsel or opinion.&mdash;I am, Madam, &amp;c.,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      COMPTON DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      DELVILE CASTLE, <i>May 1st, 1780</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had little right to be surprised by this letter, and she had not a
+      moment to comment upon it, before the attorney arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, madam,&rdquo; said the man, as he entered the parlour, &ldquo;Mr Eggleston has
+      stayed your own time very patiently: he commissions me now to enquire if
+      it is convenient to you to quit the premises.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir, it is by no means convenient to me; and if Mr Eggleston will
+      wait some time longer, I shall be greatly obliged to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt, madam, but he will, upon proper considerations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Sir, do you call proper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon your advancing to him, as I hinted before, an immediate particular
+      sum from what must, by and bye, be legally restituted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this is the condition of his courtesy, I will quit the house without
+      giving him further trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as it suits you, madam. He will be glad to take possession to-morrow
+      or next day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did well, Sir, to commend his patience! I shall, however, merely
+      discharge my servants, and settle my accounts, and be ready to make way
+      for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not take it amiss, madam, if I remind you that the account with
+      Mr Eggleston must be the first that is settled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean the arrears of this last fortnight or three weeks, I believe
+      I must desire him to wait Mr Delvile's return, as I may otherwise myself
+      be distressed for ready money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, is not likely, as it is well known you have a fortune that
+      was independent of your late uncle; and as to distress for ready money, it
+      is a plea Mr Eggleston can urge much more strongly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is being strangely hasty, Sir!&mdash;so short a time as it is since
+      Mr Eggleston could expect <i>any</i> of this estate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, is nothing to the purpose; from the moment it is his, he has
+      as many wants for it as any other gentleman. He desired me, however, to
+      acquaint you, that if you still chose an apartment in this house, till Mr
+      Delvile returns, you shall have one at your service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be a <i>guest</i> in this house, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, drily, &ldquo;might
+      perhaps seem strange to me; I will not, therefore, be so much in his way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Carn then informed her she might put her seal upon whatever she meant
+      hereafter to claim or dispute, and took his leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now shut herself up in her own room, to meditate without
+      interruption, before she would proceed to any action. She felt much
+      inclination to send instantly for some lawyer; but when she considered her
+      peculiar situation, the absence of her husband, the renunciation of his
+      father, the loss of her fortune, and her ignorance upon the subject, she
+      thought it better to rest quiet till Delvile's own fate, and own opinion
+      could be known, than to involve herself in a lawsuit she was so little
+      able to superintend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this cruel perplexity of her mind and her affairs, her first thought
+      was to board again with Mrs Bayley; but that was soon given up, for she
+      felt a repugnance unconquerable to continuing in her native county, when
+      deprived of her fortune, and cast out of her dwelling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her situation, indeed, was singularly unhappy, since, by this unforeseen
+      vicissitude of fortune, she was suddenly, from being an object of envy and
+      admiration, sunk into distress, and threatened with disgrace; from being
+      every where caressed, and by every voice praised, she blushed to be seen,
+      and expected to be censured; and, from being generally regarded as an
+      example of happiness, and a model of virtue, she was now in one moment to
+      appear to the world, an outcast from her own house, yet received into no
+      other! a bride, unclaimed by a husband! an HEIRESS, dispossessed of all
+      wealth!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To be first acknowledged as <i>Mrs Delvile</i> in a state so degrading,
+      she could not endure; and to escape from it, one way alone remained, which
+      was going instantly abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon this, therefore, she finally determined: her former objections to
+      such a step being now wholly, though unpleasantly removed, since she had
+      neither estate nor affairs to demand her stay, and since all hopes of
+      concealment were totally at an end. Her marriage, therefore, and its
+      disgraceful consequences being published to the world, she resolved
+      without delay to seek the only asylum which was proper for her, in the
+      protection of the husband for whom she had given up every other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She purposed, therefore, to go immediately and privately to London, whence
+      she could best settle her route for the continent: where she hoped to
+      arrive before the news of her distress reached Delvile, whom nothing, she
+      was certain, but her own presence, could keep there for a moment after
+      hearing it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus decided, at length, in her plan, she proceeded to put it in execution
+      with calmness and intrepidity; comforting herself that the conveniencies
+      and indulgencies with which she was now parting, would soon be restored to
+      her, and though not with equal power, with far more satisfaction. She told
+      her steward her design of going the next morning to London, bid him pay
+      instantly all her debts, and discharge all her servants, determining to
+      keep no account open but that with Mr Eggleston, which he had made so
+      intricate by double and undue demands, that she thought it most prudent
+      and safe to leave him wholly to Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then packed up all her papers and letters, and ordered her maid to
+      pack up her clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She next put her own seal upon her cabinets, draws, and many other things,
+      and employed almost all her servants at once, in making complete
+      inventories of what every room contained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She advised Mrs Harrel to send without delay for Mr Arnott, and return to
+      his house. She had first purposed to carry Henrietta home to her mother
+      herself; but another scheme for her now occurred, from which she hoped
+      much future advantage to the amiable and dejected girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She knew well, that deep as was at present her despondency, the removal of
+      all possibility of hope, by her knowledge of Delvile's marriage, must
+      awaken her before long from the delusive visions of her romantic fancy; Mr
+      Arnott himself was in a situation exactly similar, and the knowledge of
+      the same event would probably be productive of the same effect. When Mrs
+      Harrel, therefore, began to repine at the solitude to which she was
+      returning, Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad
+      to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened
+      to with pleasure, and seconded by an invitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, to whom all houses appeared preferable to her own home,
+      joyfully accepted the offer, committing to Cecilia the communication of
+      the change of her abode to Mrs Belfield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who in the known and tried honour of Mr Arnott would
+      unreluctantly have trusted a sister, was much pleased by this little
+      arrangement, from which should no good ensue, no evil, at least, was
+      probable. But she hoped, through the mutual pity their mutual melancholy
+      might inspire, that their minds, already not dissimilar, would be softened
+      in favour of each other, and that, in conclusion, each might be happy in
+      receiving the consolation each could give, and a union would take place,
+      in which their reciprocal disappointment might, in time, be nearly
+      forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was not, indeed, much promise of such an event in the countenance of
+      Mr Arnott, when, late at night, he came for his sister, nor in the
+      unbounded sorrow of Henrietta, when the moment of leave-taking arrived. Mr
+      Arnott looked half dead with the shock his sister's intelligence had given
+      him, and Henrietta's heart, torn asunder between friendship and love, was
+      scarce able to bear a parting, which from Cecilia, she regarded as
+      eternal, added to the consciousness it was occasioned by her going to join
+      Delvile for life!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who both read and pitied these conflicting emotions, was herself
+      extremely hurt by this necessary separation. She tenderly loved Henrietta,
+      she loved her even the more for the sympathy of their affections, which
+      called forth the most forcible commiseration,&mdash;that which springs
+      from fellow-feeling!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Farewell,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;my Henrietta, be but happy as you are innocent,
+      and be both as I love you, and nothing will your friends have to wish for
+      you, or yourself to regret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must always regret,&rdquo; cried the sobbing Henrietta, &ldquo;that I cannot live
+      with you for ever! I should regret it if I were queen of all the world,
+      how much more then, when I am nothing and nobody! I do not wish <i>you</i>
+      happy, madam, for I think happiness was made on purpose for you, and
+      nobody else ever had it before; I only wish you health and long life, for
+      the sake of those who will be made as happy as you,&mdash;for you will
+      spoil them,&mdash;as you have spoilt me,&mdash;from being ever happy
+      without you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia re-iterated her assurances of a most faithful regard, embraced Mrs
+      Harrel, spoke words of kindness to the drooping Mr Arnott, and then parted
+      with them all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having still many small matters to settle, and neither company nor
+      appetite, she would eat no supper; but, in passing thro' the hall, in her
+      way to her own room, she was much surprised to see all her domestics
+      assembled in a body. She stopt to enquire their intention, when they
+      eagerly pressed forward, humbly and earnestly entreating to know why they
+      were discharged? &ldquo;For no reason in the world,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;but because
+      it is at present out of my power to keep you any longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't part with <i>me</i>, madam, for that,&rdquo; cried one of them, &ldquo;for I
+      will serve you for nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So will I!&rdquo; cried another, &ldquo;And I!&rdquo; &ldquo;And I!&rdquo; was echoed by them all;
+      while &ldquo;no other such mistress is to be found!&rdquo; &ldquo;We can never bear any
+      other place!&rdquo; and &ldquo;keep <i>me</i>, madam, at least!&rdquo; was even clamorously
+      urged by each of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, distressed and flattered at once by their unwillingness to quit
+      her, received this testimony of gratitude for the kind and liberal
+      treatment they had received, with the warmest thanks both for their
+      services and fidelity, and assured them that when again she was settled,
+      all those who should be yet unprovided with places, should be preferred in
+      her house before any other claimants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having, with difficulty, broken from them, she sent for her own man,
+      Ralph, who had lived with her many years before the death of the Dean, and
+      told him she meant still to continue him in her service. The man heard it
+      with great delight, and promised to re-double his diligence to deserve her
+      favour. She then communicated the same news to her maid, who had also
+      resided with her some years, and by whom with the same, or more pleasure
+      it was heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These and other regulations employed her almost all night; yet late and
+      fatigued as she went to bed, she could not close her eyes: fearful
+      something was left undone, she robbed herself of the short time she had
+      allowed to rest, by incessant meditation upon what yet remained to be
+      executed. She could recollect, however, one only thing that had escaped
+      her vigilance, which was acquainting the pew-opener, and two or three
+      other poor women who had weekly pensions from her, that they must, at
+      least for the present, depend no longer upon her assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing indeed could be more painful to her than giving them such
+      information, yet not to be speedy with it would double the barbarity of
+      their disappointment. She even felt for these poor women, whose loss in
+      her she knew would be irreparable, a compassion that drove from her mind
+      almost every other subject, and determined her, in order to soften to them
+      this misfortune, to communicate it herself, that she might prevent them
+      from sinking under it, by reviving them with hopes of her future
+      assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had ordered at seven o'clock in the morning an hired chaise at the
+      door, and she did not suffer it long to wait for her. She quitted her
+      house with a heart full of care and anxiety, grieving at the necessity of
+      making such a sacrifice, uncertain how it would turn out, and labouring
+      under a thousand perplexities with respect to the measures she ought
+      immediately to take. She passed, when she reached the hall, through a row
+      of weeping domestics, not one of whom with dry eyes could see the house
+      bereft of such a mistress. She spoke to them all with kindness, and as
+      much as was in her power with chearfulness: but the tone of her voice gave
+      them little reason to think the concern at this journey was all their own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She ordered her chaise to drive round to the pew-opener's and thence to
+      the rest of her immediate dependents. She soon, however, regretted that
+      she had given herself this task; the affliction of these poor pensioners
+      was clamorous, was almost heart-breaking; they could live, they said, no
+      longer, they were ruined for ever; they should soon be without bread to
+      eat, and they might cry for help in vain, when their generous, their only
+      benefactress was far away!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia made the kindest efforts, to comfort and encourage them, assuring
+      them the very moment her own affairs were arranged, she would remember
+      them all, visit them herself, and contribute to their relief, with all the
+      power she should have left. Nothing, however, could console them; they
+      clung about her, almost took the horses from the chaise, and conjured her
+      not to desert those who were solely cherished by her bounty!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was this all she had to suffer; the news of her intention to quit the
+      county was now reported throughout the neighbourhood, and had spread the
+      utmost consternation among the poor in general, and the lower close of her
+      own tenants in particular, and the road was soon lined with women and
+      children, wringing their hands and crying. They followed her carriage with
+      supplications that she would return to them, mixing blessings with their
+      lamentations, and prayers for her happiness with the bitterest repinings
+      at their own loss!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was extremely affected; her liberal and ever-ready hand was every
+      other instant involuntarily seeking her purse, which her many immediate
+      expences, made her prudence as often check: and now first she felt the
+      capital error she had committed, in living constantly to the utmost extent
+      of her income, without ever preparing, though so able to have done it,
+      against any unfortunate contingency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she escaped, at last, from receiving any longer this painful tribute
+      to her benevolence, she gave orders to her man to ride forward and stop at
+      the Grove, that a precise and minute account of Mr Monckton, might be the
+      last, as it was now become the most important, news she should hear in
+      Suffolk. This he did, when to her equal surprise and delight, she heard
+      that he was suddenly so much better, there were hopes of his recovery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Intelligence so joyful made her amends for almost every thing; yet she
+      hesitated not in her plan of going abroad, as she knew not where to be in
+      England, and could not endure to hurry Delvile from his sick mother, by
+      acquainting him with her helpless and distressed situation. But so revived
+      were her spirits by these unexpected tidings, that a gleam of brightest
+      hope once more danced before her eyes, and she felt herself invigorated
+      with fresh courage and new strength, sufficient to support her through all
+      hardships and fatigues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Spirits and courage were indeed much wanted for the enterprize she had
+      formed; but little used to travelling, and having never been out of
+      England, she knew nothing of the route but by a general knowledge of
+      geography, which, though it could guide her east or west, could teach her
+      nothing of foreign customs, the preparations necessary for the journey,
+      the impositions she should guard against, nor the various dangers to which
+      she might be exposed, from total ignorance of the country through which
+      she had to pass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Conscious of these deficiencies for such an undertaking, she deliberated
+      without intermission how to obviate them. Yet sometimes, when to these
+      hazards, those arising from her youth and sex were added, she was upon the
+      point of relinquishing her scheme, as too perilous for execution, and
+      resolving to continue privately in London till some change happened in her
+      affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though to every thing she could suggest, doubts and difficulties
+      arose, she had no friend to consult, nor could devise any means by which
+      they might be terminated. Her maid was her only companion, and Ralph, who
+      had spent almost his whole life in Suffolk, her only guard and attendant.
+      To hire immediately some French servant, used to travelling in his own
+      country, seemed the first step she had to take, and so essential, that no
+      other appeared feasible till it was done. But where to hear of such a man
+      she could not tell, and to take one not well recommended, would be
+      exposing herself to frauds and dangers innumerable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet so slow as Delvile travelled, from whom her last letter was still
+      dated Ostend, she thought herself almost certain, could she once reach the
+      continent, of overtaking him in his route within a day or two of her
+      landing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earnest inclination with which this scheme was seconded, made her
+      every moment less willing to forego it. It seemed the only harbour for her
+      after the storm she had weathered, and the only refuge she could properly
+      seek while thus houseless and helpless. Even were Delvile in England, he
+      had no place at present to offer her, nor could any thing be proposed so
+      unexceptionable as her living with Mrs Delvile at Nice, till he knew his
+      father's pleasure, and, in a separate journey home, had arranged his
+      affairs either for her return, or her continuance abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With what regret did she now look back to the time when, in a distress
+      such as this, she should have applied for, and received the advice of Mr
+      Monckton as oracular! The loss of a counsellor so long, so implicitly
+      relied upon, lost to her also, only by his own interested worthlessness,
+      she felt almost daily, for almost daily some intricacy or embarrassment
+      made her miss his assistance: and though glad, since she found him so
+      undeserving, that she had escaped the snares he had spread for her, she
+      grieved much that she knew no man of honest character and equal abilities,
+      that would care for her sufficiently to supply his place in her
+      confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she was situated at present, she could think only of Mr Belfield to
+      whom she could apply for any advice. Nor even to him was the application
+      unexceptionable, the calumnies of Mr Delvile senior making it disagreeable
+      to her even to see him. But he was at once a man of the world and a man of
+      honour; he was the friend of Mortimer, whose confidence in him was great,
+      and his own behaviour had uniformly shewn a respect far removed from
+      impertinence or vanity, and a mind superior to being led to them by the
+      influence of his gross mother. She had, indeed, when she last quitted his
+      house, determined never to re-enter it; but determinations hasty or
+      violent, are rarely observed, because rarely practicable; she had promised
+      Henrietta to inform Mrs Belfield whither she was gone, and reconcile her
+      to the absence she still hoped to make from home. She concluded,
+      therefore, to go to Portland-street without delay, and enquire openly and
+      at once whether, and when, she might speak with Mr Belfield; resolving, if
+      tormented again by any forward insinuations, to rectify all mistakes by
+      acknowledging her marriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She gave directions accordingly to the post-boy and Ralph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With respect to her own lodgings while in town, as money was no longer
+      unimportant to her, she meant from the Belfields to go to the Hills, by
+      whom she might be recommended to some reputable and cheap place. To the
+      Belfields, however, though very late when she arrived in town, she went
+      first, unwilling to lose a moment in promoting her scheme of going abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She left her maid in the chaise, and sent Ralph on to Mrs Hill, with
+      directions to endeavour immediately to procure her a lodging.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A PRATING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was shewn into a parlour, where Mrs Belfield was very earnestly
+      discoursing with Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins; and Belfield himself, to her
+      great satisfaction, was already there, and reading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lack a-day!&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;if one does not always see the people
+      one's talking of! Why it was but this morning, madam, I was saying to Mr
+      Hobson, I wonder, says I, a young lady of such fortunes as Miss Beverley
+      should mope herself up so in the country! Don't you remember it, Mr
+      Hobson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;but I think, for my part, the young
+      lady's quite in the right to do as she's a mind; for that's what I call
+      living agreeable: and if I was a young lady to-morrow, with such fine
+      fortunes, and that, it's just what I should do myself: for what I say is
+      this: where's the joy of having a little money, and being a little matter
+      above the world, if one has not one's own will?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, who had scarce yet raised his head from the
+      profoundness of his bow upon Cecilia's entrance into the room, &ldquo;if I may
+      be so free, may I make bold just for to offer you this chair?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I called, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, seizing the first moment in her power to
+      speak, &ldquo;in order to acquaint you that your daughter, who is perfectly
+      well, has made a little change in her situation, which she was anxious you
+      should hear from myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! ha! stolen a match upon you, I warrant!&rdquo; cried the facetious Mr
+      Hobson; &ldquo;a good example for you, young lady; and if you take my advice,
+      you won't be long before you follow it; for as to a lady, let her be worth
+      never so much, she's a mere nobody, as one may say, till she can get
+      herself a husband, being she knows nothing of business, and is made to pay
+      for every thing through the nose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fie, Mr Hobson, fie!&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;to talk so slighting of the
+      ladies before their faces! what one says in a corner, is quite of another
+      nature; but for to talk so rude in their company,&mdash;I thought you
+      would scorn to do such a thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, I don't want to be rude no more than yourself,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;for
+      what I say is, rudeness is a thing that makes nobody agreeable; but I
+      don't see because of that, why a man is not to speak his mind to a lady as
+      well as to a gentleman, provided he does it in a complaisant fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Hobson,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, very impatiently, &ldquo;you might as well let
+      <i>me</i> speak, when the matter is all about my own daughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon, ma'am,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I did not mean to stop you; for as to not
+      letting a lady speak, one might as well tell a man in business not to look
+      at the Daily Advertiser; why, it's morally impossible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But sure, madam,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;it's no such thing? You can't have
+      got her off already?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would I had!&rdquo; thought Cecilia; who then explained her meaning; but in
+      talking of Mrs Harrel, avoided all mention of Mr Arnott, well foreseeing
+      that to hear such a man existed, and was in the same house with her
+      daughter, would be sufficient authority to her sanguine expectations, for
+      depending upon a union between them, and reporting it among her friends,
+      his circumstance being made clear, Cecilia added, &ldquo;I could by no means
+      have consented voluntarily to parting so soon with Miss Belfield, but that
+      my own affairs call me at present out of the kingdom.&rdquo; And then,
+      addressing herself to Belfield, she enquired if he could recommend to her
+      a trusty foreign servant, who would be hired only for the time she was to
+      spend abroad?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While Belfield was endeavouring to recollect some such person, Mr Hobson
+      eagerly called out &ldquo;As to going abroad, madam, to be sure you're to do as
+      you like, for that, as I say, is the soul of every thing; but else I can't
+      say it's a thing I much approve; for my notion is this: here's a fine
+      fortune, got as a man may say, out of the bowels of one's mother country,
+      and this fine fortune, in default of male issue, is obliged to come to a
+      female, the law making no proviso to the contrary. Well, this female,
+      going into a strange country, naturally takes with her this fortune, by
+      reason it's the main article she has to depend upon; what's the upshot?
+      why she gets pilfered by a set of sharpers that never saw England in their
+      lives, and that never lose sight of her till she has not a sous in the
+      world. But the hardship of the thing is this: when it's all gone, the lady
+      can come back, but will the money come back?&mdash;No, you'll never see it
+      again: now this is what I call being no true patriot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite ashamed for to hear you talk so, Mr Hobson!&rdquo; cried Mr Simkins,
+      affecting to whisper; &ldquo;to go for to take a person to task at this rate, is
+      behaving quite unbearable; it's enough to make the young lady afraid to
+      speak before you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr Simkins,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;truth is truth, whether one speaks
+      it or not; and that, ma'am, I dare say, a young lady of your good sense
+      knows as well as myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, madam,&rdquo; said Belfield, who waited their silence with great
+      impatience, &ldquo;that I know just such a man as you will require, and one upon
+      whose honesty I believe you may rely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's more,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;than I would take upon me to say for any
+      <i>Englishman</i>! where you may meet with such a <i>Frenchman</i>, I
+      won't be bold to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why indeed,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;if I might take the liberty for to put in,
+      though I don't mean in no shape to go to contradicting the young
+      gentleman, but if I was to make bold to speak my private opinion upon the
+      head, I should be inclinable for to say, that as to putting a dependance
+      upon the French, it's a thing quite dubious how it may turn out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it as a great favour, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;that you have
+      been so complaisant as to make me this visit to-night, for I was almost
+      afraid you would not have done me the favour any more; for, to be sure,
+      when you was here last, things went a little unlucky: but I had no notion,
+      for my part, who the old gentleman was till after he was gone, when Mr
+      Hobson told me it was old Mr Delvile: though, sure enough, I thought it
+      rather upon the extraordinary order, that he should come here into my
+      parlour, and make such a secret of his name, on purpose to ask me
+      questions about my own son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I think, indeed, if I may be so free,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;it was
+      rather petickeler of the gentleman; for, to be sure, if he was so over
+      curious to hear about your private concerns, the genteel thing, if I may
+      take the liberty for to differ, would have been for him to say, ma'am,
+      says he, I'm come to ask the favour of you just to let me a little into
+      your son's goings on; and any thing, ma'am, you should take a fancy for to
+      ask me upon the return, why I shall be very compliable, ma'am, says he, to
+      giving of you satisfaction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;he would not have said so much if
+      you'd have gone down on your knees to ask him. Why he was upon the very
+      point of being quite in a passion because I only asked him his name!
+      though what harm that could do him, I'm sure I never could guess. However,
+      as he was so mighty inquisitive about my son, if I had but known who he
+      was in time, I should have made no scruple in the world to ask him if he
+      could not have spoke a few words for him to some of those great people
+      that could have done him some good. But the thing that I believe put him
+      so out of humour, was my being so unlucky as to say, before ever I knew
+      who he was, that I had heard he was not over and above good-natured; for I
+      saw he did not seem much to like it at the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he had done the generous thing,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;it would have been
+      for him to have made the proffer of his services of his own free-will; and
+      it's rather surpriseable to me he should never have thought of it; for
+      what could be so natural as for him to say, I see, ma'am, says he, you've
+      got a very likely young gentleman here, that's a little out of cash, says
+      he, so I suppose, ma'am, says he, a place, or a pension, or something in
+      that shape of life, would be no bad compliment, says he.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But no such good luck as that will come to my share,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield,
+      &ldquo;I can tell you that, for every thing I want to do goes quite contrary.
+      Who would not have thought such a son as mine, though I say it before his
+      face, could not have made his fortune long ago, living as he did, among
+      all the great folks, and dining at their table just like one of
+      themselves? yet, for all that, you see they let him go on his own way, and
+      think of him no more than of nobody! I'm sure they might be ashamed to
+      shew their faces, and so I should tell them at once, if I could but get
+      sight of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mean, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;for to be finding fault with what
+      you say, for I would not be unpelite in no shape; but if I might be so
+      free as for to differ a little bit, I must needs say I am rather for going
+      to work in anotherguess sort of a manner; and if I was as you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Simkins,&rdquo; interrupted Belfield, &ldquo;we will settle this matter another
+      time.&rdquo; And then, turning to the wearied Cecilia, &ldquo;The man, madam,&rdquo; he
+      said, &ldquo;whom I have done myself the honour to recommend to you, I can see
+      to-morrow morning; may I then tell him to wait upon you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon for just putting in,&rdquo; cried Mr Simkins, before Cecilia could
+      answer, and again bowing down to the ground, &ldquo;but I only mean to say I had
+      no thought for to be impertinent, for as to what I was agoing to remark,
+      is was not of no consequence in the least.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Its a great piece of luck, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;that you should
+      happen to come here, of a holiday! If my son had not been at home, I
+      should have been ready to cry for a week: and you might come any day the
+      year through but a Sunday, and not meet with him any more than if he had
+      never a home to come to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Mr Belfield's home-visits are so periodical,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;it must
+      be rather less, than more, difficult to meet with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why you know, ma'am,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;to-day is a red-letter day,
+      so that's the reason of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A red-letter day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good lack, madam, why have not you heard that my son is turned
+      book-keeper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, much surprised, looked at Belfield, who, colouring very high, and
+      apparently much provoked by his mother's loquacity, said, &ldquo;Had Miss
+      Beverley not heard it even now, madam, I should probably have lost with
+      her no credit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can surely lose none, Sir,&rdquo; answered Cecilia, &ldquo;by an employment too
+      little pleasant to have been undertaken from any but the most laudable
+      motives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not, madam, the employment,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for which I so much blush as
+      for the person employed&mdash;for <i>myself</i>! In the beginning of the
+      winter you left me just engaged in another business, a business with which
+      I was madly delighted, and fully persuaded I should be enchanted for ever;&mdash;now,
+      again, in the beginning of the summer,&mdash;you find me, already, in a
+      new occupation!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;but far indeed from surprised, that you found
+      yourself deceived by such sanguine expectations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Deceived!&rdquo; cried he, with energy, &ldquo;I was bewitched, I was infatuated!
+      common sense was estranged by the seduction of a chimera; my understanding
+      was in a ferment from the ebullition of my imagination! But when this new
+      way of life lost its novelty,&mdash;novelty! that short-liv'd, but
+      exquisite bliss! no sooner caught than it vanishes, no sooner tasted than
+      it is gone! which charms but to fly, and comes but to destroy what it
+      leaves behind!&mdash;when that was lost, reason, cool, heartless reason,
+      took its place, and teaching me to wonder at the frenzy of my folly,
+      brought me back to the tameness&mdash;the sadness of reality!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;whatever it has brought you back to, it
+      has brought you back to no good! it's a hard case, you must needs think,
+      madam, to a mother, to see a son that might do whatever he would, if he'd
+      only set about it, contenting himself with doing nothing but scribble and
+      scribe one day, and when he gets tired of that, thinking of nothing better
+      than casting up two and two!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, madam,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;what I have seen of the world is this;
+      there's nothing methodizes a man but business. If he's never so much upon
+      the stilts, that's always a sure way to bring him down, by reason he soon
+      finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading. Let every man be his
+      own carver; but what I say is, them gentlemen that are what one may call
+      geniuses, commonly think nothing of the main chance, till they get a tap
+      on the shoulder with a writ; and a solid lad, that knows three times five
+      is fifteen, will get the better of them in the long run. But as to arguing
+      with gentlemen of that sort, where's the good of it? You can never bring
+      them to the point, say what you will; all you can get from them, is a
+      farrago of fine words, that you can't understand without a dictionary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am inclinable to think,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;that the young gentleman is
+      rather of opinion to like pleasure better than business; and, to be sure,
+      it's very excusable of him, because it's more agreeabler. And I must needs
+      say, if I may be so free, I'm partly of the young gentleman's mind, for
+      business is a deal more trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope, however,&rdquo; said Cecilia to Belfield, &ldquo;your present situation is
+      less irksome to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any situation, madam, must be less irksome than that which I quitted: to
+      write by rule, to compose by necessity, to make the understanding,
+      nature's first gift, subservient to interest, that meanest offspring of
+      art!&mdash;when weary, listless, spiritless, to rack the head for
+      invention, the memory for images, and the fancy for ornament and illusion;
+      and when the mind is wholly occupied by its own affections and affairs, to
+      call forth all its faculties for foreign subjects, uninteresting
+      discussions, or fictitious incidents!&mdash;Heavens! what a life of
+      struggle between the head and the heart! how cruel, how unnatural a war
+      between the intellects and the feelings!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to these sort of things,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;I can't say I am much
+      versed in them, by reason they are things I never much studied; but if I
+      was to speak my notion, it is this; the best way to thrive in the world is
+      to get money; but how is it to be got? Why by business: for business is to
+      money, what fine words are to a lady, a sure road to success. Now I don't
+      mean by this to be censorious upon the ladies, being they have nothing
+      else to go by, for as to examining if a man knows any thing of the world,
+      and that, they have nothing whereby to judge, knowing nothing of it
+      themselves. So that when they are taken in by rogues and sharpers, the
+      fault is all in the law, for making no proviso against their having money
+      in their own hands. Let every one be trusted according to their headpiece
+      and what I say is this: a lady in them cases is much to be pitied, for she
+      is obligated to take a man upon his own credit, which is tantamount to no
+      credit at all, being what man will speak an ill word of himself? you may
+      as well expect a bad shilling to cry out don't take me! That's what I say,
+      and that's my way of giving my vote.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, quite tired of these interruptions, and impatient to be gone, now
+      said to Belfield, &ldquo;I should be much obliged to you, Sir, if you could send
+      to me the man you speak of tomorrow morning. I wished, also to consult you
+      with regard to the route I ought to take. My purpose is to go to Nice, and
+      as I am very desirous to travel expeditiously, you may perhaps be able to
+      instruct me what is the best method for me to pursue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, with a look of much
+      significance and delight, &ldquo;suppose you two and I was to walk into the next
+      room? There's no need for us to hear all the young lady may have a mind to
+      say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has nothing to say, madam,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;that the whole world may
+      not hear. Neither is it my purpose to talk, but to listen, if Mr Belfield
+      is at leisure to favour me with his advice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must always be at leisure, and always be proud, madam,&rdquo; Belfield began,
+      when Hobson, interrupting him, said, &ldquo;I ask pardon, Sir, for intruding,
+      but I only mean to wish the young lady good night. As to interfering with
+      business, that's not my way, for it's not the right method, by reason&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will listen to your reason, Sir,&rdquo; cried Belfield, &ldquo;some other time; at
+      present we will give you all credit for it unheard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let every man speak his own maxim, Sir,&rdquo; cried Hobson; &ldquo;for that's what I
+      call fair arguing: but as to one person's speaking, and then making an
+      answer for another into the bargain, why it's going to work no-how; you
+      may as well talk to a counter, and think because you make a noise upon it
+      with your own hand, it gives you the reply.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr Hobson,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;I am quite ashamed of you for being
+      so dull! don't you see my son has something to say to the lady that you
+      and I have no business to be meddling with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure, ma'am, for my part,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;I'm very agreeable to
+      going away, for as to putting the young lady to the blush, it's what I
+      would not do in no shape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I only mean,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, when he was interrupted by Mrs Belfield,
+      who, out of all patience, now turned him out of the room by the shoulders,
+      and, pulling Mr Simkins after, followed herself, and shut the door, though
+      Cecilia, much provoked, desired she would stay, and declared repeatedly
+      that all her business was public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Belfield, who had, looked ready to murder them all during this short
+      scene, now approached Cecilia, and with an air of mingled spirit and
+      respect, said, &ldquo;I am much grieved, much confounded, madam, that your ears
+      should be offended by speeches so improper to reach them; yet if it is
+      possible I can have the honour of being of any use to you, in me, still, I
+      hope, you feel you may confide. I am too distant from you in situation to
+      give you reason to apprehend I can form any sinister views in serving you;
+      and, permit me to add, I am too near you in mind, ever to give you the
+      pain of bidding me remember that distance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, extremely unwilling to shock a sensibility not more generous
+      than jealous, determined to continue her enquiries, and, at the same time,
+      to prevent any further misapprehension, by revealing her actual situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Sir,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;to have occasioned this disturbance; Mrs
+      Belfield, I find, is wholly unacquainted with the circumstance which now
+      carries me abroad, or it would not have happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here a little noise in the passage interrupting her, she heard Mrs
+      Belfield, though in a low voice, say, &ldquo;Hush, Sir, hush! you must not come
+      in just now; you've caught me, I confess, rather upon the listening order;
+      but to tell you the truth, I did not know what might be going forward.
+      However, there's no admittance now, I assure you, for my son's upon
+      particular business with a lady, and Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins and I, have
+      all been as good as turned out by them but just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia and Belfield, though they heard this speech with mutual
+      indignation, had no time to mark or express it, as it was answered without
+      in a voice at once loud and furious, &ldquo;<i>You</i>, madam, may be content to
+      listen here; pardon me if I am less humbly disposed!&rdquo; And the door was
+      abruptly opened by young Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who half screamed from excess of astonishment, would scarcely,
+      even by the presence of Belfield and his mother, have been restrained from
+      flying to meet him, had his own aspect invited such a mark of tenderness;
+      but far other was the case; when the door was open, he stopt short with a
+      look half petrified, his feet seeming rooted to the spot upon which they
+      stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I declare I ask pardon, ma'am,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;but the interruption
+      was no fault of mine, for the gentleman would come in; and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is no interruption, madam;&rdquo; cried Belfield, &ldquo;Mr Delvile does me
+      nothing but honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you, Sir!&rdquo; said Delvile, trying to recover and come forward, but
+      trembling violently, and speaking with the most frigid coldness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were then, for a few instants, all silent; Cecilia, amazed by his
+      arrival, still more amazed by his behaviour, feared to speak lest he meant
+      not, as yet, to avow his marriage, and felt a thousand apprehensions that
+      some new calamity had hurried him home: while Belfield was both hurt by
+      his strangeness, and embarrassed for the sake of Cecilia; and his mother,
+      though wondering at them all, was kept quiet by her son's looks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile then, struggling for an appearance of more ease, said, &ldquo;I seem to
+      have made a general confusion here:&mdash;pray, I beg&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at all, Sir,&rdquo; said Belfield, and offered a chair to Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; she answered, in a voice scarce audible, &ldquo;I was just going.&rdquo;
+       And again rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear I hurry you, madam?&rdquo; cried Delvile, whose whole frame was now
+      shaking with uncontrollable emotion; &ldquo;you are upon business&mdash;I ought
+      to beg your pardon&mdash;my entrance, I believe, was unseasonable.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir!&rdquo; cried she, looking aghast at this speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have been rather surprised,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;to have met you here, so
+      late,&mdash;so unexpectedly,&mdash;so deeply engaged&mdash;had I not
+      happened to see your servant in the street, who told me the honour I
+      should be likely to have by coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&mdash;&rdquo; exclaimed she, involuntarily; but, checking herself as
+      well as she could, she courtsied to Mrs Belfield, unable to speak to her,
+      and avoiding even to look at Belfield, who respectfully hung back, she
+      hastened out of the room: accompanied by Mrs Belfield, who again began the
+      most voluble and vulgar apologies for the intrusion she had met with.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile also, after a moment's pause, followed, saying, &ldquo;Give me leave,
+      madam, to see you to your carriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, notwithstanding Mrs Belfield still kept talking, could no
+      longer refrain saying, &ldquo;Good heaven, what does all this mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather for <i>me</i> is that question,&rdquo; he answered, in such agitation he
+      could not, though he meant it, assist her into the chaise, &ldquo;for mine, I
+      believe, is the greater surprise!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What surprise?&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;explain, I conjure you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By and bye I will,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;go on postilion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where you came from, I suppose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Sir, back to Rumford?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rumford!&rdquo; exclaimed he, with encreasing disorder, &ldquo;you came then from
+      Suffolk hither?&mdash;from Suffolk to this very house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;come into the chaise, and let me speak and
+      hear to be understood!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that now in it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My Maid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your maid?&mdash;and she waits for you thus at the door?&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, what is it you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell the man, madam, whither to go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know myself&mdash;any where you please&mdash;do you order him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I order him!&mdash;you came not hither to receive orders from <i>me</i>!&mdash;where
+      was it you had purposed to rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know&mdash;I meant to go to Mrs Hill's&mdash;I have no place
+      taken.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No place taken!&rdquo; repeated he, in a voice faultering between passion and
+      grief; &ldquo;you purposed, then, to stay here?&mdash;I have perhaps driven you
+      away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, mingling, in her turn, indignation with surprise,
+      &ldquo;gracious heaven! what is it you mean to doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing!&rdquo; cried he, with emphasis, &ldquo;I never have had, I never <i>will</i>
+      have a doubt! I will know, I will have <i>conviction</i> for every thing!
+      Postilion, drive to St James's-square!&mdash;to Mr Delvile's. There,
+      madam, I will wait upon you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No! stay, postilion!&rdquo; called out Cecilia, seized with terror
+      inexpressible; &ldquo;let me get out, let me speak with you at once!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It cannot be; I will follow you in a few minutes&mdash;drive on,
+      postilion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no!&mdash;I will not go&mdash;I dare not leave you&mdash;unkind
+      Delvile!&mdash;what is it you suspect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cecilia,&rdquo; cried he, putting his hand upon the chaise-door, &ldquo;I have ever
+      believed you spotless as an angel! and, by heaven! I believe you so still,
+      in spite of appearances&mdash;in defiance of every thing!&mdash;Now then
+      be satisfied;&mdash;I will be with you very soon. Meanwhile, take this
+      letter, I was just going to send to you.&mdash;Postilion, drive on, or be
+      at your peril!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man waited no further orders, nor regarded the prohibition of Cecilia,
+      who called out to him without ceasing; but he would not listen to her till
+      he got to the end of the street; he then stopt, and she broke the seal of
+      her letter, and read, by the light of the lamps, enough to let her know
+      that Delvile had written it upon the road from Dover to London, to
+      acquaint her his mother was now better, and had taken pity of his suspense
+      and impatience, and insisted upon his coming privately to England, to
+      satisfy himself fully about Mr Monckton, communicate his marriage to his
+      father, and give those orders towards preparing for its being made public,
+      which his unhappy precipitation in leaving the kingdom had prevented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter, which, though written but a few hours before she received it,
+      was full of tenderness, gratitude and anxiety for her happiness, instantly
+      convinced her that his strange behaviour had been wholly the effect of a
+      sudden impulse of jealousy; excited by so unexpectedly finding her in
+      town, at the very house where his father had assured him she had an
+      improper connexion, and alone, so suspiciously, with the young man
+      affirmed to be her favourite. He knew nothing of the ejectment, nothing of
+      any reason for her leaving Suffolk, every thing had the semblance of no
+      motive but to indulge a private and criminal inclination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These thoughts, which confusedly, yet forcibly, rushed upon her mind,
+      brought with them at once an excuse for his conduct, and an alarm for his
+      danger; &ldquo;He must think,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I came to town only to meet Mr
+      Belfield!&rdquo; then, opening the chaise-door herself, she jumpt out, and ran
+      back into Portland-street, too impatient to argue with the postilion to
+      return with her, and stopt not till she came to Mrs Belfield's house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She knocked at the door with violence; Mrs Belfield came to it herself;
+      &ldquo;Where,&rdquo; cried she, hastily entering as she spoke, &ldquo;are the gentlemen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lack-a-day! ma'am,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;they are both gone out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone out?&mdash;where to?&mdash;which way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I can't tell, ma'am, no more than you can; but I am sadly
+      afraid they'll have a quarrel before they've done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, who now doubted not a second duel, &ldquo;tell me,
+      shew me, which way they went?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, ma'am, to let you into the secret,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;only I
+      beg you'll take no notice of it to my son, but, seeing them so much out of
+      sorts, I begged the favour of Mr Simkins, as Mr Hobson was gone out to his
+      club, just to follow them, and see what they were after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was much rejoiced this caution had been taken, and determined to
+      wait his return. She would have sent for the chaise to follow her; but Mrs
+      Belfield kept no servant, and the maid of the house was employed in
+      preparing the supper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Mr Simkins came back, she learnt, after various interruptions from
+      Mrs Belfield, and much delay from his own slowness and circumlocution,
+      that he had pursued the two gentlemen to the * * coffee-house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated not a moment in resolving to follow them: she feared the
+      failure of any commission, nor did she know whom to entrust with one: and
+      the danger was too urgent for much deliberation. She begged, therefore,
+      that Mr. Simkins would walk with her to the chaise; but hearing that the
+      coffee-house was another way, she desired Mrs Belfield to let the servant
+      run and order it to Mrs Roberts, in Fetterlane, and then eagerly requested
+      Mr Simkins to accompany her on foot till they met with an hackney-coach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then set out, Mr Simkins feeling proud and happy in being allowed to
+      attend her, while Cecilia, glad of any protection, accepted his offer of
+      continuing with her, even after she met with an hackney-coach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she arrived at the coffee-house, she ordered the coachman to desire
+      the master of it to come and speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came, and she hastily called out, &ldquo;Pray, are two gentlemen here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here are several gentlemen here, madam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&mdash;but are two upon any business&mdash;any particular
+      business&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two gentlemen, madam, came about half an hour ago, and asked for a room
+      to themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where are they now?&mdash;are they up stairs?&mdash;down stairs?&mdash;where
+      are they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of them went away in about ten minutes, and the other soon after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bitterly chagrined and disappointed, she knew not what step to take next;
+      but, after some consideration, concluded upon obeying Delvile's own
+      directions, and proceeding to St James's-square, where alone, now, she
+      seemed to have any chance of meeting with him. Gladly, however, she still
+      consented to be accompanied by Mr Simkins, for her dread of being alone,
+      at so late an hour, in an hackney-coach, was invincible. Whether Delvile
+      himself had any authority for directing her to his father's, or whether,
+      in the perturbation of his new&mdash;excited and agonising sensations of
+      jealousy, he had forgotten that any authority was necessary, she knew not;
+      nor could she now interest herself in the doubt: a second scene, such as
+      had so lately passed with Mr Monckton, occupied all her thoughts: she knew
+      the too great probability that the high spirit of Belfield would disdain
+      making the explanation which Delvile in his present agitation might
+      require, and the consequence of such a refusal must almost inevitably be
+      fatal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PURSUIT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The moment the porter came to the door, Cecilia eagerly called out from
+      the coach, &ldquo;Is Mr Delvile here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but I believe he is engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no matter for any engagement!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;on the door,&mdash;I must
+      speak to him this moment!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will please to step into the parlour, madam, I will tell his
+      gentleman you are here; but he will be much displeased if he is disturbed
+      without notice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah heaven!&rdquo; exclaimed she, &ldquo;what Mr Delvile are you talking of?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My master, madam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had got out of the coach, now hastily returned to it, and was
+      some time in too great agony to answer either the porter, who desired some
+      message, or the coachman, who asked whither he was to drive. To see Mr
+      Delvile, unprotected by his son, and contrary to his orders, appeared to
+      her insupportable; yet to what place could she go? where was she likely to
+      meet with Delvile? how could he find her if she went to Mrs Hill's? and in
+      what other house could she at present claim admittance?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a little recovering from this cruel shock, she ventured, though in a
+      faultering voice, to enquire whether young Mr Delvile had been there?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; the porter answered; &ldquo;we thought he was abroad, but he
+      called just now, and asked if any lady had been at the house. He would not
+      even stay to go up to my master, and we have not dared tell him of his
+      arrival.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This a little revived her; to hear that he had actually been enquiring for
+      her, at least assured her of his safety from any immediate violence, and
+      she began to hope she might now possibly meet with him time enough to
+      explain all that had past in his absence, and occasioned her seemingly
+      strange and suspicious situation at Belfield's. She compelled herself,
+      therefore, to summon courage for seeing his father, since, as he had
+      directed her to the house, she concluded he would return there to seek
+      her, when he had wandered elsewhere to no purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then, though with much timidity and reluctance, sent a message to Mr
+      Delvile to entreat a moment's audience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An answer was brought her that he saw no company so late at night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Losing now all dread of his reproaches, in her superior dread of missing
+      Delvile, she called out earnestly to the man, &ldquo;Tell him, Sir, I beseech
+      him not to refuse me! tell him I have something to communicate that
+      requires his immediate attention!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The servant obeyed; but soon returning, said his master desired him to
+      acquaint her he was engaged every moment he stayed in town, and must
+      positively decline seeing her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go to him again,&rdquo; cried the harassed Cecilia, &ldquo;assure him I come not from
+      myself, but by the desire of one he most values: tell him I entreat but
+      permission to wait an hour in his house, and that I have no other place in
+      the world whither I can go!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile's own gentleman brought, with evident concern, the answer to
+      this petition; which was, that while the Honourable Mr Delvile was himself
+      alive, he thought the desire of any other person concerning his house, was
+      taking with him a very extraordinary liberty; and that he was now going to
+      bed, and had given orders to his servants to carry him no more messages
+      whatsoever, upon pain of instant dismission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now seemed totally destitute of all resource, and for a few
+      dreadful minutes, gave herself up to utter despondency: nor, when she
+      recovered her presence of mind, could she form any better plan than that
+      of waiting in the coach to watch the return of Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told the coachman, therefore, to drive to a corner of the square,
+      begging Mr Simkins to have patience, which he promised with much
+      readiness, and endeavoured to give her comfort, by talking without
+      cessation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited here near half an hour. She then feared the disappointment of
+      Delvile in not meeting her at first, had made him conclude she meant not
+      to obey his directions, and had perhaps urged him to call again upon
+      Belfield, whom he might fancy privy to her non-appearance. This was new
+      horror to her, and she resolved at all risks to drive to Portland-street,
+      and enquire if Belfield himself was returned home. Yet, lest they should
+      mutually be pursuing each other all night, she stopt again at Mr
+      Delvile's, and left word with the porter, that if young Mr Delvile should
+      come home, he would hear of the person he was enquiring for at Mrs
+      Roberts's in Fetter-lane. To Belfield's she did not dare to direct him;
+      and it was her intention, if there she procured no new intelligence, to
+      leave the same message, and then go to Mrs Roberts without further delay.
+      To make such an arrangement with a servant who knew not her connection
+      with his young master, was extremely repugnant to her; but the exigence
+      was too urgent for scruples, and there was nothing to which she would not
+      have consented, to prevent the fatal catastrophe she apprehended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she came to Belfield's, not daring to enter the house, she sent in Mr
+      Simkins, to desire that Mrs Belfield would be so good as to step to the
+      coach door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your son, madam,&rdquo; she cried, eagerly, &ldquo;come home? and is any body with
+      him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am; he has never once been across the threshold since that
+      gentleman took him out; and I am half out of my wits to think&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has that gentleman,&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, &ldquo;been here anymore?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, ma'am, that's what I was going to tell you; he came again just now,
+      and said&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just now?&mdash;good heaven!&mdash;and which way is he gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why he is after no good, I am afraid, for he was in a great passion, and
+      would hardly hear any thing I said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray, pray answer me quick!&mdash;where, which way did he go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, he asked me if I knew whither my son was come from the * *
+      coffee-house; why, says I, I'm sure I can't tell, for if it had not been
+      for Mr Simkins, I should not so much as have known he ever went to the * *
+      coffee-house; however, I hope he a'n't come away, because if he is, poor
+      Miss Beverley will have had all that trouble for nothing; for she's gone
+      after him in a prodigious hurry; and upon my only saying that, he seemed
+      quite beside himself, and said, if I don't meet with your son at the * *
+      coffee-house myself, pray, when he comes in, tell him I shall be highly
+      obliged to him to call there; and then he went away, in as great a pet as
+      ever you saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia listened to this account with the utmost terror and misery; the
+      suspicions of Delvile would now be aggravated, and the message he had left
+      for Belfield, would by him be regarded as a defiance. Again, however, to
+      the * * coffee-house she instantly ordered the coach, an immediate
+      explanation from herself seeming the only possible chance for preventing
+      the most horrible conclusion to this unfortunate and eventful evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was still accompanied by Mr Simkins, and, but that she attended to
+      nothing he said, would not inconsiderably have been tormented by his
+      conversation. She sent him immediately into the coffee-room, to enquire if
+      either of the gentlemen were then in the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned to her with a waiter, who said, &ldquo;One of them, madam, called
+      again just now, but he only stopt to write a note, which he left to be
+      given to the gentleman who came with him at first. He is but this moment
+      gone, and I don't think he can be at the bottom of the street.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh drive then, gallop after him!&rdquo;&mdash;cried Cecilia; &ldquo;coachman! go this
+      moment!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My horses are tired,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;they have been out all day, and they
+      will gallop no further, if I don't stop and give them a drink.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, too full of hope and impatience for this delay, forced open the
+      door herself, and without saying another word, jumped out of the carriage,
+      with intention to run down the street; but the coachman immediately
+      seizing her, protested she should not stir till he was paid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the utmost agony of mind at an hindrance by which she imagined Delvile
+      would be lost to her perhaps for ever, she put her hand in her pocket, in
+      order to give up her purse for her liberty; but Mr Simkins, who was making
+      a tiresome expostulation with the coachman, took it himself, and declaring
+      he would not see the lady cheated, began a tedious calculation of his
+      fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O pay him any thing!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;and let us be gone! an instant's delay
+      may be fatal!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Simkins, too earnest to conquer the coachman to attend to her distress,
+      continued his prolix harangue concerning a disputed shilling, appealing to
+      some gathering spectators upon the justice of his cause; while his
+      adversary, who was far from sober, still held Cecilia, saying the coach
+      had been hired for the lady, and he would be paid by herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; cried the agitated Cecilia,&mdash;&ldquo;give him my purse at once!&mdash;give
+      him every thing he desires!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coachman, at this permission, encreased his demands, and Mr Simkins,
+      taking the number of his coach, protested he would summons him to the
+      Court of Conscience the next morning. A gentleman, who then came out of
+      the coffee-house, offered to assist the lady, but the coachman, who still
+      held her arm, swore he would have his right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me go! let me pass!&rdquo; cried she, with encreasing eagerness and
+      emotion; &ldquo;detain me at your peril!&mdash;release me this moment&mdash;only
+      let me run to the end of the street,&mdash;good God! good Heaven! detain
+      me not for mercy!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Simkins, humbly desiring her not to be in haste, began a formal apology
+      for his conduct; but the inebriety of the coachman became evident; a mob
+      was collecting; Cecilia, breathless with vehemence and terror, was
+      encircled, yet struggled in vain to break away; and the stranger
+      gentleman, protesting, with sundry compliments, he would himself take care
+      of her, very freely seized her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This moment, for the unhappy Cecilia, teemed with calamity; she was wholly
+      overpowered; terror for Delvile, horror for herself, hurry, confusion,
+      heat and fatigue, all assailing her at once, while all means of repelling
+      them were denied her, the attack was too strong for her fears, feelings,
+      and faculties, and her reason suddenly, yet totally failing her, she madly
+      called out, &ldquo;He will be gone! he will be gone! and I must follow him to
+      Nice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The gentleman now retreated; but Mr Simkins, who was talking to the mob,
+      did not hear her; and the coachman, too much intoxicated to perceive her
+      rising frenzy, persisted in detaining her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to France!&rdquo; cried she, still more wildly, &ldquo;why do you stop me?
+      he will die if I do not see him, he will bleed to death!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The coachman, still unmoved, began to grow very abusive; but the stranger,
+      touched by compassion, gave up his attempted gallantry, and Mr Simkins,
+      much astonished, entreated her not to be frightened: she was, however, in
+      no condition to listen to him; with a strength hitherto unknown to her,
+      she forcibly disengaged herself from her persecutors; yet her senses were
+      wholly disordered; she forgot her situation, her intention, and herself;
+      the single idea of Delvile's danger took sole possession of her brain,
+      though all connection with its occasion was lost, and the moment she was
+      released, she fervently clasped her hands, exclaiming, &ldquo;I will yet heal
+      his wound, even at the hazard of my life!&rdquo; and springing forward, was
+      almost instantly out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Simkins now, much alarmed, and earnestly calling after her, entered
+      into a compromise with the coachman, that he might attend her; but the
+      length of his negociation defeated its purpose, and before he was at
+      liberty to follow her, all trace was lost by which he might have overtaken
+      her. He stopt every passenger he met to make enquiries, but though they
+      led him on some way, they led him on in vain; and, after a useless and
+      ill-managed pursuit, he went quietly to his own home, determining to
+      acquaint Mrs Belfield with what had happened the next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while the frantic Cecilia escaped both pursuit and insult by the
+      velocity of her own motion. She called aloud upon Delvile as she flew to
+      the end of the street. No Delvile was there!&mdash;she turned the corner;
+      yet saw nothing of him; she still went on, though unknowing whither, the
+      distraction of her mind every instant growing greater, from the
+      inflammation of fatigue, heat, and disappointment. She was spoken to
+      repeatedly; she was even caught once or twice by her riding habit; but she
+      forced herself along by her own vehement rapidity, not hearing what was
+      said, nor heeding what was thought. Delvile, bleeding by the arm of
+      Belfield, was the image before her eyes, and took such full possession of
+      her senses, that still, as she ran on, she fancied it in view. She scarce
+      touched the ground; she scarce felt her own motion; she seemed as if
+      endued with supernatural speed, gliding from place to place, from street
+      to street; with no consciousness of any plan, and following no other
+      direction than that of darting forward where-ever there was most room, and
+      turning back when she met with any obstruction; till quite spent and
+      exhausted, she abruptly ran into a yet open shop, where, breathless and
+      panting, she sunk upon the floor, and, with a look disconsolate and
+      helpless, sat for some time without speaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people of the house, concluding at first she was a woman of the town,
+      were going roughly to turn her out; but soon seeing their mistake, by the
+      evident distraction of her air and manner, they enquired of some idle
+      people who, late as it was, had followed her, if any of them knew who she
+      was, or whence she came?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They could give no account of her, but supposed she was broke loose from
+      Bedlam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, wildly starting up, exclaimed, &ldquo;No, no,&mdash;I am not mad,&mdash;I
+      am going to Nice&mdash;to my husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's quite crazy,&rdquo; said the man of the house, who was a Pawn-Broker; &ldquo;we
+      had better get rid of her before she grows mischievous&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's somebody broke out from a private mad house, I dare say,&rdquo; said a
+      man who had followed her into the shop; &ldquo;and if you were to take care of
+      her a little while, ten to one but you'll get a reward for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's a gentlewoman, sure enough,&rdquo; said the mistress of the house,
+      &ldquo;because she's got such good things on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, under pretence of trying to find some direction to her upon a
+      letter, or paper, she insisted upon searching her pockets: here, however,
+      she was disappointed in her expectations: her purse was in the custody of
+      Mr Simkins, but neither her terror nor distress had saved her from the
+      daring dexterity of villainy, and her pockets, in the mob, had been rifled
+      of whatever else they contained. The woman therefore hesitated some time
+      whether to take charge of her or, not: but being urged by the man who made
+      the proposal, and who said they might depend upon seeing her soon
+      advertised, as having escaped from her keepers, they ventured to undertake
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while she endeavoured again to get out, calling aloud upon Delvile to
+      rescue her, but so wholly bereft of sense and recollection, she could give
+      no account who she was, whence she came, or whither she wished to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then carried her up stairs, and attempted to make her lie down upon a
+      bed; but supposing she refused because it was not of straw, they desisted;
+      and, taking away the candle, locked the door, and all went to rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this miserable condition, alone and raving, she was left to pass the
+      night! in the early part of it, she called upon Delvile without
+      intermission, beseeching him to come to her defence in one moment, and
+      deploring his death the next; but afterwards, her strength being wholly
+      exhausted by these various exertions and fatigues, she threw herself upon
+      the floor, and lay for some minutes quite still. Her head then began to
+      grow cooler, as the fever into which terror and immoderate exercise had
+      thrown her abated, and her memory recovered its functions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was, however, only a circumstance of horror to her: she found herself
+      shut up in a place of confinement, without light, without knowledge where
+      she was, and not a human being near her!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet the same returning reason which enabled her to take this view of her
+      own situation, brought also to her mind that in which she had left
+      Delvile;&mdash;under all the perturbation of new-kindled jealousy, just
+      calling upon Belfield,&mdash;Belfield, tenacious of his honour even more
+      than himself,&mdash;to satisfy doubts of which the very mention would be
+      received as a challenge!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet, oh yet,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;let me fly and overtake them!&mdash;I may
+      find them before morning, and to-night it must surely have been too late
+      for this work of death!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then arose to feel for the door, and succeeded; but it was locked, and
+      no effort she could make enabled her to open it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her agony was unspeakable; she called out with violence upon the people of
+      the house, conjured them to set her at liberty, offered any reward for
+      their assistance, and threatened them with a prosecution if detained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nobody, however, came near her: some slept on notwithstanding all the
+      disturbance she could make, and others; though awakened by her cries,
+      concluded them the ravings of a mad woman, and listened not to what she
+      said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her head was by no means in a condition to bear this violence of distress;
+      every pulse was throbbing, every vein seemed bursting, her reason, so
+      lately returned, could not bear the repetition of such a shock, and from
+      supplicating for help with all the energy of feeling and understanding,
+      she soon continued the cry from mere vehemence of distraction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus dreadfully passed the night; and in the morning, when the woman of
+      the house came to see after her, she found her raving with such frenzy,
+      and desperation, that her conscience was perfectly at ease in the
+      treatment she had given her, being now firmly satisfied she required the
+      strictest confinement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She still, however, tried to get away; talked of Delvile without
+      cessation, said she should be too late to serve him, told the woman she
+      desired but to prevent murder, and repeatedly called out, &ldquo;Oh beloved of
+      my heart! wait but a moment, and I will snatch thee from destruction!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Wyers, this woman, now sought no longer to draw from her whence she
+      came, or who she was, but heard her frantic exclamations without any
+      emotion, contentedly concluding that her madness was incurable: and though
+      she was in a high fever, refused all sustenance, and had every symptom of
+      an alarming and dangerous malady, she was fully persuaded that her case
+      was that of decided insanity, and had not any notion of temporary or
+      accidental alienation of reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All she could think of by way of indulgence to her, was to bring her a
+      quantity of straw, having heard that mad people were fond of it; and
+      putting it in a heap in one corner of the room, she expected to see her
+      eagerly fly at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however, distracted as she was, was eager for nothing but to
+      escape, which was constantly her aim, alike when violent or when quiet.
+      Mrs Wyers, finding this, kept her closely confined, and the door always
+      locked, whether absent or present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; AN ENCOUNTER.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Two whole days passed thus; no enquiries reached Mrs Wyers, and she found
+      in the news-papers no advertisement. Meanwhile Cecilia grew worse every
+      moment, tasted neither drink nor food, raved incessantly, called out
+      twenty times in a breath, &ldquo;Where is he? which way is he gone?&rdquo; and
+      implored the woman by the most pathetic remonstrances, to save her unhappy
+      Delvile, <i>dearer to her than life, more precious than peace or rest</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At other times she talked of her marriage, of the displeasure of his
+      family, and of her own remorse; entreated the woman not to betray her, and
+      promised to spend the remnant of her days in the heaviness of sorrow and
+      contrition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again her fancy roved, and Mr Monckton took sole possession of it. She
+      reproached him for his perfidy, she bewailed that he was massacred, she
+      would not a moment out-live him, and wildly declared <i>her last remains
+      should moulder in his hearse</i>! And thus, though naturally and commonly
+      of a silent and quiet disposition, she was now not a moment still, for the
+      irregular starts of a terrified and disordered imagination, were changed
+      into the constant ravings of morbid delirium.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman, growing uneasy from her uncertainty of pay for her trouble,
+      asked the advice of some of her friends what was proper for her to do; and
+      they counselled her to put an advertisement into the papers herself the
+      next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following, therefore, was drawn up and sent to the printer of the
+      Daily Advertiser.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MADNESS.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whereas a crazy young lady, tall, fair complexioned, with blue eyes and
+      light hair, ran into the Three Blue Balls, in&mdash;&mdash;street, on
+      Thursday night, the 2nd instant, and has been kept there since out of
+      charity. She was dressed in a riding habit. Whoever she belongs to is
+      desired to send after her immediately. She has been treated with the
+      utmost care and tenderness. She talks much of some person by the name of
+      Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      N.B.&mdash;She had no money about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      May, 1780.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This had but just been sent off, when Mr Wyers, the man of the house,
+      coming up stairs, said, &ldquo;Now we shall have two of them, for here's the
+      crazy old gentleman below, that says he has just heard in the
+      neighbourhood of what has happened to us, and he desires to see the poor
+      lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's as well let him come up, then,&rdquo; answered Mrs Wyers, &ldquo;for he goes to
+      all sort of places and people, and ten to one but he'll bustle about till
+      he finds out who she is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Wyers then went down stairs to send him up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came instantly. It was Albany, who in his vagrant rambles, having heard
+      an unknown mad lady was at this pawn-broker's, came, with his customary
+      eagerness to visit and serve the unhappy, to see what could be done for
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he entered the room, she was sitting upon the bed, her eyes earnestly
+      fixed upon the window, from which she was privately indulging a wish to
+      make her escape. Her dress was in much disorder, her fine hair was
+      dishevelled, and the feathers of her riding hat were broken and half
+      falling down, some shading her face, others reaching to her shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor lady!&rdquo; cried Albany, approaching her, &ldquo;how long has she been in this
+      state?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She started at the sound of a new voice, she looked round,&mdash;but what
+      was the astonishment of Albany to see who it was!&mdash;He stept back,-he
+      came forward,&mdash;he doubted his own senses,&mdash;he looked at her
+      earnestly,&mdash;he turned from her to look at the woman of the house,&mdash;he
+      cast his eyes round the room itself, and then, lifting up his hands, &ldquo;O
+      sight of woe!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;the generous and good! the kind reliever of
+      distress! the benign sustainer of misery!&mdash;is <i>This</i> Cecilia!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, imperfectly recollecting, though not understanding him, sunk down
+      at his feet, tremblingly called out, &ldquo;Oh, if he is yet to be saved, if
+      already he is not murdered,&mdash;go to him! fly after him! you will
+      presently overtake him, he is only in the next street, I left him there
+      myself, his sword drawn, and covered with human blood!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sweet powers of kindness and compassion!&rdquo; cried the old man, &ldquo;look upon
+      this creature with pity! she who raised the depressed, she who cheared the
+      unhappy! she whose liberal hand turned lamentations into joy! who never
+      with a tearless eye could hear the voice of sorrow!&mdash;is <i>This</i>
+      she herself!&mdash;can <i>This</i> be Cecilia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O do not wait to talk!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;go to him now, or you will never see
+      him more! the hand of death is on him,&mdash;cold, clay-cold is its touch!
+      he is breathing his last&mdash;Oh murdered Delvile! massacred husband of
+      my heart! groan not so piteously! fly to him, and weep over him!&mdash;fly
+      to him and pluck the poniard from his wounded bosom!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh sounds of anguish and horror!&rdquo; cried the melted moralist, tears
+      running quick down his rugged cheeks; &ldquo;melancholy indeed is this sight,
+      humiliating to morality! such is human strength, such human felicity!&mdash;weak
+      as our virtues, frail as our guilty natures!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; cried she, more wildly, &ldquo;no one will save me now! I am married, and
+      no one will listen to me! ill were the auspices under which I gave my
+      hand! Oh it was a work of darkness, unacceptable and offensive! it has
+      been sealed, therefore, with blood, and to-morrow it will be signed with
+      murder!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor distracted creature!&rdquo; exclaimed he, &ldquo;thy pangs I have felt, but thy
+      innocence I have forfeited!&mdash;my own wounds bleed afresh,&mdash;my own
+      brain threatens new frenzy.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, starting up, &ldquo;Good woman,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;kindly attend her,&mdash;I
+      will seek out her friends, put her into bed, comfort, sooth, compose her.&mdash;I
+      will come to you again, and as soon as I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then hurried away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh hour of joy!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;he is gone to rescue him! oh blissful
+      moment! he will yet be snatched from slaughter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman lost not an instant in obeying the orders she had received; she
+      was put into bed, and nothing was neglected, as far as she had power and
+      thought, to give a look of decency and attention to her accommodations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had not left them an hour, when Mary, the maid who had attended her
+      from Suffolk, came to enquire for her lady. Albany, who was now wandering
+      over the town in search of some of her friends, and who entered every
+      house where he imagined she was known, had hastened to that of Mrs Hill
+      the first of any, as he was well acquainted with her obligations to
+      Cecilia; there, Mary herself, by the directions which her lady had given
+      Mrs Belfield, had gone; and there, in the utmost astonishment and
+      uneasiness, had continued till Albany brought news of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was surprised and afflicted beyond measure, not only at the state of
+      her mind, and her health, but to find her in a bed and an apartment so
+      unsuitable to her rank of life, and so different to what she had ever been
+      accustomed. She wept bitterly while she enquired at the bed-side how her
+      lady did, but wept still more, when, without answering, or seeming to know
+      her, Cecilia started up, and called out, &ldquo;I must be removed this moment! I
+      must go to St James's-square,&mdash;if I stay an instant longer, the
+      passing-bell will toll, and then how shall I be in time for the funeral?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary, alarmed and amazed, turned hastily from her to the woman of the
+      house, who calmly said, the lady was only in a raving fit, and must not be
+      minded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Extremely frightened at this intelligence, she entreated her to be quiet
+      and lie still. But Cecilia grew suddenly so violent, that force only could
+      keep her from rising; and Mary, unused to dispute her commands, prepared
+      to obey them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Wyers now in her turn opposed in vain; Cecilia was peremptory, and
+      Mary became implicit, and, though not without much difficulty, she was
+      again dressed in her riding habit. This operation over, she moved towards
+      the door, the temporary strength of delirium giving, her a hardiness that
+      combated fever, illness, fatigue, and feebleness. Mary, however averse and
+      fearful, assisted her, and Mrs Wyers, compelled by the obedience of her
+      own servant, went before them to order a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however, felt her weakness when she attempted to move down
+      stairs; her feet tottered, and her head became dizzy; she leaned it
+      against Mary, who called aloud for more help, and made her sit down till
+      it came. Her resolution, however, was not to be altered; a stubbornness,
+      wholly foreign to her genuine character, now made her stern and positive;
+      and Mary, who thought her submission indispensable, cried, but did not
+      offer to oppose her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr and Mrs Wyers both came up to assist in supporting her, and Mr Wyers
+      offered to carry her in his arms; but she would not consent; when she came
+      to the bottom of the stairs, her head grew worse, she again lent it upon
+      Mary, but Mr Wyers was obliged to hold them both. She still, however, was
+      firm in her determination, and was making another effort to proceed, when
+      Delvile rushed hastily into the shop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had just encountered Albany; who, knowing his acquaintance, though
+      ignorant of his marriage, with Cecilia, had informed him where to seek
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was going to make enquiry if he was come to the right house, when he
+      perceived her,&mdash;feeble, shaking, leaning upon one person, and half
+      carried by another!&mdash;he started back, staggered, gasped for breath,&mdash;but
+      finding they were proceeding, advanced with trepidation, furiously calling
+      out, &ldquo;Hold! stop!&mdash;what is it you are doing? Monsters of savage
+      barbarity, are you murdering my wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The well-known voice no sooner struck the ears of Cecilia, than instantly
+      recollecting it, she screamed, and, is suddenly endeavouring to spring
+      forward, fell to the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile had vehemently advanced to catch her in his arms and save her
+      fall, which her unexpected quickness had prevented her attendants from
+      doing; but the sight of her changed complection, and the wildness of her
+      eyes and air, again made him start,&mdash;his blood froze through his
+      veins, and he stood looking at her, cold and almost petrified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her own recollection of him seemed lost already; and exhausted by the
+      fatigue she had gone through in dressing and coming down stairs, she
+      remained still and quiet, forgetting her design of proceeding, and forming
+      no new one for returning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary, to whom, as to all her fellow servants, the marriage of Cecilia had
+      been known, before she left the country, now desired from Delvile
+      directions what was to be done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, starting suddenly at this call from the deepest horror into the
+      most desperate rage, fiercely exclaimed, &ldquo;Inhuman wretches! unfeeling,
+      execrable wretches, what is it you have done to her? how came she hither?&mdash;who
+      brought her?&mdash;who dragged her?&mdash;by what infamous usage has she
+      been sunk into this state?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, sir, I don't know!&rdquo; cried Mary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I assure you, sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Wyers, &ldquo;the lady&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Peace!&rdquo; cried he, furiously, &ldquo;I will not hear your falsehoods!&mdash;peace,
+      and begone!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, casting himself upon the ground by her side, &ldquo;Oh my Cecilia,&rdquo; he
+      cried, &ldquo;where hast thou been thus long? how have I lost thee? what
+      dreadful calamity has befallen thee?&mdash;answer me, my love! raise your
+      sweet head and answer me!&mdash;oh speak!&mdash;say to me any thing; the
+      bitterest words will be mercy to this silence!&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, suddenly looking up, called out with great quickness, &ldquo;Who
+      are you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who am I!&rdquo; cried he, amazed and affrighted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be glad you would go away,&rdquo; cried she, in a hurrying manner,
+      &ldquo;for you are quite unknown to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, unconscious of her insanity, and attributing to resentment this
+      aversion and repulse, hastily moved from her, mournfully answering, &ldquo;Well
+      indeed may you disclaim me, refuse all forgiveness, load me with hatred
+      and reproach, and consign me to eternal anguish! I have merited severer
+      punishment still; I have behaved like a monster, and I am abhorrent to
+      myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now, half rising, and regarding him with mingled terror and anger,
+      eagerly exclaimed, &ldquo;If you do not mean to mangle and destroy me, begone
+      this instant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To mangle you!&rdquo; repeated Delvile, shuddering, &ldquo;how horrible!&mdash;but I
+      deserve it!&mdash;look not, however, so terrified, and I will tear myself
+      away from you. Suffer me but to assist in removing you from this place,
+      and I will only watch you at a distance, and never see you more till you
+      permit me to approach you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, why,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, with a look of perplexity and impatience, &ldquo;will
+      you not tell me your name, and where you come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not know me?&rdquo; said he, struck with new horror; &ldquo;or do you only
+      mean to kill me by the question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you bring me any message from Mr Monckton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From Mr Monckton?&mdash;no; but he lives and will recover.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought you had been Mr Monckton yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too cruel, yet justly cruel Cecilia!&mdash;is then Delvile utterly
+      renounced?&mdash;the guilty, the unhappy Delvile!&mdash;is he cast off for
+      ever? have you driven him wholly from your heart? do you deny him even a
+      place in your remembrance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your name, then, Delvile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O what is it you mean? Is it me or my name you thus disown?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis a name,&rdquo; cried she, sitting up, &ldquo;I well remember to have heard, and
+      once I loved it, and three times I called upon it in the dead of night.
+      And when I was cold and wretched, I cherished it; and when I was abandoned
+      and left alone, I repeated it and sung to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All-gracious powers!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;her reason is utterly gone!&rdquo; And,
+      hastily rising, he desperately added, &ldquo;what is death to this blow?&mdash;Cecilia,
+      I am content to part with thee!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary now, and Mrs Wyers, poured upon him eagerly an account of her
+      illness, and insanity, her desire of removal, and their inability to
+      control her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, however, made no answer; he scarce heard them: the deepest
+      despair took possession of his mind, and, rooted to the spot where he
+      stood, he contemplated iii dreadful stillness the fallen and altered
+      object of his best hopes and affections; already in her faded cheeks and
+      weakened frame, his agonising terror read the quick impending destruction
+      of all his earthly happiness! the sight was too much for his fortitude,
+      and almost for his understanding; and when his woe became utterable, he
+      wrung his hands, and groaning aloud, called out, &ldquo;Art thou gone so soon!
+      my wife! my Cecilia! have I lost thee already?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, with utter insensibility to what was passing, now suddenly, and
+      with a rapid yet continued motion, turned her head from side to side, her
+      eyes wildly glaring, and yet apparently regarding nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreadful! dreadful!&rdquo; exclaimed Delvile, &ldquo;what a sight is this!&rdquo; and
+      turning from her to the people of the house, he angrily said, &ldquo;why is she
+      here upon the floor? could you not even allow her a bed? Who attends her?
+      Who waits upon her? Why has nobody sent for help?&mdash;Don't answer me,&mdash;I
+      will not hear you, fly this moment for a physician,&mdash;bring two, bring
+      three&mdash;bring all you can find?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, still looking from Cecilia, whose sight he could no longer support,
+      he consulted with Mary whither she should be conveyed: and, as the night
+      was far advanced, and no place was prepared for her elsewhere, they soon
+      agreed that she could only be removed up stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile now attempted to carry her in his arms; but trembling and
+      unsteady, he had not strength to sustain her; yet not enduring to behold
+      the helplessness he could not assist, he conjured them to be careful and
+      gentle, and, committing her to their trust, ran out himself for a
+      physician.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia resisted them with her utmost power, imploring them not to bury
+      her alive, and averring she had received intelligence they meant to entomb
+      her with Mr Monckton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They put her, however, to bed, but her raving grew still more wild and
+      incessant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile soon returned with a physician, but had not courage to attend him
+      to her room. He waited for him at the foot of the stairs, where, hastily
+      stopping him,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;is it not all over? is it not impossible she can
+      live?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is very ill, indeed, sir,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but I have given directions
+      which perhaps&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Perhaps</i>!&rdquo; interrupted Delvile, shuddering, &ldquo;do not stab me with
+      such a word!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is very delirious,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;but as her fever is very high,
+      that is not so material. If the orders I have given take effect, and the
+      fever is got under, all the rest will be well of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away; leaving Delvile as much thunderstruck by answers so
+      alarming, as if he had consulted him in full hope, and without even
+      suspicion of her danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moment he recovered from this shock, he flew out of the house for more
+      advice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned and brought with him two physicians. They confirmed the
+      directions already given, but would pronounce nothing decisively of her
+      situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, half mad with the acuteness of his misery, charged them all with
+      want of skill, and wrote instantly into the country for Dr Lyster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He went out himself in search of a messenger to ride off express, though
+      it was midnight, with his letter; and then, returning, he was hastening to
+      her room, but, while yet at the door, hearing her still raving, his horror
+      conquered his eagerness, and, hurrying down stairs, he spent the remnant
+      of the long and seemingly endless night in the shop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A TRIBUTE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mean while Cecilia went through very severe discipline, sometimes strongly
+      opposing it, at other times scarce sensible what was done to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole of the next day passed in much the same manner, neither did the
+      next night bring any visible alteration. She had now nurses and attendants
+      even more than sufficient, for Delvile had no relief but from calling in
+      more help. His terror of again seeing her encreased with his forbearance;
+      the interview which had already past had almost torn him asunder, and
+      losing all courage for attempting to enter her room, he now spent almost
+      all his time upon the stairs which led to it. Whenever she was still, he
+      seated himself at her chamber door, where, if he could hear her breathe or
+      move, a sudden hope of her recovery gave to him a momentary extasy that
+      recompensed all his sufferings. But the instant she spoke, unable to bear
+      the sound of so loved a voice uttering nothing but the incoherent ravings
+      of lightheadedness, he hastened down stairs, and flying out of the house,
+      walked in the neighbouring streets, till he could again gather courage to
+      enquire or to listen how she went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following morning, however, Dr Lyster came, and every hope revived. He
+      flew to embrace him, told him instantly his marriage with Cecilia, and
+      besought him by some superior effort of his extraordinary abilities to
+      save him the distraction of her loss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good friend,&rdquo; cried the worthy Doctor, &ldquo;what is this you ask of me?
+      and how can this poor young lady herself want advice more than you do? Do
+      you think these able physicians actually upon the spot, with all the
+      experience of full practice in London to assist their skill, want a petty
+      Doctor out of the country to come and teach them what is right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have more reliance upon you,&rdquo; cried Delvile, than upon the whole
+      faculty; come, therefore, and prescribe for her,&mdash;take some new
+      course &ldquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible, my good Sir, impossible! I must not lose my wits from vanity,
+      because you have lost yours from affliction. I could not refuse to come to
+      you when you wrote to me with such urgency, and I will now go and see the
+      young lady, as a <i>friend</i>, with all my heart. I am sorry for you at
+      my soul, Mr Mortimer! She is a lovely young creature, and has an
+      understanding, for her years and sex, unequalled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mention her to me!&rdquo; cried the impatient Delvile, &ldquo;I cannot bear it!
+      Go up to her, dear Doctor, and if you want a consultation, send, if you
+      please, for every physician in town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster desired only that those who had already attended might be
+      summoned; and then, giving up to his entreaties the accustomed ceremonial
+      of waiting for them, he went to Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile did not dare accompany him; and so well was he acquainted with his
+      plainness and sincerity, that though he expected his return with
+      eagerness, he no sooner heard him upon the stairs, than fearing to know
+      his opinion, he hastily snatched up his hat, and rushed vehemently out of
+      the house to avoid him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to walk about the streets, till even the dread of ill news
+      was less horrible to him than this voluntary suspense, and then he
+      returned to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found Dr Lyster in a small back parlour, which Mrs Wyers, finding she
+      should now be well paid, had appropriated for Delvile's use.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, putting his hand upon the Doctor's shoulder, said, &ldquo;Well, my dear
+      Dr Lyster, <i>you</i>, still, I hope&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would I could make you easy!&rdquo; interrupted the Doctor; &ldquo;yet, if you are
+      rational, one comfort, at all events, I can give you; the crisis seems
+      approaching, and either she will recover, or before to-morrow morning&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't go on, Sir!&rdquo; cried Delvile, with mingled rage and horror, &ldquo;I will
+      not have her days limited! I sent not for you to give me such an account!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And again he flew out of the house, leaving Dr Lyster unaffectedly
+      concerned for him, and too kind-hearted and too wise to be offended at the
+      injustice of immoderate sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few minutes, however, from the effect rather of despair than
+      philosophy, Delvile grew more composed, and waited upon Dr Lyster to
+      apologize for his behaviour. He received his hearty forgiveness, and
+      prevailed upon him to continue in town till the whole was decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About noon, Cecilia, from the wildest rambling and most perpetual
+      agitation, sunk suddenly into a state of such utter insensibility, that
+      she appeared unconscious even of her existence; and but that she breathed,
+      she might already have passed for being dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Delvile heard this, he could no longer endure even his post upon the
+      stairs; he spent his whole time in wandering about the streets, or
+      stopping in Dr Lyster's parlour to enquire if all was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That humane physician, not more alarmed at the danger of Cecilia, than
+      grieved at the situation of Delvile, thought the present fearful crisis at
+      least offered an opportunity of reconciling him with his father. He
+      waited, therefore, upon that gentleman in St James's-square, and openly
+      informed him of the dangerous state of Cecilia, and the misery of his son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, though he would gladly, to have annulled an alliance he held
+      disgraceful to his family, have received intelligence that Cecilia was no
+      more, was yet extremely disconcerted to hear of sufferings to which his
+      own refusal of an asylum he was conscious had largely contributed; and
+      after a haughty struggle between tenderness and wrath, he begged the
+      advice of Dr Lyster how his son might be drawn from such a scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster, who well knew Delvile was too desperate to be tractable,
+      proposed surprising him into an interview by their returning together: Mr
+      Delvile, however apprehensive and relenting, conceded most unwillingly to
+      a measure he held beneath him, and, when he came to the shop, could scarce
+      be persuaded to enter it. Mortimer, at that time, was taking a solitary
+      ramble; and Dr Lyster, to complete the work he had begun of subduing the
+      hard pride of his father, contrived, under pretence of waiting for him, to
+      conduct him to the room of the invalide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, who knew not whither he was going, at first sight of the bed
+      and the attendants, was hastily retreating; but the changed and livid face
+      of Cecilia caught his eye, and, struck with sudden consternation, he
+      involuntarily stopt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at the poor young lady!&rdquo; cried Dr Lyster; &ldquo;can you wonder a sight
+      such as this should make Mr Mortimer forget every thing else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was wholly insensible, but perfectly quiet; she seemed to distinguish
+      nothing, and neither spoke nor moved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile regarded her with the utmost horror: the refuge he so
+      implacably refused her on the night when her intellects were disordered,
+      he would now gladly have offered at the expence of almost similar
+      sufferings, to have relieved himself from those rising pangs which called
+      him author of this scene of woe. His pride, his pomp, his ancient name,
+      were now sunk in his estimation; and while he considered himself the
+      destroyer of this unhappy young creature, he would have sacrificed them
+      all to have called himself her protector. Little is the boast of insolence
+      when it is analysed by the conscience! bitter is the agony of
+      self-reproach, where misery follows hardness of heart! yet, when the first
+      painful astonishment from her situation abated, the remorse she excited
+      being far stronger than the pity, he gave an angry glance at Dr Lyster for
+      betraying him into such a sight, and hastily left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, who was now impatiently waiting to see Dr Lyster in the little
+      parlour, alarmed at the sound of a new step upon the stairs, came out to
+      enquire who had been admitted. When he saw his father, he shrunk back; but
+      Mr Delvile, no longer supported by pride, and unable to recover from the
+      shock he had just received, caught him in his arms, and said &ldquo;Oh come home
+      to me, my son! this is a place to destroy you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sir,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;think not of me now!&mdash;you must shew me no
+      kindness; I am not in a state to bear it!&rdquo; And, forcibly breaking from
+      him, he hurried out of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, all the father awakened in his bosom, saw his departure with
+      more dread than anger; and returned himself to St James's-square, tortured
+      with parental fears, and stung by personal remorse, lamenting his own
+      inflexibility, and pursued by the pale image of Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was still in this unconscious state, and apparently as free from
+      suffering as from enjoyment, when a new voice was suddenly heard without,
+      exclaiming, &ldquo;Oh where is she? where is she? where is my dear Miss
+      Beverley?&rdquo; and Henrietta Belfield ran wildly into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The advertisement in the news-papers had at once brought her to town, and
+      directed her to the house: the mention that the lost lady <i>talked much
+      of a person by the name of Delvile</i>, struck her instantly to mean
+      Cecilia; the description corresponded with this idea, and the account of
+      the dress confirmed it: Mr Arnott, equally terrified with herself, had
+      therefore lent her his chaise to learn the truth of this conjecture, and
+      she had travelled all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Flying up to the bedside, &ldquo;Who is this?&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;this is not Miss
+      Beverley?&rdquo; and then screaming with unrestrained horror, &ldquo;Oh mercy! mercy!&rdquo;
+       she called out, &ldquo;yes, it is indeed! and nobody would know her!&mdash;her
+      own mother would not think her her child!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must come away, Miss Belfield,&rdquo; said Mary, &ldquo;you must indeed,&mdash;the
+      doctors all say my lady must not be disturbed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who shall take me away?&rdquo; cried she, angrily, &ldquo;nobody Mary! not all the
+      doctors in the world! Oh sweet Miss Beverley! I will lie down by your
+      side,&mdash;I will never quit you while you live,&mdash;and I wish, I wish
+      I could die to save your precious life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, leaning over her, and wringing her hands, &ldquo;Oh I shall break my
+      heart,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;to see her in this condition! Is this the so happy
+      Miss Beverley, that I thought every body born to give joy to? the Miss
+      Beverley that seemed queen of the whole world! yet so good and so gentle,
+      so kind to the meanest person! excusing every body's faults but her own,
+      and telling them how they might mend, and trying to make them as good as
+      herself!&mdash;Oh who would know her! who would know her! what have they
+      done to you, my beloved Miss Beverley? how have they altered and
+      disfigured you in this wicked and barbarous manner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of this simple yet pathetic testimony, to the worth and
+      various excellencies of Cecilia, Dr Lyster came into the room. The women
+      all flocked around him, except Mary, to vindicate themselves from any
+      share in permitting this new comer's entrance and behaviour; but Mary only
+      told him who she was, and said, that if her lady was well enough to know
+      her, there was nobody she was certain she would have been so glad to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Young lady,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;I would advise you to walk into another
+      room till you are a little more composed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every body, I find, is for hurrying me away,&rdquo; cried the sobbing
+      Henrietta, whose honest heart swelled with its own affectionate integrity;
+      &ldquo;but they might all save themselves the trouble, for go I will not!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is very wrong,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;and must not be suffered: do you
+      call it friendship to come about a sick person in this manner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh my Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, &ldquo;do you hear how they all upbraid
+      me? how they all want to force me away from you, and to hinder me even
+      from looking at you! Speak for me, sweet lady! speak for me yourself! tell
+      them the poor Henrietta will not do you any harm; tell them she only
+      wishes just to sit by you, and to see you!&mdash;I will hold by this dear
+      hand,&mdash;I will cling to it till the last minute; and you will not, I
+      know you will not, give orders to have it taken away from me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster, though his own good nature was much affected by this fond
+      sorrow, now half angrily represented to her the impropriety of indulging
+      it: but Henrietta, unused to disguise or repress her feelings, grew only
+      the more violent, the more she was convinced of Cecilia's danger: &ldquo;Oh look
+      but at her,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;and take me from her if you can! see how her
+      sweet eyes are fixed! look but what a change in her complexion!&mdash;She
+      does not see me, she does not know me,&mdash;she does not hear me! her
+      hand seems quite lifeless already, her face is all fallen away!&mdash;Oh
+      that I had died twenty deaths before I had lived to see this sight!&mdash;poor
+      wretched Henrietta, thou bast now no friend left in the world! thou mayst
+      go and lie down in some corner, and no one will come and say to thee a
+      word of comfort!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This must not be!&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;you must take her away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall not!&rdquo; cried she, desperately, &ldquo;I will stay with her till she
+      has breathed her last, and I will stay with her still longer! and if she
+      was to speak to you this moment, she would tell you that she chose it. She
+      loved the poor Henrietta, and loved to have her near her; and when she was
+      ill, and in much distress, she never once bid me leave her room. Is it not
+      true, my sweet Miss Beverley? do you not know it to be true? Oh look not
+      so dreadfully! turn to your unhappy Henrietta; sweetest, best of ladies!
+      will you not speak to her once more? will you not say to her one single
+      word?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster now grew very angry, and telling her such violence might have
+      fatal consequences, frightened her into more order, and drew her away
+      himself. He had then the kindness to go with her into another room, where,
+      when her first vehemence was spent, his remonstrances and reasoning
+      brought her to a sense of the danger she might occasion, and made her
+      promise not to return to the room till she had gained strength to behave
+      better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Dr Lyster went again to Delvile, he found him greatly alarmed by his
+      long stay; he communicated to him briefly what had passed, and counselled
+      him to avoid encreasing his own grief by the sight of what was suffered by
+      this unguarded and ardent girl. Delvile readily assented, for the weight
+      of his own woe was too heavy to bear any addition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta now, kept in order by Dr Lyster, contented herself with only
+      sitting on the bed, without attempting to speak, and with no other
+      employment than alternately looking at her sick friend, and covering her
+      streaming eyes with her handkerchief; from time to time quitting the room
+      wholly, for the relief of sobbing at liberty and aloud in another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, in the evening, while Delvile and Dr Lyster were taking one of their
+      melancholy rambles, a new scene was acted in the apartment of the still
+      senseless Cecilia. Albany suddenly made his entrance into it, accompanied
+      by three children, two girls and one boy, from the ages of four to six,
+      neatly dressed, clean, and healthy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See here!&rdquo;' cried he, as he came in, &ldquo;see here what I've brought you!
+      raise, raise your languid head, and look this way! you think me rigid,&mdash;an
+      enemy to pleasure, austere, harsh, and a forbidder of joy: look at this
+      sight, and see the contrary! who shall bring you comfort, joy, pleasure,
+      like this? three innocent children, clothed and fed by your bounty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta and Mary, who both knew him well, were but little surprised at
+      anything he said or did, and the nurses presumed not to interfere but by
+      whispers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however, observed nothing that passed; and Albany, somewhat
+      astonished, approached nearer to the bed; &ldquo;Wilt thou not speak?&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She can't, Sir,&rdquo; said one of the women; &ldquo;she has been speechless many
+      hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The air of triumph with which he had entered the room was now changed into
+      disappointment and consternation. For some minutes he thoughtfully and
+      sorrowfully contemplated her, and then, with a deep sigh, said, &ldquo;How will
+      the poor rue this day!&rdquo; Then, turning to the children, who, awed by this
+      scene, were quiet from terror. &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;ye helpless babes, ye
+      know not what you have lost: presumptuously we came; unheeded we must
+      return! I brought you to be seen by your benefactress, but she is going
+      where she will find many such.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then led them away; but, suddenly coming back, &ldquo;I may see her, perhaps,
+      no more! shall I not, then, pray for her? Great and aweful is the change
+      she is making; what are human revolutions, how pitiful, how insignificant,
+      compared with it!&mdash;Come, little babies, come; with gifts has she
+      often blessed <i>you</i>, with wishes bless <i>her</i>! Come, let us kneel
+      round her bed; let us all pray for her together; lift up your innocent
+      hands, and for all of you I will speak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then made the children obey his injunctions, and having knelt himself,
+      while Henrietta and Mary instantly did the same, &ldquo;Sweet flower!&rdquo; he cried,
+      &ldquo;untimely cropt in years, yet in excellence mature! early decayed in
+      misery, yet fragrant in innocence! Gentle be thy exit, for unsullied have
+      been thy days; brief be thy pains, for few have been thy offences! Look at
+      her sweet babes, and bear her in your remembrance; often will I visit you
+      and revive the solemn scene. Look at her ye, also, who are nearer to your
+      end&mdash;Ah! will you bear it like her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused; and the nurses and Mrs Wyers, struck by this call, and moved by
+      the general example, crept to the bed, and dropt on their knees, almost
+      involuntarily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She departs,&rdquo; resumed Albany, &ldquo;the envy of the world! while yet no guilt
+      had seized her soul, and no remorse had marred her peace. She was the
+      hand-maid of charity, and pity dwelt in her bosom! her mouth was never
+      open but to give comfort; her foot-steps were followed by blessings! Oh
+      happy in purity, be thine the song of triumph!&mdash;softly shalt thou
+      sink to temporary sleep,&mdash;sublimely shalt thou rise to life that
+      wakes for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then got up, took the children by their little hands, and went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER x. &mdash; A TERMINATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster and Delvile met them at the entrance into the house. Extremely
+      alarmed lest Cecilia had received any disturbance, they both hastened up
+      stairs, but Delvile proceeded only to the door. He stopt there and
+      listened; but all was silent; the prayers of Albany had struck an awe into
+      every one; and Dr Lyster soon returned to tell him there was no alteration
+      in his patient.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he has not disturbed her?&rdquo; cried Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, then,&rdquo; said he, advancing, though trembling, &ldquo;I will yet see her
+      once more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Mr Mortimer,&rdquo; cried the doctor, &ldquo;why should you give yourself so
+      unnecessary a shock?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shock,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;is over!&mdash;tell me, however, is there any
+      chance I may hurt <i>her</i>?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe not; I do not think, just now, she will perceive you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&mdash;I may grieve, perhaps, hereafter, that once more&mdash;that
+      one glance!&rdquo;&mdash;He stopt, irresolute the doctor would again have
+      dissuaded him, but, after a little hesitation, he assured him he was
+      prepared for the worst, and forced himself into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When again, however, he beheld Cecilia,&mdash;senseless, speechless,
+      motionless, her features void of all expression, her cheeks without
+      colour, her eyes without meaning,&mdash;he shrunk from the sight, he leant
+      upon Dr Lyster, and almost groaned aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor would have conducted him out of the apartment; but, recovering
+      from this first agony, he turned again to view her, and casting up his
+      eyes, fervently ejaculated, &ldquo;Oh merciful powers! Take, or destroy her! let
+      her not linger thus, rather let me lose her for ever!&mdash;O far rather
+      would I see her dead, glad in this dreadful condition!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, advancing to the bed side, and yet more earnestly looking at her, &ldquo;I
+      pray not now,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;for thy life! inhumanly as I have treated thee,
+      I am not yet so hardened as to wish thy misery lengthened no; quick be thy
+      restoration, or short as pure thy passage to eternity!&mdash;Oh my
+      Cecilia! lovely, however altered! sweet even in the arms of death and
+      insanity! and dearer to my tortured heart in this calamitous state, than
+      in all thy pride of health and beauty!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt, and turned from her, yet could not tear himself away; he came
+      back, he again looked at her, he hung over her in anguish unutterable; he
+      kissed each burning hand, he folded to his bosom her feeble form, and,
+      recovering his speech, though almost bursting with sorrow, faintly
+      articulated, &ldquo;Is all over? no ray of reason left? no knowledge of thy
+      wretched Delvile?&mdash;no, none! the hand of death is on her, and she is
+      utterly gone!&mdash;sweet suffering excellence! loved, lost, expiring
+      Cecilia!&mdash;but I will not repine! peace and kindred angels are
+      watching to receive thee, and if thou art parted from thyself, it were
+      impious to lament thou shouldst be parted from me.&mdash;Yet in thy tomb
+      will be deposited all that to me could render existence supportable, every
+      frail chance of happiness, every sustaining hope, and all alleviation of
+      sorrow!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster now again approaching, thought he perceived some change in his
+      patient, and peremptorily forced him away from her: then returning
+      himself, he found that her eyes were shut, and she was dropt asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was an omen the most favourable he could hope. He now seated himself
+      by the bedside, and determined not to quit her till the expected crisis
+      was past. He gave the strictest orders for the whole house to be kept
+      quiet, and suffered no one in the room either to speak or move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her sleep was long and heavy; yet, when she awoke, her sensibility was
+      evidently returned. She started, suddenly raised her head from the pillow,
+      looked round her, and called out, &ldquo;where am I now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank Heaven!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, and was rushing forward, when Dr Lyster,
+      by a stern and angry look, compelled her again to take her seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then spoke to her himself, enquired how she did, and found her quite
+      rational.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, who now doubted not her perfect recovery, wept as violently for
+      joy as she had before wept for grief; and Mary, in the same belief, ran
+      instantly to Delvile, eager to carry to him the first tidings that her
+      mistress had recovered her reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, in the utmost emotion, then returned to the chamber; but stood at
+      some distance from the bed, waiting Dr Lyster's permission to approach it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was quiet and composed, her recollection seemed restored, and her
+      intellects sound: hut she was faint and weak, and contentedly silent, to
+      avoid the effort of speaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster encouraged this stillness, and suffered not anyone, not even
+      Delvile, to advance to her. After a short time, however, she again, and
+      very calmly, began to talk to him. She now first knew him, and seemed much
+      surprised by his attendance. She could not tell, she said, what of late
+      had happened to her, nor could guess where she was, or by what means she
+      came into such a place. Dr Lyster desired her at present not to think upon
+      the subject, and promised her a full account of everything, when she was
+      stronger, and more fit for conversing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This for a while silenced her. But, after a short pause, &ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; she
+      said, &ldquo;Dr Lyster, have I no friend in this place but you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, you have several friends here,&rdquo; answered the Doctor, &ldquo;only I
+      keep them in order, lest they should hurry or disturb you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She seemed much pleased by this speech; but soon after said, &ldquo;You must
+      not, Doctor, keep them in order much longer, for the sight of them, I
+      think, would much revive me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, who could not now restrain herself,
+      &ldquo;may not <i>I</i>, among the rest, come and speak to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that?&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a voice of pleasure, though very feeble;
+      &ldquo;is it my ever-dear Henrietta?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh this is joy indeed!&rdquo; cried she, fervently kissing her cheeks and
+      forehead, &ldquo;joy that I never, never expected to have more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come,&rdquo; cried Dr Lyster, &ldquo;here's enough of this; did I not do well
+      to keep such people off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe you did,&rdquo; said Cecilia, faintly smiling; &ldquo;my too kind
+      Henrietta, you must be more tranquil!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will, I will indeed, madam!&mdash;my dear, dear Miss Beverley, I will
+      indeed!&mdash;now once you have owned me, and once again I hear your sweet
+      voice, I will do any thing, and every thing, for I am made happy for my
+      whole life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, sweet Henrietta!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, giving her her hand, &ldquo;you must
+      suppress these feelings, or our Doctor here will soon part us. But tell
+      me, Doctor, is there no one else that you can let me see?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, who had listened to this scene in the unspeakable perturbation of
+      that hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair, was now
+      springing forward; but Dr Lyster, fearful of the consequences, hastily
+      arose, and with a look and air not to be disputed, took hold of his arm,
+      and led him out of the room. He then represented to him strongly the
+      danger of agitating or disturbing her, and charged him to keep from her
+      sight till better able to bear it; assuring him at the same time that he
+      might now reasonably hope her recovery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, lost in transport, could make no answer, but flew into his arms,
+      and almost madly embraced him; he then hastened out of sight to pour forth
+      fervent thanks, and hurrying back with equal speed, again embraced the
+      Doctor, and while his manly cheeks were burnt with tears of joy, he could
+      not yet articulate the glad tumult of his soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Dr Lyster, who heartily partook of his happiness, again urged
+      him to be discreet; and Delvile, no longer intractable and desperate,
+      gratefully concurred in whatever he commanded. Dr Lyster then returned to
+      Cecilia, and to relieve her mind from any uneasy suspense, talked to her
+      openly of Delvile, gave her to understand he was acquainted with her
+      marriage, and told her he had prohibited their meeting till each was
+      better able to support it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia by this delay seemed half gratified, and half disappointed; but
+      the rest of the physicians, who had been summoned upon this happy change,
+      now appearing, the orders were yet more strictly enforced for keeping her
+      quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She submitted, therefore, peaceably; and Delvile, whose gladdened heart
+      still throbbed with speechless rapture, contentedly watched at her chamber
+      door, and obeyed implicitly whatever was said to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She now visibly, and almost hourly grew better; and, in a short time, her
+      anxiety to know all that was passed, and by what means she became so ill,
+      and confined in a house of which she had not any knowledge, obliged Dr
+      Lyster to make himself master of these particulars, that he might
+      communicate them to her with a calmness that Delvile could not attain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile himself, happy to be spared the bitter task of such a relation,
+      informed him all he knew of the story, and then entreated him to narrate
+      to her also the motives of his own strange, and he feared unpardonable
+      conduct, and the scenes which had followed their parting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came, he said, to England, ignorant of all that had past in his
+      absence, intending merely to wait upon his father, and communicate his
+      marriage, before he gave directions to his lawyer for the settlements and
+      preparations which were to precede its further publication. He meant,
+      also, to satisfy himself, of the real situation of Mr Monckton, and then,
+      after an interview with Cecilia, to have returned to his mother, and
+      waited at Nice till he might publicly claim his wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this purpose he had written in his letter, which he meant to have put
+      in the Post-office in London himself; and he had but just alighted from
+      his chaise, when he met Ralph, Cecilia's servant, in the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hastily stopping him, he enquired if he had left his place? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered
+      Ralph, &ldquo;I am only come up to town with my lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With your lady?&rdquo; cried the astonished Delvile, is your lady then in
+      town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, she is at Mrs Belfield's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At Mrs Belfield's?&mdash;is her daughter returned home?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, we left her in the country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was then going on with a further account, but, in too much confusion of
+      mind to hear him Delvile abruptly wished him good night, and marched on
+      himself towards Belfield's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pleasure with which he would have heard that Cecilia was so near to
+      him, was totally lost in his perplexity to account for her journey. Her
+      letters had never hinted at such a purpose,&mdash;the news reached him
+      only by accident,&mdash;it was ten o'clock at night,&mdash;yet she was at
+      Belfield's&mdash;though the sister was away,&mdash;though the mother was
+      professedly odious to her!&mdash;In an instant, all he had formerly heard,
+      all he had formerly disregarded, rushed suddenly upon his memory, and he
+      began to believe he had been deluded, that his father was right, and that
+      Belfield had some strange and improper influence over her heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The suspicion was death to him; he drove it from him, he concluded the
+      whole was some error: his reason as powerfully as his tenderness
+      vindicated her innocence; and though he arrived at the house in much
+      disorder, he yet arrived with a firm persuasion of an honourable
+      explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was open,&mdash;a chaise was at it in waiting,&mdash;Mrs Belfield
+      was listening in the passage; these appearances were strange, and
+      encreased his agitation. He asked for her son in a voice scarce audible,&mdash;she
+      told him he was engaged with a lady, and must not be disturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That fatal answer, at a moment so big with the most horrible surmises, was
+      decisive: furiously, therefore, he forced himself past her, and opened the
+      door:&mdash;but when he saw them together,&mdash;the rest of the family
+      confessedly excluded, his rage turned to horror, and he could hardly
+      support himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Dr Lyster!&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;ask of the sweet creature if these
+      circumstances offer any extenuation for the fatal jealousy which seized
+      me? never by myself while I live will it be forgiven, but she, perhaps,
+      who is all softness, all compassion, and all peace, may some time hence
+      think my sufferings almost equal to my offence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then proceeded in his narration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had so peremptorily ordered her chaise to St James's-square, he
+      went back to the house, and desired Belfield to walk out with him. He
+      complied, and they were both silent till they came to a Coffee-house,
+      where they asked for a private room. The whole way they went, his heart,
+      secretly satisfied of the purity of Cecilia, smote him for the situation
+      in which he had left her; yet, having unfortunately gone so far as to make
+      his suspicions apparent, he thought it necessary to his character that
+      their abolition should be equally public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they were alone, &ldquo;Belfield,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to obviate any imputation of
+      impertinence in my enquiries, I deny not, what I presume you have been
+      told by herself, that I have the nearest interest in whatever concerns the
+      lady from whom we are just now parted: I must beg, therefore, an explicit
+      account of the purpose of your private conversation with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Delvile,&rdquo; answered Belfield, with mingled candour and spirit, &ldquo;I am
+      not commonly much disposed to answer enquiries thus cavalierly put to me;
+      yet here, as I find myself not the principal person concerned, I think I
+      am bound in justice to speak for the absent who is. I assure you,
+      therefore, most solemnly, that your interest in Miss Beverley I never
+      heard but by common report, that our being alone together was by both of
+      us undesigned and undesired, that the honour she did our house in calling
+      at it, was merely to acquaint my mother with my sister's removal to Mrs
+      Harrel's, and that the part which I had myself in her condescension, was
+      simply to be consulted upon a journey which she has in contemplation to
+      the South of France. And now, sir, having given you this peaceable
+      satisfaction, you will find me extremely at your service to offer any
+      other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile instantly held out his hand to him; &ldquo;What you assert,&rdquo; he said,
+      &ldquo;upon your honour, requires no other testimony. Your gallantry and your
+      probity are equally well known to me; with either, therefore, I am
+      content, and by no means require the intervention of both.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then parted; and now, his doubts removed, and his punctilio
+      satisfied, he flew to St James's-square, to entreat the forgiveness of
+      Cecilia for the alarm he had occasioned her, and to hear the reason of her
+      sudden journey, and change of measures. But when he came there, to find
+      that his father, whom he had concluded was at Delvile Castle, was in the
+      house, while Cecilia had not even enquired for him at the door,&mdash;&ldquo;Oh
+      let me not,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;even to myself, let me not trace the agony of
+      that moment!&mdash;where to seek her I knew not, why she was in London I
+      could not divine, for what purpose she had given the postilion a new
+      direction I could form no idea. Yet it appeared that she wished to avoid
+      me, and once more, in the frenzy of my disappointment, I supposed Belfield
+      a party in her concealment. Again, therefore, I sought him,&mdash;at his
+      own house,&mdash;at the coffee-house where I had left him,&mdash;in vain,
+      wherever I came, I just missed him, for, hearing of my search, he went
+      with equal restlessness, from place to place to meet me. I rejoice we both
+      failed; a repetition of my enquiries in my then irritable state, must
+      inevitably have provoked the most fatal resentment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not dwell upon the scenes that followed,&mdash;my laborious
+      search, my fruitless wanderings, the distraction of my suspense, the
+      excess of my despair!&mdash;even Belfield, the fiery Belfield, when I met
+      with him the next day, was so much touched by my wretchedness, that he
+      bore with all my injustice; feeling, noble young man! never will I lose
+      the remembrance of his high-souled patience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, Dr Lyster, go to my Cecilia; tell her this tale, and try, for
+      you have skill sufficient, to soften, yet not wound her with my
+      sufferings. If then she can bear to see me, to bless me with the sound of
+      her sweet voice, no longer at war with her intellects, to hold out to me
+      her loved hand, in token of peace and forgiveness.&mdash;Oh, Dr Lyster!
+      preserver of <i>my</i> life in hers! give to me but that exquisite moment,
+      and every past evil will be for ever obliterated!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must be calmer, Sir,&rdquo; said the Doctor, &ldquo;before I make the attempt.
+      These heroicks are mighty well for sound health, and strong nerves, but
+      they will not do for an invalide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He went, however, to Cecilia, and gave her this narration, suppressing
+      whatever he feared would most affect her, and judiciously enlivening the
+      whole by his strictures. Cecilia was much easier for this removal of her
+      perplexities, and, as her anguish and her terror had been unmixed with
+      resentment, she had now no desire but to reconcile Delvile with himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster, however, by his friendly authority, obliged her for some time
+      to be content with this relation; but when she grew better, her impatience
+      became stronger, and he feared opposition would be as hurtful as
+      compliance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, therefore, was now admitted; yet slowly and with trepidation he
+      advanced, terrified for her, and fearful of himself, filled with remorse
+      for the injuries she had sustained, and impressed with grief and horror to
+      behold her so ill and altered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Supported by pillows, she sat almost upright. The moment she saw him, she
+      attempted to bend forward and welcome him, calling out in a tone of
+      pleasure, though faintly, &ldquo;Ah! dearest Delvile! is it you?&rdquo; but too weak
+      for the effort she had made, she sunk back upon her pillow, pale,
+      trembling, and disordered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster would then have interfered to postpone their further
+      conversation; but Delvile was no longer master of himself or his passions:
+      he darted forward, and kneeling at the bed side, &ldquo;Sweet injured
+      excellence!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;wife of my heart! sole object of my chosen
+      affection! dost thou yet live? do I hear thy loved voice?&mdash;do I see
+      thee again?&mdash;art thou my Cecilia? and have I indeed not lost thee?&rdquo;
+       then regarding her more fixedly, &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;art thou indeed my
+      Cecilia! so pale, so emaciated!&mdash;Oh suffering angel! and couldst thou
+      then call upon Delvile, the guilty, but heart-broken Delvile, thy
+      destroyer, thy murderer, and yet not call to execrate him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely affected, could not utter a word; she held out to him
+      her hand, she looked at him with gentleness and kindness, but tears
+      started into her eyes, and trickled in large drops down her colourless
+      cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Angelic creature!&rdquo; cried Delvile, his own tears overflowing, while he
+      pressed to his lips the kind token of her pardon, &ldquo;can you give to me
+      again a hand so ill deserved? can you look with such compassion on the
+      author of your woes? on the wretch, who for an instant could doubt the
+      purity of a mind so seraphic!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Delvile!&rdquo; cried she, a little reviving, &ldquo;think no more of what is
+      past!&mdash;to see you,&mdash;to be yours,&mdash;drives all evil from my
+      remembrance!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not worthy this joy!&rdquo; cried he, rising, kneeling, and rising again;
+      &ldquo;I know not how to sustain it! a forgiveness such as this,&mdash;when I
+      believed You must hate me for ever! when repulse and aversion were all I
+      dared expect,&mdash;when my own inhumanity had bereft thee of thy reason,&mdash;when
+      the grave, the pitiless grave, was already open to receive thee.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too kind, too feeling Delvile!&rdquo; cried the penetrated Cecilia, &ldquo;relieve
+      your loaded heart from these bitter recollections; mine is lightened
+      already,&mdash;lightened, I think, of every thing but its affection for <i>you</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh words of transport and extacy!&rdquo; cried the enraptured Delvile, &ldquo;oh
+      partner of my life! friend, solace, darling of my bosom! that so lately I
+      thought expiring! that I folded to my bleeding heart in the agony of
+      eternal separation!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come away, Sir, come away,&rdquo; cried Dr Lyster, who now saw that Cecilia was
+      greatly agitated, &ldquo;I will not be answerable for the continuation of this
+      scene;&rdquo; and taking him by the arm, he awakened him from his frantic
+      rapture, by assuring him she would faint, and forced him away from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after he was gone, and Cecilia became more tranquil, Henrietta, who
+      had wept with bitterness in a corner of the room during this scene,
+      approached her, and, with an attempted smile, though in a voice hardly
+      audible, said, &ldquo;Ah, Miss Beverley, you will, at last, then be happy! happy
+      as all your goodness deserves. And I am sure I should rejoice in it if I
+      was to die to make you happier!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who but too well knew her full meaning, tenderly embraced her,
+      but was prevented by Dr Lyster from entering into any discourse with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first meeting, however, with Delvile being over, the second was far
+      more quiet, and in a very short time, he would scarcely quit her a moment,
+      Cecilia herself receiving from his sight a pleasure too great for denial,
+      yet too serene for danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Dr Lyster, finding her prospect of recovery thus fair, prepared
+      for leaving London: but, equally desirous to do good out of his profession
+      as in it, he first, at the request of Delvile, waited upon his father, to
+      acquaint him with his present situation, solicit his directions for his
+      future proceedings, and endeavour to negociate a general reconciliation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, to whose proud heart social joy could find no avenue, was yet
+      touched most sensibly by the restoration of Cecilia. Neither his dignity
+      nor his displeasure had been able to repress remorse, a feeling to which,
+      with all his foibles, he had not been accustomed. The view of her
+      distraction had dwelt upon his imagination, the despondency of his son had
+      struck him with fear and horror. He had been haunted by self reproach, and
+      pursued by vain regret; and those concessions he had refused to tenderness
+      and entreaty, he now willingly accorded to change repentance for
+      tranquility. He sent instantly for his son, whom even with tears he
+      embraced, and felt his own peace restored as he pronounced his
+      forgiveness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      New, however, to kindness, he retained it not long, and a stranger to
+      generosity, he knew not how to make her welcome: the extinction of his
+      remorse abated his compassion for Cecilia, and when solicited to receive
+      her, he revived the charges of Mr Monckton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, informed of this, determined to write to that gentleman herself,
+      whose long and painful illness, joined to his irrecoverable loss of her,
+      she now hoped might prevail with him to make reparation for the injuries
+      he had done her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Mr Monckton</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I write not, Sir, to upbraid you; the woes which have followed your ill
+      offices, and which you may some time hear, will render my reproaches
+      superfluous. I write but to beseech that what is past may content you; and
+      that, however, while I was single, you chose to misrepresent me to the
+      Delvile family, you will have so much honour, since I am now become one of
+      it, as to acknowledge my innocence of the crimes laid to my charge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In remembrance of my former long friendship, I send you my good wishes;
+      and in consideration of my hopes from your recantation, I send you, Sir,
+      if you think it worth acceptance, my forgiveness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      CECILIA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, after many long and painful struggles between useless rage,
+      and involuntary remorse, at length sent the following answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Mrs Mortimer Delvile</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those who could ever believe you guilty, must have been eager to think you
+      so. I meant but your welfare at all times, and to have saved you from a
+      connection I never thought equal to your merit. I am grieved, but not
+      surprised, to hear of your injuries; from the alliance you have formed,
+      nothing else could be expected: if my testimony to your innocence can,
+      however, serve to mitigate them, I scruple not to declare I believe it
+      without taint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile sent by Dr Lyster this letter to his father, whose rage at the
+      detection of the perfidy which had deceived him, was yet inferior to what
+      he felt that his family was mentioned so injuriously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His conference with Dr Lyster was long and painful, but decisive: that
+      sagacious and friendly man knew well how to work upon, his passions, and
+      so effectually awakened them by representing the disgrace of his own
+      family from the present situation of Cecilia, that before he quitted his
+      house he was authorised to invite her to remove to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he returned from his embassy, he found Delvile in her room, and each
+      waiting with impatience the event of his negociation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor with much alacrity gave Cecilia the invitation with which he
+      had been charged; but Delvile, jealous for her dignity, was angry and
+      dissatisfied his father brought it not himself, and exclaimed with much
+      mortification, &ldquo;Is this all the grace accorded me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Patience, patience, Sir,&rdquo; answered the Doctor; &ldquo;when you have thwarted
+      any body in their first hope and ambition, do you expect they will send
+      you their compliments and many thanks for the disappointment? Pray let the
+      good gentleman have his way in some little matters, since you have taken
+      such effectual care to put out of his reach the power of having it in
+      greater.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O far from starting obstacles,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;let us solicit a
+      reconciliation with whatever concessions he may require. The misery of
+      DISOBEDIENCE we have but too fatally experienced; and thinking as we think
+      of filial ties and parental claims, how can we ever hope happiness till
+      forgiven and taken into favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True, my Cecilia,&rdquo; answered Delvile, &ldquo;and generous and condescending as
+      true; and if <i>you</i> can thus sweetly comply, I will gratefully forbear
+      making any opposition. Too much already have you suffered from the
+      impetuosity of my temper, but I will try to curb it in future by the
+      remembrance of your injuries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole of this unfortunate business,&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;has been the
+      result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. Your uncle, the Dean, began it, by his
+      arbitrary will, as if an ordinance of his own could arrest the course of
+      nature! and as if <i>he</i> had power to keep alive, by the loan of a
+      name, a family in the male branch already extinct. Your father, Mr
+      Mortimer, continued it with the same self-partiality, preferring the
+      wretched gratification of tickling his ear with a favourite sound, to the
+      solid happiness of his son with a rich and deserving wife. Yet this,
+      however, remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so
+      wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you
+      will also owe their termination: for all that I could say to Mr Delvile,
+      either of reasoning or entreaty,&mdash;and I said all I could suggest, and
+      I suggested all a man need wish to hear,&mdash;was totally thrown away,
+      till I pointed out to him his <i>own</i> disgrace, in having a <i>daughter-in-law</i>
+      immured in these mean lodgings!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thus, my dear young lady, the terror which drove you to this house, and
+      the sufferings which have confined you in it, will prove, in the event,
+      the source of your future peace: for when all my best rhetorick failed to
+      melt Mr Delvile, I instantly brought him to terms by coupling his name
+      with a pawnbroker's! And he could not with more disgust hear his son
+      called Mr Beverley, than think of his son's wife when he hears of the <i>Three
+      Blue Balls</i>! Thus the same passions, taking but different directions,
+      <i>do</i> mischief and <i>cure</i> it alternately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such, my good young friends, is the MORAL of your calamities. You have
+      all, in my opinion, been strangely at cross purposes, and trifled, no one
+      knows why, with the first blessings of life. My only hope is that now,
+      having among you thrown away its luxuries, you will have known enough of
+      misery to be glad to keep its necessaries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This excellent man was yet prevailed upon by Delvile to stay and assist in
+      removing the feeble Cecilia to St James's-square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, for whom Mr Arnott's equipage and servants had still remained
+      in town, was then, though with much difficulty, persuaded to go back to
+      Suffolk: but Cecilia, however fond of her society, was too sensible of the
+      danger and impropriety of her present situation, to receive from it any
+      pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile's reception of Cecilia was formal and cold: yet, as she now
+      appeared publicly in the character of his son's wife, the best apartment
+      in his house had been prepared for her use, his domestics were instructed
+      to wait upon her with the utmost respect, and Lady Honoria Pemberton, who
+      was accidentally in town, offered from curiosity, what Mr Delvile accepted
+      from parade, to be herself in St James's-square, in order to do honour to
+      his daughter-in-law's first entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Cecilia was a little recovered from the shock of the first interview,
+      and the fatigue of her removal, the anxious Mortimer would instantly have
+      had her conveyed to her own apartment; but, willing to exert herself, and
+      hoping to oblige Mr Delvile, she declared she was well able to remain some
+      time longer in the drawing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good friends,&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;in the course of my long practice, I
+      have found it impossible to study the human frame, without a little
+      studying the human mind; and from all that I have yet been able to make
+      out, either by observation, reflection, or comparison, it appears to me at
+      this moment, that Mr Mortimer Delvile has got the best wife, and that you,
+      Sir, have here the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husband or any
+      father in the three kingdoms belonging to his Majesty can either have or
+      desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia smiled; Mortimer looked his delighted concurrence; Mr Delvile
+      forced himself to make a stiff inclination of the head; and Lady Honoria
+      gaily exclaimed, &ldquo;Dr Lyster, when you say the <i>best</i> and the most <i>faultless</i>,
+      you should always add the rest of the company excepted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word,&rdquo; cried the Doctor, &ldquo;I beg your ladyship's pardon; but there
+      is a certain unguarded warmth comes across a man now and then, that drives
+      <i>etiquette</i> out of his head, and makes him speak truth before he well
+      knows where he is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O terrible!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;this is sinking deeper and deeper. I had hoped
+      the town air would have taught you better things; but I find you have
+      visited at Delvile Castle till you are fit for no other place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whoever, Lady Honoria,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, much offended, &ldquo;is fit for
+      Delvile Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every other
+      place may by no means be fit for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes, Sir,&rdquo; cried she, giddily, &ldquo;every possible place will be fit for
+      him, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr Lyster?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, when a man has the honour to see your ladyship,&rdquo; answered he,
+      good-humouredly, &ldquo;he is apt to think too much of the person, to care about
+      the place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, I begin to have some hopes of you,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;for I see, for a
+      Doctor, you have really a very pretty notion of a compliment: only you
+      have one great fault still; you look the whole time as if you said it for
+      a joke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, in fact, madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both in word and
+      look for upwards of fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick a reformation to
+      demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow. However, give me but
+      a little time and a little encouragement, and, with such a tutress, 'twill
+      be hard if I do not, in a very few lessons, learn the right method of
+      seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion of twisting words from
+      meaning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But pray,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;upon those occasions, always remember to look
+      serious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If you are
+      tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvile Castle; 'tis an
+      expedient I commonly make use of myself when I am afraid of being too
+      frisky: and it always succeeds, for the very recollection of it gives me
+      the head-ache in a moment. Upon my word, Mr Delvile, you must have the
+      constitution of five men, to have kept such good health, after living so
+      long at that horrible place. You can't imagine how you've surprised me,
+      for I have regularly expected to hear of your death at the end of every
+      summer: and, I assure you, once, I was very near buying mourning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The estate which descends to a man from his own ancestors, Lady Honoria,&rdquo;
+       answered Mr Delvile, &ldquo;will seldom be apt to injure his health, if he is
+      conscious of committing no misdemeanour which has degraded their memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How vastly odious this new father of yours is!&rdquo; said Lady Honoria, in a
+      whisper to Cecilia; &ldquo;what could ever induce you to give up your charming
+      estate for the sake of coming into this fusty old family! I would really
+      advise you to have your marriage annulled. You have only, you know, to
+      take an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you are an
+      Heiress, and the Delviles are all so violent, it will easily be credited.
+      And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to marry my
+      little Lord Derford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you only, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;have me regain my freedom in order
+      to part with it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; answered Lady Honoria, &ldquo;for you can do nothing at all without
+      being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackled than a
+      wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know, has
+      nothing to do but just to manage her husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that,&rdquo; said Cecilia, smiling, &ldquo;you consider as a trifle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, if you do but marry a man you don't care for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right, then, indeed, to recommend to me my Lord Derford!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes, he will make the prettiest husband in the world; you may fly about
+      yourself as wild as a lark, and keep him the whole time as tame as a
+      jack-daw: and though he may complain of you to your friends, he will never
+      have the courage to find fault to your face. But as to Mortimer, you will
+      not be able to govern him as long as you live; for the moment you have put
+      him upon the fret, you'll fall into the dumps yourself, hold out your hand
+      to him, and, losing the opportunity of gaining some material point, make
+      up at the first soft word.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think, then, the quarrel more amusing than the reconciliation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, a thousand times! for while you are quarrelling, you may say any
+      thing, and demand any thing, but when you are reconciled, you ought to
+      behave pretty, and seem contented.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those who presume to have any pretensions to your ladyship,&rdquo; said
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;would be made happy indeed should they hear your principles!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, it would not signify at all,&rdquo; answered she, &ldquo;for one's fathers, and
+      uncles, and those sort of people, always make connexions for one, and not
+      a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by our
+      conduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for they
+      give us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the world while
+      we are single, but how we can dance a minuet, or play a lesson upon the
+      harpsichord.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what else,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, who advanced, and heard this last
+      speech, &ldquo;need a young lady of rank desire to be known for? your ladyship
+      surely would not have her degrade herself by studying like an artist or
+      professor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, Sir, I would not have her study at all; it's mighty well for
+      children, but really after sixteen, and when one is come out, one has
+      quite fatigue enough in dressing, and going to public places, and ordering
+      new things, without all that torment of first and second position, and E
+      upon the first line, and F upon the first, space!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ladyship must, however, pardon me for hinting,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile,
+      &ldquo;that a young lady of condition, who has a proper sense of her dignity,
+      cannot be seen too rarely, or known too little.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O but I hate dignity!&rdquo; cried she carelessly, &ldquo;for it's the dullest thing
+      in the world. I always thought it was owing to that you were so little
+      amusing;&mdash;really I beg your pardon, Sir, I meant to say so little
+      talkative.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can easily credit that your ladyship spoke hastily,&rdquo; answered he,
+      highly piqued, &ldquo;for I believe, indeed, a person of a family such as mine,
+      will hardly be supposed to have come into the world for the office of
+      amusing it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, Sir,&rdquo; cried she, with pretended innocence, &ldquo;nobody, I am sure, ever
+      saw you with such a thought.&rdquo; Then, turning to Cecilia, she added in a
+      whisper, &ldquo;You cannot imagine, my dear Mrs Mortimer, how I detest this old
+      cousin of mine! Now pray tell me honestly if you don't hate him yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to have no reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, how you are always upon your guard! If I were half as cautious, I
+      should die of the vapours in a month; the only thing that keeps me at all
+      alive, is now and then making people angry; for the folks at our house let
+      me go out so seldom, and then send me with such stupid old chaperons, that
+      giving them a little torment is really the only entertainment I can
+      procure myself. O&mdash;but I had almost forgot to tell you a most
+      delightful thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why you must know I have the greatest hopes in the world that my father
+      will quarrel with old Mr Delvile!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is that such a delightful thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes; I have lived upon the very idea this fortnight; for then, you
+      know, they'll both be in a passion, and I shall see which of them looks
+      frightfullest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When Lady Honoria whispers,&rdquo; cried Mortimer, &ldquo;I always suspect some
+      mischief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No indeed,&rdquo; answered her ladyship, &ldquo;I was merely congratulating Mrs
+      Mortimer about her marriage. Though really, upon second thoughts, I don't
+      know whether I should not rather condole with her, for I have long been
+      convinced she has a prodigious antipathy to you. I saw it the whole time I
+      was at Delvile Castle, where she used to change colour at the very sound
+      of your name; a symptom I never perceived when I talked to her of my Lord
+      Derford, who would certainly have made her a thousand times a better
+      husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean on account of his title, Lady Honoria,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile;
+      &ldquo;your ladyship must be strangely forgetful of the connections of your
+      family, not to remember that Mortimer, after the death of his uncle and
+      myself, must inevitably inherit one far more honourable than a
+      new-sprung-up family, like my Lord Ernolf's, could offer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sir; but then, you know, she would have kept her estate, which would
+      have been a vastly better thing than an old pedigree of new relations.
+      Besides, I don't find that any body cares for the noble blood of the
+      Delviles but themselves; and if she had kept her fortune, every body, I
+      fancy, would have cared for <i>that</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every body, then,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, &ldquo;must be highly mercenary and
+      ignoble, or the blood of an ancient and honourable house, would be thought
+      contaminated by the most distant hint of so degrading a comparison.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear Sir, what should we all do with birth if it was not for wealth? it
+      would neither take us to Ranelagh nor the Opera; nor buy us caps nor wigs,
+      nor supply us with dinners nor bouquets.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Caps and wigs, dinners and bouquets!&rdquo; interrupted Mr Delvile; &ldquo;your
+      ladyship's estimate of wealth is really extremely minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you know, Sir, as to caps and wigs, they are very serious things,
+      for we should look mighty droll figures to go about bare-headed; and as to
+      dinners, how would the Delviles have lasted all these thousand centuries
+      if they had disdained eating them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever may be your ladyship's satisfaction,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, angrily,
+      &ldquo;in depreciating a house that has the honour of being nearly allied with
+      your own, you will not, I hope at least, instruct this lady,&rdquo; turning to
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;to adopt a similar contempt of its antiquity and dignity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This lady,&rdquo; cried Mortimer, &ldquo;will at least, by condescending to become
+      one of it, secure us from any danger that such contempt may spread
+      further.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me but,&rdquo; said Cecilia, looking gratefully at him, &ldquo;be as secure from
+      exciting as I am from feeling contempt, and what can I have to wish?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good and excellent young lady!&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;the first of blessings
+      indeed is yours in the temperance of your own mind. When you began your
+      career in life, you appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to possess more
+      than your share of the good things of this world; such a union of riches,
+      beauty, independence, talents, education and virtue, seemed a monopoly to
+      raise general envy and discontent; but mark with what scrupulous exactness
+      the good and bad is ever balanced! You have had a thousand sorrows to
+      which those who have looked up to you have been strangers, and for which
+      not all the advantages you possess have been equivalent. There is
+      evidently throughout this world, in things as well as persons, a levelling
+      principle, at war with pre-eminence, and destructive of perfection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; cried Mortimer, in a low voice to Cecilia, &ldquo;how much higher must we
+      all rise, or how much lower must you fall, ere any levelling principle
+      will approximate us with YOU!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then entreated her to spare her strength and spirits by returning to
+      her own apartment, and the conversation was broken up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray permit me, Mrs Mortimer,&rdquo; cried Lady Honoria, in taking leave, &ldquo;to
+      beg that the first guest you invite to Delvile Castle may be me. You know
+      my partiality to it already. I shall be particularly happy in waiting upon
+      you in tempestuous weather! We can all stroll out together, you know, very
+      sociably; and I sha'n't be much in your way, for if there should happen to
+      be a storm, you can easily lodge me under some great tree, and while you
+      amuse yourselves with a <i>tete-a-tete</i>, give me the indulgence of my
+      own reflections. I am vastly fond of thinking, and being alone, you know,&mdash;especially
+      in thunder and lightning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then ran away; and they all separated: Cecilia was conveyed up stairs,
+      and the worthy Dr Lyster, loaded with acknowledgments of every kind, set
+      out for the country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, still weak, and much emaciated, for some time lived almost wholly
+      in her own room, where the grateful and solicitous attendance of Mortimer,
+      alleviated the pain both of her illness and confinement: but as soon as
+      her health permitted travelling, he hastened with her abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here tranquility once more made its abode the heart of Cecilia; that heart
+      so long torn with anguish, suspense and horrour! Mrs Delvile received her
+      with the most rapturous fondness, and the impression of her sorrows
+      gradually wore away, from her kind and maternal cares, and from the
+      watchful affection and delighted tenderness of her son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Egglestons now took entire possession of her estate, and Delvile, at
+      her entreaty, forbore shewing any personal resentment of their conduct,
+      and put into the hands of a lawyer the arrangement of the affair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They continued abroad some months, and the health of Mrs Delvile was
+      tolerably re-established. They were then summoned home by the death of
+      Lord Delvile, who bequeathed to his nephew Mortimer his town house, and
+      whatever of his estate was not annexed to his title, which necessarily
+      devolved to his brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sister of Mrs Delvile, a woman of high spirit and strong passions,
+      lived not long after him; but having, in her latter days, intimately
+      connected herself with Cecilia, she was so much charmed with her
+      character, and so much dazzled by her admiration of the extraordinary
+      sacrifice she had made, that, in a fit of sudden enthusiasm, she altered
+      her will, to leave to her, and to her sole disposal, the fortune which,
+      almost from his infancy, she had destined for her nephew. Cecilia,
+      astonished and penetrated, opposed the alteration; but even her sister,
+      now Lady Delvile, to whom she daily became dearer, earnestly supported it;
+      while Mortimer, delighted to restore to her through his own family, any
+      part of that power and independence of which her generous and pure regard
+      for himself had deprived her, was absolute in refusing that the deed
+      should be revoked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, from this flattering transaction, received a further conviction
+      of the malignant falsehood of Mr Monckton, who had always represented to
+      her the whole of the Delvile family as equally poor in their
+      circumstances, and illiberal in their minds. The strong spirit of active
+      benevolence which had ever marked her character, was now again displayed,
+      though no longer, as hitherto, unbounded. She had learnt the error of
+      profusion, even in charity and beneficence; and she had a motive for
+      oeconomy, in her animated affection for Mortimer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She soon sent for Albany, whose surprise that she still existed, and whose
+      rapture at her recovered prosperity, now threatened his senses from the
+      tumult of his joy, with nearly the same danger they had lately been
+      menaced by terror. But though her donations were circumscribed by
+      prudence, and their objects were selected with discrimination, she gave to
+      herself all her former benevolent pleasure, in solacing his afflictions,
+      while she softened his asperity, by restoring to him his favourite office
+      of being her almoner and monitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She next sent to her own pensioners, relieved those distresses which her
+      sudden absence had occasioned, and renewed and continued the salaries she
+      had allowed them. All who had nourished reasonable expectations from her
+      bounty she remembered, though she raised no new claimants but with
+      oeconomy and circumspection. But neither Albany nor the old pensioners
+      felt the satisfaction of Mortimer, who saw with new wonder the virtues of
+      her mind, and whose admiration of her excellencies, made his gratitude
+      perpetual for the happiness of his lot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,
+      with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding Mr
+      Arnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soon
+      endeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in either by
+      Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, took the
+      earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation; she
+      married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and, quickly
+      forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again, with new
+      hopes, new connections,&mdash;new equipages and new engagements!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, though
+      deprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar, she
+      was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and so solitary
+      his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her to town, and
+      returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And there the gentle
+      gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from the worthy Mr Arnott
+      the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the wound of his early and
+      hopeless passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whose mutable
+      and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginning than
+      progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from public life to
+      retirement, soured with the world, and discontented with himself, till
+      vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship of Delvile, he consented
+      to accept his good offices in again entering the army; and, being
+      fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopes were revived by
+      ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view of future honour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, still lived
+      in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain of his wound
+      and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led on by a vain
+      belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he had indulged
+      without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded by inclination.
+      Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly suffered nothing to stop
+      his course; and though when he began his career he would have started at
+      the mention of actual dishonour, long before it was concluded, neither
+      treachery nor perjury were regarded by him as stumbling blocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk in
+      interest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of the
+      chace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,
+      illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, that even in
+      worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joins dishonour
+      to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The upright mind of Cecilia, her purity, her virtue, and the moderation of
+      her wishes, gave to her in the warm affection of Lady Delvile, and the
+      unremitting fondness of Mortimer, all the happiness human life seems
+      capable of receiving:&mdash;yet human it was, and as such imperfect! she
+      knew that, at times, the whole family must murmur at her loss of fortune,
+      and at times she murmured herself to be thus portionless, tho' an HEIRESS.
+      Rationally, however, she surveyed the world at large, and finding that of
+      the few who had any happiness, there were none without some misery, she
+      checked the rising sigh of repining mortality, and, grateful with general
+      felicity, bore partial evil with chearfullest resignation.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
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+</pre>
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+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/7152.txt b/7152.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ec7aad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7152.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,12975 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3)
+       Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+Author: Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7152]
+This file was first posted on March 18, 2003
+Last Updated: June 11, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECILIA, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CECILIA
+
+OR
+
+Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+by
+
+FRANCES BURNEY
+
+VOL. III.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII. _Continued_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+AN EVENT.
+
+Scarce less unhappy in her decision than in her uncertainty, and every
+way dissatisfied with her situation, her views and herself, Cecilia
+was still so distressed and uncomfortable, when Delvile called the next
+morning, that he could not discover what her determination had been, and
+fearfully enquired his doom with hardly any hope of finding favour.
+
+But Cecilia was above affectation, and a stranger to art. "I would not,
+Sir," she said, "keep you an instant in suspense, when I am no longer in
+suspense myself. I may have appeared trifling, but I have been nothing
+less, and you would readily exculpate me of caprice, if half the
+distress of my irresolution was known to you. Even now, when I hesitate
+no more, my mind is so ill at ease, that I could neither wonder nor be
+displeased should you hesitate in your turn."
+
+"You hesitate no more?" cried he, almost breathless at the sound of
+those words, "and is it possible--Oh my Cecilia!--is it possible your
+resolution is in my favour?"
+
+"Alas!" cried she, "how little is your reason to rejoice! a dejected and
+melancholy gift is all you can receive!"
+
+"Ere I take it, then," cried he, in a voice that spoke joy; pain, and
+fear all at once in commotion, "tell me if your reluctance has its
+origin in _me_, that I may rather even yet relinquish you, than merely
+owe your hand to the selfishness of persecution?"
+
+"Your pride," said she, half smiling, "has some right to be alarmed,
+though I meant not to alarm it. No! it is with myself only I am at
+variance, with my own weakness and want of judgment that I quarrel,--in
+_you_ I have all the reliance that the highest opinion of your honour
+and integrity can give me."
+
+This was enough for the warm heart of Delvile, not only to restore
+peace, but to awaken rapture. He was almost as wild with delight, as he
+had before been with apprehension, and poured forth his acknowledgments
+with so much fervour of gratitude, that Cecilia imperceptibly grew
+reconciled to herself, and before she missed her dejection, participated
+in his contentment.
+
+She quitted him as soon as she had power, to acquaint Mrs Charlton with
+what had passed, and assist in preparing her to accompany them to the
+altar; while Delvile flew to his new acquaintance, Mr Singleton, the
+lawyer, to request him to supply the place of Mr Monckton in giving her
+away.
+
+All was now hastened with the utmost expedition, and to avoid
+observation, they agreed to meet at the church; their desire of secrecy,
+however potent, never urging them to wish the ceremony should be
+performed in a place less awful.
+
+When the chairs, however, came, which were to carry the two ladies
+thither, Cecilia trembled and hung back. The greatness of her
+undertaking, the hazard of all her future happiness, the disgraceful
+secrecy of her conduct, the expected reproaches of Mrs Delvile, and
+the boldness and indelicacy of the step she was about to take, all so
+forcibly struck, and so painfully wounded her, that the moment she was
+summoned to set out, she again lost her resolution, and regretting the
+hour that ever Delvile was known to her, she sunk into a chair, and gave
+up her whole soul to anguish and sorrow.
+
+The good Mrs Charlton tried in vain to console her; a sudden horror
+against herself had now seized her spirits, which, exhausted by long
+struggles, could rally no more.
+
+In this situation she was at length surprised by Delvile, whose uneasy
+astonishment that she had failed in her appointment, was only to be
+equalled by that with which he was struck at the sight of her tears. He
+demanded the cause with the utmost tenderness and apprehension; Cecilia
+for some time could not speak, and then, with a deep sigh, "Ah!" she
+cried, "Mr Delvile! how weak are we all when unsupported by our own
+esteem! how feeble, how inconsistent, how changeable, when our courage
+has any foundation but duty!"
+
+Delvile, much relieved by finding her sadness sprung not from any new
+affliction, gently reproached her breach of promise, and earnestly
+entreated her to repair it. "The clergyman," cried he, "is waiting; I
+have left him with Mr Singleton in the vestry; no new objections have
+started, and no new obstacles have intervened; why, then, torment
+ourselves with discussing again the old ones, which we have already
+considered till every possible argument upon them is exhausted?
+Tranquillize, I conjure you, your agitated spirits, and if the truest
+tenderness, the most animated esteem, and the gratefullest admiration,
+can soften your future cares, and ensure your future peace, every
+anniversary of this day will recompense my Cecilia for every pang she
+now suffers!"
+
+Cecilia, half soothed and half ashamed, finding she had in fact nothing
+new to say or to object, compelled herself to rise, and, penetrated
+by his solicitations, endeavoured to compose her mind, and promised to
+follow him.
+
+He would not trust her, however, from his sight, but seizing the very
+instant of her renewed consent, he dismissed the chairs, and ordering
+a hackney-coach, preferred any risk to that of her again wavering, and
+insisted upon accompanying her in it himself.
+
+Cecilia had now scarce time to breathe, before she found herself at the
+porch of----church. Delvile hurried her out of the carriage, and then
+offered his arm to Mrs Charlton. Not a word was spoken by any of the
+party till they went into the vestry, where Delvile ordered Cecilia
+a glass of water, and having hastily made his compliments to the
+clergyman, gave her hand to Mr Singleton, who led her to the altar.
+
+The ceremony was now begun; and Cecilia, finding herself past all power
+of retracting, soon called her thoughts from wishing it, and turned her
+whole attention to the awful service; to which though she listened with
+reverence, her full satisfaction in the object of her vows, made
+her listen without terror. But when the priest came to that solemn
+adjuration, _If any man can shew any just cause why they may not
+lawfully be joined together_, a conscious tear stole into her eye, and
+a sigh escaped from Delvile that went to her heart: but, when the priest
+concluded the exhortation with _let him now speak, or else hereafter
+for-ever hold his peace_, a female voice at some distance, called out in
+shrill accents, "I do!"
+
+The ceremony was instantly stopt. The astonished priest immediately shut
+up the book to regard the intended bride and bridegroom; Delvile started
+with amazement to see whence the sound proceeded; and Cecilia, aghast,
+and struck with horror, faintly shriekt, and caught hold of Mrs
+Charlton.
+
+The consternation was general, and general was the silence, though all
+of one accord turned round towards the place whence the voice issued: a
+female form at the same moment was seen rushing from a pew, who glided
+out of the church with the quickness of lightning.
+
+Not a word was yet uttered, every one seeming rooted to the spot on
+which he stood, and regarding in mute wonder the place this form had
+crossed.
+
+Delvile at length exclaimed, "What can this mean?"
+
+"Did you not know the woman, Sir?" said the clergyman.
+
+"No, Sir, I did not even see her."
+
+"Nor you, madam?" said he, addressing Cecilia.
+
+"No, Sir," she answered, in a voice that scarce articulated the two
+syllables, and changing colour so frequently, that Delvile, apprehensive
+she would faint, flew to her, calling out, "Let _me_ support you!"
+
+She turned from him hastily, and still, holding by Mrs Charlton, moved
+away from the altar.
+
+"Whither," cried Delvile, fearfully following her, "whither are you
+going?"
+
+She made not any answer; but still, though tottering as much from
+emotion as Mrs Charlton from infirmity, she walked on.
+
+"Why did you stop the ceremony, Sir?" cried Delvile, impatiently
+speaking to the clergyman.
+
+"No ceremony, Sir," he returned, "could proceed with such an
+interruption."
+
+"It has been wholly accidental," cried he, "for we neither of us
+know the woman, who could not have any right or authority for the
+prohibition." Then yet more anxiously pursuing Cecilia, "why,"
+he continued, "do you thus move off?--Why leave the ceremony
+unfinished?--Mrs Charlton, what is it you are about?--Cecilia, I beseech
+you return, and let the service go on!"
+
+Cecilia, making a motion with her hand to forbid his following her,
+still silently proceeded, though drawing along with equal difficulty Mrs
+Charlton and herself.
+
+"This is insupportable!" cried Delvile, with vehemence, "turn, I conjure
+you!--my Cecilia!--my wife!--why is it you thus abandon me?--Turn,
+I implore you, and receive my eternal vows!--Mrs Charlton, bring her
+back,--Cecilia, you _must_ not go!--"
+
+He now attempted to take her hand, but shrinking from his touch, in an
+emphatic but low voice, she said, "Yes, Sir, I must!--an interdiction
+such as this!--for the world could I not brave it!"
+
+She then made an effort to somewhat quicken her pace.
+
+"Where," cried Delvile, half frantic, "where is this infamous woman?
+This wretch who has thus wantonly destroyed me!"
+
+And he rushed out of the church in pursuit of her.
+
+The clergyman and Mr Singleton, who had hitherto been wondering
+spectators, came now to offer their assistance to Cecilia. She declined
+any help for herself, but gladly accepted their services for Mrs
+Charlton, who, thunderstruck by all that had past, seemed almost robbed
+of her faculties. Mr Singleton proposed calling a hackney coach, she
+consented, and they stopt for it at the church porch.
+
+The clergyman now began to enquire of the pew-opener, what she knew of
+the woman, who she was, and how she had got into the church? She knew of
+her, she answered, nothing, but that she had come in to early prayers,
+and she supposed she had hid herself in a pew when they were over, as
+she had thought the church entirely empty.
+
+An hackney coach now drew up, and while the gentlemen were assisting Mrs
+Charlton into it, Delvile returned.
+
+"I have pursued and enquired," cried he, "in vain, I can neither
+discover nor hear of her.--But what is all this? Whither are you
+going?--What does this coach do here?--Mrs Charlton, why do you get into
+it?--Cecilia, what are you doing?"
+
+Cecilia turned away from him in silence. The shock she had received,
+took from her all power of speech, while amazement and terror deprived
+her even of relief from tears. She believed Delvile to blame, though she
+knew not in what, but the obscurity of her fears served only to render
+them more dreadful.
+
+She was now getting into the coach herself, but Delvile, who could
+neither brook her displeasure, nor endure her departure, forcibly caught
+her hand, and called out, "You are _mine_, you are my _wife_!--I will
+part with you no more, and go whithersoever you will, I will follow and
+claim you!"
+
+"Stop me not!" cried she, impatiently though faintly, "I am sick, I am
+ill already,--if you detain me any longer, I shall be unable to support
+myself!"
+
+"Oh then rest on _me_!" cried he, still holding her; "rest but upon me
+till the ceremony is over!--you will drive me to despair and to madness
+if you leave me in this barbarous manner!"
+
+A crowd now began to gather, and the words bride and bridegroom reached
+the ears of Cecilia; who half dead with shame, with fear, and with
+distress, hastily said "You are determined to make me miserable!" and
+snatching away her hand, which Delvile at those words could no longer
+hold, she threw herself into the carriage.
+
+Delvile, however, jumped in after her, and with an air of authority
+ordered the coachman to Pall-Mall, and then drew up the glasses, with a
+look of fierceness at the mob.
+
+Cecilia had neither spirits nor power to resist him; yet, offended by
+his violence, and shocked to be thus publickly pursued by him, her looks
+spoke a resentment far more mortifying than any verbal reproach.
+
+"Inhuman Cecilia!" cried he, passionately, "to desert me at the very
+altar!--to cast me off at the instant the most sacred rites were uniting
+us!--and then thus to look at me!--to treat me with this disdain at a
+time of such distraction!--to scorn me thus injuriously at the moment
+you unjustly abandon me!"
+
+"To how dreadful a scene," said Cecilia, recovering from her
+consternation, "have you exposed me! to what shame, what indignity, what
+irreparable disgrace!"
+
+"Oh heaven!" cried he with horror, "if any crime, any offence of mine
+has occasioned this fatal blow, the whole world holds not a wretch so
+culpable as myself, nor one who will sooner allow the justice of your
+rigour! my veneration for you has ever equalled my affection, and could
+I think it was through _me_ you have suffered any indignity, I should
+soon abhor myself, as you seem to abhor me. But what is it I have done?
+How have I thus incensed you? By what action, by what guilt, have I
+incurred this displeasure?
+
+"Whence," cried she, "came that voice which still vibrates in my ear?
+The prohibition could not be on _my_ account, since none to whom I am
+known have either right or interest in even wishing it."
+
+"What an inference is this! over _me_, then, do you conclude this woman
+had any power?"
+
+Here they stopt at the lodgings. Delvile handed both the ladies out.
+Cecilia, eager to avoid his importunities, and dreadfully disturbed,
+hastily past him, and ran up stairs; but Mrs Charlton refused not his
+arm, on which she lent till they reached the drawing-room.
+
+Cecilia then rang the bell for her servant, and gave orders that a
+post-chaise might be sent for immediately.
+
+Delvile now felt offended in his turn; but suppressing his vehemence, he
+gravely and quietly said "Determined as you are to leave me, indifferent
+to my peace, and incredulous of my word, deign, at least, before we
+part, to be more explicit in your accusation, and tell me if indeed it
+is possible you can suspect that the wretch who broke off the ceremony,
+had ever from me received provocation for such an action?"
+
+"I know not what to suspect," said Cecilia, "where every thing is thus
+involved in obscurity; but I must own I should have some difficulty to
+think those words the effect of chance, or to credit that their speaker
+was concealed without design."
+
+"You are right, then, madam," cried he, resentfully, "to discard me! to
+treat me with contempt, to banish me without repugnance, since I see
+you believe me capable of duplicity, and imagine I am better informed
+in this affair than I appear to be. You have said I shall make you
+miserable,--no, madam, no! your happiness and misery depend not upon one
+you hold so worthless!"
+
+"On whatever they depend," said Cecilia, "I am too little at ease for
+discussion. I would no more be daring than superstitious, but none of
+our proceedings have prospered, and since their privacy has always been
+contrary both to my judgment and my principles, I know not how to repine
+at a failure I cannot think unmerited. Mrs Charlton, our chaise is
+coming; you will be ready, I hope, to set off in it directly?"
+
+Delvile, too angry to trust himself to speak, now walked about the room,
+and endeavoured to calm himself; but so little was his success, that
+though silent till the chaise was announced, when he heard that dreaded
+sound, and saw Cecilia steady in her purpose of departing, he was so
+much shocked and afflicted, that, clasping his hands in a transport of
+passion and grief, he exclaimed. "This, then, Cecilia, is your faith!
+this is the felicity you bid me hope! this is the recompense of my
+sufferings, and the performing of your engagement!"
+
+Cecilia, struck by these reproaches, turned back; but while she
+hesitated how to answer them, he went on, "You are insensible to my
+misery, and impenetrable to my entreaties; a secret enemy has had power
+to make me odious in your sight, though for her enmity I can assign no
+cause, though even her existence was this morning unknown to me!
+Ever ready to abandon, and most willing to condemn me, you have more
+confidence in a vague conjecture, than in all you have observed of the
+whole tenour of my character. Without knowing why, you are disposed to
+believe me criminal, without deigning to say wherefore, you are eager
+to banish me your presence. Yet scarce could a consciousness of guilt
+itself, wound me so forcibly, so keenly, as your suspecting I am
+guilty!"
+
+"Again, then," cried Cecilia, "shall I subject myself to a scene of such
+disgrace and horror? No, never!--The punishment of my error shall at
+least secure its reformation. Yet if I merit your reproaches, I deserve
+not your regard; cease, therefore, to profess any for me, or make them
+no more."
+
+"Shew but to them," cried he, "the smallest sensibility, shew but for
+me the most distant concern, and I will try to bear my disappointment
+without murmuring, and submit to your decrees as to those from which
+there is no appeal: but to wound without deigning even to look at what
+you destroy,--to shoot at random those arrows that are pointed with
+poison,--to see them fasten on the heart, and corrode its vital
+functions, yet look on without compunction, or turn away with cold
+disdain,--Oh where is the candour I thought lodged in Cecilia! where the
+justice, the equity, I believed a part of herself!"
+
+"After all that has past," said Cecilia, sensibly touched by his
+distress, "I expected not these complaints, nor that, from me, any
+assurances would be wanted; yet, if it will quiet your mind, if it will
+better reconcile you to our separation---"
+
+"Oh fatal prelude!" interrupted he, "what on earth can quiet my mind
+that leads to our separation?--Give to me no condescension with any such
+view,--preserve your indifference, persevere in your coldness,
+triumph still in your power of inspiring those feelings you can never
+return,--all, every thing is more supportable than to talk of our
+separation!"
+
+"Yet how," cried she, "parted, torn asunder as we have been, how is it
+now to be avoided?"
+
+"Trust in my honour! Shew me but the confidence which I will venture to
+say I deserve, and then will that union no longer be impeded, which in
+future, I am certain, will never be repented!"
+
+"Good heaven, what a request! faith so implicit would be frenzy."
+
+"You doubt, then, my integrity? You suspect---"
+
+"Indeed I do not; yet in a case of such importance, what ought to guide
+me but my own reason, my own conscience, my own sense of right? Pain me
+not, therefore, with reproaches, distress me no more with entreaties,
+when I solemnly declare that no earthly consideration shall ever
+again make me promise you my hand, while the terror of Mrs Delvile's
+displeasure has possession of my heart. And now adieu."
+
+"You give me, then, up?"
+
+"Be patient, I beseech you; and attempt not to follow me; 'tis a step I
+cannot permit."
+
+"Not follow you? And who has power to prevent me?"
+
+"_I_ have, Sir, if to incur my endless resentment is of any consequence
+to you."
+
+She then, with an air of determined steadiness, moved on; Mrs Charlton,
+assisted by the servants, being already upon the stairs.
+
+"O tyranny!" cried he, "what submission is it you exact!--May I not even
+enquire into the dreadful mystery of this morning?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+"And may I not acquaint you with it, should it be discovered?"
+
+"I shall not be sorry to hear it. Adieu."
+
+She was now half way down the stairs; when, losing all forbearance, he
+hastily flew after her, and endeavouring to stop her, called out, "If
+you do not hate and detest me,--if I am not loathsome and abhorrent to
+you, O quit me not thus insensibly!--Cecilia! my beloved Cecilia!--speak
+to me, at least, one word of less severity! Look at me once more, and
+tell me we part not for-ever!"
+
+Cecilia then turned round, and while a starting tear shewed her
+sympathetic distress, said, "Why will you thus oppress me with
+entreaties I ought not to gratify?--Have I not accompanied you to the
+altar,--and can you doubt what I have thought of you?"
+
+"_Have_ thought?--Oh Cecilia!--is it then all over?"
+
+"Pray suffer me to go quietly, and fear not I shall go too happily!
+Suppress your own feelings, rather than seek to awaken mine. Alas! there
+is little occasion!--Oh Mr Delvile! were our connection opposed by no
+duty, and repugnant to no friends, were it attended by no impropriety,
+and carried on with no necessity of disguise,--you would not thus charge
+me with indifference, you would not suspect me of insensibility,--Oh no!
+the choice of my heart would then be its glory, and all I now blush to
+feel, I should openly and with pride acknowledge!"
+
+She then hurried to the chaise, Delvile pursuing her with thanks and
+blessings, and gratefully assuring her, as he handed her into it, that
+he would obey all her injunctions, and not even attempt to see her,
+till he could bring her some intelligence concerning the morning's
+transaction.
+
+The chaise then drove off.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A CONSTERNATION.
+
+The journey was melancholy and tedious: Mrs Charlton, extremely fatigued
+by the unusual hurry and exercise both of mind and body which she had
+lately gone through, was obliged to travel very slowly, and to lie upon
+the road. Cecilia, however, was in no haste to proceed: she was going to
+no one she wished to see, she was wholly without expectation of meeting
+with any thing that could give her pleasure. The unfortunate expedition
+in which she had been engaged, left her now nothing but regret, and only
+promised her in future sorrow and mortification.
+
+Mrs Charlton, after her return home, still continued ill, and Cecilia,
+who constantly attended her, had the additional affliction of imputing
+her indisposition to herself. Every thing she thought conspired to
+punish the error she had committed; her proceedings were discovered,
+though her motives were unknown; the Delvile family could not fail to
+hear of her enterprize, and while they attributed it to her temerity,
+they would exult in its failure: but chiefly hung upon her mind the
+unaccountable prohibition of her marriage. Whence that could proceed
+she was wholly without ability to divine, yet her surmizes were not more
+fruitless than various. At one moment she imagined it some frolic of
+Morrice, at another some perfidy of Monckton, and at another an idle
+and unmeaning trick of some stranger to them all. But none of these
+suppositions carried with them any air of probability; Morrice, even if
+he had watched their motions and pursued them to the church, which his
+inquisitive impertinence made by no means impossible, could yet hardly
+have either time or opportunity to engage any woman in so extraordinary
+an undertaking; Mr Monckton, however averse to the connection, she
+considered as a man of too much honour to break it off in a manner so
+alarming and disgraceful; and mischief so wanton in any stranger, seemed
+to require a share of unfeeling effrontery, which could fall to the lot
+of so few as to make this suggestion unnatural and incredible.
+
+Sometimes she imagined that Delvile might formerly have been affianced
+to some woman, who having accidentally discovered his intentions,
+took this desperate method of rendering them abortive: but this was a
+short-lived thought, and speedily gave way to her esteem for his general
+character, and her confidence in the firmness of his probity.
+
+All, therefore, was dark and mysterious; conjecture was baffled, and
+meditation was useless. Her opinions were unfixed, and her heart was
+miserable; she could only be steady in believing Delvile as unhappy as
+herself, and only find consolation in believing him, also, as blameless.
+
+Three days passed thus, without incident or intelligence; her time
+wholly occupied in attending Mrs Charlton; her thoughts all engrossed
+upon her own situation: but upon the fourth day she was informed that a
+lady was in the parlour, who desired to speak with her.
+
+She presently went down stairs,--and, upon entering the room, perceived
+Mrs Delvile!
+
+Seized with astonishment and fear, she stopt short, and, looking aghast,
+held by the door, robbed of all power to receive so unexpected and
+unwelcome a visitor, by an internal sensation of guilt, mingled with a
+dread of discovery and reproach.
+
+Mrs Delvile, addressing her with the coldest politeness, said, "I fear
+I have surprised you; I am sorry I had not time to acquaint you of my
+intention to wait upon you."
+
+Cecilia then, moving from the door, faintly answered, "I cannot, madam,
+but be honoured by your notice, whenever you are pleased to confer it."
+
+They then sat down; Mrs Delvile preserving an air the most formal and
+distant, and Cecilia half sinking with apprehensive dismay.
+
+After a short and ill-boding silence, "I mean not," said Mrs Delvile,
+"to embarrass or distress you; I will not, therefore, keep you in
+suspense of the purport of my visit. I come not to make enquiries,
+I come not to put your sincerity to any trial, nor to torture your
+delicacy; I dispense with all explanation, for I have not one doubt to
+solve: I _know_ what has passed, I _know_ that my son loves you."
+
+Not all her secret alarm, nor all the perturbation of her fears, had
+taught Cecilia to expect so direct an attack, nor enabled her to bear
+the shock of it with any composure: she could not speak, she could
+not look at Mrs Delvile; she arose, and walked to the window, without
+knowing what she was doing.
+
+Here, however, her distress was not likely to diminish; for the first
+sight she saw was Fidel, who barked, and jumped up at the window to lick
+her hands.
+
+"Good God! Fidel here!" exclaimed Mrs Delvile, amazed.
+
+Cecilia, totally overpowered, covered her glowing face with both her
+hands, and sunk into a chair.
+
+Mrs Delvile for a few minutes was silent; and then, following her, said,
+"Imagine not I am making any discovery, nor suspect me of any design
+to develop your sentiments. That Mortimer could love in vain I never,
+believed; that Miss Beverley, possessing so much merit, could be blind
+to it in another, I never thought possible. I mean not, therefore, to
+solicit any account or explanation, but merely to beg your patience
+while I talk to you myself, and your permission to speak to you with
+openness and truth."
+
+Cecilia, though relieved by this calmness from all apprehension of
+reproach, found in her manner a coldness that convinced her of the loss
+of her affection, and in the introduction to her business a solemnity
+that assured her what she should decree would be unalterable. She
+uncovered her face to shew her respectful attention, but she could not
+raise it up, and could not utter a word.
+
+Mrs Delvile then seated herself next her, and gravely continued her
+discourse.
+
+"Miss Beverley, however little acquainted with the state of our family
+affairs, can scarcely have been uninformed that a fortune such as hers
+seems almost all that family can desire; nor can she have failed to
+observe, that her merit and accomplishments have no where been more felt
+and admired: the choice therefore of Mortimer she could not doubt would
+have our sanction, and when she honoured his proposals with her favour,
+she might naturally conclude she gave happiness and pleasure to all his
+friends."
+
+Cecilia, superior to accepting a palliation of which she felt herself
+undeserving, now lifted up her head, and forcing herself to speak,
+said "No, madam, I will not deceive you, for I have never been deceived
+myself: I presumed not to expect your approbation,--though in missing it
+I have for ever lost my own!"
+
+"Has Mortimer, then," cried she with eagerness, "been strictly
+honourable? has he neither beguiled nor betrayed you?"
+
+"No, madam," said she, blushing, "I have nothing to reproach him with."
+
+"Then he is indeed my son!" cried Mrs Delvile, with emotion; "had he
+been treacherous to you, while disobedient to us, I had indisputably
+renounced him."
+
+Cecilia, who now seemed the only culprit, felt herself in a state of
+humiliation not to be borne; she collected, therefore, all her courage,
+and said, "I have cleared Mr Delvile; permit me, madam, now, to say
+something for myself."
+
+"Certainly; you cannot oblige me more than by speaking without
+disguise."
+
+"It is not in the hope of regaining your good opinion,--that, I see, is
+lost!--but merely--"
+
+"No, not lost," said Mrs Delvile, "but if once it was yet higher, the
+fault was my own, in indulging an expectation of perfection to which
+human nature is perhaps unequal."
+
+Ah, then, thought Cecilia, all is over! the contempt I so much feared is
+incurred, and though it may be softened, it can never be removed!
+
+"Speak, then, and with sincerity," she continued, "all you wish me to
+hear, and then grant me your attention in return to the purpose of my
+present journey."
+
+"I have little, madam," answered the depressed Cecilia, "to say; you
+tell me you already know all that has past; I will not, therefore,
+pretend to take any merit from revealing it: I will only add, that my
+consent to this transaction has made me miserable almost from the moment
+I gave it; that I meant and wished to retract as soon as reflection
+pointed out to me my error, and that circumstances the most perverse,
+not blindness to propriety, nor stubbornness in wrong, led me to make,
+at last, that fatal attempt, of which the recollection, to my last hour,
+must fill me with regret and shame."
+
+"I wonder not," said Mrs Delvile, "that in a situation where delicacy
+was so much less requisite than courage, Miss Beverley should feel
+herself distressed and unhappy. A mind such as hers could never err
+with impunity; and it is solely from a certainty of her innate sense of
+right, that I venture to wait upon her now, and that I have any hope
+to influence _her_ upon whose influence alone our whole family must in
+future depend. Shall I now proceed, or is there any thing you wish to
+say first?"
+
+"No, madam, nothing."
+
+"Hear me, then, I beg of you, with no predetermination to disregard me,
+but with an equitable resolution to attend to reason, and a candour that
+leaves an opening to conviction. Not easy, indeed, is such a task, to
+a mind pre-occupied with an intention to be guided by the dictates of
+inclination,---"
+
+"You wrong me, indeed, madam!" interrupted Cecilia, greatly hurt, "my
+mind harbours no such intention, it has no desire but to be guided by
+duty, it is wretched with a consciousness of having failed in it! I
+pine, I sicken to recover my own good opinion; I should then no longer
+feel unworthy of yours; and whether or not I might be able to regain it,
+I should at least lose this cruel depression that now sinks me in your
+presence!"
+
+"To regain it," said Mrs Delvile, "were to exercise but half your power,
+which at this moment enables you, if such is your wish, to make me think
+of you more highly than one human being ever thought of another. Do you
+condescend to hold this worth your while?"
+
+Cecilia started at the question; her heart beat quick with struggling
+passions; she saw the sacrifice which was to be required, and her pride,
+her affronted pride, arose high to anticipate the rejection; but the
+design was combated by her affections, which opposed the indignant
+rashness, and told her that one hasty speech might separate her from
+Delvile for ever. When this painful conflict was over, of which Mrs
+Delvile patiently waited the issue, she answered, with much hesitation,
+"To regain your good opinion, madam, greatly, truly as I value it,--is
+what I now scarcely dare hope."
+
+"Say not so," cried she, "since, if you hope, you cannot miss it. I
+purpose to point out to you the means to recover it, and to tell you
+how greatly I shall think myself your debtor if you refuse not to employ
+them."
+
+She stopt; but Cecilia hung back; fearful of her own strength, she dared
+venture at no professions; yet, how either to support, or dispute her
+compliance, she dreaded to think.
+
+"I come to you, then," Mrs Delvile solemnly resumed, "in the name of Mr
+Delvile, and in the name of our whole family; a family as ancient as
+it is honourable, as honourable as it is ancient. Consider me as its
+representative, and hear in me its common voice, common opinion, and
+common address.
+
+"My son, the supporter of our house, the sole guardian of its name, and
+the heir of our united fortunes, has selected you, we know, for the lady
+of his choice, and so fondly has, fixed upon you his affections, that
+he is ready to relinquish us all in preference to subduing them. To
+yourself alone, then, can we apply, and I come to you--"
+
+"O hold, madam, hold!" interrupted Cecilia, whose courage now revived
+from resentment, "I know, what you would say; you come to tell me of
+your disdain; you come to reproach my presumption, and to kill me with
+your contempt! There is little occasion for such a step; I am depressed,
+I am self-condemned already; spare me, therefore, this insupportable
+humiliation, wound me not with your scorn, oppress me not with your
+superiority! I aim at no competition, I attempt no vindication, I
+acknowledge my own littleness as readily as you can despise it, and
+nothing but indignity could urge me to defend it!"
+
+"Believe me," said Mrs Delvile, "I meant not to hurt or offend you, and
+I am sorry if I have appeared to you either arrogant or assuming. The
+peculiar and perilous situation of my family has perhaps betrayed me
+into offensive expressions, and made me guilty myself of an ostentation
+which in others has often disgusted me. Ill, indeed, can we any of us
+bear the test of experiment, when tried upon those subjects which call
+forth our particular propensities. We may strive to be disinterested,
+we may struggle to be impartial, but self will still predominate, still
+shew us the imperfection of our natures, and the narrowness of our
+souls. Yet acquit me, I beg, of any intentional insolence, and imagine
+not that in speaking highly of my own family, I, mean to depreciate
+yours: on the contrary, I know it to be respectable, I know, too, that
+were it the lowest in the kingdom, the first might envy it that it gave
+birth to such a daughter."
+
+Cecilia, somewhat soothed by this speech, begged her pardon for having
+interrupted her, and she proceeded.
+
+"To your family, then, I assure you, whatever may be the pride of our
+own, _you_ being its offspring, we would not object. With your merit we
+are all well acquainted, your character has our highest esteem, and
+your fortune exceeds even our most sanguine desires. Strange at once
+and afflicting! that not all these requisites for the satisfaction of
+prudence, nor all these allurements for the gratification of happiness,
+can suffice to fulfil or to silence the claims of either! There are yet
+other demands to which we must attend, demands which ancestry and blood
+call upon us aloud to ratify! Such claimants are not to be neglected
+with impunity; they assert their rights with the authority of
+prescription, they forbid us alike either to bend to inclination, or
+stoop to interest, and from generation to generation their injuries
+will call out for redress, should their noble and long unsullied name be
+voluntarily consigned to oblivion!"
+
+Cecilia, extremely struck by these words, scarce wondered, since so
+strong and so established were her opinions, that the obstacle to her
+marriage, though but one, should be considered as insuperable.
+
+"Not, therefore, to _your_ name are we averse," she continued, "but
+simply to our own more partial. To sink that, indeed, in _any_
+other, were base and unworthy:--what, then, must be the shock of my
+disappointment, should Mortimer Delvile, the darling of my hopes, the
+last survivor of his house, in whose birth I rejoiced as the promise of
+its support, in whose accomplishments I gloried, as the revival of its
+lustre,--should _he_, should, _my_ son be the first to abandon it! to
+give up the name he seemed born to make live, and to cause in effect its
+utter annihilation!--Oh how should I know my son when an alien to his
+family! how bear to think I had cherished in my bosom the betrayer of
+its dearest interests, the destroyer of its very existence!"
+
+Cecilia, scarce more afflicted than offended, now hastily answered, "Not
+for me, madam, shall he commit this crime, not on _my_ account shall he
+be reprobated by his family! Think of him, therefore, no more, with any
+reference to me, for I would not be the cause of unworthiness or guilt
+in him to be mistress of the universe!"
+
+"Nobly said!" cried Mrs Delvile, her eyes sparkling with joy, and her
+cheeks glowing with pleasure, "now again do I know Miss Beverley! now
+again see the refined, the excellent young woman, whose virtues taught
+me to expect the renunciation even of her own happiness, when found to
+be incompatible with her duty!"
+
+Cecilia now trembled and turned pale; she scarce knew herself what she
+had said, but, she found by Mrs Delvile's construction of her words,
+they had been regarded as her final relinquishing of her son. She
+ardently wished to quit the room before she was called upon to confirm
+the sentence, but, she had not courage to make the effort, nor to rise,
+speak, or move.
+
+"I grieve, indeed," continued Mrs Delvile, whose coldness and austerity
+were changed into mildness and compassion, "at the necessity I have been
+under to draw from you a concurrence so painful: but no other resource
+was in my power. My influence with Mortimer, whatever it may be, I have
+not any right to try, without obtaining your previous consent, since I
+regard him myself as bound to you in honour, and only to be released by
+your own virtuous desire. I will leave you, however, for my presence,
+I see, is oppressive to you. Farewell; and when you _can_ forgive me, I
+think you _will_."
+
+"I have nothing, madam," said Cecilia, coldly, "to forgive; you have
+only asserted your own dignity, and I have nobody to blame but myself,
+for having given you occasion."
+
+"Alas," cried Mrs Delvile, "if worth and nobleness of soul on your part,
+if esteem and tenderest affection on mine, were all which that dignity
+which offends you requires, how should I crave the blessing of such a
+daughter! how rejoice in joining my son to excellence so like his own,
+and ensuring his happiness while I stimulated his virtue!"
+
+"Do not talk to me of affection, madam," said Cecilia, turning away from
+her; "whatever you had for me is past,--even your esteem is gone,--you
+may pity me, indeed, but your pity is mixed with contempt, and I am not
+so abject as to find comfort from exciting it."
+
+"O little," cried Mrs Delvile, looking at her with the utmost
+tenderness, "little do you see the state of my heart, for never have you
+appeared to me so worthy as at this moment! In tearing you from my son,
+I partake all the wretchedness I give, but your own sense of duty must
+something plead for the strictness with which I act up to mine."
+
+She then moved towards the door.
+
+"Is your carriage, madam," said Cecilia, struggling to disguise her
+inward anguish under an appearance of sullenness, "in waiting?"
+
+Mrs Delvile then came back, and holding out her hand, while her eyes
+glistened with tears, said, "To part from you thus frigidly, while
+my heart so warmly admires you, is almost more than I can endure. Oh
+gentlest Cecilia! condemn not a mother who is impelled to this severity,
+who performing what she holds to be her duty, thinks the office her
+bitterest misfortune, who forsees in the rage of her husband, and the
+resistance of her son, all the misery of domestic contention, and who
+can only secure the honour of her family by destroying its peace!--You
+will not, then, give me your hand?--"
+
+Cecilia, who had affected not to see that she waited for it, now
+coldly put it out, distantly [courtseying], and seeking to preserve
+her steadiness by avoiding to speak. Mrs Delvile took it, and as she
+repeated her adieu, affectionately pressed it to her lips; Cecilia,
+starting, and breathing short, from encreasing yet smothered agitation,
+called out "Why, why this condescension?--pray,--I entreat you,
+madam!--"
+
+"Heaven bless you, my love!" said Mrs Delvile, dropping a tear upon the
+hand she still held, "heaven bless you, and restore the tranquillity you
+so nobly deserve!"
+
+"Ah madam!" cried Cecilia, vainly striving to repress any longer the
+tears which now forced their way down her cheeks, "why will you break
+my heart with this kindness! why will you still compel me to love!--when
+now I almost wish to hate you!"--
+
+"No, hate me not," said Mrs Delvile, kissing from her cheeks the tears
+that watered them, "hate me not, sweetest Cecilia, though in wounding
+your gentle bosom, I am almost detestable to myself. Even the cruel
+scene which awaits me with my son will not more deeply afflict me. But
+adieu,--I must now prepare for him!"
+
+She then left the room: but Cecilia, whose pride had no power to resist
+this tenderness, ran hastily after her, saying "Shall I not see you
+again, madam?"
+
+"You shall yourself decide," answered she; "if my coming will not give
+you more pain than pleasure, I will wait upon you whenever you please."
+
+Cecilia sighed and paused; she knew not what to desire, yet rather
+wished any thing to be done, than quietly to sit down to uninterrupted
+reflection.
+
+"Shall I postpone quitting this place," continued Mrs Delvile, "till
+to-morrow morning, and will you admit me this afternoon, should I call
+upon you again?"
+
+"I should be sorry," said she, still hesitating, "to detain you,"--
+
+"You will rejoice me," cried Mrs Delvile, "by bearing me in your sight."
+
+And she then went into her carriage.
+
+Cecilia, unfitted to attend her old friend, and unequal to the task of
+explaining to her the cruel scene in which she had just been engaged,
+then hastened to her own apartment. Her hitherto stifled emotions broke
+forth in tears and repinings: her fate was finally determined, and its
+determination was not more unhappy than humiliating; she was openly
+rejected by the family whose alliance she was known to wish; she
+was compelled to refuse the man of her choice, though satisfied his
+affections were her own. A misery so peculiar she found hard to support,
+and almost bursting with conflicting passions, her heart alternately
+swelled from offended pride, and sunk from disappointed tenderness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A PERTURBATION.
+
+Cecelia was still in this tempestuous state, when a message was brought
+her that a gentleman was below stairs, who begged to have the honour of
+seeing her. She concluded he was Delvile, and the thought of meeting him
+merely to communicate what must so bitterly afflict him, redoubled her
+distress, and she went down in an agony of perturbation and sorrow.
+
+He met her at the door, where, before he could speak, "Mr Delvile,"
+she cried, in a hurrying manner, "why will you come? Why will you thus
+insist upon seeing me, in defiance of every obstacle, and in contempt of
+my prohibition?"
+
+"Good heavens," cried he, amazed, "whence this reproach? Did you not
+permit me to wait upon you with the result of my enquiries? Had I
+not your consent--but why do you look thus disturbed?--Your eyes are
+red,--you have been weeping.--Oh my Cecilia! have I any share in your
+sorrow?--Those tears, which never flow weakly, tell me, have they--has
+_one_ of them been shed upon my account?"
+
+"And what," cried she, "has been the result of your enquiries?--Speak
+quick, for I wish to know,--and in another instant I must be gone."
+
+"How strange," cried the astonished Delvile, "is this language! how
+strange are these looks! What new has come to pass? Has any fresh
+calamity happened? Is there yet some evil which I do not expect?"
+
+"Why will you not answer first?" cried she; "when _I_ have spoken, you
+will perhaps be less willing."
+
+"You terrify, you shock, you amaze me! What dreadful blow awaits me? For
+what horror are you preparing me?--That which I have just experienced,
+and which tore you from me even at the foot of the altar, still remains
+inexplicable, still continues to be involved in darkness and mystery;
+for the wretch who separated us I have never been able to discover."
+
+"Have you procured, then, no intelligence?"
+
+"No, none; though since we parted I have never rested a moment."
+
+"Make, then, no further enquiry, for now all explanation would be
+useless. That we _were_ parted, we know, though _why_ we cannot tell:
+but that again we shall ever meet---"
+
+She, stopt; her streaming eyes cast upwards, and a deep sigh bursting
+from her heart.
+
+"Oh what," cried Delvile, endeavouring to take her hand, which she
+hastily withdrew from him, "what does this mean? loveliest, dearest
+Cecilia, my betrothed, my affianced wife! why flow those tears which
+agony only can wring from you? Why refuse me that hand which so lately
+was the pledge of your faith? Am I not the same Delvile to whom so few
+days since you gave it? Why will you not open to him your heart? Why
+thus distrust his honour, and repulse his tenderness? Oh why, giving him
+such exquisite misery, refuse him the smallest consolation?"
+
+"What consolation," cried the weeping Cecilia, "can I give? Alas! it is
+not, perhaps, _you_ who most want it!--"
+
+Here the door was opened by one of the Miss Charltons, who came into
+the room with a message from her grandmother, requesting to see Cecilia.
+Cecilia, ashamed of being thus surprised with Delvile, and in tears,
+waited not either to make any excuse to him, or any answer to Miss
+Charlton, but instantly hurried out of the room;--not, however, to
+her old friend, whom now less than ever she could meet, but to her own
+apartment, where a very short indulgence of grief was succeeded by the
+severest examination of her own conduct.
+
+A retrospection of this sort rarely brings much subject of exultation,
+when made with the rigid sincerity of secret impartiality: so much
+stronger is our reason than our virtue, so much higher our sense of duty
+than our performance!
+
+All she had done she now repented, all she had said she disapproved; her
+conduct, seldom equal to her notions of right, was now infinitely below
+them, and the reproaches of her judgment made her forget for a while the
+afflictions which had misled it.
+
+The sorrow to which she had openly given way in the presence of Delvile,
+though their total separation but the moment before had been finally
+decreed, she considered as a weak effusion of tenderness, injurious to
+delicacy, and censurable by propriety. "His power over my heart," cried
+she, "it were now, indeed, too late to conceal, but his power over my
+understanding it is time to cancel. I am not to be his,--my own voice
+has ratified the renunciation, and since I made it to his mother, it
+must never, without her consent, be invalidated. Honour, therefore, to
+her, and regard for myself, equally command me to fly him, till I cease
+to be thus affected by his sight."
+
+When Delvile, therefore, sent up an entreaty that he might be again
+admitted into her presence, she returned for answer that she was not
+well, and could not see any body.
+
+He then left the house, and, in a few minutes, she received the
+following note from him.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_. You drive me from you, Cecilia, tortured with
+suspense, and distracted with apprehension, you drive me from you,
+certain of my misery, yet leaving me to bear it as I may! I would call
+you unfeeling, but that I saw you were unhappy; I would reproach you
+with tyranny, but that your eyes when you quitted me were swollen with
+weeping! I go, therefore, I obey the harsh mandate, since my absence is
+your desire, and I will shut myself up at Biddulph's till I receive
+your commands. Yet disdain not to reflect that every instant will seem
+endless, while Cecilia must appear to me unjust, or wound my very soul
+by the recollection of her in sorrow. MORTIMER DELVILE.
+
+The mixture of fondness and resentment with which this letter was
+dictated, marked so strongly the sufferings and disordered state of the
+writer, that all the softness of Cecilia returned when she perused it,
+and left her not a wish but to lessen his inquietude, by assurances
+of unalterable regard: yet she determined not to trust herself in his
+sight, certain they could only meet to grieve over each other, and
+conscious that a participation of sorrow would but prove a reciprocation
+of tenderness. Calling, therefore, upon her duty to resist her
+inclination, she resolved to commit the whole affair to the will of Mrs
+Delvile, to whom, though under no promise, she now considered herself
+responsible. Desirous, however, to shorten the period of Delvile's
+uncertainty, she would not wait till the time she had appointed to see
+his mother, but wrote the following note to hasten their meeting.
+
+_To the Hon. Mrs Delvile_. MADAM,--Your son is now at Bury; shall I
+acquaint him of your arrival? or will you announce it yourself? Inform
+me of your desire, and I will endeavour to fulfil it. As my own Agent
+I regard myself no longer; if, as yours, I can give pleasure, or be of
+service, I shall gladly receive your commands. I have the honour to be,
+Madam, your most obedient servant, CECILIA BEVERLEY.
+
+When she had sent off this letter, her heart was more at ease, because
+reconciled with her conscience: she had sacrificed the son, she had
+resigned herself to the mother; it now only remained to heal her wounded
+pride, by suffering the sacrifice with dignity, and to recover her
+tranquility in virtue, by making the resignation without repining.
+
+Her reflections, too, growing clearer as the mist of passion was
+dispersed, she recollected with confusion her cold and sullen behaviour
+to Mrs Delvile. That lady had but done what she had believed was her
+duty, and that duty was no more than she had been taught to expect from
+her. In the beginning of her visit, and while doubtful of its success,
+she had indeed, been austere, but the moment victory appeared in view,
+she became tender, affectionate and gentle. Her justice, therefore,
+condemned the resentment to which she had given way, and she fortified
+her mind for the interview which was to follow, by an earnest desire to
+make all reparation both to Mrs Delvile and herself for that which was
+past.
+
+In this resolution she was not a little strengthened, by seriously
+considering with herself the great abatement to all her possible
+happiness, which must have been made by the humiliating circumstance
+of forcing herself into a family which held all connection with her as
+disgraceful. She desired not to be the wife even of Delvile upon such
+terms, for the more she esteemed and admired him, the more anxious she
+became for his honour, and the less could she endure being regarded
+herself as the occasion of its diminution.
+
+Now, therefore, her plan of conduct settled, with calmer spirits, though
+a heavy heart, she attended upon Mrs Charlton; but fearing to lose the
+steadiness she had just acquired before it should be called upon, if she
+trusted herself to relate the decision which had been made, she besought
+her for the present to dispense with the account, and then forced
+herself into conversation upon less interesting subjects.
+
+This prudence had its proper effect, and with tolerable tranquility she
+heard Mrs Delvile again announced, and waited upon her in the parlour
+with an air of composure.
+
+Not so did Mrs Delvile receive her; she was all eagerness and emotion;
+she flew to her the moment she appeared, and throwing her arms around
+her, warmly exclaimed "Oh charming girl! Saver of our family! preserver
+of our honour! How poor are words to express my admiration! how
+inadequate are thanks in return for such obligations as I owe you!"
+
+"You owe me none, madam," said Cecilia, suppressing a sigh; "on my side
+will be all the obligation, if you can pardon the petulance of my
+behaviour this morning."
+
+"Call not by so harsh a name," answered Mrs Delvile, "the keenness of a
+sensibility by which you have yourself alone been the sufferer. You
+have had a trial the most severe, and however able to sustain, it was
+impossible you should not feel it. That you should give up any man whose
+friends solicit not your alliance, your mind is too delicate to make
+wonderful; but your generosity in submitting, unasked, the arrangement
+of that resignation to those for whose interest it is made, and your
+high sense of honour in holding yourself accountable to me, though under
+no tie, and bound by no promise, mark a greatness of mind which calls
+for reverence rather than thanks, and which I never can praise half so
+much as I admire."
+
+Cecilia, who received this applause but as a confirmation of her
+rejection, thanked her only by courtsying; and Mrs Delvile, having
+seated herself next her, continued her speech.
+
+"My son, you have the goodness to tell me, is here,--have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes, madam," answered she, blushing, "but hardly for a moment."
+
+"And he knows not of my arrival?" No,--I believe he certainly does not."
+
+"Sad then, is the trial which awaits him, and heavy for me the office I
+must perform! Do you expect to see him again?"
+
+"No,--yes,--perhaps--indeed I hardly--" She stammered, and Mrs Delvile,
+taking her hand, said "Tell me, Miss Beverley, _why_ should you see him
+again?"
+
+Cecilia was thunderstruck by this question, and, colouring yet more
+deeply, looked down, but could not answer.
+
+"Consider," continued Mrs Delvile, "the _purpose_ of any further
+meeting; your union is impossible, you have nobly consented to
+relinquish all thoughts of it why then tear your own heart, and torture
+his, by an intercourse which seems nothing but an ill-judged invitation
+to fruitless and unavailing sorrow?"
+
+Cecilia was still silent; the truth of the expostulation her reason
+acknowledged, but to assent to its consequence her whole heart refused.
+
+"The ungenerous triumph of little female vanity," said Mrs Delvile, "is
+far, I am sure, from your mind, of which the enlargement and liberality
+will rather find consolation from lessening than from embittering
+his sufferings. Speak to me, then, and tell me honestly, judiciously,
+candidly tell me, will it not be wiser and more right, to avoid rather
+than seek an object which can only give birth to regret? an interview
+which can excite no sensations but of misery and sadness?" Cecilia then
+turned pale, she endeavoured to speak, but could not; she wished to
+comply,--yet to think she had seen him for the last time, to remember
+how abruptly she had parted from him, and to fear she had treated him
+unkindly;--these were obstacles which opposed her concurrence, though
+both judgment and propriety demanded it.
+
+"Can you, then," said Mrs Delvile, after a pause, "can you wish to see
+Mortimer merely to behold his grief? Can you desire he should see you,
+only to sharpen his affliction at your loss?"
+
+"O no!" cried Cecilia, to whom this reproof restored speech and
+resolution, "I am not so despicable, I am not, I hope, so unworthy!--I
+will--be ruled by you wholly; I will commit to you every thing;--yet
+_once_, perhaps,--no more!"--
+
+"Ah, my dear Miss Beverley! to meet confessedly for _once_,--what were
+that but planting a dagger in the heart of Mortimer? What were it but
+infusing poison into your own?
+
+"If you think so, madam," said she, "I had better--I will certainly--"
+she sighed, stammered, and stopt.
+
+"Hear me," cried Mrs Delvile, "and rather let me try to convince than
+persuade you. Were there any possibility, by argument, by reflection, or
+even by accident, to remove the obstacles to our connection, then would
+it be well to meet, for then might discussion turn to account, and an
+interchange of sentiments be productive of some happy expedients: but
+here--"
+
+She hesitated, and Cecilia, shocked and ashamed, turned away her face,
+and cried "I know, madam, what you would say,--here all is over! and
+therefore--"
+
+"Yet suffer me," interrupted she, "to be explicit, since we speak upon,
+this matter now for the last time. Here, then, I say, where not ONE
+doubt remains, where ALL is finally, though not happily decided, what
+can an interview produce? Mischief of every sort, pain, horror, and
+repining! To Mortimer you may think it would be kind, and grant it to
+his prayers, as an alleviation of his misery; mistaken notion! nothing
+could so greatly augment it. All his passions would be raised, all his
+prudence would be extinguished, his soul would be torn with resentment
+and regret, and force, only, would part him from you, when previously he
+knew that parting was to be eternal. To yourself--"
+
+"Talk not, madam, of me," cried the unhappy Cecilia, "what you say of
+your son is sufficient, and I will yield---"
+
+"Yet hear me," proceeded she, "and believe me not so unjust as to
+consider him alone; you, also, would be an equal, though a less stormy
+sufferer. You fancy, at this moment, that once more to meet him would
+soothe your uneasiness, and that to take of him a farewell, would soften
+the pain of the separation: how false such reasoning! how dangerous such
+consolation! acquainted ere you meet that you were to meet him no more,
+your heart would be all softness and grief, and at the very moment when
+tenderness should be banished from your intercourse, it would bear down
+all opposition of judgment, spirit, and dignity: you would hang upon
+every word, because every word would seem the last, every look, every
+expression would be rivetted in your memory, and his image in this
+parting distress would-be painted upon your mind, in colours that would
+eat into its peace, and perhaps never be erased."
+
+"Enough, enough," said Cecilia, "I will not see him,--I will not even
+desire it!"
+
+"Is this compliance or conviction? Is what I have said true, or only
+terrifying?"
+
+"Both, both! I believe, indeed, the conflict would have overpowered
+me,--I see you are right,--and I thank you, madam, for saving me from a
+scene I might so cruelly have rued."
+
+"Oh Daughter of my mind!" cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her,
+"noble, generous, yet gentle Cecilia! what tie, what connection, could
+make you more dear to me? Who is there like you? Who half so excellent?
+So open to reason, so ingenuous in error! so rational! so just! so
+feeling, yet so wise!"
+
+"You are very good," said Cecilia, with a forced serenity, "and I am
+thankful that your resentment for the past obstructs not your lenity for
+the present."
+
+"Alas, my love, how shall I resent the past, when I ought myself to have
+foreseen this calamity! and I _should_ have foreseen it, had I not been
+informed you were engaged, and upon your engagement built our security.
+Else had I been more alarmed, for my own admiration would have bid me
+look forward to my son's. You were just, indeed, the woman he had least
+chance to resist, you were precisely the character to seize his very
+soul. To a softness the most fatally alluring, you join a dignity which
+rescues from their own contempt even the most humble of your admirers.
+You seem born to have all the world wish your exaltation, and no part
+of it murmur at your superiority. Were any obstacle but this insuperable
+one in the way, should nobles, nay, should princes offer their daughters
+to my election, I would reject without murmuring the most magnificent
+proposals, and take in triumph to my heart my son's nobler choice!"
+
+"Oh madam," cried Cecilia, "talk not to me thus!--speak not such
+flattering words!--ah, rather scorn and upbraid me, tell me you
+despise my character, my family and my connections,--load, load me with
+contempt, but do not thus torture me with approbation!"
+
+"Pardon me, sweetest girl, if I have awakened those emotions you so
+wisely seek to subdue. May my son but emulate your example, and my pride
+in his virtue shall be the solace of my affliction for his misfortunes."
+
+She then tenderly embraced her, and abruptly took her leave.
+
+Cecilia had now acted her part, and acted it to her own satisfaction;
+but the curtain dropt when Mrs Delvile left the house, nature resumed
+her rights, and the sorrow of her heart was no longer disguised or
+repressed. Some faint ray of hope had till now broke through the
+gloomiest cloud of her misery, and secretly flattered her that its
+dispersion was possible, though distant: but that ray was extinct, that
+hope was no more; she had solemnly promised to banish Delvile her sight,
+and his mother had absolutely declared that even the subject had been
+discussed for the last time.
+
+Mrs Charlton, impatient of some explanation of the morning's
+transactions, soon sent again to beg Cecilia would come to her. Cecilia
+reluctantly obeyed, for she feared encreasing her indisposition by the
+intelligence she had to communicate; she struggled, therefore, to appear
+to her with tolerable calmness, and in briefly relating what had passed,
+forbore to mingle with the narrative her own feelings and unhappiness.
+
+Mrs Charlton heard the account with the utmost concern; she accused
+Mrs Delvile of severity, and even of cruelty; she lamented the strange
+accident by which the marriage ceremony had been stopt, and regretted
+that it had not again been begun, as the only means to have rendered
+ineffectual the present fatal interposition. But the grief of Cecilia,
+however violent, induced her not to join in this regret; she mourned
+only the obstacle which had occasioned the separation, and not the
+incident which had merely interrupted the ceremony: convinced, by the
+conversations in which she had just been engaged, of Mrs Delvile's
+inflexibility, she rather rejoiced than repined that she had put it to
+no nearer trial: sorrow was all she felt; for her mind was too liberal
+to harbour resentment against a conduct which she saw was dictated by a
+sense of right; and too ductile and too affectionate to remain unmoved
+by the personal kindness which had softened the rejection, and the many
+marks of esteem and regard which had shewn her it was lamented, though
+considered as indispensable.
+
+How and by whom this affair had been betrayed to Mrs Delvile she knew
+not; but the discovery was nothing less than surprising, since, by
+various unfortunate accidents, it was known to so many, and since, in
+the horror and confusion of the mysterious prohibition to the marriage,
+neither Delvile nor herself had thought of even attempting to give
+any caution to the witnesses of that scene, not to make it known: an
+attempt, however, which must almost necessarily have been unavailing, as
+the incident was too extraordinary and too singular to have any chance
+of suppression.
+
+During this conversation, one of the servants came to inform Cecilia,
+that a man was below to enquire if there was no answer to the note he
+had brought in the forenoon.
+
+Cecilia, greatly distressed, knew not upon what to resolve; that the
+patience of Delvile should be exhausted, she did not, indeed, wonder,
+and to relieve his anxiety was now almost her only wish; she would
+therefore instantly have written to him, confessed her sympathy in his
+sufferings, and besought him to endure with fortitude an evil which
+was no longer to be withstood: but she was uncertain whether he was yet
+acquainted with the journey of his mother to Bury, and having agreed to
+commit to her the whole management of the affair, she feared it would
+be dishonourable to take any step in it without her concurrence. She
+returned, therefore, a message that she had yet no answer ready.
+
+In a very few minutes Delvile called himself, and sent up an earnest
+request for permission to see her.
+
+Here, at least, she had no perplexity; an interview she had given her
+positive word to refuse, and therefore, without a moment's hesitation,
+she bid the servant inform him she was particularly engaged, and sorry
+it was not in her power to see any company.
+
+In the greatest perturbation he left the house, and immediately wrote to
+her the following lines.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_. I entreat you to see me! if only for an instant, I
+entreat, I implore you to see me! Mrs Charlton may be present, all the
+world, if you wish it, may be present,--but deny me not admission, I
+supplicate, I conjure you!
+
+I will call in an hour; in that time you may have finished your present
+engagement. I will otherwise wait longer, and call again. You will not,
+I think, turn me from' your door, and, till I have seen you, I can only
+live in its vicinity. M. D.
+
+The man who brought this note, waited not for any answer.
+
+Cecilia read it in an agony of mind inexpressible: she saw, by its
+style, how much Delvile was irritated, and her knowledge of his temper
+made her certain his irritation proceeded from believing himself
+ill-used. She ardently wished to appease and to quiet him, and regretted
+the necessity of appearing obdurate and unfeeling, even more, at that
+moment, than the separation itself. To a mind priding in its purity,
+and animated in its affections, few sensations can excite keener misery,
+than those by which an apprehension is raised of being thought worthless
+or ungrateful by the objects of our chosen regard. To be deprived of
+their society is less bitter, to be robbed of our own tranquillity by
+any other means, is less afflicting.
+
+Yet to this it was necessary to submit, or incur the only penalty which,
+to such a mind, would be more severe, self-reproach: she had promised to
+be governed by Mrs Delvile, she had nothing, therefore, to do but obey
+her.
+
+Yet _to turn_, as he expressed himself, _from the door_, a man who,
+but for an incident the most incomprehensible, would now have been sole
+master of herself and her actions, seemed so unkind and so tyrannical,
+that she could not endure to be within hearing of his repulse: she
+begged, therefore, the use of Mrs Charlton's carriage, and determined
+to make a visit to Mrs Harrel till Delvile and his mother had wholly
+quitted Bury. She was not, indeed, quite satisfied in going to the house
+of Mr Arnott, but she had no time to weigh objections, and knew not any
+other place to which still greater might not be started.
+
+She wrote a short letter to Mrs Delvile, acquainting her with her
+purpose, and its reason, and repeating her assurances that she would
+be guided by her implicitly; and then, embracing Mrs Charlton, whom
+she left to the care of her grand-daughters, she got into a chaise,
+accompanied only by her maid, and one man and horse, and ordered the
+postilion to drive to Mr Arnott's.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A COTTAGE.
+
+The evening was already far advanced, and before she arrived at the end
+of her little journey it was quite dark. When they came within a mile
+of Mr Arnott's house, the postilion, in turning too suddenly from the
+turnpike to the cross-road, overset the carriage. The accident, however,
+occasioned no other mischief than delaying their proceeding, and
+Cecilia and her maid were helped out of the chaise unhurt. The servants,
+assisted by a man who was walking upon the road, began lifting it up;
+and Cecilia, too busy within to be attentive to what passed without,
+disregarded what went forward, till she heard her footman call for help.
+She then hastily advanced to enquire what was the matter, and found
+that the passenger who had lent his aid, had, by working in the dark,
+unfortunately slipped his foot under one of the wheels, and so much hurt
+it, that without great pain he could not put it to the ground.
+
+Cecilia immediately desired that the sufferer might be carried to his
+own home in the chaise, while she and the maid walked on to Mr Arnott's,
+attended by her servant on horseback.
+
+This little incident proved of singular service to her upon first
+entering the house; Mrs Harrel was at supper with her brother, and
+hearing the voice of Cecilia in the hall, hastened with the extremest
+surprise to enquire what had occasioned so late a visit; followed by Mr
+Arnott, whose amazement was accompanied with a thousand other sensations
+too powerful for speech. Cecilia, unprepared with any excuse, instantly
+related the adventure she had met with on the road, which quieted their
+curiosity, by turning their attention to her personal safety. They
+ordered a room to be prepared for her, entreated her to go to rest with
+all speed, and postpone any further account till the next day. With this
+request she most gladly complied, happy to be spared the embarrassment
+of enquiry, and rejoiced to be relieved from the fatigue of
+conversation. Her night was restless and miserable: to know how Delvile
+would bear her flight was never a moment from her thoughts, and to hear
+whether he would obey or oppose his mother was her incessant wish. She
+was fixt, however, to be faithful in refusing to see him, and at least
+to suffer nothing new from her own enterprize or fault.
+
+Early in the morning Mrs Harrel came to see her. She was eager to learn
+why, after invitations repeatedly refused, she was thus suddenly arrived
+without any; and she was still more eager to talk of herself, and relate
+the weary life she led thus shut up in the country, and confined to the
+society of her brother.
+
+Cecilia evaded giving any immediate answer to her questions, and Mrs
+Harrel, happy in an opportunity to rehearse her own complaints, soon
+forgot that she had asked any, and, in a very short time, was perfectly,
+though imperceptibly, contented to be herself the only subject upon
+which they conversed.
+
+But not such was the selfishness of Mr Arnott; and Cecilia, when she
+went down to breakfast, perceived with the utmost concern that he
+had passed a night as sleepless as her own. A visit so sudden, so
+unexpected, and so unaccountable, from an object that no discouragement
+could make him think of with indifference, had been a subject to him of
+conjecture and wonder that had revived all the hopes and the fears which
+had lately, though still unextinguished, lain dormant. The enquiries,
+however, which his sister had given up, he ventured not to renew, and
+thought himself but too happy in her presence, whatever might be the
+cause of her visit.
+
+He perceived, however, immediately, the sadness that hung upon her mind,
+and his own was redoubled by the sight: Mrs Harrel, also, saw that she
+looked ill, but attributed it to the fatigue and fright of the preceding
+evening, well knowing that a similar accident would have made her ill
+herself, or fancy that she was so.
+
+During breakfast, Cecilia sent for the postilion, to enquire of him how
+the man had fared, whose good-natured assistance in their distress had
+been so unfortunate to himself. He answered that he had turned out to
+be a day labourer, who lived about half a mile off. And then, partly to
+gratify her own humanity, and partly to find any other employment for
+herself and friends than uninteresting conversation, she proposed that
+they should all walk to the poor man's habitation, and offer him some
+amends for the injury he had received. This was readily assented to,
+and the postilion directed them whither to go. The place was a cottage,
+situated upon a common; they entered it without ceremony, and found a
+clean looking woman at work.
+
+Cecilia enquired for her husband, and was told that he was gone out to
+day-labour.
+
+"I am very glad to hear it," returned she; "I hope then he has got the
+better of the accident he met with last night?"
+
+"It was not him, madam," said the woman, "met with the accident, it was
+John;--there he is, working in the garden."
+
+To the garden then they all went, and saw him upon the ground, weeding.
+
+The moment they approached he arose, and, without speaking, began to
+limp, for he could hardly walk; away.
+
+"I am sorry, master," said Cecilia, "that you are so much hurt. Have you
+had anything put to your foot?"
+
+The man made no answer, but still turned away from her; a glance,
+however, of his eye, which the next instant he fixed upon the ground,
+startled her; she moved round to look at him again,--and perceived Mr
+Belfield!
+
+"Good God!" she exclaimed; but seeing him still retreat, she recollected
+in a moment how little he would be obliged to her for betraying him, and
+suffering him to go on, turned back to her party, and led the way again
+into the house.
+
+As soon as the first emotion of her surprise was over, she enquired how
+long John had belonged to this cottage, and what was his way of life.
+
+The woman answered he had only been with them a week, and that he went
+out to day-labour with her husband.
+
+Cecilia then, finding their stay kept him from his employment, and
+willing to save him the distress of being seen by Mr Arnott or Mrs
+Harrel, proposed their returning home. She grieved most sincerely at
+beholding in so melancholy an occupation a young man of such talents and
+abilities; she wished much to assist him, and began considering by what
+means it might be done, when, as they were walking from the cottage, a
+voice at some distance called out "Madam! Miss Beverley!" and, looking
+round, to her utter amazement she saw Belfield endeavouring to follow
+her.
+
+She instantly stopt, and he advanced, his hat in his hand, and his whole
+air indicating he sought not to be disguised.
+
+Surprised at this sudden change of behaviour, she then stept forward
+to meet him, accompanied by her friends: but when they came up to each
+other, she checked her desire of speaking, to leave him fully at liberty
+to make himself known, or keep concealed.
+
+He bowed with a look of assumed gaiety and ease, but the deep scarlet
+that tinged his whole face manifested his internal confusion; and in
+a voice that attempted to sound lively, though its tremulous accents
+betrayed uneasiness and distress, he exclaimed, with a forced smile,
+"Is it possible Miss Beverley can deign to notice a poor miserable
+day-labourer such as I am? how will she be justified in the beau monde,
+when even the sight of such a wretch ought to fill her with horror?
+Henceforth let hysterics be blown to the winds, and let nerves be
+discarded from the female vocabulary, since a lady so young and fair can
+stand this shock without hartshorn or fainting!"
+
+"I am happy," answered Cecilia, "to find your spirits so good; yet
+my own, I must confess, are not raised by seeing you in this strange
+situation."
+
+"My spirits!" cried he, with an air of defiance, "never were they
+better, never so good as at this moment. Strange as seems my situation,
+it is all that I wish; I have found out, at last, the true secret of
+happiness! that secret which so long I pursued in vain, but which always
+eluded my grasp, till the instant of despair arrived, when, slackening
+my pace, I gave it up as a phantom. Go from me, I cried, I will be
+cheated no more! thou airy bubble! thou fleeting shadow! I will live no
+longer in thy sight, since thy beams dazzle without warming me! Mankind
+seems only composed as matter for thy experiments, and I will quit the
+whole race, that thy delusions may be presented to me no more!"
+
+This romantic flight, which startled even Cecilia, though acquainted
+with his character, gave to Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott the utmost
+surprize; his appearance, and the account they had just heard of him,
+having by no means prepared them for such sentiments or such language.
+
+"Is then this great secret of happiness," said Cecilia, "nothing, at
+last, but total seclusion from the world?"
+
+"No, madam," answered he, "it is Labour with Independence."
+
+Cecilia now wished much to ask some explanation of his affairs, but was
+doubtful whether he would gratify her before Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott,
+and hurt to keep him standing, though he leant upon a stick; she told
+him, therefore, she would at present detain him no longer, but endeavour
+again to see him before she quitted her friends.
+
+Mr Arnott then interfered, and desired his sister would entreat Miss
+Beverley to invite whom she pleased to his house.
+
+Cecilia thanked him, and instantly asked Belfield to call upon her in
+the afternoon.
+
+"No, madam, no," cried he, "I have done with visits and society! I will
+not so soon break through a system with much difficulty formed, when all
+my future tranquility depends upon adhering to it. The worthlessness of
+mankind has disgusted me with the world, and my resolution in quitting
+it shall be immoveable as its baseness."
+
+"I must not venture then," said Cecilia, "to enquire--"
+
+"Enquire, madam," interrupted he, with quickness, "what you please:
+there is nothing I will not answer to you,--to this lady, to this
+gentleman, to any and to every body. What can I wish to conceal, where
+I have nothing to gain or to lose? When first, indeed, I saw you, I
+involuntarily shrunk; a weak shame for a moment seized me, I felt
+fallen and debased, and I wished to avoid you: but a little recollection
+brought me back to my senses, And where, cried I, is the disgrace of
+exercising for my subsistence the strength with which I am endued?
+and why should I blush to lead the life which uncorrupted Nature first
+prescribed to man?"
+
+"Well, then," said Cecilia, more and more interested to hear him, "if
+you will not visit us, will you at least permit us to return with you to
+some place where you can be seated?"
+
+"I will with pleasure," cried he, "go to any place where you may be
+seated yourselves; but for me, I have ceased to regard accommodation or
+inconvenience."
+
+They then all went back to the cottage, which was now empty, the woman
+being out at work.
+
+"Will you then, Sir," said Cecilia, "give me leave to enquire whether
+Lord Vannelt is acquainted with your retirement, and if it will not much
+surprize and disappoint him?"
+
+"Lord Vannelt," cried he, haughtily, "has no right to be surprised. I
+would have quitted _his_ house, if no other, not even this cottage, had
+a roof to afford me shelter!"
+
+"I am sorry, indeed, to hear it," said Cecilia; "I had hoped he would
+have known your value, and merited your regard."
+
+"Ill-usage," answered he, "is as hard to relate as to be endured. There
+is commonly something pitiful in a complaint; and though oppression in
+a general sense provokes the wrath of mankind, the investigation of its
+minuter circumstances excites nothing but derision. Those who give the
+offence, by the worthy few may be hated; but those who receive it, by
+the world at large will be despised. Conscious of this, I disdained
+making any appeal; myself the only sufferer, I had a right to be
+the only judge, and, shaking off the base trammels of interest and
+subjection, I quitted the house in silent indignation, not chusing to
+remonstrate, where I desired not to be reconciled."
+
+"And was there no mode of life," said Cecilia, "to adopt, but living
+with Lord Vannelt, or giving up the whole world?"
+
+"I weighed every thing maturely," answered he, "before I made my
+determination, and I found it so much, the most eligible, that I am
+certain I can never repent it. I had friends who would with pleasure
+have presented me to some other nobleman; but my whole heart revolted
+against leading that kind of life, and I would not, therefore, idly rove
+from one great man to another, adding ill-will to disgrace, and pursuing
+hope in defiance of common sense; no; when I quitted Lord Vannelt, I
+resolved to give up patronage for ever.
+
+"I retired to private lodgings to deliberate what next could be done. I
+had lived in many ways, I had been unfortunate or imprudent in all.
+The law I had tried, but its rudiments were tedious and disgusting; the
+army, too, but there found my mind more fatigued with indolence, than my
+body with action; general dissipation had then its turn, but the expence
+to which it led was ruinous, and self-reproach baffled pleasure while
+I pursued it; I have even--yes, there are few things I have left
+untried,--I have even,--for why now disguise it?--"
+
+He stopt and coloured, but in a quicker voice presently proceeded.
+
+"Trade, also, has had its share in my experiments; for that, in truth,
+I was originally destined,--but my education had ill suited me to such a
+destination, and the trader's first maxim I reversed, in lavishing when
+I ought to have accumulated.
+
+"What, then, remained for me? to run over again the same irksome round I
+had not patience, and to attempt any thing new I was unqualified: money
+I had none; my friends I could bear to burthen no longer; a fortnight I
+lingered in wretched irresolution,--a simple accident at the end of it
+happily settled me; I was walking, one morning, in Hyde Park, forming a
+thousand plans for my future life, but quarrelling with them all; when
+a gentleman met me on horseback, from whom, at my Lord Vannelt's, I had
+received particular civilities; I looked another way not to be seen
+by him, and the change in my dress since I left his Lordship's made me
+easily pass unnoticed. He had rode on, however, but a few yards,
+before, by some accident or mismanagement, he had a fall from his horse.
+Forgetting all my caution, I flew instantly to his assistance; he was
+bruised, but not otherwise hurt; I helpt him up, and he leant 'pon my
+arm; in my haste of enquiring how he had fared, I called him by his
+name. He knew me, but looked surprised at my appearance; he was speaking
+to me, however, with kindness, when seeing some gentlemen of his
+acquaintance gallopping up to him, he hastily disengaged himself from
+me, and instantly beginning to recount to them what had happened, he
+sedulously looked another way, and joining his new companions, walked
+off without taking further notice of me. For a moment I was almost
+tempted to trouble him to come back; but a little recollection told me
+how ill he deserved my resentment, and bid me transfer it for the future
+from the pitiful individual to the worthless community.
+
+"Here finished my deliberation; the disgust to the world which I had
+already conceived, this little incident confirmed; I saw it was only
+made for the great and the rich;--poor, therefore, and low, what had
+I to do in it? I determined to quit it for ever, and to end every
+disappointment, by crushing every hope.
+
+"I wrote to Lord Vannelt to send my trunks to my mother; I wrote to my
+mother that I was well, and would soon let her hear more: I then paid
+off my lodgings, and 'shaking the dust from my feet,' bid a long adieu
+to London; and, committing my route to chance, strole on into the
+country, without knowing or caring which way.
+
+"My first thought was simply to seek retirement, and to depend for my
+future repose upon nothing but a total seclusion from society: but my
+slow method of travelling gave me time for reflection, and reflection
+soon showed me the error of this notion.
+
+"Guilt, cried I, may, indeed, be avoided by solitude; but will misery?
+will regret? will deep dejection of mind? no, they will follow more
+assiduously than ever; for what is there to oppose them, where neither
+business occupies the time, nor hope the imagination? where the past
+has left nothing but resentment, and the future opens only to a dismal,
+uninteresting void? No stranger to life, I knew human nature could not
+exist on such terms; still less a stranger to books, I respected the
+voice of wisdom and experience in the first of moralists, and most
+enlightened of men, [Footnote: Dr Johnson.] and reading the letter of
+Cowley, I saw the vanity and absurdity of _panting after solitude_.
+[Footnote: Life of Cowley, p.34.]
+
+"I sought not, therefore, a cell; but, since I purposed to live for
+myself, I determined for myself also to think. Servility of imitation
+has ever been as much my scorn as servility of dependence; I resolved,
+therefore, to strike out something new, and no more to retire as every
+other man had retired, than to linger in the world as every other man
+had lingered.
+
+"The result of all you now see. I found out this cottage, and took up
+my abode in it. I am here out of the way of all society, yet avoid the
+great evil of retreat, _having nothing to do_. I am constantly, not
+capriciously employed, and the exercise which benefits my health,
+imperceptibly raises my spirits in despight of adversity. I am removed
+from all temptation, I have scarce even the power to do wrong; I have no
+object for ambition, for repining I have no time:--I have, found out, I
+repeat, the true secret of happiness, Labour with Independence."
+
+He stopt; and Cecilia, who had listened to this narrative with a mixture
+of compassion, admiration and censure, was too much struck with its
+singularity to be readily able to answer it. Her curiosity to hear him
+had sprung wholly from her desire to assist him, and she had expected
+from his story to gather some hint upon which her services might be
+offered. But none had occurred; he professed himself fully satisfied
+with his situation; and though reason and probability contradicted the
+profession, she could not venture to dispute it with any delicacy or
+prudence.
+
+She thanked him, therefore, for his relation, with many apologies for
+the trouble she had given him, and added, "I must not express my
+concern for misfortunes which you seem to regard as conducive to your
+contentment, nor remonstrate at the step you have taken, since you have
+been led to it by choice, not necessity: but yet, you must pardon me if
+I cannot help hoping I shall some time see you happier, according to the
+common, however vulgar ideas of the rest of the world."
+
+"No, never, never! I am sick of mankind, not from theory, but
+experience; and the precautions I have taken against mental fatigue,
+will secure me from repentance, or any desire of change; for it is not
+the active, but the indolent who weary; it is not the temperate, but the
+pampered who are capricious."
+
+"Is your sister, Sir, acquainted with this change in your fortune and
+opinions?"
+
+"Poor girl, no! She and her unhappy mother have borne but too long with
+my enterprizes and misfortunes. Even yet they would sacrifice whatever
+they possess to enable me to play once more the game so often lost; but
+I will not abuse their affection, nor suffer them again to be slaves to
+my caprices, nor dupes to their own delusive expectations. I have sent
+them word I am happy; I have not yet told them how or where. I fear much
+the affliction of their disappointment, and, for a while, shall conceal
+from them my situation, which they would fancy was disgraceful, and
+grieve at as cruel."
+
+"And is it not cruel?" said Cecilia, "is labour indeed so sweet? and can
+you seriously derive happiness from what all others consider as misery?"
+
+"Not sweet," answered he, "in itself; but sweet, most sweet and salutary
+in its effects. When I work, I forget all the world; my projects for the
+future, my disappointments from the past. Mental fatigue is overpowered
+by personal; I toil till I require rest, and that rest which nature,
+not luxury demands, leads not to idle meditation, but to sound, heavy,
+necessary sleep. I awake the next morning to the same thought-exiling
+business, work again till my powers are exhausted, and am relieved again
+at night by the same health-recruiting insensibility."
+
+"And if this," cried Cecilia, "is the life of happiness, why have we so
+many complaints of the sufferings of the poor, and why so eternally do
+we hear of their hardships and distress?"
+
+"They have known no other life. They are strangers, therefore, to the
+felicity of their lot. Had they mingled in the world, fed high their
+fancy with hope, and looked forward with expectation of enjoyment; had
+they been courted by the great, and offered with profusion adulation
+for their abilities, yet, even when starving, been offered nothing
+else!--had they seen an attentive circle wait all its entertainment from
+their powers, yet found themselves forgotten as soon as out of sight,
+and perceived themselves avoided when no longer buffoons!--Oh had
+they known and felt provocations such as these, how gladly would their
+resentful spirits turn from the whole unfeeling race, and how would they
+respect that noble and manly labour, which at once disentangles them
+from such subjugating snares, and enables them to fly the ingratitude
+they abhor! Without the contrast of vice, virtue unloved may be lovely;
+without the experience of misery, happiness is simply a dull privation
+of evil."
+
+"And are you so content," cried Cecilia, "with your present situation,
+as even to think it offers you reparation for your past sufferings?"
+
+"Content!" repeated he with energy, "O more than content, I am proud of
+my present situation! I glory in chewing to the world, glory still more
+in shewing to myself, that those whom I cannot but despise I will not
+scruple to defy, and that where I have been treated unworthily, I will
+scorn to be obliged."
+
+"But will you pardon me," said Cecilia, "should I ask again, why in
+quitting Lord Vannelt, you concluded no one else worthy a trial?"
+
+"Because it was less my Lord Vannelt, madam, than my own situation, that
+disgusted me: for though I liked not his behaviour, I found him a man
+too generally esteemed to flatter myself better usage would await me
+in merely changing my abode, while my station was the same. I believe,
+indeed, he never meant to offend me; but I was offended the more that
+he should think me an object to receive indignity without knowing it. To
+have had this pointed out to him, would have been at once mortifying and
+vain; for delicacy, like taste, can only partially be taught, and will
+always be superficial and erring where it is not innate. Those wrongs,
+which though too trifling to resent, are too humiliating to be borne,
+speech can convey no idea of; the soul must feel, or the understanding
+can never comprehend them."
+
+"But surely," said Cecilia, "though people of refinement are rare, they
+yet exist; why, then, remove yourself from the possibility of meeting
+with them?"
+
+"Must I run about the nation," cried he, "proclaiming my distress, and
+describing my temper? telling the world that though dependent I demand
+respect as well as assistance; and publishing to mankind, that though
+poor I will accept no gifts if offered with contumely? Who will listen
+to such an account? who will care for my misfortunes, but as they may
+humble me to his service? Who will hear my mortifications, but to say
+I deserve them? what has the world to do with my feelings and
+peculiarities? I know it too well to think calamity will soften it; I
+need no new lessons to instruct me that to conquer affliction is more
+wise than to relate it."
+
+"Unfortunate as you have been," said Cecilia, "I cannot wonder at your
+asperity; but yet, it is surely no more than justice to acknowledge,
+that hard-heartedness to distress is by no means the fault of the
+present times: on the contrary, it is scarce sooner made known, than
+every one is ready to contribute to its relief."
+
+"And how contribute?" cried he, "by a paltry donation of money? Yes, the
+man whose only want is a few guineas, may, indeed, obtain them; but
+he who asks kindness and protection, whose oppressed spirit calls for
+consolation even more than his ruined fortune for repair, how is his
+struggling soul, if superior to his fate, to brook the ostentation of
+patronage, and the insolence of condescension? Yes, yes, the world will
+save the poor beggar who is starving; but the fallen wretch, who will
+not cringe for his support, may consume in his own wretchedness without
+pity and without help!"
+
+Cecilia now saw that the wound his sensibility had received was too
+painful for argument, and too recent immediately to be healed. She
+forbore, therefore, to detain him any longer, but expressing her best
+wishes, without venturing to hint at her services, she arose, and they
+all took their leave;--Belfield hastening, as they went, to return to
+the garden, where, looking over the hedge as they passed, they saw him
+employed again in weeding, with the eagerness of a man who pursues his
+favourite occupation.
+
+Cecilia half forgot her own anxieties and sadness, in the concern which
+she felt for this unfortunate and extraordinary young man. She wished
+much to devise some means for drawing him from a life of such hardship
+and obscurity; but what to a man thus "jealous in honour," thus
+scrupulous in delicacy, could she propose, without more risk of offence,
+than probability of obliging? His account had, indeed, convinced her how
+much he stood in need of assistance, but it had shewn her no less how
+fastidious he would be in receiving it.
+
+Nor was she wholly without fear that an earnest solicitude to serve him,
+his youth, talents, and striking manners considered, might occasion even
+in himself a misconstruction of her motives, such as she already had
+given birth to in his forward and partial mother.
+
+The present, therefore, all circumstances weighed, seemed no season for
+her liberality, which she yet resolved to exert the first moment it was
+unopposed by propriety.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A CONTEST.
+
+The rest of the day was passed in discussing this adventure; but in the
+evening, Cecilia's interest in it was all sunk, by the reception of the
+following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+I grieve to interrupt the tranquillity of a retirement so judiciously
+chosen, and I lament the necessity of again calling to trial the virtue
+of which the exertion, though so captivating, is so painful; but alas,
+my excellent young friend, we came not hither to enjoy, but to suffer;
+and happy only are those whose sufferings have neither by folly
+been sought, nor by guilt been merited, but arising merely from the
+imperfection of humanity, have been resisted with fortitude, or endured
+with patience.
+
+I am informed of your virtuous steadiness, which corresponds with my
+expectations, while it excites my respect. All further conflict I had
+hoped to have saved you; and to the triumph of your goodness I had
+trusted for the recovery of your peace: but Mortimer has disappointed
+me, and our work is still unfinished.
+
+He avers that he is solemnly engaged to you, and in pleading to me his
+honour, he silences both expostulation and authority. From your own
+words alone will he acknowledge his dismission; and notwithstanding my
+reluctance to impose upon you this task, I cannot silence or quiet him
+without making the request.
+
+For a purpose such as this, can you, then, admit us? Can you bear with
+your own lips to confirm the irrevocable decision? You will feel, I am
+sure, for the unfortunate Mortimer, and it was earnestly my desire to
+spare you the sight of his affliction; yet such is my confidence in your
+prudence, that since I find him bent upon seeing you, I am not without
+hope, that from witnessing the greatness of your mind, the interview may
+rather calm than inflame him.
+
+This proposal you will take into consideration, and if you are able,
+upon such terms, to again meet my son, we will wait upon you together,
+where and when you will appoint; but if the gentleness of your nature
+will make the effort too severe for you, scruple not to decline it, for
+Mortimer, when he knows your pleasure, will submit to it as he ought.
+
+Adieu, most amiable and but too lovely Cecilia; whatever you determine,
+be sure of my concurrence, for nobly have you earned, and ever must you
+retain, the esteem, the affection, and the gratitude of AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+
+"Alas," cried Cecilia, "when shall I be at rest? when cease to be
+persecuted by new conflicts! Oh why must I so often, so cruelly, though
+so reluctantly, reject and reprove the man who of all men I wish to
+accept and to please!"
+
+But yet, though repining at this hard necessity, she hesitated not a
+moment in complying with Mrs Delvile's request, and immediately sent an
+answer that she would meet her the next morning at Mrs Charlton's.
+
+She then returned to the parlour, and apologized to Mrs Harrel and
+Mr Arnott for the abruptness of her visit, and the suddenness of her
+departure. Mr Arnott heard her in silent dejection; and Mrs Harrel
+used all the persuasion in her power to prevail with her to stay, her
+presence being some relief to her solitude: but finding it ineffectual,
+she earnestly pressed her to hasten her entrance into her own house,
+that their absence might be shortened, and their meeting more sprightly.
+
+Cecilia passed the night in planning her behaviour for the next day;
+she found how much was expected from her by Mrs Delvile, who had even
+exhorted her to decline the interview if doubtful of her own strength.
+Delvile's firmness in insisting the refusal should come directly
+from herself, surprised, gratified and perplexed her in turn; she had
+imagined, that from the moment of the discovery, he would implicitly
+have submitted to the award of a parent at once so reverenced and so
+beloved, and how he had summoned courage to contend with her she could
+not conjecture: yet that courage and that contention astonished not
+more than they soothed her, since, from her knowledge of his filial
+tenderness, she considered them as the most indubitable proofs she had
+yet received of the fervour and constancy of his regard for her. But
+would he, when she had ratified the decision of his mother, forbear all
+further struggle, and for ever yield up all pretensions to her? this was
+the point upon which her uncertainty turned, and the ruling subject of
+her thoughts and meditation.
+
+To be steady, however, herself, be his conduct what it might, was
+invariably her intention, and was all her ambition: yet earnestly she
+wished the meeting over, for she dreaded to see the sorrow of Delvile,
+and she dreaded still more the susceptibility of her own heart.
+
+The next morning, to her great concern, Mr Arnott was waiting in the
+hall when she came down stairs, and so much grieved at her departure,
+that he handed her to the chaise without being able to speak to her, and
+hardly heard her thanks and compliments but by recollection after she
+was gone.
+
+She arrived at Mrs Charlton's very early, and found her old friend in
+the same state she had left her. She communicated to her the purpose of
+her return, and begged she would keep her granddaughters up stairs, that
+the conference in the parlour might be uninterrupted and unheard.
+
+She then made a forced and hasty breakfast, and went down to be ready
+to receive them. They came not till eleven o'clock, and the time of her
+waiting was passed in agonies of expectation.
+
+At length they were announced, and at length they entered the room.
+
+Cecilia, with her utmost efforts for courage, could hardly stand to
+receive them. They came in together, but Mrs Delvile, advancing before
+her son, and endeavouring so to stand as to intercept his view of her,
+with the hope that in a few instants her emotion would be less visible,
+said, in the most soothing accents, "What honour Miss Beverley does us
+by permitting this visit! I should have been sorry to have left Suffolk
+without the satisfaction of again seeing you; and my son, sensible of
+the high respect he owes you, was most unwilling to be gone, before he
+had paid you his devoirs."
+
+Cecilia courtsied; but depressed by the cruel task which awaited her,
+had no power to speak; and Mrs Delvile, finding she still trembled, made
+her sit down, and drew a chair next to her.
+
+Mean while Delvile, with an emotion far more violent, because wholly
+unrestrained, waited impatiently till the ceremonial of the reception
+was over, and then, approaching Cecilia, in a voice of perturbation and
+resentment, said, "In this presence, at least, I hope I may be heard;
+though my letters have been unanswered, my visits refused, though
+inexorably you have flown me--"
+
+"Mortimer," interrupted Mrs Delvile, "forget not that what I have told
+you is irrevocable; you now meet Miss Beverley for no other purpose than
+to give and to receive a mutual release of all to or engagement with
+each other."
+
+"Pardon me, madam," cried he, "this is a condition to which I have never
+assented. I come not to release, but to claim her! I am hers, and hers
+wholly! I protest it in the face of the world! The time, therefore, is
+now past for the sacrifice which you demand, since scarce are you more
+my mother, than I consider her as my wife."
+
+Cecilia, amazed at this dauntless declaration, now almost lost her fear
+in her surprise; while Mrs Delvile, with an air calm though displeased,
+answered, "This is not a point to be at present discussed, and I had
+hoped you knew better what was due to your auditors. I only consented to
+this interview as a mark of your respect for Miss Beverley, to whom in
+propriety it belongs to break off this unfortunate connexion."
+
+Cecilia, who at this call could no longer be silent, now gathered
+fortitude to say, "Whatever tie or obligation may be supposed to depend
+upon me, I have already relinquished; and I am now ready to declare--"
+
+"That you wholly give me up?" interrupted Delvile, "is that what you
+would say?--Oh how have I offended you? how have I merited a displeasure
+that can draw upon me such a sentence?--Answer, speak to me, Cecilia,
+what is it I have done?"
+
+"Nothing, Sir," said Cecilia, confounded at this language in the
+presence of his mother, "you have done nothing,--but yet--"
+
+"Yet what?--have you conceived to me an aversion? has any dreadful and
+horrible antipathy succeeded to your esteem?--tell, tell me without
+disguise, do you hate, do you abhor me?"
+
+Cecilia sighed, and turned away her head; and Mrs Delvile indignantly
+exclaimed, "What madness and absurdity! I scarce know you under the
+influence of such irrational violence. Why will you interrupt Miss
+Beverley in the only speech you ought to hear from her? Why, at once,
+oppress her, and irritate me, by words of more passion than reason?
+Go on, charming girl, finish what so wisely, so judiciously you
+were beginning, and then you shall be released from this turbulent
+persecution."
+
+"No, madam, she must not go on!" cried Delvile, "if she does not utterly
+abhor me, I will not suffer her to go on;--Pardon, pardon me, Cecilia,
+but your too exquisite delicacy is betraying not only my happiness, but
+your own. Once more, therefore, I conjure you to hear me, and then if,
+deliberately and unbiassed, you renounce me, I will never more distress
+you by resisting your decree."
+
+Cecilia, abashed and changing colour, was silent, and he proceeded.
+
+"All that has past between us, the vows I have offered you of faith,
+constancy and affection, the consent I obtained from you to be legally
+mine, the bond of settlement I have had drawn up, and the high honour
+you conferred upon me in suffering me to lead you to the altar,--all
+these particulars are already known to so many, that the least
+reflection must convince you they will soon be concealed from none: tell
+me, then, if your own fame pleads not for me, and if the scruples which
+lead you to refuse, by taking another direction, will not, with much
+more propriety, urge, nay enjoin you to accept me!--You hesitate at
+least,--O Miss Beverley!--I see in that hesitation--"
+
+"Nothing, nothing!" cried she, hastily, and checking her rising
+irresolution; "there is nothing for you to see, but that every way I now
+turn I have rendered myself miserable!"
+
+"Mortimer," said Mrs Delvile, seized with terror as she penetrated into
+the mental yielding of Cecilia, "you have now spoken to Miss Beverley;
+and unwilling as I am to obtrude upon her our difference of sentiment,
+it is necessary, since she has heard you, that I, also, should claim her
+attention."
+
+"First let her speak!" cried Delvile, who in her apparent wavering built
+new hopes, "first let her answer what she has already deigned to listen
+to."
+
+"No, first let her hear!" cried Mrs Delvile, "for so only can she judge
+what answer will reflect upon her most honour."
+
+Then, solemnly turning to Cecilia, she continued: "You see here, Miss
+Beverley, a young man who passionately adores you, and who forgets in
+his adoration friends, family, and connections, the opinions in which
+he has been educated, the honour of his house, his own former views,
+and all his primitive sense of duty, both public and private!--A passion
+built on such a defalcation of principle renders him unworthy your
+acceptance; and not more ignoble for him would be a union which would
+blot his name from the injured stock whence he sprung, than indelicate
+for you, who upon such terms ought to despise him."
+
+"Heavens, madam," exclaimed Delvile, "what a speech!"
+
+"O never," cried Cecilia, rising, "may I hear such another! Indeed,
+madam, there is no occasion to probe me so deeply, for I would not now
+enter your family, for all that the whole world could offer me!"
+
+"At length, then, madam," cried Delvile, turning reproachfully to his
+mother, "are you satisfied? is your purpose now answered? and is the
+dagger you have transfixed in my heart sunk deep enough to appease you?"
+
+"O could I draw it out," cried Mrs Delvile, "and leave upon it no stain
+of ignominy, with what joy should my own bosom receive it, to heal the
+wound I have most compulsatorily inflicted!--Were this excellent young
+creature portionless, I would not hesitate in giving my consent; every
+claim of interest would be overbalanced by her virtues, and I would not
+grieve to see you poor, where so conscious you were happy; but here to
+concede, would annihilate every hope with which hitherto I have looked
+up to my son."
+
+"Let us now, then, madam," said Cecilia, "break up this conference. I
+have spoken, I have heard, the decree is past, and therefore,"--
+
+"You are indeed an angel!" cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her;
+"and never can I reproach my son with what has passed, when I consider
+for what an object the sacrifice was planned. _You_ cannot be unhappy,
+you have purchased peace by the exercise of virtue, and the close of
+every day will bring to you a reward, in the sweets of a self-approving
+mind.--But we will part, since you think it right; I do wrong to
+occasion any delay."
+
+"No, we will _not_ part!" cried Delvile, with encreasing vehemence; "if
+you force me, madam, from her, you will drive me to distraction! What is
+there in this world that can offer me a recompense? And what can pride
+even to the proudest afford as an equivalent? Her perfections you
+acknowledge, her greatness of mind is like your own; she has generously
+given me her heart,--Oh sacred and fascinating charge! Shall I, after
+such a deposite, consent to an eternal separation? Repeal, repeal your
+sentence, my Cecilia! let us live to ourselves and our consciences, and
+leave the vain prejudices of the world to those who can be paid by them
+for the loss of all besides!"
+
+"Is this conflict, then," said Mrs Delvile, "to last for-ever? Oh
+end it, Mortimer, finish it, and make me happy! she is just, and will
+forgive you, she is noble-minded, and will honour you. Fly, then, at
+this critical moment, for in flight alone is your safety; and then will
+your father see the son of his hopes, and then shall the fond blessings
+of your idolizing mother soothe all your affliction, and soften all your
+regret!"
+
+"Oh madam!" cried Delvile, "for mercy, for humanity, forbear this cruel
+supplication!"
+
+"Nay, more than supplication, you have my commands; commands you have
+never yet disputed, and misery, ten-fold misery, will follow their
+disobedience. Hear me, Mortimer, for I speak prophetically; I know your
+heart, I know it to be formed for rectitude and duty, or destined by
+their neglect to repentance and horror."
+
+Delvile, struck by these words, turned suddenly from them both, and
+in gloomy despondence walked to the other end of the room. Mrs Delvile
+perceived the moment of her power, and determined to pursue the blow:
+taking, therefore, the hand of Cecilia, while her eyes sparkled with the
+animation of reviving hope, "See," she cried, pointing to her son, "see
+if I am deceived! can he bear even the suggestion of future contrition!
+Think you when it falls upon him, he will support it better? No; he
+will sink under it. And you, pure as you are of mind, and steadfast in
+principle, what would your chance be of happiness with a man who never
+erring till he knew you, could never look at you without regret, be his
+fondness what it might?"
+
+"Oh madam," cried the greatly shocked Cecilia, "let him, then, see me no
+more!--take, take him all to yourself! forgive, console him! I will not
+have the misery of involving him in repentance, nor of incurring the
+reproaches of the mother he so much reverences!"
+
+"Exalted creature!" cried Mrs Delvile; "tenderness such as this would
+confer honour upon a monarch." Then, calling out exultingly to her
+son, "See," she added, "how great a woman can act, when stimulated by
+generosity, and a just sense of duty! Follow then, at least, the example
+you ought to have led, and deserve my esteem and love, or be content to
+forego them."
+
+"And can I only deserve them," said Delvile, in a tone of the deepest
+anguish, "by a compliance to which not merely my happiness, but
+my reason must be sacrificed? What honour do I injure that is not
+factitious? What evil threatens our union, that is not imaginary? In
+the general commerce of the world it may be right to yield to its
+prejudices, but in matters of serious importance, it is weakness to be
+shackled by scruples so frivolous, and it is cowardly to be governed by
+the customs we condemn. Religion and the laws of our country should then
+alone be consulted, and where those are neither opposed nor infringed,
+we should hold ourselves superior to all other considerations."
+
+"Mistaken notions!" said Mrs Delvile; "and how long do you flatter
+yourself this independent happiness would endure? How long could you
+live contented by mere self-gratification, in defiance of the censure
+of mankind, the renunciation of your family, and the curses of your
+father?"
+
+"The curses of my father!" repeated he, starting and shuddering, "O no,
+he could never be so barbarous!"
+
+"He could," said she, steadily, "nor do I doubt but he would. If now,
+however, you are affected by the prospect of his disclaiming you, think
+but what you will feel when first forbid to appear before either of us!
+and think of your remorse for involving Miss Beverley in such disgrace!"
+
+"O speak not such words!" cried he, with agonizing earnestness, "to
+disgrace her,--to be banished by you,--present not, I conjure you, such
+scenes to my imagination!"
+
+"Yet would they be unavoidable," continued she; "nor have I said to you
+all; blinded as you now are by passion, your nobler feelings are only
+obscured, not extirpated; think, then, how they will all rise in revenge
+of your insulted dignity, when your name becomes a stranger to your
+ears, and you are first saluted by one so meanly adopted!--"
+
+"Hold, hold, madam," interrupted he, "this is more than I can bear!"
+
+"Heavens!" still continued she, disregarding his entreaty, "what in the
+universe can pay you for that first moment of indignity! Think of it
+well ere you proceed, and anticipate your sensations, lest the shock
+should wholly overcome you. How will the blood of your wronged ancestors
+rise into your guilty cheeks, and how will your heart throb with secret
+shame and reproach, when wished joy upon your marriage by the name of
+_Mr Beverley_!"
+
+Delvile, stung to the soul, attempted not any answer, but walked about
+the room in the utmost disorder of mind. Cecilia would have retired,
+but feared irritating him to some extravagance; and Mrs Delvile, looking
+after him, added "For myself, I would still see, for I should pity
+your wife,--but NEVER would I behold my son when sunk into an object of
+compassion!"
+
+"It shall not be!" cried he, in a transport of rage; "cease, cease to
+distract me!--be content, madam,--you have conquered!"
+
+"Then you are my son!" cried she, rapturously embracing him; "now I know
+again my Mortimer! now I see the fair promise of his upright youth, and
+the flattering completion of my maternal expectations!"
+
+Cecilia, finding all thus concluded, desired nothing so much as to
+congratulate them on their reconciliation; but having only said "Let
+_me_, too,--" her voice failed her, she stopt short, and hoping she had
+been unheard, would have glided out of the room.
+
+But Delvile, penetrated and tortured, yet delighted at this sensibility,
+broke from his mother, and seizing her hand, exclaimed, "Oh Miss
+Beverley, if _you_ are not happy---"
+
+"I am! I am!" cried she, with quickness; "let me pass,--and think no
+more of me."
+
+"That voice,--those looks,--" cried he, still holding her, "they speak
+not serenity!--Oh if I have injured your peace,--if that heart, which,
+pure as angels, deserves to be as sacred from sorrow, through my means,
+or for my sake, suffers any diminution of tranquility--"
+
+"None, none!" interrupted she, with precipitation.
+
+"I know well," cried he, "your greatness of soul; and if this dreadful
+sacrifice gives lasting torture only to myself,--if of _your_ returning
+happiness I could be assured,--I would struggle to bear it."
+
+"You _may_, be assured of it," cried she, with reviving dignity, "I have
+no right to expect escaping all calamity, but while I share the common
+lot, I will submit to it without repining."
+
+"Heaven then bless, and hovering angels watch you!" cried he, and
+letting go her hand, he ran hastily out of the room.
+
+"Oh Virtue, how bright is thy triumph!" exclaimed Mrs Delvile, flying
+up to Cecilia, and folding her in her arms; "Noble, incomparable young
+creature! I knew not that so much worth was compatible with human
+frailty!"
+
+But the heroism of Cecilia, in losing its object, lost its force; she
+sighed, she could not speak, tears gushed into her eyes, and kissing Mrs
+Delvile's hand with a look that shewed her inability to converse with
+her, she hastened, though scarce able to support herself, away, with
+intention to shut herself up in her own apartment: and Mrs Delvile,
+who perceived that her utmost fortitude was exhausted, opposed not her
+going, and wisely forbore to encrease her emotion, by following her even
+with her blessings.
+
+But when she came into the hall, she started, and could proceed no
+further; for there she beheld Delvile, who in too great agony to be
+seen, had stopt to recover some composure before he quitted the house.
+
+At the first sound of an opening door, he was hastily escaping; but
+perceiving Cecilia, and discerning her situation, he more hastily turned
+back, saying, "Is it possible?--To _me_ were you coming?"
+
+She shook her head, and made a motion with her hand to say no, and would
+then have gone on.
+
+"You are weeping!" cried he, "you are pale!--Oh Miss Beverley! is this
+your happiness!"
+
+"I am very well,--" cried she, not knowing what she answered, "I am
+quite well,--pray go,--I am very--" her words died away inarticulated.
+
+"O what a voice is that!" exclaimed he, "it pierces my very soul!"
+
+Mrs Delvile now came to the parlour door, and looked aghast at the
+situation in which she saw them: Cecilia again moved on, and reached the
+stairs, but tottered, and was obliged to cling to the banisters.
+
+"O suffer me to support you," cried he; "you are not able to
+stand,--whither is it you would go?"
+
+"Any where,--I don't know,--" answered she, in faltering accents, "but
+if you would leave me, I should be well."
+
+And, turning from him, she walked again towards the parlour, finding by
+her shaking frame, the impossibility of getting unaided up the stairs.
+
+"Give me your hand, my love," said Mrs Delvile, cruelly alarmed by this
+return; and the moment they re-entered the parlour, she said impatiently
+to her son, "Mortimer, why are you not gone?"
+
+He heard her not, however; his whole attention was upon Cecilia, who,
+sinking into a chair, hid her face against Mrs Delvile: but, reviving in
+a few moments, and blushing at the weakness she had betrayed, she raised
+her head, and, with an assumed serenity, said, "I am better,--much
+better,--I was rather sick,--but it is over; and now, if you will excuse
+me, I will go to my own room."
+
+She then arose, but her knees trembled, and her head was giddy, and
+again seating herself, she forced a faint smile, and said, "Perhaps I
+had better keep quiet."
+
+"Can I bear this!" cried Delvile, "no, it shakes all my
+resolution!--loveliest and most beloved Cecilia! forgive my rash
+declaration, which I hear retract and forswear, and which no false
+pride, no worthless vanity shall again surprise from me!--raise, then,
+your eyes--"
+
+"Hot-headed young man!" interrupted Mrs Delvile, with an air of haughty
+displeasure, "if you cannot be rational, at least be silent. Miss
+Beverley, we will both leave him."
+
+Shame, and her own earnestness, how restored some strength to Cecilia,
+who read with terror in the looks of Mrs Delvile the passions with which
+she was agitated, and instantly obeyed her by rising; but her son, who
+inherited a portion of her own spirit, rushed between them both and the
+door, and exclaimed, "Stay, madam, stay! I cannot let you go: I see your
+intention, I see your dreadful purpose; you will work upon the feelings
+of Miss Beverley, you will extort from her a promise to see me no more!"
+
+"Oppose not my passing!" cried Mrs Delvile, whose voice, face and manner
+spoke the encreasing disturbance of her soul; "I have but too long
+talked to you in vain; I must now take some better method for the
+security of the honour of my family."
+
+This moment appeared to Delvile decisive; and casting off in desperation
+all timidity and restraint, he suddenly sprang forward, and snatching
+the hand of Cecilia from his mother, he exclaimed, "I cannot, I will not
+give her up!--nor now, madam, nor ever!--I protest it most solemnly! I
+affirm it by my best hopes! I swear it by all that I hold sacred!"
+
+Grief and horror next to frenzy at a disappointment thus unexpected, and
+thus peremptory, rose in the face of Mrs Delvile, who, striking her hand
+upon her forehead, cried, "My brain is on fire!" and rushed out of the
+room.
+
+Cecilia had now no difficulty to disengage herself from Delvile, who,
+shocked at the exclamation, and confounded by the sudden departure of
+his mother, hastened eagerly to pursue her: she had only flown into the
+next parlour; but, upon following her thither, what was his dread and
+his alarm, when he saw her extended, upon the floor, her face, hands and
+neck all covered with blood! "Great Heaven!" he exclaimed, prostrating
+himself by her side, "what is it you have done!--where are you
+wounded?--what direful curse have you denounced against your son?"
+
+Not able to speak, she angrily shook her head, and indignantly made a
+motion with her hand, that commanded him from her sight.
+
+Cecilia, who had followed, though half dead with terror, had yet the
+presence of mind to ring the bell. A servant came immediately; and
+Delvile, starting up from his mother, ordered him to fetch the first
+surgeon or physician he could find.
+
+The alarm now brought the rest of the servants into the room, and Mrs
+Delvile suffered herself to be raised from the ground, and seated in a
+chair; she was still silent, but shewed a disgust to any assistance
+from her son, that made him deliver her into the hands of the servants,
+while, in speechless agony, he only looked on and watched her.
+
+Neither did Cecilia, though forgetting her own sorrow, and no longer
+sensible of personal weakness, venture to approach her: uncertain what
+had happened, she yet considered herself as the ultimate cause of this
+dreadful scene, and feared to risk the effect of the smallest additional
+emotion.
+
+The servant returned with a surgeon in a few minutes: Cecilia, unable
+to wait and hear what he would say, glided hastily out of the room; and
+Delvile, in still greater agitation, followed her quick into the
+next parlour; but having eagerly advanced to speak to her, he turned
+precipitately about, and hurrying into the hall, walked in hasty steps
+up and down it, without courage to enquire what was passing.
+
+At length the surgeon came out: Delvile flew to him, and stopt him,
+but could ask no question. His countenance, however, rendered words
+unnecessary; the surgeon understood him, and said, "The lady will do
+very well; she has burst a blood vessel, but I think it will be of
+no consequence. She must be kept quiet and easy, and upon no account
+suffered to talk, or to use any exertion."
+
+Delvile now let him go, and flew himself into a corner to return thanks
+to heaven that the evil, however great, was less than he had at first
+apprehended. He then went into the parlour to Cecilia, eagerly calling
+out, "Heaven be praised, my mother has not voluntarily cursed me!"
+
+"O now then," cried Cecilia, "once more make her bless you! the violence
+of her agitation has already almost destroyed her, and her frame is too
+weak for this struggle of contending passions;--go to her, then, and
+calm the tumult of her spirits, by acquiescing wholly in her will, and
+being to her again the son she thinks she has lost!"
+
+"Alas!" said he, in a tone of the deepest dejection; "I have been
+preparing myself for that purpose, and waited but your commands to
+finally determine me."
+
+"Let us both go to her instantly," said Cecilia; "the least delay may be
+fatal."
+
+She now led the way, and approaching Mrs Delvile, who, faint and weak,
+was seated upon an arm chair, and resting her head upon the shoulder of
+a maid servant, said, "Lean, dearest madam, upon _me_, and speak not,
+but hear us!"
+
+She then took the place of the maid, and desired her and the other
+servants to go out of the room. Delvile advanced, but his mother's eye,
+recovering, at his sight, its wonted fire, darted upon him a glance of
+such displeasure, that, shuddering with the apprehension of inflaming
+again those passions which threatened her destruction, he hastily sank
+on one knee, and abruptly exclaimed, "Look at me with less abhorrence,
+for I come but to resign myself to your will."
+
+"Mine, also," cried Cecilia, "that will shall be; you need not speak
+it, we know it, and here solemnly we promise that we will separate for
+ever."
+
+"Revive, then, my mother," said Delvile, "rely upon our plighted
+honours, and think only of your health, for your son will never more
+offend you."
+
+Mrs Delvile, much surprised, and strongly affected, held out her hand to
+him, with a look of mingled compassion and obligation, and dropping
+her head upon the bosom of Cecilia, who with her other arm she pressed
+towards her, she burst into an agony of tears.
+
+"Go, go, Sir!" said Cecilia, cruelly alarmed, "you have said all that is
+necessary; leave Mrs Delvile now, and she will be more composed."
+
+Delvile instantly obeyed, and then his mother, whose mouth still
+continued to fill with blood, though it gushed not from her with the
+violence it had begun, was prevailed upon by the prayers of Cecilia to
+consent to be conveyed into her room; and, as her immediate removal
+to another house might be dangerous, she complied also, though very
+reluctantly, with her urgent entreaties, that she would take entire
+possession of it till the next day.
+
+This point gained, Cecilia left her, to communicate what had passed to
+Mrs Charlton; but was told by one of the servants that Mr Delvile begged
+first to speak with her in the next room.
+
+She hesitated for a moment whether to grant this request; but
+recollecting it was right to acquaint him with his mother's intention of
+staying all night, she went to him.
+
+"How indulgent you are," cried he, in a melancholy voice, as she opened
+the door; "I am now going post to Dr Lyster, whom I shall entreat to
+come hither instantly; but I am fearful of again disturbing my mother,
+and must therefore rely upon you to acquaint her what is become of me."
+
+"Most certainly; I have begged her to remain here to-night, and I hope
+I shall prevail with her to continue with me till Dr Lyster's arrival;
+after which she will, doubtless, be guided either in staying longer, or
+removing elsewhere, by his advice."
+
+"You are all goodness," said he, with a deep sigh; "and how I shall
+support--but I mean not to return hither, at least not to this
+house,--unless, indeed, Dr Lyster's account should be alarming. I leave
+my mother, therefore, to your kindness, and only hope, only entreat,
+that your own health,--your own peace of mind--neither by attendance
+upon her--by anxiety--by pity for her son--"
+
+He stopt, and seemed gasping for breath; Cecilia turned from him to hide
+her emotion, and he proceeded with a rapidity of speech that shewed his
+terror of continuing with her any longer, and his struggle with himself
+to be gone: "The promise you have made in both our names to my mother,
+I shall hold myself bound to observe. I see, indeed, that her reason
+or her life would fall the sacrifice of further opposition: of myself,
+therefore, it is no longer time to think.--I take of you no leave--I
+cannot! yet I would fain tell you the high reverence--but it is better
+to say nothing--"
+
+"Much better," cried Cecilia, with a forced and faint smile; "lose not,
+therefore, an instant, but hasten to this good Dr Lyster."
+
+"I will," answered he, going to the door; but there, stopping and
+turning round, "one thing I should yet," he added, "wish to say,--I have
+been impetuous, violent, unreasonable,--with shame and with regret I
+recollect how impetuous, and how unreasonable: I have persecuted, where
+I ought in silence to have submitted; I have reproached, where I ought
+in candour to have approved; and in the vehemence with which I have
+pursued you, I have censured that very dignity of conduct which has
+been the basis of my admiration, my esteem, my devotion! but never can
+I forget, and never without fresh wonder remember, the sweetness with
+which you have borne with me, even when most I offended you. For this
+impatience, this violence, this inconsistency, I now most sincerely
+beg your pardon; and if, before I go, you could so far condescend as to
+pronounce my forgiveness, with a lighter heart, I think, I should quit
+you."
+
+"Do not talk of forgiveness," said Cecilia, "you have never offended me;
+I always knew--always was sure--always imputed--" she stopt, unable to
+proceed.
+
+Deeply penetrated by her apparent distress, he with difficulty
+restrained himself from falling at her feet; but after a moment's pause
+and recollection, he said, "I understand the generous indulgence you
+have shewn me, an indulgence I shall ever revere, and ever grieve to
+have abused. I ask you not to remember me,--far, far happier do I wish
+you than such a remembrance could make you; but I will pain the
+humanity of your disposition no longer. You will tell my mother--but
+no matter!--Heaven preserve you, my angelic Cecilia!--Miss Beverley,
+I mean, Heaven guide, protect, and bless you! And should I see you no
+more, should this be the last sad moment---"
+
+He paused, but presently recovering himself, added, "May I hear, at
+least, of your tranquillity, for that alone can have any chance to quiet
+or repress the anguish I feel here!"
+
+He then abruptly retreated, and ran out of the house.
+
+Cecilia for a while remained almost stupified with sorrow; she forgot
+Mrs Delvile, she forgot Mrs Charlton, she forgot her own design of
+apologizing to one, or assisting the other: she continued in the posture
+in which he had left her, quite without motion, and almost without
+sensibility.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A MESSAGE.
+
+From this lethargy of sadness Cecilia was soon, however, awakened by the
+return of the surgeon, who had brought with him a physician to consult
+upon Mrs Delvile's situation. Terror for the mother once more drove
+the son from her thoughts, and she waited with the most apprehensive
+impatience to hear the result of the consultation. The physician
+declined giving any positive opinion, but, having written a
+prescription, only repeated the injunction of the surgeon, that she
+should be kept extremely quiet, and on no account be suffered to talk.
+
+Cecilia, though shocked and frightened at the occasion, was yet by no
+means sorry at an order which thus precluded all conversation; unfitted
+for it by her own misery, she was glad to be relieved from all necessity
+of imposing upon herself the irksome task of finding subjects for
+discourse to which she was wholly indifferent, while obliged with
+sedulity to avoid those by which alone her mind was occupied.
+
+The worthy Mrs Charlton heard the events of the morning with the utmost
+concern, but charged her grand-daughters to assist her young friend in
+doing the honours of her house to Mrs Delvile, while she ordered another
+apartment to be prepared for Cecilia, to whom she administered all the
+consolation her friendly zeal could suggest.
+
+Cecilia, however unhappy, had too just a way of thinking to indulge in
+selfish grief, where occasion called her to action for the benefit
+of others: scarce a moment, therefore now did she allow to sorrow and
+herself, but assiduously bestowed the whole of her time upon her two
+sick friends, dividing her attention according to their own desire or
+convenience, without consulting or regarding any choice of her own.
+Choice, indeed, she had none; she loved Mrs Charlton, she revered Mrs
+Delvile; the warmest wish with which her heart glowed, was the recovery
+of both, but too deep was her affliction to receive pleasure from
+either.
+
+Two days passed thus, during which the constancy of her attendance,
+which at another time would have fatigued her, proved the only relief
+she was capable of receiving. Mrs Delvile was evidently affected by her
+vigilant tenderness, but seemed equally desirous with herself to make
+use of the prohibition to speech as an excuse for uninterrupted silence.
+She enquired not even after her son, though the eagerness of her look
+towards the door whenever it was opened, shewed either a hope, or an
+apprehension that he might enter. Cecilia wished to tell her whither
+he was gone, but dreaded trusting her voice with his name; and their
+silence, after a while, seemed so much by mutual consent, that she had
+soon as little courage as she had inclination to break it.
+
+The arrival of Dr Lyster gave her much satisfaction, for upon him
+rested her hopes of Mrs Delvile's re-establishment. He sent for her down
+stairs, to enquire whether he was expected; and hearing that he was not,
+desired her to announce him, as the smallest emotion might do mischief.
+
+She returned up stairs, and after a short preparation, said, "Your
+favourite Dr Lyster, madam, is come, and I shall be much the happier for
+having you under his care."
+
+"Dr Lyster?" cried she, "who sent for him?"
+
+"I believe--I fancy--Mr Delvile fetched him."
+
+"My son?--is he here, then?"
+
+"No,--he went, the moment he left you, for Dr Lyster,--and Dr Lyster is
+come by himself."
+
+"Does he write to you?"
+
+"No, indeed!--he writes not--he comes not--dearest madam be satisfied,
+he will do neither to me ever more!"
+
+"Exemplary young man!" cried she, in a voice hardly audible, "how great
+is his loss!--unhappy Mortimer!--ill-fated, and ill-rewarded!"
+
+She sighed, and said no more; but this short conversation, the only one
+which had passed between them since her illness, agitated her so
+much, that Dr Lyster, who now came up stairs, found her in a state of
+trembling and weakness that both alarmed and surprised him. Cecilia,
+glad of an opportunity to be gone, left the room, and sent, by Dr
+Lyster's desire, for the physician and surgeon who had already attended.
+
+After they had been some time with their patient, they retired to a
+consultation, and when it was over, Dr Lyster waited upon Cecilia in
+the parlour, and assured her he had no apprehension of danger for
+Mrs Delvile, "Though, for another week," he added, "I would have her
+continue your _patient_, as she is not yet fit to be removed. But pray
+mind that she is kept quiet; let nobody go near her, not even her own
+son. By the way he is waiting for me at the inn, so I'll just speak
+again to his mother, and be gone."
+
+Cecilia was well pleased by this accidental information, to learn
+both the anxiety of Delvile for his mother, and the steadiness of his
+forbearance for himself. When Dr Lyster came down stairs again, "I shall
+stay," he said, "till to-morrow, but I hope she will be able in another
+week to get to Bristol. In the mean time I shall leave her, I see, with
+an excellent nurse. But, my good young lady, in your care of her, don't
+neglect yourself; I am not quite pleased with your looks, though it is
+but an old fashioned speech to tell you so.--What have you been doing to
+yourself?"
+
+"Nothing;" said she, a little embarrassed; "but had you not better have
+some tea?"
+
+"Why yes, I think I had;--but what shall I do with my young man?"
+
+Cecilia understood the hint, but coloured, and made no answer.
+
+"He is waiting for me," he continued, "at the inn; however, I never yet
+knew the young man I would prefer to a young woman, so if you will give
+me some tea here, I shall certainly jilt him."
+
+Cecilia instantly rang the bell, and ordered tea.
+
+"Well now," said he, "remember the sin of this breach of appointment
+lies wholly at your door. I shall tell him you laid violent hands on
+me; and if that is not, enough to excuse me, I shall desire he will try
+whether he could be more of a stoic with you himself."
+
+"I think I must unorder the tea," said she, with what gaiety she could
+assume, "if I am to be responsible for any mischief from your drinking
+it."
+
+"No, no, you shan't be off now; but pray would it be quite out of rule
+for you to send and ask him to come to us?"
+
+"Why I believe--I think--" said she, stammering, "it's very likely he
+may be engaged."
+
+"Well, well, I don't mean to propose any violent incongruity. You must
+excuse my blundering; I understand but little of the etiquette of young
+ladies. 'Tis a science too intricate to be learned without more study
+than we plodding men of business can well spare time for. However, when
+I have done _writing_ prescriptions, I will set about _reading_ them,
+provided you will be my instructress."
+
+Cecilia, though ashamed of a charge in which prudery and affectation
+were implied, was compelled to submit to it, as either to send for
+Delvile, or explain her objections, was equally impossible. The Miss
+Charltons, therefore, joined them, and they went to tea.
+
+Just as they had done, a note was delivered to Dr Lyster; "see here,"
+cried he, when he had read it, "what a fine thing it is to be a _young_
+man! Why now, Mr Mortimer understands as much of all this _etiquette_ as
+you ladies do yourselves; for he only writes a note even to ask how his
+mother does."
+
+He then put it into Cecilia's hand.
+
+_To Dr Lyster_.
+
+Tell me, my dear Sir, how you have found my mother? I am uneasy at
+your long stay, and engaged with my friend Biddulph, or I should have
+followed you in person.
+
+M.D.
+
+"So you see," continued the doctor, "I need not do penance for
+engaging myself to you, when this young gentleman can find such good
+entertainment for himself."
+
+Cecilia who well knew the honourable motive of Delvile's engagement,
+with difficulty forbore speaking in his vindication. Dr Lyster
+immediately began an answer, but before he had finished it, called out,
+"Now as I am told you are a very good young woman, I think you can do no
+less than assist me to punish this gay spark, for playing the macaroni,
+when he ought to visit his sick mother."
+
+Cecilia, much hurt for Delvile, and much confused for herself, looked
+abashed, but knew not what to answer.
+
+"My scheme," continued the doctor, "is to tell him, that as he has found
+one engagement for tea, he may find another for supper; but that as to
+me, I am better disposed of, for you insist upon keeping me to yourself.
+Come, what says _etiquette_? may I treat myself with this puff?"
+
+"Certainly," said Cecilia, endeavouring to look pleased, "if you will
+favour us with your company, Miss Charltons and myself will think the
+_puffing_ should rather be ours than yours."
+
+"That, then," said the doctor, "will not answer my purpose, for I mean
+the puff to be my own, or how do I punish him? So, suppose I tell him
+I shall not only sup with three young ladies, but be invited to a
+_tete-a-tete_ with one of them into the bargain?"
+
+The young ladies only laughed, and the doctor finished his note, and
+sent it away; and then, turning gaily to Cecilia, "Come," he said, "why
+don't you give me this invitation? surely you don't mean to make me
+guilty of perjury?"
+
+Cecilia, but little disposed for pleasantry, would gladly now have dropt
+the subject; but Dr Lyster, turning to the Miss Charltons, said, "Young
+ladies, I call you both to witness if this is not very bad usage: this
+young woman has connived at my writing a downright falsehood, and all
+the time took me in to believe it was a truth. The only way I can think
+of to cure her of such frolics, is for both of you to leave us together,
+and so make her keep her word whether she will or no."
+
+The Miss Charltons took the hint, and went away; while Cecilia, who
+had not at all suspected he meant seriously to speak with her, remained
+extremely perplexed to think what he had to say.
+
+"Mrs Delvile," cried he, continuing the same air of easy good humour,
+"though I allowed her not to speak to me above twenty words, took up
+near ten of them to tell me that you had behaved to her like an angel.
+Why so she ought, cried I; what else was she sent for here to look
+so like one? I charged her, therefore, to take all that as a thing of
+course; and to prove that I really think what I say, I am now going to
+make a trial of you, that, if you are any thing less, will induce you to
+order some of your men to drive me into the street. The truth is, I have
+had a little commission given me, which in the first place I know not
+how to introduce, and which, in the second, as far as I can judge,
+appears to be absolutely superfluous."
+
+Cecilia now felt uneasy and alarmed, and begged him to explain himself.
+He then dropt the levity with which he had begun the discourse, and
+after a grave, yet gentle preparation, expressive of his unwillingness
+to distress her, and his firm persuasion of her uncommon worthiness, he
+acquainted her that he was no stranger to her situation with respect to
+the Delvile family.
+
+"Good God!" cried she, blushing and much amazed; "and who"---
+
+"I knew it," said he, "from the moment I attended Mr Mortimer in his
+illness at Delvile Castle. He could not conceal from me that the seat
+of his disorder was his mind; and I could not know that, without readily
+conjecturing the cause, when I saw who was his father's guest, and when
+I knew what was his father's character. He found he was betrayed to me,
+and upon my advising a journey, he understood me properly. His openness
+to counsel, and the manly firmness with which he behaved in quitting
+you, made me hope the danger was blown over. But last week, when I was
+at the Castle, where I have for some time attended Mr Delvile, who has
+had a severe fit of the gout, I found him in an agitation of spirits
+that made me apprehend it would be thrown into his stomach. I desired
+Mrs Delvile to use her influence to calm him; but she was herself in
+still greater emotion, and acquainting me she was obliged to leave
+him, desired I would spend with him every moment in my power. I have
+therefore almost lived at the Castle during her absence, and, in
+the course of our many conversations, he has acknowledged to me the
+uneasiness under which he has laboured, from the intelligence concerning
+his son, which he had just received."
+
+Cecilia wished here to enquire _how_ received, and from whom, but had
+not the courage, and therefore he proceeded.
+
+"I was still with the father when Mr Mortimer arrived post at my house
+to fetch me hither. I was sent for home; he informed me of his errand
+without disguise, for he knew I was well acquainted with the original
+secret whence all the evil arose. I told him my distress in what
+manner to leave his father; and he was extremely shocked himself when
+acquainted with his situation. We agreed that it would be vain to
+conceal from him the indisposition of Mrs Delvile, which the delay of
+her return, and a thousand other accidents, might in some unfortunate
+way make known to him. He commissioned me, therefore, to break it to
+him, that he might consent to my journey, and at the same time to quiet
+his own mind, by assuring him all he had apprehended was wholly at an
+end."
+
+He stopt, and looked to see how Cecilia bore these words.
+
+"It is all at an end, Sir;" said she, with firmness; "but I have not yet
+heard your commission; what, and from whom is that?"
+
+"I am thoroughly satisfied it is unnecessary;" he answered, "since the
+young man can but submit, and you can but give him up."
+
+"But still, if there is a message, it is fit I should hear it."
+
+"If you chase it, so it is. I told Mr Delvile whither I was coming,
+and I repeated to him his son's assurances. He was relieved, but not
+satisfied; he would not see him, and gave me for him a prohibition of
+extreme severity, and to _you_ he bid me say--"
+
+"From _him_, then, is my message?" cried Cecilia, half frightened, and
+much disappointed.
+
+"Yes," said he, understanding her immediately, "for the son, after
+giving me his first account, had the wisdom and forbearance not once to
+mention you."
+
+"I am very glad," said she, with a mixture of admiration and regret, "to
+hear it. But, what, Sir, said Mr Delvile?"
+
+"He bid me tell you that either _he_, or _you_ must see his son never
+more."
+
+"It was indeed unnecessary," cried she, colouring with resentment, "to
+send me such a message. I meant not to see him again, he meant not to
+desire it. I return him, however, no answer, and I will make him no
+promise; to Mrs Delvile alone I hold myself bound; to him, send what
+messages he may, I shall always hold myself free. But believe me, Dr
+Lyster, if with his name, his son had inherited his character, his
+desire of our separation would be feeble, and trifling, compared with my
+own!"
+
+"I am sorry, my good young lady," said he, "to have given you this
+disturbance; yet I admire your spirit, and doubt not but it will enable
+you to forget any little disappointment you may have suffered. And what,
+after all, have you to regret? Mortimer Delvile is, indeed, a young man
+that any woman might wish to attach; but every woman cannot have him,
+and you, of all women, have least reason to repine in missing him,
+for scarcely is there another man you may not chuse or reject at your
+pleasure."
+
+Little as was the consolation Cecilia could draw from this speech,
+she was sensible it became not her situation to make complaints, and
+therefore, to end the conversation she proposed calling in the Miss
+Charltons.
+
+"No, no," said he, "I must step up again to Mrs Delvile, and then
+be-gone. To-morrow morning I shall but call to see how she is, and leave
+some directions, and set off. Mr Mortimer Delvile accompanies me back:
+but he means to return hither in a week, in order to travel with his
+mother to Bristol. Mean time, I purpose to bring about a reconciliation
+between him and his father, whose prejudices are more intractable than
+any man's I ever met with."
+
+"It will be strange indeed," said Cecilia, "should a reconciliation
+_now_ be difficult!"
+
+"True; but it is long since he was young himself, and the softer
+affections he never was acquainted with, and only regards them in his
+son as derogatory to his whole race. However, if there were not some few
+such men, there would hardly be a family in the kingdom that could count
+a great grand-father. I am not, I must own, of his humour myself, but
+I think it rather peculiarly stranger, than peculiarly worse than most
+other peoples; and how, for example, was that of _your_ uncle a whit the
+better? He was just as fond of _his_ name, as if, like Mr Delvile, he
+could trace it from the time of the Saxons."
+
+Cecilia strongly felt the truth of this observation, but not chusing to
+discuss it, made not any answer, and Dr Lyster, after a few good-natured
+apologies, both for his friends the Delviles and himself, went up
+stairs.
+
+"What continual disturbance," cried she, when left alone, "keeps me
+thus for-ever from rest! no sooner is one wound closed, but another is
+opened; mortification constantly succeeds distress, and when my heart is
+spared; my pride is attacked, that not a moment of tranquility may ever
+be allowed me! Had the lowest of women won the affections of Mr Delvile,
+could his father with less delicacy or less decency have acquainted her
+with his inflexible disapprobation? To send with so little ceremony a
+message so contemptuous and so peremptory!--but perhaps it is better,
+for had he, too, like Mrs Delvile, joined kindness with rejection, I
+might still more keenly have felt the perverseness of my destiny."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A PARTING.
+
+The next morning Dr Lyster called early, and having visited Mrs Delvile,
+and again met the two gentlemen of the faculty in whose care she was to
+remain, he took his leave. But not without contriving first to speak a
+few words to Cecilia in private, in which he charged her to be careful
+of her health, and re-animate her spirits. "Don't suppose," said he,
+"that because I am a friend of the Delvile family, I am either blind to
+your merits, or to their foibles, far from it; but then why should
+they interfere with one another? Let them keep their prejudices, which,
+though different, are not worse than their neighbours, and do you retain
+your excellencies, and draw from them the happiness they ought to give
+you. People reason and refine themselves into a thousand miseries, by
+chusing to settle that they can only be contented one way; whereas,
+there are fifty ways, if they would but look about them, that would
+commonly do as well."
+
+"I believe, indeed, you are right," answered Cecilia, "and I thank you
+for the admonition; I will do what I can towards studying your scheme of
+philosophy, and it is always one step to amendment, to be convinced that
+we want it."
+
+"You are a sensible and charming girl," said Dr Lyster, "and Mr Delvile,
+should he find a daughter-in-law descended in a right line from Egbert,
+first king of all England, won't be so well off as if he had satisfied
+himself with you. However, the old gentleman has a fair right, after
+all, to be pleased his own way, and let us blame him how we will, we
+shall find, upon sifting, it is for no other reason but because his
+humour happens to clash with our own."
+
+"That, indeed," said Cecilia, smiling, "is a truth incontrovertible! and
+a truth to which, for the future, I will endeavour to give more weight.
+But will you permit me now to ask one question?--Can you tell me
+from whom, how, or when the intelligence which has caused all this
+disturbance---"
+
+She hesitated, but, comprehending her readily, he answered "How they got
+at it, I never heard, for I never thought it worth while to enquire, as
+it is so generally known, that nobody I meet with seems ignorant of it."
+
+This was another, and a cruel shock to Cecilia, and Dr Lyster,
+perceiving it, again attempted to comfort her. "That the affair is
+somewhat spread," said he, "is now not to be helped, and therefore
+little worth thinking of; every body will agree that the choice of
+both does honour to both, and nobody need be ashamed to be successor to
+either, whenever the course of things leads Mr Mortimer and yourself
+to make another election. He wisely intends to go abroad, and will not
+return till he is his own man again. And as to you, my good young
+lady, what, after a short time given to vexation, need interrupt your
+happiness? You have the whole world before you, with youth, fortune,
+talents, beauty and independence; drive, therefore, from your head
+this unlucky affair, and remember there can hardly be a family in the
+kingdom, this one excepted, that will not rejoice in a connection with
+you."
+
+He then good-humouredly shook hands with her, and went into his chaise.
+
+Cecilia, though not slow in remarking the ease and philosophy with
+which every one can argue upon the calamities, and moralize upon the
+misconduct of others, had still the candour and good sense to see that
+there was reason in what he urged, and to resolve upon making the best
+use in her power of the hints for consolation she might draw from his
+discourse.
+
+During the following week, she devoted herself almost wholly to Mrs
+Delvile, sharing with the maid, whom she had brought with her from the
+Castle, the fatigue of nursing her, and leaving to the Miss Charltons
+the chief care of their grandmother. For Mrs Delvile appeared every hour
+more sensible of her attention, and more desirous of her presence, and
+though neither of them spoke, each was endeared to the other by the
+tender offices of friendship which were paid and received.
+
+When this week was expired, Dr Lyster was prevailed upon to return again
+to Bury, in order to travel himself with Mrs Delvile to Bristol. "Well,"
+cried he, taking Cecilia by the first opportunity aside, "how are you?
+Have you studied my scheme of philosophy, as you promised me?"
+
+"O yes," said she, "and made, I flatter myself, no little proficiency."
+
+"You are a good girl," cried he, "a very extraordinary girl! I am sure
+you are; and upon my honour I pity poor Mortimer with all my soul! But
+he is a noble young fellow, and behaves with a courage and spirit that
+does me good to behold. To have obtained you, he would have moved heaven
+and earth, but finding you out of his reach, he submits to his fate like
+a man."
+
+Cecilia's eyes glistened at this speech; "Yes," said she, "he long since
+said 'tis suspence, 'tis hope, that make the misery of life,--for there
+the Passions have all power, and Reason has none. But when evils are
+irremediable, and we have neither resources to plan, nor castle-building
+to delude us, we find time for the cultivation of philosophy, and
+flatter ourselves, perhaps, that we have found inclination!"
+
+"Why you have considered this matter very deeply," said he; "but I must
+not have you give way to these serious reflections. Thought, after all,
+has a cruel spite against happiness; I would have you, therefore, keep
+as much as you conveniently can, out of its company. Run about and
+divert yourself, 'tis all you have for it. The true art of happiness in
+this most whimsical world, seems nothing more nor less than this--Let
+those who have leisure, find employment, and those who have business,
+find leisure."
+
+He then told her that Mr Delvile senior was much better, and no longer
+confined to his room: and that he had had the pleasure of seeing an
+entire reconciliation take place between him and his son, of whom he was
+more fond and more proud than any other father in the universe.
+
+"Think of him, however, my dear young lady," he continued, "no more,
+for the matter I see is desperate: you must pardon my being a little
+officious, when I confess to you I could not help proposing to the old
+gentleman an expedient of my own; for as I could not drive you out of
+my head, I employed myself in thinking what might be done by way of
+accommodation. Now my scheme was really a very good one, only when
+people are prejudiced, all reasoning is thrown away upon them. I
+proposed sinking _both_ your names, since they are so at variance
+with one another, and so adopting a third, by means of a title. But Mr
+Delvile angrily declared, that though such a scheme might do very
+well for the needy Lord Ernolf, a Peer of twenty years, his own noble
+ancestors should never, by his consent, forfeit a name which so many
+centuries had rendered honourable. His son Mortimer, he added, must
+inevitably inherit the title of his grandfather, his uncle being old
+and unmarried; but yet he would rather see him a beggar, than lose his
+dearest hope that _Delvile_, Lord _Delvile_, would descend, both name
+and title, from generation to generation unsullied and uninterrupted."
+
+"I am sorry, indeed," said Cecilia, "that such a proposal was made, and
+I earnestly entreat that none of any sort may be repeated."
+
+"Well, well," said he, "I would not for the world do any mischief, but
+who would not have supposed such a proposal would have done good?"
+
+"Mr Mortimer," he then added, "is to meet us at--for he would not, he
+said, come again to this place, upon such terms as he was here last
+week, for the whole worth of the king's dominions."
+
+The carriage was now ready, and Mrs Delvile was prepared to depart.
+Cecilia approached to take leave of her, but Dr Lyster following, said
+"No talking! no thanking! no compliments of any sort! I shall carry off
+my patient without permitting one civil speech, and for all the rudeness
+I make her guilty of, I am willing to be responsible."
+
+Cecilia would then have retreated, but Mrs Delvile, holding out both her
+hands, said "To every thing else, Dr Lyster, I am content to submit; but
+were I to die while uttering the words, I cannot leave this inestimable
+creature without first saying how much I love her, how I honour, and
+how I thank her! without entreating her to be careful of her health, and
+conjuring her to compleat the greatness of her conduct, by not suffering
+her spirits to sink from the exertion of her virtue. And now my love,
+God bless you!"
+
+She then embraced her, and went on; Cecilia, at a motion of Dr Lyster's,
+forbearing to follow her.
+
+"And thus," cried she, when they were gone, "thus ends all my connection
+with this family! which it seems as if I was only to have known for the
+purpose of affording a new proof of the insufficiency of situation to
+constitute happiness. Who looks not upon mine as the perfection of
+human felicity?--And so, perhaps, it is, for it may be that Felicity and
+Humanity are never permitted to come nearer."
+
+And thus, in philosophic sadness, by reasoning upon the universality
+of misery, she restrained, at least, all violence of sorrow, though her
+spirits were dejected, and her heart was heavy.
+
+But the next day brought with it some comfort that a little lightened
+her sadness; Mrs Charlton, almost wholly recovered, was able to go down
+stairs, and Cecilia had at least the satisfaction of seeing an happy
+conclusion to an illness of which, with the utmost concern and regret,
+she considered herself as the cause. She attended her with the most
+unremitting assiduity, and being really very thankful, endeavoured
+to appear happy, and flattered herself that, by continual effort, the
+appearance in a short time would become reality.
+
+Mrs Charlton retired early, and Cecilia accompanied her up stairs:
+and while she was with her, was informed that Mr Monckton was in the
+parlour.
+
+The various, afflicting, and uncommon scenes in which she had been
+engaged since she last saw him, had almost wholly driven him from her
+remembrance, or when at any time he recurred to it, it was only to
+attribute the discontinuance of his visits to the offence she had
+given him, in refusing to follow his advice by relinquishing her London
+expedition.
+
+Full, therefore, of the mortifying transactions which had passed since
+their parting, and fearful of his enquiries into disgraces he had nearly
+foretold, she heard him announced with chagrin, and waited upon him in
+the most painful confusion.
+
+Far different were the feelings of Mr Monckton; he read in her
+countenance the dejection of disappointment, which impressed upon his
+heart the vivacity of hope: her evident shame was to him secret triumph,
+her ill-concealed sorrow revived all his expectations.
+
+She hastily began a conversation by mentioning her debt to him, and
+apologising for not paying it the moment she was of age. He knew but
+too well how her time had been occupied, and assured her the delay was
+wholly immaterial.
+
+He then led to an enquiry into the present situation of her affairs;
+but unable to endure a disquisition, which could only be productive of
+censure and mortification, she hastily stopt it, exclaiming, "Ask me
+not, I entreat you, Sir, any detail of what has passed,--the event has
+brought me sufferings that may well make blame be dispensed with;--I
+acknowledge all your wisdom, I am sensible of my own error, but the
+affair is wholly dropt, and the unhappy connection I was forming is
+broken off for-ever!"
+
+Little now was Mr Monckton's effort in repressing his further curiosity,
+and he started other subjects with readiness, gaiety and address. He
+mentioned Mrs Charlton, for whom he had not the smallest regard; he
+talked to her of Mrs Harrel, whose very existence was indifferent to
+him; and he spoke of their common acquaintance in the country, for not
+one of whom he would have grieved, if assured of meeting no more. His
+powers of conversation were enlivened by his hopes; and his exhilarated
+spirits made all subjects seem happy to him. A weight was removed from
+his mind which had nearly borne down even his remotest hopes; the object
+of his eager pursuit seemed still within his reach, and the rival into
+whose power he had so lately almost beheld her delivered, was totally
+renounced, and no longer to be dreaded. A revolution such as this,
+raised expectations more sanguine than ever; and in quitting the house,
+he exultingly considered himself released from every obstacle to his
+views--till, just as he arrived home, he recollected his wife!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER viii.
+
+A TALE.
+
+A week passed, during which Cecilia, however sad, spent her time as
+usual with the family, denying to herself all voluntary indulgence of
+grief, and forbearing to seek consolation from solitude, or relief from
+tears. She never named Delvile, she begged Mrs Charlton never to mention
+him; she called to her aid the account she had received from Dr Lyster
+of his firmness, and endeavoured, by an emulous ambition, to fortify her
+mind from the weakness of depression and regret.
+
+This week, a week of struggle with all her feelings, was just elapsed,
+when she received by the post the following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+BRISTOL, _Oct_. 21.
+
+My sweet young friend will not, I hope, be sorry to hear of my safe
+arrival at this place: to me every account of her health and welfare,
+will ever be the intelligence I shall most covet to receive. Yet I mean
+not to ask for it in return; to chance I will trust for information, and
+I only write now to say I shall write no more.
+
+Too much for thanks is what I owe you, and what I think of you is beyond
+all power of expression. Do not, then, wish me ill, ill as I have seemed
+to merit of you, for my own heart is almost broken by the tyranny I have
+been compelled to practise upon yours. And now let me bid a long adieu
+to you, my admirable Cecilia; you shall not be tormented with a useless
+correspondence, which can only awaken painful recollections, or give
+rise to yet more painful new anxieties. Fervently will I pray for
+the restoration of your happiness, to which nothing can so greatly
+contribute as that wise, that uniform command, so feminine, yet so
+dignified, you maintain over your passions; which often I have admired,
+though never so feelingly as at this conscious moment! when my own
+health is the sacrifice of emotions most fatally unrestrained.
+
+Send to me no answer, even if you have the sweetness to wish it; every
+new proof of the generosity of your nature is to me but a new wound.
+Forget us, therefore, wholly,--alas! you have only known us for sorrow!
+forget us, dear and invaluable Cecilia! though, ever, as you have
+nobly deserved, must you be fondly and gratefully remembered by AUGUSTA
+DELVILE.
+
+The attempted philosophy, and laboured resignation of Cecilia, this
+letter destroyed: the struggle was over, the apathy was at an end, and
+she burst into an agony of tears, which finding the vent they had
+long sought, now flowed unchecked down her cheeks, sad monitors of the
+weakness of reason opposed to the anguish of sorrow!
+
+A letter at once so caressing, yet so absolute, forced its way to her
+heart, in spite of the fortitude she had flattered herself was its
+guard. In giving up Delvile she was satisfied of the propriety of seeing
+him no more, and convinced that even to talk of him would be folly
+and imprudence; but to be told that for the future they must remain
+strangers to the existence of each other--there seemed in this a
+hardship, a rigour, that was insupportable.
+
+"Oh what," cried she, "is human nature! in its best state how imperfect!
+that a woman such as this, so noble in character, so elevated in
+sentiment, with heroism to sacrifice to her sense of duty the happiness
+of a son, whom with joy she would die to serve, can herself be thus
+governed by prejudice, thus enslaved, thus subdued by opinion!" Yet
+never, even when miserable, unjust or irrational; her grief was unmixed
+with anger, and her tears streamed not from resentment, but affliction.
+The situation of Mrs Delvile, however different, she considered to be
+as wretched as her own. She read, therefore, with sadness, but not
+bitterness, her farewell, and received not with disdain, but with
+gratitude, her sympathy. Yet though her indignation was not irritated,
+her sufferings were doubled, by a farewell so kind, yet so despotic, a
+sympathy so affectionate, yet so hopeless.
+
+In this first indulgence of grief which she had granted to her
+disappointment, she was soon interrupted by a summons down stairs to a
+gentleman.
+
+Unfit and unwilling to be seen, she begged that he might leave his name,
+and appoint a time for calling again.
+
+Her maid brought for answer, that he believed his name was unknown to
+her, and desired to see her now, unless she was employed in some matter
+of moment. She then put up her letter, and went into the parlour; and
+there, to her infinite amazement, beheld Mr Albany.
+
+"How little, Sir," she cried, "did I expect this pleasure."
+
+"This pleasure," repeated he, "do you call it?--what strange abuse of
+words! what causeless trifling with honesty! is language of no purpose
+but to wound the ear with untruths? is the gift of speech only granted
+us to pervert the use of understanding? I can give you no pleasure,
+I have no power to give it any one; you can give none to me-the whole
+world could not invest you with the means!"
+
+"Well, Sir," said Cecilia, who had little spirit to defend herself, "I
+will not vindicate the expression, but of this I will unfeignedly assure
+you, I am at least as glad to see you just now, as I should be to see
+anybody."
+
+"Your eyes," cried he, "are red, your voice is inarticulate;--young,
+rich, and attractive, the world at your feet; that world yet untried,
+and its falsehood unknown, how have you thus found means to anticipate
+misery? which way have you uncovered the cauldron of human woes? Fatal
+and early anticipation! that cover once removed, can never be replaced;
+those woes, those boiling woes, will pour out upon you continually,
+and only when your heart ceases to beat, will their ebullition cease to
+torture you!"
+
+"Alas!" cried Cecilia, shuddering, "how cruel, yet how true!"
+
+"Why went you," cried he, "to the cauldron? it came not to you. Misery
+seeks not man, but man misery. He walks out in the sun, but stops
+not for a cloud; confident, he pursues his way, till the storm which,
+gathering, he might have avoided, bursts over his devoted head. Scared
+and amazed, he repents his temerity; he calls, but it is then too late;
+he runs, but it is thunder which follows him! Such is the presumption
+of man, such at once is the arrogance and shallowness of his nature! And
+thou, simple and blind! hast thou, too, followed whither Fancy has led
+thee, unheeding that thy career was too vehement for tranquility,
+nor missing that lovely companion of youth's early innocence, till,
+adventurous and unthinking, thou hast lost her for ever!"
+
+In the present weak state of Cecilia's spirits, this attack was too much
+for her; and the tears she had just, and with difficulty restrained,
+again forced their way down her cheeks, as she answered, "It is but too
+true,--I have lost her for ever!"
+
+"Poor thing," said he, while the rigour of his countenance was
+softened into the gentlest commiseration, "so young!--looking, too, so
+innocent--'tis hard!--And is nothing left thee? no small remaining hope,
+to cheat, humanely cheat thy yet not wholly extinguished credulity?"
+
+Cecilia wept without answering.
+
+"Let me not," said he, "waste my compassion upon nothing; compassion is
+with me no effusion of affectation; tell me, then, if thou deservest it,
+or if thy misfortunes are imaginary, and thy grief is factitious?"
+
+"Factitious," repeated she, "Good heaven!"
+
+"Answer me, then, these questions, in which I shall comprise the only
+calamities for which sorrow has no controul, or none from human motives.
+Tell me, then, have you lost by death the friend of your bosom?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Is your fortune dissipated by extravagance, and your power of relieving
+the distressed at an end?"
+
+"No; the power and the will are I hope equally undiminished."
+
+"O then, unhappy girl! have you been guilty of some vice, and hangs
+remorse thus heavy on your conscience?"
+
+"No, no; thank heaven, to that misery, at least, I am a stranger!"
+
+His countenance now again resumed its severity, and, in the sternest
+manner, "Whence then," he said, "these tears? and what is this caprice
+you dignify with the name of sorrow?--strange wantonness of indolence
+and luxury! perverse repining of ungrateful plenitude!--oh hadst thou
+known what _I_ have suffered!"--
+
+"Could I lessen what you have suffered," said Cecilia, "I should
+sincerely rejoice; but heavy indeed must be your affliction, if mine in
+its comparison deserves to be styled caprice!"
+
+"Caprice!" repeated he, "'tis joy! 'tis extacy compared with mine!--Thou
+hast not in licentiousness wasted thy inheritance! thou hast not by
+remorse barred each avenue to enjoyment! nor yet has the cold grave
+seized the beloved of thy soul!"
+
+"Neither," said Cecilia, "I hope, are the evils you have yourself
+sustained so irremediable?"
+
+"Yes, I have borne them all!--_have_ borne? I bear them still; I shall
+bear them while I breathe! I may rue them, perhaps, yet longer."
+
+"Good God!" cried Cecilia, shrinking, "what a world is this! how full of
+woe and wickedness!"
+
+"Yet thou, too, canst complain," cried he, "though happy in life's only
+blessing, Innocence! thou, too, canst murmur, though stranger to death's
+only terror, Sin! Oh yet if thy sorrow is unpolluted with guilt, be
+regardless of all else, and rejoice in thy destiny!"
+
+"But who," cried she, deeply sighing, "shall teach me such a lesson of
+joy, when all within rises to oppose it?"
+
+"I," cried he, "will teach it thee, for I will tell thee my own sad
+story. Then wilt thou find how much happier is thy lot, then wilt thou
+raise thy head in thankful triumph."
+
+"O no! triumph comes not so lightly! yet if you will venture to trust
+me with some account of yourself, I shall be glad to hear it, and much
+obliged by the communication."
+
+"I will," he answered, "whatever I may suffer: to awaken thee from this
+dream of fancied sorrow, I will open all my wounds, and thou shalt probe
+them with fresh shame."
+
+"No, indeed," cried Cecilia with quickness, "I will not hear you, if the
+relation will be so painful."
+
+"Upon _me_ this humanity is lost," said he, "since punishment and
+penitence alone give me comfort. I will tell thee, therefore, my crimes,
+that thou mayst know thy own felicity, lest, ignorant it means nothing
+but innocence, thou shouldst lose it, unconscious of its value. Listen
+then to me, and learn what Misery is! Guilt is alone the basis of
+lasting unhappiness;--Guilt is the basis of mine, and therefore I am a
+wretch for ever!"
+
+Cecilia would again have declined hearing him, but he refused to be
+spared: and as her curiosity had long been excited to know something of
+his history, and the motives of his extraordinary conduct, she was glad
+to have it satisfied, and gave him the utmost attention.
+
+"I will not speak to you of my family," said he; "historical accuracy
+would little answer to either of us. I am a native of the West Indies,
+and I was early sent hither to be educated. While I was yet at the
+University, I saw, I adored, and I pursued the fairest flower that ever
+put forth its sweet buds, the softest heart that ever was broken by
+ill-usage! She was poor and unprotected, the daughter of a villager;
+she was untaught and unpretending, the child of simplicity! But fifteen
+summers had she bloomed, and her heart was an easy conquest; yet, once
+made mine, it resisted all allurement to infidelity. My fellow students
+attacked her; she was assaulted by all the arts of seduction; flattery,
+bribery, supplication, all were employed, yet all failed; she was wholly
+my own; and with sincerity so attractive, I determined to marry her in
+defiance of all worldly objections.
+
+"The sudden death of my father called me hastily to Jamaica; I feared
+leaving this treasure unguarded, yet in decency could neither marry nor
+take her directly; I pledged my faith, therefore, to return to her,
+as soon as I had settled my affairs, and I left to a bosom friend the
+inspection of her conduct in my absence.
+
+"To leave her was madness,--to trust in man was madness,--Oh hateful
+race! how has the world been abhorrent to me since that time! I have
+loathed the light of the sun, I have shrunk from the commerce of my
+fellow creatures; the voice of man I have detested, his sight I have
+abominated!--but oh, more than all should I be abominated myself!
+
+"When I came to my fortune, intoxicated with sudden power, I forgot this
+fair blossom, I revelled in licentiousness and vice, and left it exposed
+and forlorn. Riot succeeded riot, till a fever, incurred by my own
+intemperance, first gave me time to think. Then was she revenged, for
+then first remorse was my portion: her image was brought back to my mind
+with frantic fondness, and bitterest contrition. The moment I recovered,
+I returned to England; I flew to claim her,--but she was lost! no one
+knew whither she was gone; the wretch I had trusted pretended to know
+least of all; yet, after a furious search, I traced her to a cottage,
+where he had concealed her himself!
+
+"When she saw me, she screamed and would have flown; I stopt her, and
+told her I came faithfully and honourably to make her my wife:--her
+own faith and honour, though sullied, were not extinguished, for she
+instantly acknowledged the fatal tale of her undoing!
+
+"Did I recompense this ingenuousness? this unexampled, this beautiful
+sacrifice to intuitive integrity? Yes! with my curses!--I loaded her
+with execrations, I reviled her in language the most opprobrious, I
+insulted her even for her confession! I invoked all evil upon her
+from the bottom of my heart--She knelt at my feet, she implored
+my forgiveness and compassion, she wept with the bitterness of
+despair,--and yet I spurned her from me!--Spurned?--let me not hide
+my shame! I barbarously struck her!--nor single was the blow!--it was
+doubled, it was reiterated!--Oh wretch, unyielding and unpitying!
+where shall hereafter be clemency for thee!--So fair a form! so young a
+culprit! so infamously seduced! so humbly penitent!
+
+"In this miserable condition, helpless and deplorable, mangled by these
+savage hands, and reviled by this inhuman tongue, I left her, in search
+of the villain who had destroyed her: but, cowardly as treacherous,
+he had absconded. Repenting my fury, I hastened to her again; the
+fierceness of my cruelty shamed me when I grew calmer, the softness of
+her sorrow melted me upon recollection: I returned, therefore, to soothe
+her,--but again she was gone! terrified with expectation of insult, she
+hid herself from all my enquiries. I wandered in search of her two long
+years to no purpose, regardless of my affairs, and of all things but
+that pursuit. At length, I thought I saw her--in London, alone, and
+walking in the streets at midnight,--I fearfully followed her,--and
+followed her into an house of infamy!
+
+"The wretches by whom she was surrounded were noisy and drinking, they
+heeded me little,--but she saw and knew me at once! She did not speak,
+nor did I,--but in two moments she fainted and fell.
+
+"Yet did I not help her; the people took their own measures to recover
+her, and when she was again able to stand, would have removed her to
+another apartment.
+
+"I then went forward, and forcing them away from her with all the
+strength of desperation, I turned to the unhappy sinner, who to chance
+only seemed to leave what became of her, and cried, From this scene of
+vice and horror let me yet rescue you! you look still unfit for such
+society, trust yourself, therefore, to me. I seized her hand, I drew,
+I almost dragged her away. She trembled, she could scarce totter, but
+neither consented nor refused, neither shed a tear, nor spoke a word,
+and her countenance presented a picture of affright, amazement, and
+horror.
+
+"I took her to a house in the country, each of us silent the whole way.
+I gave her an apartment and a female attendant, and ordered for her
+every convenience I could suggest. I stayed myself in the same house,
+but distracted with remorse for the guilt and ruin into which I had
+terrified her, I could not bear her sight.
+
+"In a few days her maid assured me the life she led must destroy her;
+that she would taste nothing but bread and water, never spoke, and never
+slept.
+
+"Alarmed by this account, I flew into her apartment; pride and
+resentment gave way to pity and fondness, and I besought her to take
+comfort. I spoke, however, to a statue, she replied not, nor seemed to
+hear me. I then humbled myself to her as in the days of her innocence
+and first power, supplicating her notice, entreating even her
+commiseration! all was to no purpose; she neither received nor repulsed
+me, and was alike inattentive to exhortation and to prayer.
+
+"Whole hours did I spend at her feet, vowing never to arise till she
+spoke to me,--all, all, in vain! she seemed deaf, mute, insensible; her
+face unmoved, a settled despair fixed in her eyes,--those eyes that had
+never looked at me but with dove-like softness and compliance!--She sat
+constantly in one chair, she never changed her dress, no persuasions
+could prevail with her to lie down, and at meals she just swallowed so
+much dry bread as might save her from dying for want of food.
+
+"What was the distraction of my soul, to find her bent upon this course
+to her last hour!--quick came that hour, but never will it be forgotten!
+rapidly it was gone, but eternally it will be remembered!
+
+"When she felt herself expiring, she acknowledged she had made a
+vow, upon entering the house, to live speechless and motionless, as a
+pennance for her offences!
+
+"I kept her loved corpse till my own senses failed me,--it was then only
+torn from me,--and I have lost all recollection of three years of my
+existence!"
+
+Cecilia shuddered at this hint, yet was not surprised by it; Mr Gosport
+had acquainted her he had been formerly confined; and his flightiness,
+wildness, florid language, and extraordinary way of life, bad long led
+her to suspect his reason had been impaired.
+
+"The scene to which my memory first leads me back," he continued, "is
+visiting her grave; solemnly upon it I returned her vow, though not by
+one of equal severity. To her poor remains did I pledge myself, that
+the day should never pass in which I would receive nourishment, nor the
+night come in which I would take rest, till I had done, or zealously
+attempted to do, some service to a fellow-creature.
+
+"For this purpose have I wandered from city to city, from the town to
+the country, and from the rich to the poor. I go into every house where
+I can gain admittance, I admonish all who will hear me, I shame even
+those who will not. I seek the distressed where ever they are hid,
+I follow the prosperous to beg a mite to serve them. I look for the
+Dissipated in public, where, amidst their licentiousness, I check them;
+I pursue the Unhappy in private, where I counsel and endeavour to
+assist them. My own power is small; my relations, during my sufferings,
+limiting me to an annuity; but there is no one I scruple to solicit, and
+by zeal I supply ability.
+
+"Oh life of hardship and pennance! laborious, toilsome, and restless!
+but I have merited no better, and I will not repine at it; I have vowed
+that I will endure it, and I will not be forsworn.
+
+"One indulgence alone from time to time I allow myself,--'tis Music!
+which has power to delight me even to rapture! it quiets all anxiety, it
+carries me out of myself, I forget through it every calamity, even the
+bitterest anguish.
+
+"Now then, that thou hast heard me, tell me, hast _thou_ cause of
+sorrow?"
+
+"Alas," cried Cecilia, "this indeed is a Picture of Misery to make _my_
+lot seem all happiness!"
+
+"Art thou thus open to conviction?" cried he, mildly; "and dost thou not
+fly the voice of truth! for truth and reproof are one."
+
+"No, I would rather seek it; I feel myself wretched, however inadequate
+may be the cause; I wish to be more resigned, and if you can instruct me
+how, I shall thankfully attend to you."
+
+"Oh yet uncorrupted creature!" cried he, "with joy will I be thy
+monitor,--joy long untasted! Many have I wished to serve, all, hitherto,
+have rejected my offices; too honest to flatter them, they had not the
+fortitude to listen to me; too low to advance them, they had not the
+virtue to bear with me. You alone have I yet found pure enough not to
+fear inspection, and good enough to wish to be better. Yet words alone
+will not content me; I must also have deeds. Nor will your purse,
+however readily opened, suffice, you must give to me also your time
+and your thoughts; for money sent by others, to others only will afford
+relief; to enlighten your own cares, you must distribute it yourself."
+
+"You shall find me," said she, "a docile pupil, and most glad to be
+instructed how my existence may be useful."
+
+"Happy then," cried he, "was the hour that brought me to this country;
+yet not in search of you did I come, but of the mutable and ill-fated
+Belfield. Erring, yet ingenious young man! what a lesson to the vanity
+of talents, to the gaiety, the brilliancy of wit, is the sight of that
+green fallen plant! not sapless by age, nor withered by disease,
+but destroyed by want of pruning, and bending, breaking by its own
+luxuriance!"
+
+"And where, Sir, is he now?
+
+"Labouring wilfully in the field, with those who labour compulsatorily;
+such are we all by nature, discontented, perverse, and changeable;
+though all have not courage to appear so, and few, like Belfield, are
+worth watching when they do. He told me he was happy; I knew it could
+not be: but his employment was inoffensive, and I left him without
+reproach. In this neighbourhood I heard of you, and found your name was
+coupled with praise. I came to see if you deserved it; I have seen, and
+am satisfied."
+
+"You are not, then, very difficult, for I have yet done nothing. How are
+we to begin these operations you propose? You have awakened me by them
+to an expectation of pleasure, which nothing else, I believe, could just
+now have given me."
+
+"We will work," cried he, "together, till not a woe shall remain upon
+your mind. The blessings of the fatherless, the prayers of little
+children, shall heal all your wounds with balm of sweetest fragrance.
+When sad, they shall cheer, when complaining, they shall soothe you. We
+will go to their roofless houses, and see them repaired; we will exclude
+from their dwellings the inclemency of the weather; we will clothe them
+from cold, we will rescue them from hunger. The cries of distress shall
+be changed to notes of joy: your heart shall be enraptured, mine, too,
+shall revive--oh whither am I wandering? I am painting an Elysium!
+and while I idly speak, some fainting object dies for want of succour!
+Farewell; I will fly to the abodes of wretchedness, and come to you
+to-morrow to render them the abodes of happiness."
+
+He then went away.
+
+This singular visit was for Cecilia most fortunately timed: it almost
+surprised her out of her peculiar grief, by the view which it opened
+to her of general calamity; wild, flighty, and imaginative as were
+his language and his counsels, their morality was striking, and their
+benevolence was affecting. Taught by him to compare her state with that
+of at least half her species, she began more candidly to weigh what was
+left with what was withdrawn, and found the balance in her favour.
+The plan he had presented to her of good works was consonant to her
+character and inclinations; and the active charity in which he proposed
+to engage her, re-animated her fallen hopes, though to far different
+subjects from those which had depressed them. Any scheme of worldly
+happiness would have sickened and disgusted her; but her mind was just
+in the situation to be impressed with elevated piety, and to adopt any
+design in which virtue humoured melancholy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A SHOCK.
+
+Cecelia passed the rest of the day in fanciful projects of beneficence;
+she determined to wander with her romantic new ally whither-so-ever
+he would lead her, and to spare neither fortune, time, nor trouble, in
+seeking and relieving the distressed. Not all her attempted philosophy
+had calmed her mind like this plan; in merely refusing indulgence
+to grief, she had only locked it up in her heart, where eternally
+struggling for vent, she was almost overpowered by restraining it; but
+now her affliction had no longer her whole faculties to itself; the hope
+of doing good, the pleasure of easing pain, the intention of devoting
+her time to the service of the unhappy, once more delighted her
+imagination,--that source of promissory enjoyment, which though often
+obstructed, is never, in youth, exhausted.
+
+She would not give Mrs Charlton the unnecessary pain of hearing the
+letter with which she had been so, much affected, but she told her of
+the visit of Albany, and pleased her with the account of their scheme.
+
+At night, with less sadness than usual, she retired to rest. In her
+sleep she bestowed riches, and poured plenty upon the land; she
+humbled the oppressor, she exalted the oppressed; slaves were raised to
+dignities, captives restored to liberty; beggars saw smiling abundance,
+and wretchedness was banished the world. From a cloud in which she was
+supported by angels, Cecilia beheld these wonders, and while enjoying
+the glorious illusion, she was awakened by her maid, with news that Mrs
+Charlton was dying!
+
+She started up, and, undressed, was running to her apartment,--when the
+maid, calling to stop her, confessed she was already dead!
+
+She had made her exit in the night, but the time was not exactly known;
+her own maid, who slept in the room with her, going early to her bedside
+to enquire how she did, found her cold and motionless, and could only
+conclude that a paralytic stroke had taken her off.
+
+Happily and in good time had Cecilia been somewhat recruited by one
+night of refreshing slumbers and flattering dreams, for the shock she
+now received promised her not soon another.
+
+She lost in Mrs Charlton a friend, whom nearly from her infancy she
+had considered as a mother, and by whom she had been cherished with
+tenderness almost unequalled. She was not a woman of bright parts, or
+much cultivation, but her heart was excellent, and her disposition was
+amiable. Cecilia had known her longer than her memory could look back,
+though the earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses
+received from her. Since she had entered into life, and found the
+difficulty of the part she had to act, to this worthy old lady alone had
+she unbosomed her secret cares. Though little assisted by her counsel,
+she was always certain of her sympathy; and while her own superior
+judgment directed her conduct, she had the relief of communicating her
+schemes, and weighing her perplexities, with a friend to whom nothing
+that concerned her was indifferent, and whose greatest wish and chief
+pleasure was the enjoyment of her conversation.
+
+If left to herself, in the present period of her life, Mrs Charlton had
+certainly not been the friend of her choice. The delicacy of her mind,
+and the refinement of her ideas, had now rendered her fastidious,
+and she would have looked out for elegancies and talents to which Mrs
+Charlton had no pretensions: but those who live in the country have
+little power of selection; confined to a small circle, they must be
+content with what it offers; and however they may idolize extraordinary
+merit when they meet with it, they must not regard it as essential to
+friendship, for in their circumscribed rotation, whatever may be their
+discontent, they can make but little change.
+
+Such had been the situation to which Mrs Charlton and Mrs Harrel owed
+the friendship of Cecilia. Greatly their superior in understanding and
+intelligence, had the candidates for her favour been more numerous, the
+election had not fallen upon either of them. But she became known to
+both before discrimination made her difficult, and when her enlightened
+mind discerned their deficiencies, they had already an interest in her
+affections, which made her see them with lenity: and though sometimes,
+perhaps, conscious she should not have chosen them from many, she
+adhered to them with sincerity, and would have changed them for none.
+
+Mrs Harrel, however, too weak for similar sentiments, forgot her
+when out of sight, and by the time they met again, was insensible to
+everything but shew and dissipation. Cecilia, shocked and surprised,
+first grieved from disappointed affection, and then lost that affection
+in angry contempt. But her fondness for Mrs Charlton had never known
+abatement, as the kindness which had excited it had never known
+allay. She had loved her first from childish gratitude; but that love,
+strengthened and confirmed by confidential intercourse, was now as
+sincere and affectionate as if it had originated from sympathetic
+admiration. Her loss, therefore, was felt with the utmost severity, and
+neither seeing nor knowing any means of replacing it, she considered it
+as irreparable, and mourned it with bitterness.
+
+When the first surprize of this cruel stroke was somewhat lessened, she
+sent an express to Mr Monckton with the news, and entreated to see him
+immediately. He came without delay, and she begged his counsel what step
+she ought herself to take in consequence of this event. Her own house
+was still unprepared for her; she had of late neglected to hasten the
+workmen, and almost forgotten her intention of entering it. It was
+necessary, however, to change her abode immediately; she was no
+longer in the house of Mrs Charlton, but of her grand-daughters and
+co-heiresses, each of whom she disliked, and upon neither of whom she
+had any claim.
+
+Mr Monckton then, with the quickness of a man who utters a thought at
+the very moment of its projection, mentioned a scheme upon which
+during his whole ride he had been ruminating; which was that she would
+instantly remove to his house, and remain there till settled to her
+satisfaction.
+
+Cecilia objected her little right of surprising Lady Margaret; but,
+without waiting to discuss it, lest new objections should arise, he
+quitted her, to fetch himself from her ladyship an invitation he meant
+to insist upon her sending.
+
+Cecilia, though heartily disliking this plan, knew not at present what
+better to adopt, and thought anything preferable to going again to
+Mrs Harrel, since that only could be done by feeding the anxiety of Mr
+Arnott.
+
+Mr Monckton soon returned with a message of his own fabrication; for
+his lady, though obliged to receive whom he pleased, took care to guard
+inviolate the independence of speech, sullenly persevering in refusing
+to say anything, or perversely saying only what he least wished to hear.
+
+Cecilia then took a hasty leave of Miss Charltons, who, little affected
+by what they had lost, and eager to examine what they had gained, parted
+from her gladly, and, with a heavy heart and weeping eyes, borrowed for
+the last time the carriage of her late worthy old friend, and for-ever
+quitting her hospitable house, sorrowfully set out for the Grove.
+
+
+
+BOOK IX.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER i.
+
+A COGITATION.
+
+Lady Margaret Monckton received Cecilia with the most gloomy coldness:
+she apologised for the liberty she had taken in making use of her
+ladyship's house, but, meeting no return of civility, she withdrew
+to the room which had been prepared for her, and resolved as much as
+possible to keep out of her sight.
+
+It now became necessary without further delay to settle her plan of
+life, and fix her place of residence. The forbidding looks of Lady
+Margaret made her hasten her resolves, which otherwise would for a while
+have given way to grief for her recent misfortune.
+
+She sent for the surveyor who had the superintendance of her estates, to
+enquire how soon her own house would be fit for her reception; and heard
+there was yet work for near two months.
+
+This answer made her very uncomfortable. To continue two months under
+the roof with Lady Margaret was a penance she could not enjoin herself,
+nor was she at all sure Lady Margaret would submit to it any better: she
+determined, therefore, to release herself from the conscious burthen of
+being an unwelcome visitor, by boarding with some creditable family at
+Bury, and devoting the two months in which she was to be kept from her
+house, to a general arrangement of her affairs, and a final settling
+with her guardians.
+
+For these purposes it would be necessary she should go to London:
+but with whom, or in what manner, she could not decide. She desired,
+therefore, another conference with Mr Monckton, who met her in the
+parlour.
+
+She then communicated to him her schemes; and begged his counsel in her
+perplexities.
+
+He was delighted at the application, and extremely well pleased with her
+design of boarding at Bury, well knowing, he could then watch and visit
+her at his pleasure, and have far more comfort in her society than even
+in his own house, where all the vigilance with which he observed her,
+was short of that with which he was himself observed by Lady Margaret.
+He endeavoured, however, to dissuade her from going to town, but her
+eagerness to pay the large sum she owed him, was now too great to be
+conquered. Of age, her fortune wholly in her power, and all attendance
+upon Mrs Charlton at an end, she had no longer any excuse for having a
+debt in the world, and would suffer no persuasion to make her begin her
+career in life, with a negligence in settling her accounts which she had
+so often censured in others. To go to London therefore she was fixed,
+and all that she desired was his advice concerning the journey.
+
+He then told her that in order to settle with her guardians, she must
+write to them in form, to demand an account of the sums that had been
+expended during her minority, and announce her intention for the future
+to take the management of her fortune into her own hands.
+
+She immediately followed his directions, and consented to remain at the
+Grove till their answers arrived.
+
+Being now, therefore, unavoidably fixed for some time at the house, she
+thought it proper and decent to attempt softening Lady Margaret in her
+favour. She exerted all her powers to please and to oblige her; but the
+exertion was necessarily vain, not only from the disposition, but the
+situation of her ladyship, since every effort made for this conciliatory
+purpose, rendered her doubly amiable in the eyes of her husband, and
+consequently to herself more odious than ever. Her jealousy, already but
+too well founded, received every hour the poisonous nourishment of fresh
+conviction, which so much soured and exasperated a temper naturally
+harsh, that her malignity and ill-humour grew daily more acrimonious.
+Nor would she have contented herself with displaying this irascibility
+by general moroseness, had not the same suspicious watchfulness which
+discovered to her the passion of her husband, served equally to make
+manifest the indifference and innocence of Cecilia; to reproach her
+therefore, she had not any pretence, though her knowledge how much she
+had to dread her, past current in her mind for sufficient reason to
+hate her. The Angry and the Violent use little discrimination; whom
+they like, they enquire not if they approve; but whoever, no matter
+how unwittingly, stands in their way, they scruple not to ill use, and
+conclude they may laudably detest.
+
+Cecilia, though much disgusted, gave not over her attempt, which she
+considered but as her due while she continued in her house. Her general
+character, also, for peevishness and haughty ill-breeding, skilfully,
+from time to time, displayed, and artfully repined at by Mr Monckton,
+still kept her from suspecting any peculiar animosity to herself, and
+made her impute all that passed to the mere rancour of ill-humour. She
+confined herself, however, as much as possible to her own apartment,
+where her sorrow for Mrs Charlton almost hourly increased, by the
+comparison she was forced upon making of her house with the Grove.
+
+That worthy old lady left her grand-daughters her co-heiresses and sole
+executrixes. She bequeathed from them nothing considerable, though
+she left some donations for the poor, and several of her friends were
+remembered by small legacies. Among them Cecilia had her picture, and
+favourite trinkets, with a paragraph in her will, that as there was no
+one she so much loved, had her fortune been less splendid, she should
+have shared with her grand-daughters whatever she had to bestow.
+
+Cecilia was much affected by this last and solemn remembrance. She more
+than ever coveted to be alone, that she might grieve undisturbed, and
+she lamented without ceasing the fatigue and the illness which, in so
+late a period, as it proved, of her life, she had herself been the means
+of occasioning to her.
+
+Mr Monckton had too much prudence to interrupt this desire of solitude,
+which indeed cost him little pain, as he considered her least in
+danger when alone. She received in about a week answers from both her
+guardians. Mr Delvile's letter was closely to the purpose, without a
+word but of business, and couched in the haughtiest terms. As he had
+never, he said, acted, he had no accounts to send in; but as he was
+going to town in a few days, he would see her for a moment in the
+presence of Mr Briggs, that a joint release might be signed, to prevent
+any future application to him.
+
+Cecilia much lamented there was any necessity for her seeing him at all,
+and looked forward to the interview as the greatest mortification she
+could suffer.
+
+Mr Briggs, though still more concise, was far kinder in his language:
+but he advised her to defer her scheme of taking the money into her own
+hands, assuring her she would be cheated, and had better leave it to
+him.
+
+When she communicated these epistles to Mr Monckton, he failed not to
+read, with an emphasis, by which his arrogant meaning was still more
+arrogantly enforced, the letter of Mr Delvile aloud. Nor was he sparing
+in comments that might render it yet more offensive. Cecilia neither
+concurred in what he said, nor opposed it, but contented herself, when
+he was silent, with producing the other letter.
+
+Mr Monckton read not this with more favour. He openly attacked the
+character of Briggs, as covetous, rapacious, and over-reaching, and
+warned her by no means to abide by his counsel, without first taking the
+opinion of some disinterested person. He then stated the various arts
+which might be practised upon her inexperience, enumerated the dangers
+to which her ignorance of business exposed her, and annotated upon
+the cheats, double dealings, and tricks of stock jobbing, to which
+he assured her Mr Briggs owed all he was worth, till, perplexed and
+confounded, she declared herself at a loss how to proceed, and earnestly
+regretted that she could not have his counsel upon the spot.
+
+This was his aim: to draw the wish from her, drew all suspicion of
+selfish views from himself: and he told her that he considered her
+present situation as so critical, the future confusion or regularity
+of her money transactions seeming to depend upon it, that he would
+endeavour to arrange his affairs for meeting her in London.
+
+Cecilia gave him many thanks for the kind intention, and determined to
+be totally guided by him in the disposal and direction of her fortune.
+
+Mean time he had now another part to act; he saw that with Cecilia
+nothing more remained to be done, and that, harbouring not a doubt of
+his motives, she thought his design in her favour did her nothing but
+honour; but he had too much knowledge of the world to believe it would
+judge him in the same manner, and too much consciousness of duplicity to
+set its judgment at defiance.
+
+To parry, therefore, the conjectures which might follow his attending
+her, he had already prepared Lady Margaret to wish herself of the party:
+for however disagreeable to him was her presence and her company, he had
+no other means to be under the same roof with Cecilia.
+
+Miss Bennet, the wretched tool of his various schemes, and the mean
+sycophant of his lady, had been employed by him to work upon her
+jealousy, by secretly informing her of his intention to go to town,
+at the same time that Cecilia went thither to meet her guardians.
+She pretended to have learned this intelligence by accident, and to
+communicate it from respectful regard; and advised her to go to London
+herself at the same time, that she might see into his designs, and be
+some check upon his pleasure.
+
+The encreasing infirmities of Lady Margaret made this counsel by no
+means palatable: but Miss Bennet, following the artful instructions
+which she received, put in her way so strong a motive, by assuring her
+how little her company was wished, that in the madness of her spite
+she determined upon the journey. And little heeding how she tormented
+herself while she had any view of tormenting Mr Monckton, she was led on
+by her false confident to invite Cecilia to her own house.
+
+Mr Monckton, in whom by long practice, artifice was almost nature, well
+knowing his wife's perverseness, affected to look much disconcerted at
+the proposal; while Cecilia, by no means thinking it necessary to extend
+her compliance to such a punishment, instantly made an apology, and
+declined the invitation.
+
+Lady Margaret, little versed in civility, and unused to the arts of
+persuasion, could not, even for a favourite project, prevail upon
+herself to use entreaty, and therefore, thinking her scheme defeated,
+looked gloomily disappointed, and said nothing more.
+
+Mr Monckton saw with delight how much this difficulty inflamed her,
+though the moment he could speak alone with Cecilia he made it his care
+to remove it.
+
+He represented to her that, however privately she might live, she was
+too young to be in London lodgings by herself, and gave an hint which
+she could not but understand, that in going or in staying with only
+servants, suspicions might soon be raised, that the plan and motive of
+her journey were different to those given out.
+
+She knew he meant to insinuate that it would be conjectured she
+designed to meet Delvile, and though colouring, vext and provoked at the
+suggestion, the idea was sufficient to frighten her into his plan.
+
+In a few days, therefore, the matter was wholly arranged, Mr Monckton,
+by his skill and address, leading every one whither he pleased, while,
+by the artful coolness of his manner, he appeared but to follow himself.
+He [set] out the day before, though earnestly wishing to accompany
+them, but having as yet in no single instance gone to town in the same
+carriage with Lady Margaret, he dared trust neither the neighbourhood
+nor the servants with so dangerous a subject for their comments.
+
+Cecilia, compelled thus to travel with only her Ladyship and Miss
+Bennet, had a journey the most disagreeable, and determined, if
+possible, to stay in London but two days. She had already fixed upon a
+house in which she could board at Bury when she returned, and there she
+meant quietly to reside till she could enter her own.
+
+Lady Margaret herself, exhilarated by a notion of having outwitted her
+husband, was in unusual good spirits, and almost in good humour.
+The idea of thwarting his designs, and being in the way of his
+entertainment, gave to her a delight she had seldom received from any
+thing; and the belief that this was effected by the superiority of her
+cunning, doubled her contentment, and raised it to exultation. She owed
+him, indeed, much provocation and uneasiness, and was happy in this
+opportunity of paying her arrears.
+
+Mean while that consummate master in every species of hypocrisy,
+indulged her in this notion, by the air of dissatisfaction with which he
+left the house. It was not that she meant by her presence to obviate any
+impropriety: early and long acquainted with the character of Cecilia,
+she well knew, that during her life the passion of her husband must be
+confined to his own breast: but conscious of his aversion to herself,
+which she resented with the bitterest ill-will, and knowing how little,
+at any time, he desired her company, she consoled herself for her
+inability to give pleasure by the power she possessed of giving pain,
+and bore with the fatigue of a journey disagreeable and inconvenient
+to her, with no other view than the hope of breaking into his plan of
+avoiding her. Little imagining that the whole time she was forwarding
+his favourite pursuit, and only acting the part which he had appointed
+her to perform.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+A SURPRIZE.
+
+Lady Margaret's town house was in Soho Square; and scarcely had Cecilia
+entered it, before her desire to speed her departure, made her send
+a note to each of her guardians, acquainting them of her arrival, and
+begging, if possible, to see them the next day.
+
+She had soon the two following answers:
+
+_To Miss Cecilia Beverley,----These November_ 8, 1779. Miss,--Received
+yours of the same date; can't come tomorrow. Will, Wednesday the
+10th.--Am, &c., Jno. Briggs.
+
+Miss Cecilia Beverley
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Mr Delvile has too many affairs of importance upon his hands, to make
+any appointment till he has deliberated how to arrange them. Mr Delvile
+will acquaint Miss Beverley when it shall be in his power to see her.
+
+St James's-square, _Nov_ 8.
+
+These characteristic letters, which at another time might have diverted
+Cecilia, now merely served to torment her. She was eager to quit town,
+she was more eager to have her meeting with Mr Delvile over, who,
+oppressive to her even when he meant to be kind, she foresaw, now he
+was in wrath, would be imperious even to rudeness. Desirous, however,
+to make one interview suffice for both, and to settle whatever business
+might remain unfinished by letters, she again wrote to Mr Briggs,
+whom she had not spirits to encounter without absolute necessity, and
+informing him of Mr Delvile's delay, begged he would not trouble himself
+to call till he heard from her again.
+
+Two days passed without any message from them; they were spent chiefly
+alone, and very uncomfortably, Mr Monckton being content to see little
+of her, while he knew she saw nothing of any body else. On the
+third morning, weary of her own thoughts, weary of Lady Margaret's
+ill-humoured looks, and still more weary of Miss Bennet's parasitical
+conversation, she determined, for a little relief to the heaviness of
+her mind, to go to her bookseller, and look over and order into the
+country such new publications as seemed to promise her any pleasure.
+
+She sent therefore, for a chair, and glad to have devised for herself
+any amusement, set out in it immediately.
+
+Upon entering the shop, she saw the Bookseller engaged in close
+conference with a man meanly dressed, and much muffled up, who
+seemed talking to him with uncommon earnestness, and just as she was
+approaching, said, "To terms I am indifferent, for writing is no
+labour to me; on the contrary, it is the first delight of my life, and
+therefore, and not for dirty pelf, I wish to make it my profession."
+
+The speech struck Cecilia, but the voice struck her more, it was
+Belfield's! and her amazement was so great, that she stopt short to look
+at him, without heeding a man who attended her, and desired to know her
+commands.
+
+The bookseller now perceiving her, came forward, and Belfield, turning
+to see who interrupted them, started as if a spectre had crossed his
+eyes, slapped his hat over his face, and hastily went out of the shop.
+
+Cecilia checking her inclination to speak to him, from observing his
+eagerness to escape her, soon recollected her own errand, and employed
+herself in looking over new books.
+
+Her surprize, however, at a change so sudden in the condition of this
+young man, and at a declaration of a passion for writing, so opposite to
+all the sentiments which he had professed at their late meeting in
+the cottage, awakened in her a strong curiosity to be informed of his
+situation; and after putting aside some books which she desired to have
+packed up for her, she asked if the gentleman who had just left the
+shop, and who, she found by what he had said, was an Author, had written
+anything that was published with his name?
+
+"No, ma'am," answered the Bookseller, "nothing of any consequence; he
+is known, however, to have written several things that have appeared as
+anonymous; and I fancy, now, soon, we shall see something considerable
+from him."
+
+"He is about some great work, then?"
+
+"Why no, not exactly that, perhaps, at present; we must feel our way,
+with some little smart _jeu d'esprit_ before we undertake a great work.
+But he is a very great genius, and I doubt not will produce something
+extraordinary."
+
+"Whatever he produces," said Cecilia, "as I have now chanced to see him,
+I shall be glad you will, at any time, send to me."
+
+"Certainly, ma'am; but it must be among other things, for he does not
+chuse, just now to be known; and it is a rule in our business never to
+tell people's names when they desire to be secret. He is a little out
+of cash, just now, as you may suppose by his appearance, so instead of
+buying books, he comes to sell them. However, he has taken a very good
+road to bring himself home again, for we pay very handsomely for things
+of any merit, especially if they deal smartly in a few touches of the
+times."
+
+Cecilia chose not to risk any further questions, lest her knowledge of
+him should be suspected, but got into her chair, and returned to Lady
+Margaret's.
+
+The sight of Belfield reminded her not only of himself; the gentle
+Henrietta again took her place in her memory, whence her various
+distresses and suspences had of late driven from it everybody but
+Delvile, and those whom Delvile brought into it. But her regard for
+that amiable girl, though sunk in the busy scenes of her calamitous
+uncertainties, was only sunk in her own bosom, and ready, upon their
+removal, to revive with fresh vigour. She was now indeed more unhappy
+than even in the period of her forgetfulness, yet her mind, was no
+longer filled with the restless turbulence of hope, which still more
+than despondency unfitted it for thinking of others.
+
+This remembrance thus awakened, awakened also a desire of renewing the
+connection so long neglected. All scruples concerning Delvile had now
+lost their foundation, since the doubts from which they arose were both
+explained and removed: she was certain alike of his indifference to
+Henrietta, and his separation from herself; she knew that nothing was
+to be feared from painful or offensive rivalry, and she resolved,
+therefore, to lose no time in seeking the first pleasure to which since
+her disappointment she had voluntarily looked forward.
+
+Early in the evening, she told Lady Margaret she was going out for
+an hour or two, and sending again for a chair, was carried to
+Portland-street.
+
+She enquired for Miss Belfield, and was shewn into a parlour, where she
+found her drinking tea with her mother, and Mr Hobson, their landlord.
+
+Henrietta almost screamed at her sight, from a sudden impulse of joy
+and surprize, and, running up to her, flung her arms round her neck,
+and embraced her with the most rapturous emotion: but then, drawing
+back with a look of timidity and shame, she bashfully apologized for
+her freedom, saying, "Indeed, dearest Miss Beverley, it is no want
+of respect, but I am so very glad to see you it makes me quite forget
+myself!"
+
+Cecilia, charmed at a reception so ingenuously affectionate, soon
+satisfied her doubting diffidence by the warmest thanks that she had
+preserved so much regard for her, and by doubling the kindness with
+which she returned her caresses.
+
+"Mercy on me, madam," cried Mrs Belfield, who during this time had
+been busily employed in sweeping the hearth, wiping some slops upon the
+table, and smoothing her handkerchief and apron, "why the girl's enough
+to smother you. Henny, how can you be so troublesome? I never saw you
+behave in this way before."
+
+"Miss Beverley, madam," said Henrietta, again retreating, "is so kind as
+to pardon me, and I was so much surprised at seeing her, that I hardly
+knew what I was about."
+
+"The young ladies, ma'am," said Mr Hobson, "have a mighty way of
+saluting one another till such time as they get husbands: and then
+I'll warrant you they can meet without any salutation at all. That's my
+remark, at least, and what I've seen of the world has set me upon making
+it."
+
+This speech led Cecilia to check, however artless, the tenderness of
+her fervent young friend, whom she was much teized by meeting in such
+company, but who seemed not to dare understand the frequent looks which
+she gave her expressive of a wish to be alone with her.
+
+"Come, ladies," continued the facetious Mr Hobson, "what if we were all
+to sit down, and have a good dish of tea? and suppose, Mrs Belfield,
+you was to order us a fresh round of toast and butter? do you think the
+young ladies here would have any objection? and what if we were to have
+a little more water in the tea-kettle? not forgetting a little more tea
+in the teapot. What I say is this, let us all be comfortable; that's my
+notion of things."
+
+"And a very good notion too," said Mrs Belfield, "for you who have
+nothing to vex you. Ah, ma'am, you have heard, I suppose, about my son?
+gone off! nobody knows where! left that lord's house, where he might
+have lived like a king, and gone out into the wide world nobody knows
+for what!"
+
+"Indeed?" said Cecilia, who, from seeing him in London concluded he was
+again with his family, "and has he not acquainted you where he is?"
+
+"No, ma'am, no," cried Mrs Belfield, "he's never once told me where
+he is gone, nor let me know the least about the matter, for if I did I
+would not taste a dish of tea again for a twelvemonth till I saw him get
+back again to that lord's! and I believe in my heart there's never such
+another in the three kingdoms, for he has sent here after him I dare say
+a score of times. And no wonder, for I will take upon me to say he won't
+find his fellow in a hurry, Lord as he is."
+
+"As to his being a Lord," said Mr Hobson, "I am one of them that lay no
+great stress upon that, unless he has got a good long purse of his own,
+and then, to be sure, a Lord's no bad thing. But as to the matter of
+saying Lord such a one, how d'ye do? and Lord such a one, what do you
+want? and such sort of compliments, why in my mind, it's a mere nothing,
+in comparison of a good income. As to your son, ma'am, he did not go
+the right way to work. He should have begun with business, and gone into
+pleasure afterwards and if he had but done that, I'll be bold to say we
+might have had him at this very minute drinking tea with us over this
+fireside."
+
+"My son, Sir," said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, "was another sort of
+a person than a person of business: he always despised it from a child,
+and come of it what may, I am sure he was born to be a gentleman."
+
+"As to his despising business," said Mr Hobson, very contemptuously,
+"why so much the worse, for business is no such despiseable thing. And
+if he had been brought up behind a counter, instead of dangling after
+these same Lords, why he might have had a house of his own over his
+head, and been as good a man as myself."
+
+"A house over his head?" said Mrs Belfield, "why he might have had what
+he would, and have done what he would, if he had but followed my advice,
+and put himself a little forward. I have told him a hundred times to ask
+some of those great people he lived amongst for a place at court, for I
+know they've so many they hardly know what to do with them, and it was
+always my design from the beginning that he should be something of a
+great man; but I never could persuade him, though, for anything I know,
+as I have often told him, if he had but had a little courage he might
+have been an Ambassador by this time. And now, all of a sudden, to be
+gone nobody knows where!"--
+
+"I am sorry, indeed," said Cecilia, who knew not whether most to pity or
+wonder at her blind folly; "but I doubt not you will hear of him soon."
+
+"As to being an Ambassador, ma'am," said Mr Hobson, "it's talking quite
+out of character. Those sort of great people keep things of that kind
+for their own poor relations and cousins. What I say is this; a man's
+best way is to take care of himself. The more those great people see you
+want them, the less they like your company. Let every man be brought up
+to business, and then when he's made his fortune, he may walk with his
+hat on. Why now there was your friend, ma'am," turning to Cecilia, "that
+shot out his brains without paying any body a souse; pray how was that
+being more genteel than standing behind a counter, and not owing a
+shilling?"
+
+"Do you think a young lady," cried Mrs Belfield warmly, "can bear to
+hear of such a thing as standing behind a counter? I am sure if my son
+had ever done it, I should not expect any lady would so much as look at
+him, And yet, though I say it, she might look a good while, and not see
+many such persons, let her look where she pleased. And then he has such
+a winning manner into the bargain, that I believe in my heart there's
+never a lady in the land could say no to him. And yet he has such a
+prodigious shyness, I never could make him own he had so much as asked
+the question. And what lady can begin first?"
+
+"Why no," said Mr Hobson, "that would be out of character another way.
+Now my notion is this; let every man be agreeable! and then he may ask
+what lady he pleases. And when he's a mind of a lady, he should look
+upon a frown or two as nothing; for the ladies frown in courtship as a
+thing of course; it's just like a man swearing at a coachman; why he's
+not a bit more in a passion, only he thinks he sha'n't be minded without
+it."
+
+"Well, for my part," said Mrs Belfield, "I am sure if I was a young
+lady, and most especially if I was a young lady of fortune, and all
+that, I should like a modest young gentleman, such as my son, for
+example, better by half than a bold swearing young fellow, that would
+make a point to have me whether I would or no."
+
+"Ha! Ha! Ha!" cried Mr Hobson; "but the young ladies are not of that
+way of thinking; they are all for a little life and spirit. Don't I say
+right, young ladies?"
+
+Cecilia, who could not but perceive that these speeches was levelled at
+herself, felt offended and tired; and finding she had no chance of any
+private conversation with Henrietta, arose to take leave: but while
+she stopped in the passage to enquire when she could see her alone, a
+footman knocked at the door, who, having asked if Mr Belfield lodged
+there, and been answered in the affirmative; begged to know whether Miss
+Beverley was then in the house?
+
+Cecilia, much surprised, went forward, and told him who she was.
+
+"I have been, madam," said he, "with a message to you at Mr Monckton's,
+in Soho-Square: but nobody knew where you was; and Mr Monckton came out
+and spoke to me himself, and said that all he could suppose was that you
+might be at this house. So he directed me to come here."
+
+"And from whom, Sir, is your message?"
+
+"From the honourable Mr Delvile, madam, in St James's-Square. He desires
+to know if you shall be at home on Saturday morning, the day after
+to-morrow, and whether you can appoint Mr Briggs to meet him by twelve
+o'clock exactly, as he sha'n't be able to stay above three minutes."
+
+Cecilia gave an answer as cold as the message; that she would be in
+Soho-Square at the time he mentioned, and acquaint Mr Briggs of his
+intention.
+
+The footman then went away; and Henrietta told her, that if she could
+call some morning she might perhaps contrive to be alone with her, and
+added, "indeed I wish much to see you, if you could possibly do me so
+great an honour; for I am very miserable, and have nobody to tell so!
+Ah, Miss Beverley! you that have so many friends, and that deserve as
+many again, you little know what a hard thing it is to have none!--but
+my brother's strange disappearing has half broke our hearts!"
+
+Cecilia was beginning a consolatory speech, in which she meant to
+give her private assurances of his health and safety, when she was
+interrupted by Mr Albany, who came suddenly into the passage.
+
+Henrietta received him with a look of pleasure, and enquired why he
+had so long been absent; but, surprised by the sight of Cecilia, he
+exclaimed, without answering her, "why didst thou fail me? why
+appoint me to a place thou wert quitting thyself?--thou thing of fair
+professions! thou inveigler of esteem! thou vain, delusive promiser of
+pleasure!"
+
+"You condemn me too hastily," said Cecilia; "if I failed in my promise,
+it was not owing to caprice or insincerity, but to a real and bitter
+misfortune which incapacitated me from keeping it. I shall soon,
+however,--nay, I am already at your disposal, if you have any commands
+for me."
+
+"I have always," answered he, "commands for the rich, for I have always
+compassion for the poor."
+
+"Come to me, then, at Mr Monckton's in Soho-Square," cried she, and
+hastened into her chair, impatient to end a conference which she saw
+excited the wonder of the servants, and which also now drew out from
+the parlour Mr Hobson and Mrs Belfield. She then kissed her hand to
+Henrietta, and ordered the chairmen to carry her home.
+
+It had not been without difficulty that she had restrained herself from
+mentioning what she knew of Belfield, when she found his mother and
+sister in a state of such painful uncertainty concerning him. But her
+utter ignorance of his plans, joined to her undoubted knowledge of his
+wish of concealment, made her fear doing mischief by officiousness,
+and think it wiser not to betray what she had seen of him, till better
+informed of his own views and intentions. Yet, willing to shorten a
+suspence so uneasy to them, she determined to entreat Mr Monckton would
+endeavour to find him out, and acquaint him with their anxiety.
+
+That gentleman, when she returned to his house, was in a state of mind
+by no means enviable. Missing her at tea, he had asked Miss Bennet where
+she was, and hearing she had not left word, he could scarce conceal his
+chagrin. Knowing, however, how few were her acquaintances in town,
+he soon concluded she was with Miss Belfield, but, not satisfied with
+sending Mr Delvile's messenger after her, he privately employed one
+in whom he trusted for himself, to make enquiries at the house without
+saying whence he came.
+
+But though this man was returned, and he knew her safety, he still felt
+alarmed; he had flattered himself, from the length of time in which she
+had now done nothing without consulting him, she would scarce even think
+of any action without his previous concurrence. And he had hoped, by a
+little longer use, to make his counsel become necessary, which he knew
+to be a very short step from rendering it absolute.
+
+Nor was he well pleased to perceive, by this voluntary excursion,
+a struggle to cast off her sadness, and a wish to procure herself
+entertainment: it was not that he desired her misery, but he was earnest
+that all relief from it should spring from himself: and though far from
+displeased that Delvile should lose his sovereignty over her thoughts,
+he was yet of opinion that, till his own liberty was restored, he had
+less to apprehend from grief indulged, than grief allayed; one could
+but lead her to repining retirement, the other might guide her to a
+consolatory rival.
+
+He well knew, however, it was as essential to his cause to disguise his
+disappointments as his expectations, and, certain that by pleasing
+alone he had any chance of acquiring power, he cleared up when Cecilia
+returned, who as unconscious of feeling, as of owing any subjection to
+him, preserved uncontrolled the right of acting for herself, however
+desirous and glad of occasional instruction.
+
+She told him where she had been, and related her meeting Belfield, and
+the unhappiness of his friends, and hinted her wish that he could be
+informed what they suffered. Mr Monckton, eager to oblige her, went
+instantly in search of him, and returning to supper, told her he had
+traced him through the Bookseller, who had not the dexterity to parry
+his artful enquiries, and had actually appointed him to breakfast in
+Soho-Square the next morning.
+
+He had found him, he said, writing, but in high spirits and good humour.
+He had resisted, for a while, his invitation on account of his dress,
+all his clothes but the very coat which he had on being packed up and
+at his mother's: but, when laughed at by Mr Monckton for still
+retaining some foppery, he gaily protested what remained of it should
+be extinguished; and acknowledging that his shame was no part of his
+philosophy, declared he would throw it wholly aside, and, in spite of
+his degradation, renew his visits at his house.
+
+"I would not tell him," Mr Monckton continued, "of the anxiety of his
+family; I thought it would come more powerfully from yourself, who,
+having seen, can better enforce it."
+
+Cecilia was very thankful for this compliance with her request, and
+anticipated the pleasure she hoped soon to give Henrietta, by the
+restoration of a brother so much loved and so regretted.
+
+She sent, mean time, to Mr Briggs the message she had received from Mr
+Delvile, and had the satisfaction of an answer that he would observe the
+appointment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A CONFABULATION.
+
+The next morning, while the family was at breakfast, Belfield, according
+to his promise, made his visit.
+
+A high colour overspread his face as he entered the room, resulting from
+a sensation of grief at his fallen fortune, and shame at his altered
+appearance, which though he endeavoured to cover under an air of
+gaiety and unconcern, gave an awkwardness to his manners, and a visible
+distress to his countenance: Mr Monckton received him with pleasure, and
+Cecilia, who saw the conflict of his philosophy with his pride, dressed
+her features once more in smiles, which however faint and heartless,
+shewed her desire to reassure him. Miss Bennet, as usual when not called
+upon by the master or lady of the house, sat as a cypher; and Lady
+Margaret, always disagreeable and repulsive to the friends of her
+husband, though she was not now more than commonly ungracious, struck
+the quick-feeling and irritable Belfield, to wear an air of rude
+superiority meant to reproach him with his disgrace.
+
+This notion, which strongly affected him, made him, for one instant,
+hesitate whether he should remain another in the same room with her: but
+the friendliness of Mr Monckton, and the gentleness and good breeding of
+Cecilia, seemed so studious to make amends for her moroseness, that he
+checked his too ready indignation, and took his seat at the table. Yet
+was it some time before he could recover even the assumed vivacity which
+this suspected insult had robbed him of, sufficiently to enter into
+conversation with any appearance of ease or pleasure. But, after
+a while, soothed by the attentions of Cecilia and Mr Monckton, his
+uneasiness wore off, and the native spirit and liveliness of his
+character broke forth with their accustomed energy.
+
+"This good company, I hope," said he, addressing himself, however, only
+to Cecilia, "will not so much _mistake the thing_ as to criticise my
+dress of this morning; since it is perfectly according to rule, and to
+rule established from time immemorial: but lest any of you should
+so much err as to fancy shabby what is only characteristic, I must
+endeavour to be beforehand with the malice of conjecture, and have the
+honour to inform you, that I am enlisted in the Grub-street regiment, of
+the third story, and under the tattered banner of scribbling volunteers!
+a race which, if it boasts not the courage of heroes, at least equals
+them in enmity. This coat, therefore, is merely the uniform of my
+corps, and you will all, I hope, respect it as emblematical of wit and
+erudition."
+
+"We must at least respect you," said Cecilia, "who thus gaily can sport
+with it."
+
+"Ah, madam!" said he, more seriously, "it is not from you I ought
+to look for respect! I must appear to you the most unsteady and
+coward-hearted of beings. But lately I blushed to see you from poverty,
+though more worthily employed than when I had been seen by you in
+affluence; that shame vanquished, another equally narrow took its place,
+and yesterday I blushed again that you detected me in a new pursuit,
+though I had only quitted my former one from a conviction it was ill
+chosen. There seems in human nature a worthlessness not to be conquered!
+yet I will struggle with it to the last, and either die in the attempt,
+or dare seem that which I am, without adding to the miseries of life,
+the sting, the envenomed sting of dastardly false shame!"
+
+"Your language is wonderfully altered within this twelvemonth," said Mr
+Monckton; "_the worthlessness of human nature_! the _miseries of
+life_! this from you! so lately the champion of human nature, and the
+panegyrist of human life!"
+
+"Soured by personal disappointment," answered he, "I may perhaps speak
+with too much acrimony; yet, ultimately, my opinions have not much
+changed. Happiness is given to us with more liberality than we are
+willing to confess; it is judgment only that is dealt us sparingly, and
+of that we have so little, that when felicity is before us, we turn
+to the right or left, or when at the right or left, we proceed strait
+forward. It has been so with me; I have sought it at a distance, amidst
+difficulty and danger, when all that I could wish has been immediately
+within my grasp."
+
+"It must be owned," said Mr Monckton, "after what you have suffered from
+this world you were wont to defend, there is little reason to wonder at
+some change in your opinion."
+
+"Yet whatever have been my sufferings," he answered, "I have generally
+been involved in them by my own rashness or caprice. My last enterprise
+especially, from which my expectations were highest, was the most
+ill-judged of any. I considered not how little my way of life had fitted
+me for the experiment I was making, how irreparably I was enervated
+by long sedentary habits, and how insufficient for bodily strength
+was mental resolution. We may fight against partial prejudices, and by
+spirit and fortitude we may overcome them; but it will not do to war
+with the general tenor of education. We may blame, despise, regret as we
+please, but customs long established, and habits long indulged, assume
+an empire despotic, though their power is but prescriptive. Opposing
+them is vain; Nature herself, when forced aside, is not more elastic in
+her rebound."
+
+"Will you not then," said Cecilia, "since your experiment has failed,
+return again to your family, and to the plan of life you formerly
+settled?"
+
+"You speak of them together," said he, with a smile, "as if you thought
+them inseparable; and indeed my own apprehension they would be
+deemed so, has made me thus fear to see my friends, since I love not
+resistance, yet cannot again attempt the plan of life they would have me
+pursue. I have given up my cottage, but my independence is as dear to me
+as ever; and all that I have gathered from experience, is to maintain
+it by those employments for which my education has fitted me, instead of
+seeking it injudiciously by the very road for which it has unqualified
+me."
+
+"And what is this independence," cried Mr Monckton, "which has thus
+bewitched your imagination? a mere idle dream of romance and enthusiasm;
+without existence in nature, without possibility in life. In uncivilised
+countries, or in lawless times, independence, for a while, may perhaps
+stalk abroad; but in a regular government, 'tis only the vision of a
+heated brain; one part of a community must inevitably hang upon another,
+and 'tis a farce to call either independent, when to break the chain by
+which they are linked would prove destruction to both. The soldier wants
+not the officer more than the officer the soldier, nor the tenant
+the landlord, more than the landlord the tenant. The rich owe their
+distinction, their luxuries, to the poor, as much as the poor owe their
+rewards, their necessaries, to the rich."
+
+"Man treated as an Automaton," answered Belfield, "and considered merely
+with respect to his bodily operations, may indeed be called dependent,
+since the food by which he lives, or, rather, without which he
+dies, cannot wholly be cultivated and prepared by his own hands: but
+considered in a nobler sense, he deserves not the degrading epithet;
+speak of him, then, as a being of feeling and understanding, with pride
+to alarm, with nerves to tremble, with honour to satisfy, and with a
+soul to be immortal!--as such, may he not claim the freedom of his own
+thoughts? may not that claim be extended to the liberty of speaking,
+and the power of being governed by them? and when thoughts, words, and
+actions are exempt from controul, will you brand him with dependency
+merely because the Grazier feeds his meat, and the Baker kneads his
+bread?"
+
+"But who is there in the whole world," said Mr Monckton, "extensive
+as it is, and dissimilar as are its inhabitants, that can pretend to
+assert, his thoughts, words, and actions, are exempt from controul? even
+where interest, which you so much disdain, interferes not,--though where
+that is I confess I cannot tell!--are we not kept silent where we wish
+to reprove by the fear of offending? and made speak where we wish to be
+silent by the desire of obliging? do we not bow to the scoundrel as low
+as to the man of honour? are we not by mere forms kept standing when
+tired? made give place to those we despise? and smiles to those we hate?
+or if we refuse these attentions, are we not regarded as savages, and
+shut out of society?"
+
+"All these," answered Belfield, "are so merely matters of ceremony, that
+the concession can neither cost pain to the proud, nor give pleasure to
+the vain. The bow is to the coat, the attention is to the rank, and the
+fear of offending ought to extend to all mankind. Homage such as this
+infringes not our sincerity, since it is as much a matter of course as
+the dress that we wear, and has as little reason to flatter a man as the
+shadow which follows him. I no more, therefore, hold him deceitful for
+not opposing this pantomimical parade, than I hold him to be dependent
+for eating corn he has not sown."
+
+"Where, then, do you draw the line? and what is the boundary beyond
+which your independence must not step?"
+
+"I hold that man," cried he, with energy, "to be independent, who treats
+the Great as the Little, and the Little as the Great, who neither exults
+in riches nor blushes in poverty, who owes no man a groat, and who
+spends not a shilling he has not earned."
+
+"You will not, indeed, then, have a very numerous acquaintance, if this
+is the description of those with whom you purpose to associate! but is
+it possible you imagine you can live by such notions? why the Carthusian
+in his monastery, who is at least removed from temptation, is not
+mortified so severely as a man of spirit living in the world, who would
+prescribe himself such rules."
+
+"Not merely have I prescribed," returned Belfield, "I have already put
+them in practice; and far from finding any pennance, I never before
+found happiness. I have now adopted, though poor, the very plan of life
+I should have elected if rich; my pleasure, therefore, is become my
+business, and my business my pleasure."
+
+"And is this plan," cried Monckton, "nothing more than turning
+Knight-errant to the Booksellers?"
+
+"'Tis a Knight-errantry," answered Belfield, laughing, "which, however
+ludicrous it may seem to you, requires more soul and more brains than
+any other. Our giants may, indeed, be only windmills, but they must be
+attacked with as much spirit, and conquered with as much bravery, as
+any fort or any town, in time of war [to] be demolished; and though the
+siege, I must confess, may be of less national utility, the assailants
+of the quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the
+sword."
+
+"I suppose then," said Monckton, archly, "if a man wants a biting
+lampoon, or an handsome panegyric, some newspaper scandal, or a sonnet
+for a lady--"
+
+"No, no," interrupted Belfield eagerly, "if you imagine me a hireling
+scribbler for the purposes of defamation or of flattery, you as little
+know my situation as my character. My subjects shall be my own, and my
+satire shall be general. I would as much disdain to be personal with an
+anonymous pen, as to attack an unarmed man in the dark with a dagger I
+had kept concealed."
+
+A reply of rallying incredulity was rising to the lips of Mr Monckton,
+when reading in the looks of Cecilia an entire approbation of this
+sentiment, he checked his desire of ridicule, and exclaimed, "spoken
+like a man of honour, and one whose works may profit the world!"
+
+"From my earliest youth to the present hour," continued Belfield,
+"literature has been the favourite object of my pursuit, my recreation
+in leisure, and my hope in employment. My propensity to it, indeed,
+has been so ungovernable, that I may properly call it the source of my
+several miscarriages throughout life. It was the bar to my preferment,
+for it gave me a distaste to other studies; it was the cause of my
+unsteadiness in all my undertakings, because to all I preferred it.
+It has sunk me to distress, it has involved me in difficulties; it
+has brought me to the brink of ruin by making me neglect the means
+of living, yet never, till now, did I discern it might itself be my
+support."
+
+"I am heartily glad, Sir," said Cecilia, "your various enterprizes and
+struggles have at length ended in a project which promises you so much
+satisfaction. But you will surely suffer your sister and your mother
+to partake of it? for who is there that your prosperity will make so
+happy?"
+
+"You do them infinite honour, madam, by taking any interest in their
+affairs; but to own to you the truth, what to me appears prosperity,
+will to them wear another aspect. They have looked forward to my
+elevation with expectations the most improbable, and thought everything
+within my grasp, with a simplicity incredible. But though their hopes
+were absurd, I am pained by their disappointment, and I have not courage
+to meet their tears, which I am sure will not be spared when they see
+me."
+
+"'Tis from tenderness, then," said Cecilia, half smiling, "that you are
+cruel, and from affection to your friends that you make them believe you
+have forgotten them?"
+
+There was a delicacy in this reproach exactly suited to work upon
+Belfield, who feeling it with quickness, started up, and cried, "I
+believe I am wrong!--I will go to them this moment!"
+
+Cecilia felt eager to second the generous impulse; but Mr Monckton,
+laughing at his impetuosity, insisted he should first finish his
+breakfast.
+
+"Your friends," said Cecilia, "can have no mortification so hard to bear
+as your voluntary absence; and if they see but that you are happy, they
+will soon be reconciled to whatever situation you may chuse."
+
+"Happy!" repeated he, with animation, "Oh I am in Paradise! I am come
+from a region in the first rude state of nature, to civilization and
+refinement! the life I led at the cottage was the life of a savage; no
+intercourse with society, no consolation from books; my mind locked up,
+every source dried of intellectual delight, and no enjoyment in my power
+but from sleep and from food. Weary of an existence which thus levelled
+me with a brute, I grew ashamed of the approximation, and listening to
+the remonstrance of my understanding, I gave up the precipitate plan, to
+pursue one more consonant to reason. I came to town, hired a room, and
+sent for pen, ink and paper: what I have written are trifles, but the
+Bookseller has not rejected them. I was settled, therefore, in a moment,
+and comparing my new occupation with that I had just quitted, I seemed
+exalted on the sudden from a mere creature of instinct, to a rational
+and intelligent being. But when first I opened a book, after so long
+an abstinence from all mental nourishment,--Oh it was rapture! no
+half-famished beggar regaled suddenly with food, ever seized on his
+repast with more hungry avidity."
+
+"Let fortune turn which way it will," cried Monckton, "you may defy all
+its malice, while possessed of a spirit of enjoyment which nothing can
+subdue!"
+
+"But were you not, Sir," said Cecilia, "as great an enthusiast the other
+day for your cottage, and for labour?"
+
+"I was, madam; but there my philosophy was erroneous: in my ardour
+to fly from meanness and from dependence, I thought in labour and
+retirement I should find freedom and happiness; but I forgot that my
+body was not seasoned for such work, and considered not that a
+mind which had once been opened by knowledge, could ill endure the
+contraction of dark and perpetual ignorance. The approach, however, of
+winter, brought me acquainted with my mistake. It grew cold, it grew
+bleak; little guarded against the inclemency of the ----, I felt its
+severity in every limb, and missed a thousand indulgencies which in
+possession I had never valued. To rise at break of day, chill, freezing,
+and comfortless! no sun abroad, no fire at home! to go out in all
+weather to work, that work rough, coarse, and laborious!--unused to such
+hardships, I found I could not bear them, and, however unwillingly, was
+compelled to relinquish the attempt."
+
+Breakfast now being over, he again arose to take leave.
+
+"You are going, then, Sir," said Cecilia, "immediately to your friends?"
+
+"No, madam," answered he hesitating, "not just this moment; to-morrow
+morning perhaps,--but it is now late, and I have business for the rest
+of the day."
+
+"Ah, Mr Monckton!" cried Cecilia, "what mischief have you done by
+occasioning this delay!"
+
+"This goodness, madam," said Belfield, "my sister can never sufficiently
+acknowledge. But I will own, that though, just now, in a warm moment, I
+felt eager to present myself to her and my mother, I rather wish, now I
+am cooler, to be saved the pain of telling them in person my situation.
+I mean, therefore, first to write to them."
+
+"You will not fail, then, to see them to-morrow?"
+
+"Certainly--I think not."
+
+"Nay, but certainly you _must_ not, for I shall call upon them to-day,
+and assure them they may expect you. Can I soften your task of writing
+by giving them any message from you?"
+
+"Ah, madam, have a care!" cried he; "this condescension to a poor author
+may be more dangerous than you have any suspicion! and before you have
+power to help yourself, you may see your name prefixed to the Dedication
+of some trumpery pamphlet!"
+
+"I will run," cried she, "all risks; remember, therefore, you will be
+responsible for the performance of my promise."
+
+"I will be sure," answered he, "not to forget what reflects so much
+honour upon myself."
+
+Cecilia was satisfied by this assent, and he then went away.
+
+"A strange flighty character!" cried Mr Monckton, "yet of uncommon
+capacity, and full of genius. Were he less imaginative, wild and
+eccentric, he has abilities for any station, and might fix and
+distinguish himself almost where-ever he pleased."
+
+"I knew not," said Cecilia, "the full worth of steadiness and prudence
+till I knew this young man; for he has every thing else; talents the
+most striking, a love of virtue the most elevated, and manners the most
+pleasing; yet wanting steadiness and prudence, he can neither act with
+consistency nor prosper with continuance."
+
+"He is well enough," said Lady Margaret, who had heard the whole
+argument in sullen taciturnity, "he is well enough, I say; and there
+comes no good from young women's being so difficult."
+
+Cecilia, offended by a speech which implied a rude desire to dispose
+of her, went up stairs to her own room; and Mr Monckton, always enraged
+when young men and Cecilia were alluded to in the same sentence, retired
+to his library.
+
+She then ordered a chair, and went to Portland-street, to fulfil what
+she had offered to Belfield, and to revive his mother and sister by the
+pleasure of the promised interview.
+
+She found them together: and her intelligence being of equal consequence
+to both, she did not now repine at the presence of Mrs Belfield.
+She made her communication with the most cautious attention to their
+characters, softening the ill she had to relate with respect to
+Belfield's present way of living, by endeavouring to awaken affection
+and joy from the prospect of the approaching meeting. She counselled
+them as much as possible to restrain their chagrin at his misfortunes,
+which he would but construe into reproach of his ill management; and
+she represented that when once he was restored to his family, he might
+almost imperceptibly be led into some less wild and more profitable
+scheme of business.
+
+When she had told all she thought proper to relate, kindly interspersing
+her account with the best advice and best comfort she could suggest,
+she made an end of her visit; for the affliction of Mrs Belfield
+upon hearing the actual situation of her son, was so clamorous and
+unappeaseable, that, little wondering at Belfield's want of courage to
+encounter it, and having no opportunity in such a storm to console the
+soft Henrietta, whose tears flowed abundantly that her brother should
+thus be fallen, she only promised before she left town to see her again,
+and beseeching Mrs Belfield to moderate her concern, was glad to leave
+the house, where her presence had no power to quiet their distress.
+
+She passed the rest of the day in sad reflections upon the meeting
+she was herself to have the next morning with Mr Delvile. She wished
+ardently to know whether his son was gone abroad, and whether Mrs
+Delvile was recovered, whose health, in her own letter, was mentioned in
+terms the most melancholy: yet neither of these enquiries could she even
+think of making, since reasonably, without them, apprehensive of some
+reproach.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A WRANGLING.
+
+Mr Monckton, the next day, as soon as breakfast was over, went out,
+to avoid showing, even to Cecilia, the anxiety he felt concerning the
+regulation of her fortune, and arrangement of her affairs. He strongly,
+however, advised her not to mention her large debt, which, though
+contracted in the innocence of the purest benevolence, would incur
+nothing but reproof and disapprobation, from all who only heard of it,
+when they heard of its inutility.
+
+At eleven o'clock, though an hour before the time appointed, while
+Cecilia was sitting in Lady Margaret's dressing room, "with sad civility
+and an aching head," she was summoned to Mr Briggs in the parlour.
+
+He immediately began reproaching her with having eloped from him, in the
+summer, and with the various expences she had caused him from useless
+purchases and spoilt provisions. He then complained of Mr Delvile, whom
+he charged with defrauding him of his dues; but observing in the midst
+of his railing her dejection of countenance, he suddenly broke off, and
+looking at her with some concern, said, "what's the matter, Ducky? a'n't
+well? look as if you could not help it."
+
+"O yes," cried Cecilia, "I thank you, Sir, I am very well."
+
+"What do you look so blank for, then?" said he, "bay? what are fretting
+for?--crossed in love?--lost your sweetheart?"
+
+"No, no, no," cried she, with quickness.
+
+"Never mind, my chick, never mind," said he, pinching her cheek, with
+resumed good humour, "more to be had; if one won't snap, another will;
+put me in a passion by going off from me with that old grandee, or would
+have got one long ago. Hate that old Don; used me very ill; wish I could
+trounce him. Thinks more of a fusty old parchment than the price of
+stocks. Fit for nothing but to be stuck upon an old monument for a
+Death's head."
+
+He then told her that her accounts were all made out, and he was ready
+at any time to produce them; he approved much of her finishing wholly
+with the _old Don_, who had been a mere cypher in the executorship; but
+he advised her not to think of taking her money into her own hands, as
+he was willing to keep the charge of it himself till she was married.
+
+Cecilia, thanking him for the offer, said she meant now to make her
+acknowledgments for all the trouble he had already taken, but by no
+means purposed to give him any more.
+
+He debated the matter with her warmly, told her she had no chance to
+save herself from knaves and cheats, but by trusting to nobody but
+himself, and informing her what interest he had already made of her
+money, enquired how she would set about getting more?
+
+Cecilia, though prejudiced against him by Mr Monckton, knew not how to
+combat his arguments; yet conscious that scarce any part of the money
+to which he alluded was in fact her own, she could not yield to them.
+He was, however, so stubborn and so difficult to deal with, that she at
+length let him talk without troubling herself to answer, and privately
+determined to beg Mr Monckton would fight her battle.
+
+She was not, therefore, displeased by his interruption, though very much
+surprised by the sight of his person, when, in the midst of Mr Briggs's
+oratory, Mr Hobson entered the parlour.
+
+"I ask pardon, ma'am," cried he, "if I intrude; but I made free to call
+upon the account of two ladies that are acquaintances of yours, that are
+quite, as one may say, at their wit's ends."
+
+"What is the matter with them, Sir?"
+
+"Why, ma'am, no great matter, but mothers are soon frightened, and when
+once they are upon the fret, one may as well talk to the boards! they
+know no more of reasoning and arguing, than they do of a shop ledger!
+however, my maxim is this; every body in their way; one has no more
+right to expect courageousness from a lady in them cases, than one has
+from a child in arms; for what I say is, they have not the proper use of
+their heads, which makes it very excusable."
+
+"But what has occasioned any alarm? nothing, I hope, is the matter with
+Miss Belfield?"
+
+"No, ma'am; thank God, the young lady enjoys her health very well: but
+she is taking on just in the same way as her mamma, as what can be more
+natural? Example, ma'am, is apt to be catching, and one lady's crying
+makes another think she must do the same, for a little thing serves for
+a lady's tears, being they can cry at any time: but a man is quite of
+another nature, let him but have a good conscience, and be clear of the
+world, and I'll engage he'll not wash his face without soap! that's what
+I say!"
+
+"Will, will!" cried Mr Briggs, "do it myself! never use soap; nothing
+but waste; take a little sand; does as well."
+
+"Let every man have his own proposal;" answered Hobson; "for my part, I
+take every morning a large bowl of water, and souse my whole head in it;
+and then when I've rubbed it dry, on goes my wig, and I am quite fresh
+and agreeable: and then I take a walk in Tottenham Court Road as far as
+the Tabernacle, or thereabouts, and snuff in a little fresh country
+air, and then I come back, with a good wholesome appetite, and in a fine
+breathing heat, asking the young lady's pardon; and I enjoy my pot of
+fresh tea, and my round of hot toast and butter, with as good a relish
+as if I was a Prince."
+
+"Pot of fresh tea," cried Briggs, "bring a man to ruin; toast and
+butter! never suffer it in my house. Breakfast on water-gruel, sooner
+done; fills one up in a second. Give it my servants; can't eat much of
+it. Bob 'em there!" nodding significantly.
+
+"Water-gruel!" exclaimed Mr Hobson, "why I could not get it down if I
+might have the world for it! it would make me quite sick, asking the
+young lady's pardon, by reason I should always think I was preparing for
+the small-pox. My notion is quite of another nature; the first thing I
+do is to have a good fire; for what I say is this, if a man is cold in
+his fingers, it's odds if ever he gets warm in his purse! ha! ha! warm,
+you take me, Sir? I mean a pun. Though I ought to ask pardon, for I
+suppose the young lady don't know what I am a saying."
+
+"I should indeed be better pleased, Sir," said Cecilia, "to hear what
+you have to say about Miss Belfield."
+
+"Why, ma'am, the thing is this; we have been expecting the young
+'Squire, as I call him, all the morning, and he has never come; so Mrs
+Belfield, not knowing where to send after him, was of opinion he might
+be here, knowing your kindness to him, and that."
+
+"You make the enquiry at the wrong place, Sir," said Cecilia, much
+provoked by the implication it conveyed; "if Mr Belfield is in this
+house, you must seek him with Mr Monckton."
+
+"You take no offence, I hope, ma'am, at my just asking of the question?
+for Mrs Belfield crying, and being in that dilemma, I thought I could
+do no less than oblige her by coming to see if the young gentleman was
+here."
+
+"What's this? what's this?" cried Mr Briggs eagerly; "who are talking
+of? hay?--who do mean? is this the sweet heart? eh, Duck?"
+
+"No, no, Sir," cried Cecilia.
+
+"No tricks! won't be bit! who is it? will know; tell me, I say!"
+
+"_I'll_ tell Sir," cried Mr Hobson; "it's a very handsome young
+gentleman, with as fine a person, and as genteel a way of behaviour, and
+withal, as pretty a manner of dressing himself, and that, as any lady
+need desire. He has no great head for business, as I am told, but the
+ladies don't stand much upon that topic, being they know nothing of it
+themselves."
+
+"Has got the ready?" cried Mr Briggs, impatiently; "can cast an account?
+that's the point; can come down handsomely? eh?"
+
+"Why as to that, Sir, I'm not bound to speak to a gentleman's private
+affairs. What's my own, is my own, and what is another person's, is
+another person's; that's my way of arguing, and that's what I call
+talking to the purpose."
+
+"Dare say he's a rogue! don't have him, chick. Bet a wager i'n't
+worth two shillings; and that will go for powder and pomatum; hate a
+plaistered pate; commonly a numscull: love a good bob-jerom."
+
+"Why this is talking quite wide of the mark," said Mr Hobson, "to
+suppose a young lady of fortunes would marry a man with a bob-jerom.
+What I say is, let every body follow their nature; that's the way to be
+comfortable; and then if they pay every one his own, who's a right to
+call 'em to account, whether they wear a bob-jerom, or a pig-tail down
+to the calves of their legs?"
+
+"Ay, ay," cried Briggs, sneeringly, "or whether they stuff their gullets
+with hot rounds of toast and butter."
+
+"And what if they do, Sir?" returned Hobson, a little angrily; "when a
+man's got above the world, where's the harm of living a little genteel?
+as to a round of toast and butter, and a few oysters, fresh opened, by
+way of a damper before dinner, no man need be ashamed of them, provided
+he pays as he goes: and as to living upon water-gruel, and scrubbing
+one's flesh with sand, one might as well be a galley-slave at once. You
+don't understand life, Sir, I see that."
+
+"Do! do!" cried Briggs, speaking through his shut teeth; "you're out
+there! oysters!--come to ruin, tell you! bring you to jail!"
+
+"To jail, Sir?" exclaimed Hobson, "this is talking quite ungenteel! let
+every man be civil; that's what I say, for that's the way to make every
+thing agreeable but as to telling a man he'll go to jail, and that, it's
+tantamount to affronting him."
+
+A rap at the street-door gave now a new relief to Cecilia, who began to
+grow very apprehensive lest the delight of spending money, thus warmly
+contested with that of hoarding it, should give rise to a quarrel,
+which, between two such sturdy champions for their own opinions, might
+lead to a conclusion rather more rough and violent than she desired to
+witness: but when the parlour-door opened, instead of Mr Delvile, whom
+she now fully expected, Mr Albany made his entrance.
+
+This was rather distressing, as her real business with her guardians
+made it proper her conference with them should be undisturbed: and
+Albany was not a man with whom a hint that she was engaged could be
+risked: but she had made no preparation to guard against interruption,
+as her little acquaintance in London had prevented her expecting any
+visitors.
+
+He advanced with a solemn air to Cecilia, and, looking as if hardly
+determined whether to speak with severity or gentleness, said, "once
+more I come to prove thy sincerity; now wilt thou go with me where
+sorrow calls thee? sorrow thy charity can mitigate?"
+
+"I am very much concerned," she answered, "but indeed at present it is
+utterly impossible."
+
+"Again," cried he, with a look at once stern and disappointed, "again
+thou failest me? what wanton trifling! why shouldst thou thus elate a
+worn-out mind, only to make it feel its lingering credulity? or why,
+teaching me to think I had found an angel, so unkindly undeceive me?"
+
+"Indeed," said Cecilia, much affected by this reproof, "if you knew how
+heavy a loss I had personally suffered--"
+
+"I do know it," cried he, "and I grieved for thee when I heard it. Thou
+hast lost a faithful old friend, a loss which with every setting sun
+thou mayst mourn, for the rising sun will never repair it! but was that
+a reason for shunning the duties of humanity? was the sight of death a
+motive for neglecting the claims of benevolence? ought it not rather to
+have hastened your fulfilling them? and should not your own suffering
+experience of the brevity of life, have taught you the vanity of all
+things but preparing for its end?"
+
+"Perhaps so, but my grief at that time made me think only of myself."
+
+"And of what else dost thou think now?"
+
+"Most probably of the same person still!" said she, half smiling, "but
+yet believe me, I have real business to transact."
+
+"Frivolous, unmeaning, ever-ready excuses! what business is so important
+as the relief of a fellow-creature?"
+
+"I shall not, I hope, there," answered she, with alacrity, "be backward;
+but at least for this morning I must beg to make you my Almoner."
+
+She then took out her purse.
+
+Mr Briggs and Mr Hobson, whose quarrel had been suspended by the
+appearance of a third person, and who had stood during this short
+dialogue in silent amazement, having first lost their anger in their
+mutual consternation, now lost their consternation in their mutual
+displeasure Mr. Hobson felt offended to hear business spoken of
+slightly, and Mr Briggs felt enraged at the sight of Cecilia's ready
+purse. Neither of them, however, knew which way to interfere, the
+stem gravity of Albany, joined to a language too lofty for their
+comprehension, intimidating them both. They took, however, the relief of
+communing with one another, and Mr Hobson said in a whisper "This, you
+must know, is, I am told, a very particular old gentleman; quite what I
+call a genius. He comes often to my house, to see my lodger Miss Henny
+Belfield, though I never happen to light upon him myself, except once in
+the passage: but what I hear of him is this; he makes a practice, as
+one may say, of going about into people's houses, to do nothing but find
+fault."
+
+"Shan't get into mine!" returned Briggs, "promise him that! don't half
+like him; be bound he's an old sharper."
+
+Cecilia, mean time, enquired what he desired to have.
+
+"Half a guinea," he answered.
+
+"Will that do?"
+
+"For those who have nothing," said he, "it is much. Hereafter, you may
+assist them again. Go but and see their distresses, and you will wish to
+give them every thing."
+
+Mr Briggs now, when actually between her fingers he saw the half
+guinea, could contain no longer; he twitched the sleeve of her gown, and
+pinching her arm, with a look of painful eagerness, said in a whisper
+"Don't give it! don't let him have it! chouse him, chouse him! nothing
+but an old bite!"
+
+"Pardon me, Sir," said Cecilia, in a low voice, "his character is very
+well known to me." And then, disengaging her arm from him, she presented
+her little offering.
+
+At this sight, Mr Briggs was almost outrageous, and losing in his wrath,
+all fear of the stranger, he burst forth with fury into the following
+outcries, "Be ruined! see it plainly; be fleeced! be stript! be robbed!
+won't have a gown to your back! won't have a shoe to your foot! won't
+have a rag in the world! be a beggar in the street! come to the parish!
+rot in a jail!--half a guinea at a time!--enough to break the Great
+Mogul!"
+
+"Inhuman spirit of selfish parsimony!" exclaimed Albany, "repinest thou
+at this loan, given from thousands to those who have worse than nothing?
+who pay to-day in hunger for bread they borrowed yesterday from pity?
+who to save themselves from the deadly pangs of famine, solicit but what
+the rich know not when they possess, and miss not when they give?"
+
+"Anan!" cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of
+his understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly
+unaccustomed, "what d'ye say?"
+
+"If to thyself distress may cry in vain," continued Albany, "if thy own
+heart resists the suppliant's prayer, callous to entreaty, and hardened
+in the world, suffer, at least, a creature yet untainted, who melts
+at sorrow, and who glows with charity, to pay from her vast wealth a
+generous tax of thankfulness, that fate has not reversed her doom, and
+those whom she relieves, relieve not her!"
+
+"Anan!" was again all the wondering Mr Briggs could say.
+
+"Pray, ma'am," said Mr Hobson, to Cecilia, "if it's no offence, was the
+Gentleman ever a player?"
+
+"I fancy not, indeed!"
+
+"I ask pardon, then, ma'am; I mean no harm; but my notion was the
+gentleman might be speaking something by heart."
+
+"Is it but on the stage, humanity exists?" cried Albany, indignantly;
+"Oh thither hasten, then, ye monopolizers of plenty! ye selfish,
+unfeeling engrossers of wealth, which ye dissipate without enjoying,
+and of abundance, which ye waste while ye refuse to distribute! thither,
+thither haste, if there humanity exists!"
+
+"As to engrossing," said Mr Hobson, happy to hear at last a word with
+which he was familiar, "it's what I never approved myself. My maxim is
+this; if a man makes a fair penny, without any underhand dealings, why
+he has as much a title to enjoy his pleasure as the Chief Justice, or
+the Lord Chancellor: and it's odds but he's as happy as a greater man.
+Though what I hold to be best of all, is a clear conscience, with a neat
+income of 2 or 3000 a year. That's my notion; and I don't think it's a
+bad one."
+
+"Weak policy of short-sighted ignorance!" cried Albany, "to wish for
+what, if used, brings care, and if neglected, remorse! have you not now
+beyond what nature craves? why then still sigh for more?"
+
+"Why?" cried Mr Briggs, who by dint of deep attention began now better
+to comprehend him, "why to buy in, to be sure! ever hear of stocks, eh?
+know any thing of money?"
+
+"Still to make more and more," cried Albany, "and wherefore? to spend in
+vice and idleness, or hoard in chearless misery! not to give succour
+to the wretched, not to support the falling; all is for self,
+however little wanted, all goes to added stores, or added luxury; no
+fellow-creature served, nor even one beggar relieved!"
+
+"Glad of it!" cried Briggs, "glad of it; would not have 'em relieved;
+don't like 'em; hate a beggar; ought to be all whipt; live upon
+spunging."
+
+"Why as to a beggar, I must needs say," cried Mr Hobson, "I am by no
+means an approver of that mode of proceeding; being I take 'em all for
+cheats: for what I say is this, what a man earns, he earns, and it's no
+man's business to enquire what he spends, for a free-born Englishman is
+his own master by the nature of the law, and as to his being a subject,
+why a duke is no more, nor a judge, nor the Lord High Chancellor, and
+the like of those; which makes it tantamount to nothing, being he is
+answerable to nobody by the right of Magna Charta: except in cases of
+treason, felony, and that. But as to a beggar, it's quite another thing;
+he comes and asks me for money; but what has he to shew for it? what
+does he bring me in exchange? why a long story that he i'n't worth a
+penny! what's that to me? nothing at all. Let every man have his own;
+that's my way of arguing."
+
+"Ungentle mortals!" cried Albany, "in wealth exulting; even in
+inhumanity! think you these wretched outcasts have less sensibility
+than yourselves? think you, in cold and hunger, they lose those feelings
+which even in voluptuous prosperity from time to time disturb you? you
+say they are all cheats? 'tis but the niggard cant of avarice, to lure
+away remorse from obduracy. Think you the naked wanderer begs from
+choice? give him your wealth and try."
+
+"Give him a whip!" cried Briggs, "sha'n't have a souse! send him to
+Bridewell! nothing but a pauper; hate 'em; hate 'em all! full of tricks;
+break their own legs, put out their arms, cut off their fingers, snap
+their own ancles,--all for what? to get at the chink! to chouse us of
+cash! ought to be well flogged; have 'em all sent to the Thames; worse
+than the Convicts."
+
+"Poor subterfuge of callous cruelty! you cheat yourselves, to shun the
+fraud of others! and yet, how better do you use the wealth so guarded?
+what nobler purpose can it answer to you, than even a chance to snatch
+some wretch from sinking? think less how _much_ ye save, and more
+for _what_; and then consider how thy full coffers may hereafter make
+reparation, for the empty catalogue of thy virtues."
+
+"Anan!" said Mr Briggs, again lost in perplexity and wonder.
+
+"Oh yet," continued Albany, turning towards Cecilia, "preach not here
+the hardness which ye practice; rather amend yourselves than corrupt
+her; and give with liberality what ye ought to receive with gratitude!"
+
+"This is not my doctrine," cried Hobson; "I am not a near man, neither,
+but as to giving at that rate, it's quite out of character. I have as
+good a right to my own savings, as to my own gettings; and what I say
+is this, who'll give to _me_? let me see that, and it's quite another
+thing: and begin who will, I'll be bound to go on with him, pound for
+pound, or pence for pence. But as to giving to them beggars, it's what
+I don't approve; I pay the poor's rate, and that's what I call charity
+enough for any man. But for the matter of living well, and spending
+one's money handsomely, and having one's comforts about one, why it's a
+thing of another nature, and I can say this for myself, and that is,
+I never grudged myself any thing in my life. I always made myself
+agreeable, and lived on the best. That's my way."
+
+"Bad way too," cried Briggs, "never get on with it, never see beyond
+your nose; won't be worth a plum while your head wags!" then, taking
+Cecilia apart, "hark'ee, my duck," he added, pointing to Albany, "who is
+that Mr Bounce, eh? what is he?"
+
+"I have known him but a short time, Sir; but I think of him very
+highly."
+
+"Is he a _good_ man? that's the point, is he a _good_ man?"
+
+"Indeed he appears to me uncommonly benevolent and charitable."
+
+"But that i'n't the thing; is he _warm_? that's the point, is he
+_warm_?"
+
+"If you mean _passionate_," said Cecilia, "I believe the energy of his
+manner is merely to enforce what he says."
+
+"Don't take me, don't take me," cried he, impatiently; "can come down
+with the ready, that's the matter; can chink the little gold boys? eh?"
+
+"Why I rather fear not by his appearance; but I know nothing of his
+affairs."
+
+"What does come for? eh? come a courting?"
+
+"Mercy on me, no!"
+
+"What for then? only a spunging?"
+
+"No, indeed. He seems to have no wish but to assist and plead for
+others."
+
+"All fudge! think he i'n't touched? ay, ay; nothing but a trick! only to
+get at the chink: see he's as poor as a rat, talks of nothing but giving
+money; a bad sign! if he'd got any, would not do it. Wanted to make
+us come down; warrant thought to bam us all! out there! a'n't so soon
+gulled."
+
+A knock at the street door gave now a new interruption, and Mr Delvile
+at length appeared.
+
+Cecilia, whom his sight could not fail to disconcert, felt doubly
+distressed by the unnecessary presence of Albany and Hobson; she
+regretted the absence of Mr Monckton, who could easily have taken them
+away; for though without scruple she could herself have acquainted Mr
+Hobson she had business, she dreaded offending Albany, whose esteem she
+was ambitious of obtaining.
+
+Mr Delvile entered the room with an air stately and erect; he took off
+his hat, but deigned not to make the smallest inclination of his head,
+nor offered any excuse to Mr Briggs for being past the hour of his
+appointment: but having advanced a few paces, without looking either
+to the right or left, said, "as I have never acted, my coming may not,
+perhaps, be essential; but as my name is in the Dean's Will, and I have
+once or twice met the other executors mentioned in it, I think it a duty
+I owe to my own heirs to prevent any possible future enquiry or trouble
+to them."
+
+This speech was directly addressed to no one, though meant to be
+attended to by every one, and seemed proudly uttered as a mere apology
+to himself for not having declined the meeting.
+
+Cecilia, though she recovered from her confusion by the help of her
+aversion to this self-sufficiency, made not any answer. Albany retired
+to a corner of the room; Mr Hobson began to believe it was time for him
+to depart; and Mr Briggs thinking only of the quarrel in which he had
+separated with Mr Delvile in the summer, stood swelling with venom,
+which he longed for an opportunity to spit out.
+
+Mr Delvile, who regarded this silence as the effect of his awe-inspiring
+presence, became rather more complacent; but casting his eyes round the
+room, and perceiving the two strangers, he was visibly surprised, and
+looking at Cecilia for some explanation, seemed to stand suspended from
+the purpose of his visit till he heard one.
+
+Cecilia, earnest to have the business concluded, turned to Mr Briggs,
+and said, "Sir, here is pen and ink: are you to write, or am I? or what
+is to be done?"
+
+"No, no," said he, with a sneer, "give it t'other; all in our turn;
+don't come before his Grace the Right Honourable Mr Vampus."
+
+"Before whom, Sir?" said Mr Delvile, reddening.
+
+"Before my Lord Don Pedigree," answered Briggs, with a spiteful grin,
+"know him? eh? ever hear of such a person?"
+
+Mr Delvile coloured still deeper, but turning contemptuously from him,
+disdained making any reply.
+
+Mr Briggs, who now regarded him as a defeated man, said exultingly to Mr
+Hobson, "what do stand here for?--hay?--fall o' your marrowbones; don't
+see 'Squire High and Mighty?"
+
+"As to falling on my marrowbones," answered Mr Hobson, "it's what I
+shall do to no man, except he was the King himself, or the like of that,
+and going to make me Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Commissioner of
+Excise. Not that I mean the gentleman any offence; but a man's a man,
+and for one man to worship another is quite out of law."
+
+"Must, must!" cried Briggs, "tell all his old grand-dads else: keeps 'em
+in a roll; locks 'em in a closet; says his prayers to 'em; can't live
+without 'em: likes 'em better than cash!--wish had 'em here! pop 'em all
+in the sink!"
+
+"If your intention, Sir," cried Mr Delvile, fiercely, "is only to insult
+me, I am prepared for what measures I shall take. I declined seeing you
+in my own house, that I might not be under the same restraint as when it
+was my unfortunate lot to meet you last."
+
+"Who cares?" cried Briggs, with an air of defiance, "what can do, eh?
+poke me into a family vault? bind me o' top of an old monument? tie
+me to a stinking carcase? make a corpse of me, and call it one of your
+famous cousins?--"
+
+"For heaven's sake, Mr Briggs," interrupted Cecilia, who saw that Mr
+Delvile, trembling with passion, scarce refrained lifting up his stick,
+"be appeased, and let us finish our business!"
+
+Albany now, hearing in Cecilia's voice the alarm with which she was
+seized, came forward and exclaimed, "Whence this unmeaning dissension?
+to what purpose this irritating abuse? Oh vain and foolish! live ye so
+happily, last ye so long, that time and peace may thus be trifled with?"
+
+"There, there!" cried Briggs, holding up his finger at Mr Delvile, "have
+it now! got old Mr Bounce upon you! give you enough of it; promise you
+that!"
+
+"Restrain," continued Albany, "this idle wrath; and if ye have ardent
+passions, employ them to nobler uses; let them stimulate acts of virtue,
+let them animate deeds of beneficence! Oh waste not spirits that may
+urge you to good, lead you to honour, warm you to charity, in poor and
+angry words, in unfriendly, unmanly debate!"
+
+Mr Delvile, who from the approach of Albany, had given him his whole
+attention, was struck with astonishment at this address, and almost
+petrified with wonder at his language and exhortations.
+
+"Why I must own," said Mr Hobson, "as to this matter I am much of the
+same mind myself; for quarreling's a thing I don't uphold; being it
+advances one no way; for what I say is this, if a man gets the better,
+he's only where he was before, and if he gets worsted, why it's odds but
+the laugh's against him: so, if I may make bold to give my verdict, I
+would have one of these gentlemen take the other by the hand, and so
+put an end to bad words. That's my maxim, and that's what I call being
+agreeable."
+
+Mr Delvile, at the words _one of these gentlemen take the other by the
+hand_, looked scornfully upon Mr Hobson, with a frown that expressed his
+highest indignation, at being thus familiarly coupled with Mr Briggs.
+And then, turning from him to Cecilia, haughtily said, "Are these
+two persons," pointing towards Albany and Hobson, "waiting here to be
+witnesses to any transaction?"
+
+"No, Sir, no," cried Hobson, "I don't mean to intrude, I am going
+directly. So you can give me no insight, ma'am," addressing Cecilia, "as
+to where I might light upon Mr Belfield?"
+
+"Me? no!" cried she, much provoked by observing that Mr Delvile suddenly
+looked at her.
+
+"Well, ma'am, well, I mean no harm: only I hold it that the right way to
+hear of a young gentleman, is to ask for him of a young lady: that's my
+maxim. Come, Sir," to Mr Briggs, "you and I had like to have fallen out,
+but what I say is this; let no man bear malice; that's my way: so I hope
+we part without ill blood?"
+
+"Ay, ay;" said Mr Briggs, giving him a nod.
+
+"Well, then," added Hobson, "I hope the good-will may go round, and that
+not only you and I, but these two good old gentlemen will also lend a
+hand."
+
+Mr Delvile now was at a loss which way to turn for very rage; but after
+looking at every one with a face flaming with ire, he said to Cecilia,
+"If you have collected together these persons for the purpose of
+affronting me, I must beg you to remember I am not one to be affronted
+with impunity!"
+
+Cecilia, half frightened, was beginning an answer that disclaimed any
+such intention, when Albany, with the most indignant energy, called out,
+"Oh pride of heart, with littleness of soul! check this vile arrogance,
+too vain for man, and spare to others some part of that lenity thou
+nourishest for thyself, or justly bestow on thyself that contempt thou
+nourishest for others!"
+
+And with these words he sternly left the house.
+
+The thunderstruck Mr Delvile began now to fancy that all the demons
+of torment were designedly let loose upon him, and his surprise and
+resentment operated so powerfully that it was only in broken sentences
+he could express either. "Very extraordinary!--a new method of
+conduct!--liberties to which I am not much used!--impertinences I shall
+not hastily forget,--treatment that would scarce be pardonable to a
+person wholly unknown!--"
+
+"Why indeed, Sir," said Hobson, "I can't but say it was rather a cut up;
+but the old gentleman is what one may call a genius, which makes it a
+little excusable; for he does things all his own way, and I am told it's
+the same thing who he speaks to, so he can but find fault, and that."
+
+"Sir," interrupted the still more highly offended Mr Delvile, "what
+_you_ may be told is extremely immaterial to _me_; and I must take the
+liberty to hint to you, a conversation of this easy kind is not what I
+am much in practice in hearing."
+
+"Sir, I ask pardon," said Hobson, "I meant nothing but what was
+agreeable; however, I have done, and I wish you good day. Your humble
+servant, ma'am, and I hope, Sir," to Mr Briggs, "you won't begin bad
+words again?"
+
+"No, no," said Briggs, "ready to make up; all at end; only don't much
+like _Spain_, that's all!" winking significantly, "nor a'n't over fond
+of a _skeleton_!"
+
+Mr Hobson now retired; and Mr Delvile and Mr Briggs, being both wearied
+and both in haste to have done, settled in about five minutes all for
+which they met, after passing more than an hour in agreeing what that
+was.
+
+Mr Briggs then, saying he had an engagement upon business, declined
+settling his own accounts till another time, but promised to see Cecilia
+again soon, and added, "be sure take care of that old Mr Bounce! cracked
+in the noddle; see that with half an eye! better not trust him! break
+out some day: do you a mischief!"
+
+He then went away: but while the parlour-door was still open, to the no
+little surprise of Cecilia, the servant announced Mr Belfield. He hardly
+entered the room, and his countenance spoke haste and eagerness. "I have
+this moment, madam," he said, "been informed a complaint has been lodged
+against me here, and I could not rest till I had the honour of assuring
+you, that though I have been rather dilatory, I have not neglected my
+appointment, nor has the condescension of your interference been thrown
+away."
+
+He then bowed, shut the door, and ran off Cecilia, though happy to
+understand by this speech that he was actually restored to his family,
+was sorry at these repeated intrusions in the presence of Mr Delvile,
+who was now the only one that remained.
+
+She expected every instant that he would ring for his chair, which he
+kept in waiting; but, after a pause of some continuance, to her equal
+surprise and disturbance, he made the following speech. "As it is
+probable I am now for the last time alone with you, ma'am, and as it is
+certain we shall meet no more upon business, I cannot, in justice to my
+own character, and to the respect I retain for the memory of the Dean,
+your uncle, take a final leave of the office with which he was pleased
+to invest me, without first fulfilling my own ideas of the duty it
+requires from me, by giving you some counsel relating to your future
+establishment."
+
+This was not a preface much to enliven Cecilia; it prepared her for such
+speeches as she was least willing to hear, and gave to her the mixt and
+painful sensation of spirits depressed, with ride alarmed.
+
+"My numerous engagements," he continued, "and the appropriation of my
+time, already settled, to their various claims, must make me brief in
+what I have to represent, and somewhat, perhaps, abrupt in coming to the
+purpose. But that you will excuse."
+
+Cecilia disdained to humour this arrogance by any compliments or
+concessions: she was silent, therefore; and when they were both seated,
+he went on.
+
+"You are now at a time of life when it is natural for young women to
+wish for some connection: and the largeness of your fortune will remove
+from you such difficulties as prove bars to the pretensions, in this
+expensive age, of those who possess not such advantages. It would have
+been some pleasure to me, while I yet considered you as my Ward, to have
+seen you properly disposed of: but as that time is past, I can only give
+you some general advice, which you may follow or neglect as you think
+fit. By giving it, I shall satisfy myself; for the rest, I am not
+responsible."
+
+He paused; but Cecilia felt less and less inclination to make use of the
+opportunity by speaking in her turn.
+
+"Yet though, as I just now hinted, young women of large fortunes may
+have little trouble in finding themselves establishments, they ought
+not, therefore, to trifle when proper ones are in their power, nor to
+suppose themselves equal to any they may chance to desire."
+
+Cecilia coloured high at this pointed reprehension; but feeling her
+disgust every moment encrease, determined to sustain herself with
+dignity, and at least not suffer him to perceive the triumph of his
+ostentation and rudeness.
+
+"The proposals," he continued, "of the Earl of Ernolf had always my
+approbation; it was certainly an ill-judged thing to neglect such an
+opportunity of being honourably settled. The clause of the name was, to
+_him_, immaterial; since his own name half a century ago was unheard of,
+and since he is himself only known by his title. He is still, however,
+I have authority to acquaint you, perfectly well disposed to renew his
+application to you."
+
+"I am sorry, Sir," said Cecilia coldly, "to hear it."
+
+"You have, perhaps, some other better offer in view?"
+
+"No, Sir," cried she, with spirit, "nor even in desire."
+
+"Am I, then, to infer that some inferior offer has more chance of your
+approbation?"
+
+"There is no reason, Sir, to infer any thing; I am content with my
+actual situation, and have, at present, neither prospect nor intention
+of changing it."
+
+"I perceive, but without surprise, your unwillingness to discuss
+the subject; nor do I mean to press it: I shall merely offer to your
+consideration one caution, and then relieve you from my presence. Young
+women of ample fortunes, who are early independent, are sometimes apt
+to presume they may do every thing with impunity; but they are mistaken;
+they are as liable to censure as those who are wholly unprovided for."
+
+"I hope, Sir," said Cecilia, staring, "this at least is a caution rather
+drawn from my situation than my behaviour?"
+
+"I mean not, ma'am, narrowly to go into, or investigate the subject;
+what I have said you may make your own use of; I have only to observe
+further, that when young women, at your time of life, are at all
+negligent of so nice a thing as reputation, they commonly live to repent
+it."
+
+He then arose to go, but Cecilia, not more offended than amazed, said,
+"I must beg, Sir, you will explain yourself!"
+
+"Certainly this matter," he answered, "must be immaterial to _me_: yet,
+as I have once been your guardian by the nomination of the Dean
+your uncle, I cannot forbear making an effort towards preventing any
+indiscretion: and frequent visits to a young man--"
+
+"Good God! Sir," interrupted Cecilia, "what is it you mean?"
+
+"It can certainly, as I said before, be nothing to _me_, though I should
+be glad to see you in better hands: but I cannot suppose you have been
+led to take such steps without some serious plan; and I would advise
+you, without loss of time, to think better of what you are about."
+
+"Should I think, Sir, to eternity," cried Cecilia, "I could never
+conjecture what you mean!"
+
+"You may not chuse," said he, proudly, "to understand me; but I have
+done. If it had been in my power to have interfered in your service with
+my Lord Derford, notwithstanding my reluctance to being involved in any
+fresh employment, I should have made a point of not refusing it: but
+this young man is nobody,--a very imprudent connection--"
+
+"What young man, Sir?"
+
+"Nay, _I_ know nothing of him! it is by no means likely I should: but as
+I had already been informed of your attention to him, the corroborating
+incidents of my servant's following you to his house, his friend's
+seeking him at yours, and his own waiting upon you this morning; were
+not well calculated to make me withdraw my credence to it."
+
+"Is it, then, Mr Belfield, Sir, concerning whom you draw these
+inferences, from circumstances the most accidental and unmeaning?"
+
+"It is by no means my practice," cried he, haughtily, and with evident
+marks of high displeasure at this speech, "to believe any thing lightly,
+or without even unquestionable authority; what once, therefore, I have
+credited, I do not often find erroneous. Mistake not, however, what I
+have said into supposing I have any objection to your marrying; on the
+contrary, it had been for the honour of my family had you been married a
+year ago I should not then have suffered the degradation of seeing a son
+of the first expectations in the kingdom upon the point of renouncing
+his birth, nor a woman of the first distinction ruined in her health,
+and broken for ever in her constitution."
+
+The emotions of Cecilia at this speech were too powerful for
+concealment; her colour varied, now reddening with indignation, now
+turning pale with apprehension; she arose, she trembled and sat down,
+she arose again, but not knowing what to say or what to do, again sat
+down.
+
+Mr Delvile then, making a stiff bow, wished her good morning.
+
+"Go not so, Sir!" cried she, in faltering accents; "let me at least
+convince you of the mistake with regard to Mr Belfield--"
+
+"My mistakes, ma'am," said he, with a contemptuous smile, "are perhaps
+not easily convicted: and I may possibly labour under others that
+would give you no less trouble: it may therefore be better to avoid any
+further disquisition."
+
+"No, not better," answered she, again recovering her courage from this
+fresh provocation; "I fear no disquisition; on the contrary, it is my
+interest to solicit one."
+
+"This intrepidity in a young woman," said he, ironically, "is certainly
+very commendable; and doubtless, as you are your own mistress, your
+having run out great part of your fortune, is nothing beyond what you
+have a right to do."
+
+"Me!" cried Cecilia, astonished, "run out great part of my fortune!"
+
+"Perhaps that is another _mistake_! I have not often been so
+unfortunate; and you are not, then, in debt?"
+
+"In debt, Sir?"
+
+"Nay, I have no intention to inquire into your affairs. Good morning to
+you, ma'am."
+
+"I beg, I entreat, Sir, that you will stop!--make me, at least,
+understand what you mean, whether you deign to hear my justification or
+not."
+
+"O, I am mistaken, it seems! misinformed, deceived; and you have neither
+spent more than you have received, nor taken up money of Jews? your
+minority has been clear of debts? and your fortune, now you are of age,
+will be free from incumbrances?"
+
+Cecilia, who now began to understand him, eagerly answered, "do you
+mean, Sir, the money which I took up last spring?"
+
+"O no; by no means, I conceive the whole to be a _mistake_!"
+
+And he went to the door.
+
+"Hear me but a moment, Sir!" cried she hastily, following him; "since
+you know of that transaction, do not refuse to listen to its occasion; I
+took up the money for Mr Harrel; it was all, and solely for him."
+
+"For Mr Harrel, was it?" said he, with an air of supercilious
+incredulity; "that was rather an unlucky step. Your servant, ma'am."
+
+And he opened the door.
+
+"You will not hear me, then? you will not credit me?" cried she in the
+cruellest agitation.
+
+"Some other time, ma'am; at present my avocations are too numerous to
+permit me."
+
+And again, stiffly bowing, he called to his servants, who were waiting
+in the hall, and put himself into his chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A SUSPICION.
+
+Cecilia was now left in a state of perturbation that was hardly to be
+endured. The contempt with which she had been treated during the whole
+visit was nothing short of insult, but the accusations with which it was
+concluded did not more irritate than astonish her.
+
+That some strange prejudice had been taken against her, even more than
+belonged to her connection with young Delvile, the message brought her
+by Dr Lyster had given her reason to suppose: what that prejudice was
+she now knew, though how excited she was still ignorant; but she found
+Mr Delvile had been informed she had taken up money of a Jew, without
+having heard it was for Mr Harrel, and that he had been acquainted with
+her visits in Portland-street, without seeming to know Mr Belfield had
+a sister. Two charges such as these, so serious in their nature, and so
+destructive of her character, filled her with horror and consternation,
+and even somewhat served to palliate his illiberal and injurious
+behaviour.
+
+But how reports thus false and thus disgraceful should be raised, and by
+what dark work of slander and malignity they had been spread, remained a
+doubt inexplicable. They could not, she was certain, be the mere rumour
+of chance, since in both the assertions there was some foundation of
+truth, however cruelly perverted, or basely over-charged.
+
+This led her to consider how few people there were not only who had
+interest, but who had power to propagate such calumnies; even her
+acquaintance with the Belfields she remembered not ever mentioning,
+for she knew none of their friends, and none of her own knew them. How,
+then, should it be circulated, that she "visited often at the house?"
+however be invented that it was from her "attention to the young man?"
+Henrietta, she was sure, was too good and too innocent to be guilty of
+such perfidy; and the young man himself had always shewn a modesty and
+propriety that manifested his total freedom from the vanity of such a
+suspicion, and an elevation of sentiment that would have taught him to
+scorn the boast, even if he believed the partiality.
+
+The mother, however, had neither been so modest nor so rational; she had
+openly avowed her opinion that Cecilia was in love with her son; and as
+that son, by never offering himself, had never been refused, her opinion
+had received no check of sufficient force, for a mind so gross and
+literal, to change it.
+
+This part, therefore, of the charge she gave to Mrs Belfield, whose
+officious and loquacious forwardness she concluded had induced her to
+narrate her suspicions, till, step by step, they had reached Mr Delvile.
+
+But though able, by the probability of this conjecture, to account for
+the report concerning Belfield, the whole affair of the debt remained a
+difficulty not to be solved. Mr Harrel, his wife, Mr Arnott, the Jew and
+Mr Monckton, were the only persons to whom the transaction was known;
+and though from five, a secret, in the course of so many months, might
+easily be supposed likely to transpire, those five were so particularly
+bound to silence, not only for her interest but their own, that it was
+not unreasonable to believe it as safe among them all, as if solely
+consigned to one. For herself, she had revealed it to no creature but Mr
+Monckton; not even to Delvile; though, upon her consenting to marry him,
+he had an undoubted right to be acquainted with the true state of
+her affairs; but such had been the hurry, distress, confusion and
+irresolution of her mind at that period, that this whole circumstance
+had been driven from it entirely, and she had, since, frequently
+blamed herself for such want of recollection. Mr Harrel, for a thousand
+reasons, she was certain had never named it; and had the communication
+come from his widow or from Mr Arnott, the motives would have been
+related as well as the debt, and she had been spared the reproach of
+contracting it for purposes of her own extravagance. The Jew, indeed,
+was, to her, under no obligation of secrecy, but he had an obligation
+far more binding,--he was tied to himself.
+
+A suspicion now arose in her mind which made it thrill with horror;
+"good God! she exclaimed, can Mr Monckton---"
+
+She stopt, even to herself;--she checked the idea;--she drove it hastily
+from her;--she was certain it was false and cruel,--she hated herself
+for having started it.
+
+"No," cried she, "he is my friend, the confirmed friend of many years,
+my well-wisher from childhood, my zealous counsellor and assistant
+almost from my birth to this hour:--such perfidy from him would not even
+be human!"
+
+Yet still her perplexity was undiminished; the affair was undoubtedly
+known, and it only could be known by the treachery of some one entrusted
+with it: and however earnestly her generosity combated her rising
+suspicions, she could not wholly quell them; and Mr Monckton's strange
+aversion to the Delviles, his earnestness to break off her connexion
+with them, occurred to her remembrance, and haunted her perforce with
+surmises to his disadvantage.
+
+That gentleman, when he came home, found her in this comfortless and
+fluctuating state, endeavouring to form conjectures upon what had
+happened, yet unable to succeed, but by suggestions which one moment
+excited her abhorrence of him, and the next of herself.
+
+He enquired, with his usual appearance of easy friendliness, into what
+had passed with her two guardians, and how she had settled her affairs.
+She answered without hesitation all his questions, but her manner was
+cold and reserved, though her communication was frank.
+
+This was not unheeded by Mr Monckton, who, after a short time, begged to
+know if any thing had disturbed her.
+
+Cecilia, ashamed of her doubts, though unable to get rid of them, then
+endeavoured to brighten up, and changed the subject to the difficulties
+she had had to encounter from the obstinacy of Mr Briggs.
+
+Mr Monckton for a while humoured this evasion; but when, by her
+own exertion, her solemnity began to wear off, he repeated his
+interrogatory, and would not be satisfied without an answer.
+
+Cecilia, earnest that surmises so injurious should be removed, then
+honestly, but without comments, related the scene which had just past
+between Mr Delvile and herself.
+
+No comments were, however, wanting to explain to Mr Monckton the change
+of her behaviour. "I see," he cried hastily, "what you cannot but
+suspect; and I will go myself to Mr Delvile, and insist upon his
+clearing me."
+
+Cecilia, shocked to have thus betrayed what was passing within her,
+assured him his vindication required not such a step, and begged he
+would counsel her how to discover this treachery, without drawing from
+her concern at it a conclusion so offensive to himself.
+
+He was evidently, however, and greatly disturbed; he declared his own
+wonder equal to hers how the affair had been betrayed, expressed the
+warmest indignation at the malevolent insinuations against her conduct,
+and lamented with mingled acrimony and grief, that there should exist
+even the possibility of casting the odium of such villainy upon himself.
+
+Cecilia, distressed, perplexed, and ashamed at once, again endeavoured
+to appease him, and though a lurking doubt obstinately clung to her
+understanding, the purity of her own principles, and the softness of her
+heart, pleaded strongly for his innocence, and urged her to detest her
+suspicion, though to conquer it they were unequal.
+
+"It is true," said he, with an air ingenuous though mortified, "I
+dislike the Delviles, and have always disliked them; they appear to me
+a jealous, vindictive, and insolent race, and I should have thought I
+betrayed the faithful regard I professed for you, had I concealed my
+opinion when I saw you in danger of forming an alliance with them; I
+spoke to you, therefore, with honest zeal, thoughtless of any enmity I
+might draw upon myself; but though it was an interference from which I
+hoped, by preventing the connection, to contribute to your happiness,
+it was not with a design to stop it at the expence of your character,--a
+design black, horrible, and diabolic! a design which must be formed by a
+Daemon, but which even a Daemon could never, I think, execute!"
+
+The candour of this speech, in which his aversion to the Delviles was
+openly acknowledged, and rationally justified, somewhat quieted the
+suspicions of Cecilia, which far more anxiously sought to be confuted
+than confirmed: she began, therefore, to conclude that some accident,
+inexplicable as unfortunate, had occasioned the partial discovery to Mr
+Delvile, by which her own goodness proved the source of her defamation:
+and though something still hung upon her mind that destroyed that firm
+confidence she had hitherto felt in the friendship of Mr Monckton, she
+held it utterly unjust to condemn him without proof, which she was not
+more unable to procure, than to satisfy herself with any reason why so
+perfidiously he should calumniate her.
+
+Comfortless, however, and tormented with conjectures equally vague and
+afflicting, she could only clear him to be lost in perplexity, she could
+only accuse him to be penetrated with horror. She endeavoured to suspend
+her judgment till time should develop the mystery, and only for the
+present sought to finish her business and leave London.
+
+She renewed, therefore, again, the subject of Mr Briggs, and told him
+how vain had been her effort to settle with him. Mr Monckton instantly
+offered his services in assisting her, and the next morning they went
+together to his house, where, after an obstinate battle, they gained
+a complete victory: Mr Briggs gave up all his accounts, and, in a few
+days, by the active interference of Mr Monckton, her affairs were wholly
+taken out of his hands. He stormed, and prophesied all ill to Cecilia,
+but it was not to any purpose; he was so disagreeable to her, by his
+manners, and so unintelligible to her in matters of business, that
+she was happy to have done with him; even though, upon inspecting his
+accounts, they were all found clear and exact, and his desire to retain
+his power over her fortune, proved to have no other motive than a love
+of money so potent, that to manage it, even for another, gave him a
+satisfaction he knew not how to relinquish.
+
+Mr Monckton, who, though a man of pleasure, understood business
+perfectly well, now instructed and directed her in making a general
+arrangement of her affairs. The estate which devolved to her from her
+uncle, and which was all in landed property, she continued to commit to
+the management of the steward who was employed in his life-time; and
+her own fortune from her father, which was all in the stocks, she now
+diminished to nothing by selling out to pay Mr Monckton the principal
+and interest which she owed him, and by settling with her Bookseller.
+
+While these matters were transacting, which, notwithstanding her
+eagerness to leave town, could not be brought into such a train as to
+permit her absence in less than a week, she passed her time chiefly
+alone. Her wishes all inclined her to bestow it upon Henrietta, but
+the late attack of Mr Delvile had frightened her from keeping up
+that connection, since however carefully she might confine it to the
+daughter, Mrs Belfield, she was certain, would impute it all to the son.
+
+That attack rested upon her mind, in defiance of all her endeavours
+to banish it; the contempt with which it was made seemed intentionally
+offensive, as if he had been happy to derive from her supposed ill
+conduct, a right to triumph over as well as reject her. She concluded,
+also, that Delvile would be informed of these calumnies, yet she judged
+his generosity by her own, and was therefore convinced he would not
+credit them: but what chiefly at this time encreased her sadness and
+uneasiness, was the mention of Mrs Delvile's broken constitution
+and ruined health. She had always preserved for that lady the most
+affectionate respect, and could not consider herself as the cause of her
+sufferings, without feeling the utmost concern, however conscious she
+had not wilfully occasioned them.
+
+Nor was this scene the only one by which her efforts to forget this
+family were defeated; her watchful monitor, Albany, failed not again to
+claim her promise; and though Mr Monckton earnestly exhorted her not to
+trust herself out with him, she preferred a little risk to the keenness
+of his reproaches, and the weather being good on the morning that he
+called, she consented to accompany him in his rambles: only charging her
+footman to follow where-ever they went, and not to fail enquiring for
+her if she stayed long out of his sight. These precautions were rather
+taken to satisfy Mr Monckton than herself, who, having now procured
+intelligence of the former disorder of his intellects, was fearful of
+some extravagance, and apprehensive for her safety.
+
+He took her to a miserable house in a court leading into Piccadilly,
+where, up three pair of stairs, was a wretched woman ill in bed, while a
+large family of children were playing in the room.
+
+"See here," cried he, "what human nature can endure! look at that poor
+wretch, distracted with torture, yet lying in all this noise! unable to
+stir in her bed, yet without any assistant! suffering the pangs of acute
+disease, yet wanting the necessaries of life!"
+
+Cecilia went up to the bed-side, and enquired more particularly into the
+situation of the invalid; but finding she could hardly speak from pain,
+she sent for the woman of the house, who kept a Green Grocer's shop on
+the ground floor, and desired her to hire a nurse for her sick lodger,
+to call all the children down stairs, and to send for an apothecary,
+whose bill she promised to pay. She then gave her some money to get what
+necessaries might be wanted, and said she would come again in two days
+to see how they went on.
+
+Albany, who listened to these directions with silent, yet eager
+attention, now clasped both his hands with a look of rapture, and
+exclaimed "Virtue yet lives,--and I have found her?"
+
+Cecilia, proud of such praise, and ambitious to deserve it, chearfully
+said, "where, Sir, shall we go now?"
+
+"Home;" answered he with an aspect the most benign; "I will not wear out
+thy pity by rendering woe familiar to it."
+
+Cecilia, though at this moment more disposed for acts of charity than
+for business or for pleasure, remembered that her fortune however large
+was not unlimited, and would not press any further bounty for objects
+she knew not, certain that occasions and claimants, far beyond her
+ability of answering, would but too frequently arise among those with
+whom she was more connected, she therefore yielded herself to his
+direction, and returned to Soho-Square.
+
+Again, however, he failed not to call the time she had appointed for
+re-visiting the invalid, to whom, with much gladness, he conducted her.
+
+The poor woman, whose disease was a rheumatic fever, was already much
+better; she had been attended by an apothecary who had given her some
+alleviating medicine; she had a nurse at her bedside, and the room being
+cleared of the children, she had had the refreshment of some sleep.
+
+She was now able to raise her head, and make her acknowledgments to her
+benefactress; but not a little was the surprise of Cecilia, when, upon
+looking in her face, she said, "Ah, madam, I have seen you before!"
+
+Cecilia, who had not the smallest recollection of her, in return desired
+to know when, or where?
+
+"When you were going to be married, madam, I was the Pew-Opener at ----
+Church."
+
+Cecilia started with secret horror, and involuntarily retreated from the
+bed; while Albany with a look of astonishment exclaimed, "Married!--why,
+then, is it unknown?"
+
+"Ask me not!" cried she, hastily; "it is all a mistake."
+
+"Poor thing!" cried he, "this, then, is the string thy nerves endure not
+to have touched! sooner will I expire than a breath of mine shall make
+it vibrate! Oh sacred be thy sorrow, for thou canst melt at that of the
+indigent!"
+
+Cecilia then made a few general enquiries, and heard that the poor
+woman, who was a widow, had been obliged to give up her office, from
+the frequent attacks which she suffered of the rheumatism; that she had
+received much assistance both from the Rector and the Curate of ----
+Church, but her continual illness, with the largeness of her family,
+kept her distressed in spite of all help.
+
+Cecilia promised to consider what she could do for her, and then giving
+her more money, returned to Lady Margaret's.
+
+Albany, who found that the unfortunate recollection of the Pew-Opener
+had awakened in his young pupil a melancholy train of reflections,
+seemed now to compassionate the sadness which hitherto he had reproved,
+and walking silently by her side till she came to Soho-Square, said
+in accents of kindness, "Peace light upon thy head, and dissipate thy
+woes!" and left her.
+
+"Ah when!" cried she to herself, "if thus they are to be revived
+for-ever!"
+
+Mr Monckton, who observed that something had greatly affected her, now
+expostulated warmly against Albany and his wild schemes; "You trifle
+with your own happiness," he cried, "by witnessing these scenes of
+distress, and you will trifle away your fortune upon projects you can
+never fulfil: the very air in those miserable houses is unwholesome for
+you to breathe; you will soon be affected with some of the diseases to
+which you so uncautiously expose yourself, and while not half you give
+in charity will answer the purpose you wish, you will be plundered by
+cheats and sharpers till you have nothing left to bestow. You must be
+more considerate for yourself, and not thus governed by Albany, whose
+insanity is but partially cured, and whose projects are so boundless,
+that the whole capital of the East India Company would not suffice to
+fulfil them."
+
+Cecilia, though she liked not the severity of this remonstrance,
+acknowledged there was some truth in it, and promised to be discreet,
+and take the reins into her own hands.
+
+There remained for her, however, no other satisfaction; and the path
+which had thus been pointed out to her, grew more and more alluring
+every step. Her old friends, the poor Hills, now occurred to her memory,
+and she determined to see herself in what manner they went on.
+
+The scene which this enquiry presented to her, was by no means
+calculated to strengthen Mr Monckton's doctrine, for the prosperity in
+which she found this little family, amply rewarded the liberality she
+had shewn to it, and proved an irresistible encouragement to similar
+actions. Mrs Hill wept for joy in recounting how well she succeeded,
+and Cecilia, delighted by the power of giving such pleasure, forgot all
+cautions and promises in the generosity which she displayed. She paid
+Mrs Roberts the arrears that were due to her, she discharged all that
+was owing for the children who had been put to school, desired they
+might still be sent to it solely at her expense, and gave the mother a
+sum of money to be laid out in presents for them all.
+
+To perform her promise with the Pew Opener was however more difficult;
+her ill health, and the extreme youth of her children making her utterly
+helpless: but these were not considerations for Cecilia to desert her,
+but rather motives for regarding her as more peculiarly an object
+of charity. She found she had once been a clear starcher, and was a
+tolerable plain work-woman; she resolved, therefore, to send her into
+the country, where she hoped to be able to get her some business, and
+knew that at least, she could help her, if unsuccessful, and see that
+her children were brought up to useful employments. The woman herself
+was enchanted at the plan, and firmly persuaded the country air would
+restore her health. Cecilia told her only to wait till she was well
+enough to travel, and promised, in the mean time, to look out some
+little habitation for her. She then gave her money to pay her bills, and
+for her journey, and writing a full direction where she would hear of
+her at Bury, took leave of her till that time.
+
+These magnificent donations and designs, being communicated to Albany,
+seemed a renovation to him of youth, spirit, and joy! while their effect
+upon Mr Monckton resembled an annihilation of all three! to see money
+thus sported away, which he had long considered as his own, to behold
+those sums which he had destined for his pleasures, thus lavishly
+bestowed upon beggars, excited a rage he could with difficulty conceal,
+and an uneasiness he could hardly endure; and he languished, he sickened
+for the time, when he might put a period to such romantic proceedings.
+
+Such were the only occupations which interrupted the solitude of
+Cecilia, except those which were given to her by actual business; and
+the moment her affairs were in so much forwardness that they could be
+managed by letters, she prepared for returning into the country. She
+acquainted Lady Margaret and Mr Monckton with her design, and gave
+orders to her servants to be ready to set off the next day.
+
+Mr Monckton made not any opposition, and refused himself the
+satisfaction of accompanying her: and Lady Margaret, whose purpose was
+now answered, and who wished to be in the country herself, determined to
+follow her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A DISTURBANCE.
+
+This matter being settled at breakfast, Cecilia, having but one day more
+to spend in London, knew not how to let it pass without taking leave of
+Henrietta, though she chose not again to expose herself to the forward
+insinuations of her mother; she sent her, therefore, a short note,
+begging to see her at Lady Margaret's, and acquainting her that the next
+day she was going out of town.
+
+Henrietta returned the following answer.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Madam,--My mother is gone to market, and I must not go out without her
+leave; I have run to the door at every knock this whole week in hopes
+you were coming, and my heart has jumpt at every coach that has gone
+through the street. Dearest lady, why did you tell me you would come? I
+should not have thought of such a great honour if you had not put it in
+my head. And now I have got the use of a room where I can often be alone
+for two or three hours together. And so I shall this morning, if it
+was possible my dear Miss Beverley could come. But I don't mean to be
+teasing, and I would not be impertinent or encroaching for the world;
+but only the thing is I have a great deal to say to you, and if you was
+not so rich a lady, and so much above me, I am sure I should love you
+better than any body in the whole world, almost; and now I dare say I
+shan't see you at all; for it rains very hard, and my mother, I know,
+will be sadly angry if I ask to go in a coach. O dear! I don't know
+what I can do! for it will half break my heart, if my dear Miss Beverley
+should go out of town, and I not see her!--I am, Madam, with the
+greatest respectfulness, your most humble servant,
+
+HENRIETTA BELFIELD.
+
+This artless remonstrance, joined to the intelligence that she could
+see her alone, made Cecilia instantly order a chair, and go herself to
+Portland-street: for she found by this letter there was much doubt if
+she could otherwise see her, and the earnestness of Henrietta made her
+now not endure to disappoint her. "She has much," cried she, "to say to
+me, and I will no longer refuse to hear her; she shall unbosom to me
+her gentle heart, for we have now nothing to fear from each other. She
+promises herself pleasure from the communication, and doubtless it must
+be some relief to her. Oh were there any friendly bosom, in which I
+might myself confide!--happier Henrietta! less fearful of thy pride,
+less tenacious of thy dignity! thy sorrows at least seek the consolation
+of sympathy,--mine, alas! fettered by prudence, must fly it!"
+
+She was shewn into the parlour, which she had the pleasure to find
+empty; and, in an instant, the warm-hearted Henrietta was in her arms.
+"This is sweet of you indeed," cried she, "for I did not know how to ask
+it, though it rains so hard I could not have walked to you, and I don't
+know what I should have done, if you had gone away and quite forgot me."
+
+She then took her into the back parlour, which she said they had lately
+hired, and, as it was made but little use of, she had it almost entirely
+to herself.
+
+There had passed a sad scene, she told her, at the meeting with her
+brother, though now they were a little more comfortable; yet, her
+mother, she was sure, would never be at rest till he got into some
+higher way of life; "And, indeed, I have some hopes," she continued,
+"that we shall be able by and bye to do something better for him; for
+he has got one friend in the world, yet; thank God, and such a noble
+friend!--indeed I believe he can do whatever he pleases for him,--that
+is I mean I believe if he was to ask any thing for him, there's nobody
+would deny him. And this is what I wanted to talk to you about."--
+
+Cecilia, who doubted not but she meant Delvile, scarce knew how to press
+the subject, though she came with no other view: Henrietta, however, too
+eager to want solicitation, went on.
+
+"But the question is whether we shall be able to prevail upon my brother
+to accept any thing, for he grows more and more unwilling to be obliged,
+and the reason is, that being poor, he is afraid, I believe, people
+should think he wants to beg of them: though if they knew him as well
+as I do, they would not long think that, for I am sure he would a great
+deal rather be starved to death. But indeed, to say the truth, I am
+afraid he has been sadly to blame in this affair, and quarrelled when
+there was no need to be affronted; for I have seen a gentleman who knows
+a great deal better than my brother what people should do, and he says
+he took every thing wrong that was done, all the time he was at Lord
+Vannelt's."
+
+"And how does this gentleman know it?"
+
+"O because he went himself to enquire about it; for he knows Lord
+Vannelt very well, and it was by his means my brother came acquainted
+with him. And this gentleman would not have wished my brother to be used
+ill any more than I should myself, so I am sure I may believe what he
+says. But my poor brother, not being a lord himself, thought every body
+meant to be rude to him, and because he knew he was poor, he suspected
+they all behaved disrespectfully to him. But this gentleman gave me his
+word that every body liked him and esteemed him, and if he would not
+have been so suspicious, they would all have done any thing for him in
+the world."
+
+"You know this gentleman very well, then?"
+
+"O no, madam!" she answered hastily, "I don't know him at all! he only
+comes here to see my brother; it would be very impertinent for me to
+call him an acquaintance of mine."
+
+"Was it before your brother, then, he held this conversation with you?"
+
+"O no, my brother would have been affronted with him, too, if he had!
+but he called here to enquire for him at the time when he was lost to
+us, and my mother quite went down upon her knees to him to beg him to
+go to Lord Vannelt's, and make excuses for him, if he had not behaved
+properly: but if my brother was to know this, he would hardly speak to
+her again! so when this gentleman came next, I begged him not to mention
+it, for my mother happened to be out, and so I saw him alone."
+
+"And did he stay with you long?"
+
+"No, ma'am, a very short time indeed; but I asked him questions all the
+while, and kept him as long as I could, that I might hear all he had to
+say about my brother."
+
+"Have you never seen him since?"
+
+"No, ma'am, not once! I suppose he does not know my brother is come back
+to us. Perhaps when he does, he will call."
+
+"Do you wish him to call?"
+
+"Me?" cried she, blushing, "a little;--sometimes I do;--for my brother's
+sake."
+
+"For your brother's sake! Ah my dear Henrietta! but tell me,--or _don't_
+tell me if you had rather not,--did I not once see you kissing a letter?
+perhaps it was from this same noble friend?"
+
+"It was not a letter, madam," said she, looking down, "it was only the
+cover of one to my brother."
+
+"The cover of a letter only!--and that to your brother!--is it possible
+you could so much value it?"
+
+"Ah madam! _You_, who are always used to the good and the wise, who see
+no other sort of people but those in high life, _you_ can have no notion
+how they strike those that they are new to!--but I who see them seldom,
+and who live with people so very unlike them--Oh you cannot guess how
+sweet to _me_ is every thing that belongs to them! whatever has but
+once been touched by their hands, I should like to lock up, and keep for
+ever! though if I was used to them, as you are, perhaps I might think
+less of them."
+
+Alas! thought Cecilia, who by _them_ knew she only meant _him_, little
+indeed would further intimacy protect you!
+
+"We are all over-ready," continued Henrietta, "to blame others, and that
+is the way I have been doing all this time myself; but I don't blame my
+poor brother now for living so with the great as I used to do, for now
+I have seen a little more of the world, I don't wonder any longer at his
+behaviour: for I know how it is, and I see that those who have had good
+educations, and kept great company, and mixed with the world,--O it
+is another thing!--they seem quite a different species!--they are so
+gentle, so soft-mannered! nothing comes from them but what is meant
+to oblige! they seem as if they only lived to give pleasure to other
+people, and as if they never thought at all of themselves!"
+
+"Ah Henrietta!" said Cecilia, shaking her head, "you have caught the
+enthusiasm of your brother, though you so long condemned it! Oh have a
+care lest, like him also, you find it as pernicious as it is alluring!"
+
+"There, is no danger for _me_, madam," answered she, "for the people I
+so much admire are quite out of my reach. I hardly ever even see them;
+and perhaps it may so happen I may see them no more!"
+
+"The people?" said Cecilia, smiling, "are there, then, many you so much
+distinguish?"
+
+"Oh no indeed!" cried she, eagerly, "there is only one! there _can_
+be--I mean there are only a few--" she checked herself, and stopt.
+
+"Whoever you admire," cried Cecilia, "your admiration cannot but honour:
+yet indulge it not too far, lest it should wander from your heart to
+your peace, and make you wretched for life."
+
+"Ah madam!--I see you know who is the particular person I was thinking
+of! but indeed you are quite mistaken if you suppose any thing bad of
+me!"
+
+"Bad of you!" cried Cecilia, embracing her, "I scarce think so well of
+any one!"
+
+"But I mean, madam, if you think I forget he is so much above me. But
+indeed I never do; for I only admire him for his goodness to my brother,
+and never think of him at all, but just by way of comparing him,
+sometimes, to the other people that I see, because he makes me hate them
+so, that I wish I was never to see them again."
+
+"His acquaintance, then," said Cecilia, "has done you but an ill office,
+and happy it would be for you could you forget you had ever made it."
+
+"O, I shall never do that! for the more I think of him, the more I
+am out of humour with every body else! O Miss Beverley! we have a sad
+acquaintance indeed! I'm sure I don't wonder my brother was so ashamed
+of them. They are all so rude, and so free, and put one so out of
+countenance,--O how different is this person you are thinking of! he
+would not distress anybody, or make one ashamed for all the world! _You_
+only are like him! always gentle, always obliging!--sometimes I think
+you must be his sister--once, too, I heard--but that was contradicted."
+
+A deep sigh escaped Cecilia at this speech; she guessed too well
+what she might have heard, and she knew too well how it might be
+contradicted.
+
+"Surely, _you_ cannot be unhappy, Miss Beverley!" said Henrietta, with a
+look of mingled surprise and concern.
+
+"I have much, I own," cried Cecilia, assuming more chearfulness, "to be
+thankful for, and I endeavour not to forget it."
+
+"O how often do I think," cried Henrietta, "that you, madam, are
+the happiest person in the world! with every thing at your own
+disposal,--with every body in love with you, with all the money that you
+can wish for, and so much sweetness that nobody can envy you it! with
+power to keep just what company you please, and every body proud to be
+one of the number!--Oh if I could chuse who I would be, I should sooner
+say Miss Beverley than any princess in the world!"
+
+Ah, thought Cecilia, if such is my situation,--how cruel that by one
+dreadful blow all its happiness should be thrown away!
+
+"Were I a rich lady, like you," continued Henrietta, "and quite in my
+own power, then, indeed, I might soon think of nothing but those people
+that I admire! and that makes me often wonder that _you_, madam, who are
+just such another as himself--but then, indeed, you may see so many of
+the same sort, that just this one may not so much strike you: and for
+that reason I hope with all my heart that he will never be married as
+long as he lives, for as he must take some lady in just such high life
+as his own, I should always be afraid that she would never love him as
+she ought to do!"
+
+He need not now be single, thought Cecilia, were that all he had cause
+to apprehend!
+
+"I often think," added Henrietta, "that the rich would be as much
+happier for marrying the poor, as the poor for marrying the rich, for
+then they would take somebody that would try to deserve their kindness,
+and now they only take those that know they have a right to it. Often
+and often have I thought so about this very gentleman! and sometimes
+when I have been in his company, and seen his civility and his
+sweetness, I have fancied I was rich and grand myself, and it has quite
+gone out of my head that I was nothing but poor Henrietta Belfield!"
+
+"Did he, then," cried Cecilia a little alarmed, "ever seek to ingratiate
+himself into your favour?"
+
+"No, never! but when treated with so much softness, 'tis hard always
+to remember one's meanness! You, madam, have no notion of that task: no
+more had I myself till lately, for I cared not who was high, nor who was
+low: but now, indeed, I must own I have some times wished myself richer!
+yet he assumes so little, that at other times, I have almost forgot all
+distance between us, and even thought--Oh foolish thought!--
+
+"Tell it, sweet Henrietta, however!"
+
+"I will tell you, madam, every thing! for my heart has been bursting to
+open itself, and nobody have I dared trust. I have thought, then, I have
+sometimes thought,--my true affection, my faithful fondness, my glad
+obedience,--might make him, if he did but know them, happier in me than
+in a greater lady!"
+
+"Indeed," cried Cecilia, extremely affected by this plaintive
+tenderness, "I believe it--and were I him, I could not, I think,
+hesitate a moment in my choice!"
+
+Henrietta now, hearing her mother coming in, made a sign to her to be
+silent; but Mrs Belfield had not been an instant in the passage, before
+a thundering knocking at the street-door occasioned it to be instantly
+re-opened. A servant then enquired if Mrs Belfield was at home, and
+being answered by herself in the affirmative, a chair was brought into
+the house.
+
+But what was the astonishment of Cecilia, when, in another moment, she
+heard from the next parlour the voice of Mr Delvile senior, saying,
+"Your servant, ma'am; Mrs Belfield, I presume?"
+
+There was no occasion, now, to make a sign to her of silence, for her
+own amazement was sufficient to deprive her of speech.
+
+"Yes, Sir," answered Mrs Belfield; "but I suppose, Sir, you are some
+gentleman to my son."
+
+"No, madam," he returned, "my business is with yourself."
+
+Cecilia now recovering from her surprise, determined to hasten unnoticed
+out of the house, well knowing that to be seen in it would be regarded
+as a confirmation of all that he had asserted. She whispered, therefore,
+to Henrietta, that she must instantly run away, but, upon softly opening
+the door leading to the passage, she found Mr Delvile's chairmen, and a
+footman there in waiting.
+
+She closed it again, irresolute what to do: but after a little
+deliberation, she concluded to out-stay him, as she was known to all
+his servants, who would not fail to mention seeing her; and a retreat so
+private was worse than any other risk. A chair was also in waiting for
+herself, but it was a hackney one, and she could not be known by it;
+and her footman she had fortunately dismissed, as he had business to
+transact for her journey next day.
+
+Mean-while the thinness of the partition between the two parlours made
+her hearing every word that was said unavoidable.
+
+"I am sure, Sir, I shall be very willing to oblige you," Mrs Belfield
+answered; "but pray, Sir, what's your name?"
+
+"My name, ma'am," he replied, in a rather elevated voice, "I am seldom
+obliged to announce myself; nor is there any present necessity I should
+make it known. It is sufficient I assure you, you are speaking to no
+very common person, and probably to one you will have little chance to
+meet with again."
+
+"But how can I tell your business, Sir, if I don't so much as know your
+name?"
+
+"My business, madam, I mean to tell myself; your affair is only to hear
+it. I have some questions, indeed, to ask, which I must trouble you to
+answer, but they will sufficiently explain themselves to prevent
+any difficulty upon your part. There is no need, therefore, of any
+introductory ceremonial."
+
+"Well, Sir," said Mrs Belfield, wholly insensible of this ambiguous
+greatness, "if you mean to make your name a secret."
+
+"Few names, I believe, ma'am," cried he, haughtily, "have less the
+advantage of secrecy than mine! on the contrary, this is but one among
+a very few houses in this town to which my person would not immediately
+announce it. That, however, is immaterial; and you will be so good as to
+rest satisfied with my assurances, that the person with whom you are now
+conversing, will prove no disgrace to your character."
+
+Mrs Belfield, overpowered, though hardly knowing, with what, only said
+_he was very welcome_, and begged him to sit down.
+
+"Excuse me, ma'am," he answered, "My business is but of a moment, and my
+avocations are too many to suffer my infringing that time. You say you
+have a son; I have heard of him, also, somewhere before; pray will you
+give me leave to enquire--I don't mean to go deep into the matter,--but
+particular family occurrences make it essential for me to know,--whether
+there is not a young person of rather a capital fortune, to whom he is
+supposed to make proposals?"
+
+"Lack-a-day, no, Sir!" answered Mrs Belfield, to the infinite relief of
+Cecilia, who instantly concluded this question referred to herself.
+
+"I beg your pardon, then; good morning to you, ma'am," said Mr Delvile,
+in a tone that spoke his disappointment; but added "And there is no such
+young person, you say, who favours his pretensions?"
+
+"Dear Sir," cried she, "why there's nobody he'll so much as put the
+question to! there's a young lady at this very time, a great fortune,
+that has as much a mind to him, I tell him, as any man need desire to
+see; but there's no making him think it! though he has been brought up
+at the university, and knows more about all the things, or as much, as
+any body in the king's dominions."
+
+"O, then," cried Mr Delvile, in a voice of far more complacency, "it is
+not on the side of the young woman that the difficulty seems to rest?"
+
+"Lord, no, Sir! he might have had her again and again only for asking!
+She came after him ever so often; but being brought up, as I said, at
+the university, he thought he knew better than me, and so my preaching
+was all as good as lost upon him."
+
+The consternation of Cecilia at these speeches could by nothing be
+equalled but by the shame of Henrietta, who, though she knew not to
+whom her mother made them, felt all the disgrace and the shock of them
+herself.
+
+"I suppose, Sir," continued Mrs Belfield, "you know my son?"
+
+"No, ma'am, my acquaintance is--not very universal."
+
+"Then, Sir, you are no judge how well he might make his own terms. And
+as to this young lady, she found him out, Sir, when not one of his own
+natural friends could tell where in the world he was gone! She was the
+first, Sir, to come and tell me news of him though I was his own mother!
+Love, Sir, is prodigious for quickness! it can see, I sometimes
+think, through bricks and mortar. Yet all this would not do, he was so
+obstinate not to take the hint!"
+
+Cecilia now felt so extremely provoked, she was upon the point of
+bursting in upon them to make her own vindication; but as her passions,
+though they tried her reason never conquered it, she restrained herself
+by considering that to issue forth from a room in that house, would do
+more towards strengthening what was thus boldly asserted, than all her
+protestations could have chance to destroy.
+
+"And as to young ladies themselves," continued Mrs Belfield, "they know
+no more how to make their minds known than a baby does: so I suppose
+he'll shilly shally till somebody else will cry snap, and take her. It
+is but a little while ago that it was all the report she was to have
+young Mr Delvile, one of her guardian's sons."
+
+"I am sorry report was so impertinent," cried Mr Delvile, with much
+displeasure; "young Mr Delvile is not to be disposed of with so little
+ceremony; he knows better what is due to his family."
+
+Cecilia here blushed from indignation, and Henrietta sighed from
+despondency.
+
+"Lord, Sir," answered Mrs Belfield, "what should his family do better?
+I never heard they were any so rich, and I dare say the old gentleman,
+being her guardian, took care to put his son enough in her way, however
+it came about that they did not make a match of it: for as to old Mr
+Delvile, all the world says---"
+
+"All the world takes a very great liberty," angrily interrupted
+Mr Delvile, "in saying any thing about him: and you will excuse my
+informing you that a person of his rank and consideration, is not
+lightly to be mentioned upon every little occasion that occurs."
+
+"Lord, Sir," cried Mrs Belfield, somewhat surprised at this unexpected
+prohibition, "I don't care for my part if I never mention the old
+gentleman's name again! I never heard any good of him in my life, for
+they say he's as proud as Lucifer, and nobody knows what it's of, for
+they say--"
+
+"_They_ say?" cried he, firing with rage, "and who are _they_? be so
+good as inform me that?"
+
+"Lord, every body, Sir! it's his common character."
+
+"Then every body is extremely indecent," speaking very loud, "to pay
+no more respect to one of the first families in England. It is a
+licentiousness that ought by no means to be suffered with impunity."
+
+Here, the street-door being kept open by the servants in waiting, a
+new step was heard in the passage, which Henrietta immediately knowing,
+turned, with uplifted hands to Cecilia, and whispered, "How unlucky!
+it's my brother! I thought he would not have returned till night!"
+
+"Surely he will not come in here?" re-whispered Cecilia.
+
+But, at the same moment, he opened the door, and entered the room. He
+was immediately beginning an apology, and starting back, but Henrietta
+catching him by the arm, told him in a low voice, that she had made use
+of his room because she had thought him engaged for the day, but begged
+him to keep still and quiet, as the least noise would discover them.
+
+Belfield then stopt; but the embarrassment of Cecilia was extreme;
+to find herself in his room after the speeches she had heard from his
+mother, and to continue with him in it by connivance, when she knew she
+had been represented as quite at his service, distressed and provoked
+her immeasurably; and she felt very angry with Henrietta for not sooner
+informing her whose apartment she had borrowed. Yet now to remove, and
+to be seen, was not to be thought of; she kept, therefore, fixed to
+her seat, though changing colour every moment from the variety of her
+emotions.
+
+During this painful interruption she lost Mrs Belfield's next answer,
+and another speech or two from Mr Delvile, to whose own passion and
+loudness was owing Belfield's entering his room unheard: but the next
+voice that called their attention was that of Mr Hobson, who just then
+walked into the parlour.
+
+"Why what's to do here?" cried he, facetiously, "nothing but chairs and
+livery servants! Why, ma'am, what is this your rout day? Sir your most
+humble servant. I ask pardon, but I did not know you at first. But come,
+suppose we were all to sit down? Sitting's as cheap as standing, and
+what I say is this; when a man's tired, it's more agreeable."
+
+"Have you any thing further, ma'am," said Mr Delvile, with great
+solemnity, "to communicate to me?"
+
+"No, Sir," said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, "it's no business of mine
+to be communicating myself to a gentleman that I don't know the name of.
+Why, Mr Hobson, how come you to know the gentleman?"
+
+"To know _me_!" repeated Mr Delvile, scornfully.
+
+"Why I can't say much, ma'am," answered Mr Hobson, "as to my knowing the
+gentleman, being I have been in his company but once; and what I say is,
+to know a person if one leaves but a quart in a hogshead, it's two pints
+too much. That's my notion. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business
+at 'Squire Monckton's t'other morning. Every body was no-how, as one may
+say. But, Sir, if I may be so free, pray what is your private opinion of
+that old gentleman that talked so much out of the way?"
+
+"My private opinion, Sir?"
+
+"Yes, Sir; I mean if it's no secret, for as to a secret, I hold it's
+what no man has a right to enquire into, being of its own nature it's
+a thing not to be told. Now as to what I think myself, my doctrine is
+this; I am quite of the old gentleman's mind about some things, and
+about others I hold him to be quite wide of the mark. But as to talking
+in such a whisky frisky manner that nobody can understand him, why
+its tantamount to not talking at all, being he might as well hold his
+tongue. That's what _I_ say. And then as to that other article, of
+abusing a person for not giving away all his lawful gains to every
+cripple in the streets, just because he happens to have but one leg, or
+one eye, or some such matter, why it's knowing nothing of business! it's
+what _I_ call talking at random."
+
+"When you have finished, Sir," said Mr Delvile, "you will be so good to
+let me know."
+
+"I don't mean to intrude, Sir; that's not my way, so if you are upon
+business--"
+
+"What else, Sir, could you suppose brought me hither? However, I by no
+means purpose any discussion. I have only a few words more to say to
+this gentlewoman, and as my time is not wholly inconsequential, I should
+not be sorry to have an early opportunity of being heard."
+
+"I shall leave you with the lady directly, Sir; for I know business
+better than to interrupt it: but seeing chairs in the entry, my notion
+was I should see ladies in the parlour, not much thinking of gentlemen's
+going about in that manner, being I never did it myself. But I have
+nothing to offer against that; let every man have his own way; that's
+what _I_ say. Only just let me ask the lady before I go, what's the
+meaning of my seeing two chairs in the entry, and only a person for one
+in the parlour? The gentleman, I suppose, did not come in _both_; ha!
+ha! ha!"
+
+"Why now you put me in mind," said Mrs Belfield, "I saw a chair as
+soon as I come in; and I was just going to say who's here, when this
+gentleman's coming put it out of my head."
+
+"Why this is what I call Hocus Pocus work!" said Mr Hobson; "but I shall
+make free to ask the chairmen who they are waiting for."
+
+Mrs Belfield, however, anticipated him; for running into the passage,
+she angrily called out, "What do you do here, Misters? do you only come
+to be out of the rain? I'll have no stand made of my entry, I can tell
+you!"
+
+"Why we are waiting for the lady," cried one of them.
+
+"Waiting for a fiddlestick!" said Mrs Belfield; "here's no lady here,
+nor no company; so if you think I'll have my entry filled up by two
+hulking fellows for nothing, I shall shew you the difference. One's dirt
+enough of one's own, without taking people out of the streets to help
+one. Who do you think's to clean after you?"
+
+"That's no business of ours; the lady bid us wait," answered the man.
+
+Cecilia at this dispute could with pleasure have cast herself out of the
+window to avoid being discovered; but all plan of escape was too late;
+Mrs Belfield called aloud for her daughter, and then, returning to the
+front parlour, said, "I'll soon know if there's company come to my house
+without my knowing it!" and opened a door leading to the next room!
+
+Cecilia, who had hitherto sat fixed to her chair, now hastily arose, but
+in a confusion too cruel for speech: Belfield, wondering even at his own
+situation, and equally concerned and surprised at her evident distress,
+had himself the feeling of a culprit, though without the least knowledge
+of any cause: and Henrietta, terrified at the prospect of her mother's
+anger, retreated as much as possible out of sight.
+
+Such was the situation of the discovered, abashed, perplexed, and
+embarrassed! while that of the discoverers, far different, was bold,
+delighted, and triumphant!
+
+"So!" cried Mrs Belfield, "why here's Miss Beverley!--in my son's back
+room!" winking at Mr Delvile.
+
+"Why here's a lady, sure enough!" said Mr Hobson, "and just where she
+should be, and that is with a gentleman. Ha! ha! that's the right way,
+according to my notion! that's the true maxim for living agreeable."
+
+"I came to see Miss Belfield," cried Cecilia, endeavouring, but vainly,
+to speak with composure, "and she brought me into this room."
+
+"I am but this moment," cried Belfield, with eagerness, "returned home;
+and unfortunately broke into the room, from total ignorance of the
+honour which Miss Beverley did my sister."
+
+These speeches, though both literally true, sounded, in the
+circumstances which brought them out, so much as mere excuses, that
+while Mr Delvile haughtily marked his incredulity by a motion of his
+chin, Mrs Belfield continued winking at him most significantly, and Mr
+Hobson, with still less ceremony, laughed aloud.
+
+"I have nothing more, ma'am," said Mr Delvile to Mrs Belfield, "to
+enquire, for the few doubts with which I came to this house are now
+entirely satisfied. Good morning to you, ma'am."
+
+"Give me leave, Sir," said Cecilia, advancing with more spirit, "to
+explain, in presence of those who can best testify my veracity, the real
+circumstances--"
+
+"I would by no means occasion you such unnecessary trouble, ma'am,"
+answered he, with an air at once exulting and pompous, "the situation in
+which I see you abundantly satisfies my curiosity, and saves me from the
+apprehension I was under of being again convicted of a _mistake_!"
+
+He then made her a stiff bow, and went to his chair.
+
+Cecilia, colouring deeply at this contemptuous treatment, coldly took
+leave of Henrietta, and courtsying to Mrs Belfield, hastened into the
+passage, to get into her own.
+
+Henrietta was too much intimidated to speak, and Belfield was too
+delicate to follow her; Mr Hobson only said "The young lady seems quite
+dashed;" but Mrs Belfield pursued her with entreaties she would stay.
+
+She was too angry, however, to make any answer but by a distant bow of
+the head, and left the house with a resolution little short of a vow
+never again to enter it.
+
+Her reflections upon this unfortunate visit were bitter beyond measure;
+the situation in which she had been surprised,--clandestinely concealed
+with only Belfield and his sister--joined to the positive assertions of
+her partiality for him made by his mother, could not, to Mr Delvile, but
+appear marks irrefragable that his charge in his former conversation
+was rather mild than over-strained, and that the connection he had
+mentioned, for whatever motives denied, was incontestably formed.
+
+The apparent conviction of this part of the accusation, might also
+authorise, to one but too happy in believing ill of her, an implicit
+faith in that which regarded her having run out her fortune. His
+determination not to hear her shewed the inflexibility of his character;
+and it was evident, notwithstanding his parading pretensions of wishing
+her welfare, that his inordinate pride was inflamed, at the very
+supposition he could be mistaken or deceived for a moment.
+
+Even Delvile himself, if gone abroad, might now hear this account with
+exaggerations that would baffle all his confidence: his mother,
+too, greatly as she esteemed and loved her, might have the matter so
+represented as to stagger her good opinion;--these were thoughts the
+most afflicting she could harbour, though their probability was such
+that to banish them was impossible.
+
+To apply again to Mr Delvile to hear her vindication, was to subject
+herself to insolence, and almost to court indignity. She disdained
+even to write to him, since his behaviour called for resentment, not
+concession; and such an eagerness to be heard, in opposition to all
+discouragement, would be practising a meanness that would almost merit
+repulsion.
+
+Her first inclination was to write to Mrs Delvile, but what now, to her,
+was either her defence or accusation? She had solemnly renounced all
+further intercourse with her, she had declared against writing again,
+and prohibited her letters: and, therefore, after much fluctuation of
+opinion, her delicacy concurred with her judgment, to conclude it would
+be most proper, in a situation so intricate, to leave the matter to
+chance, and commit her character to time.
+
+In the evening, while she was at tea with Lady Margaret and Miss Bennet,
+she was suddenly called out to speak to a young woman; and found, to her
+great surprise, she was no other than Henrietta.
+
+"Ah madam!" she cried, "how angrily did you go away this morning! it
+has made me miserable ever since, and if you go out of town without
+forgiving me, I shall fret myself quite ill! my mother is gone out to
+tea, and I have run here all alone, and in the dark, and in the wet,
+to beg and pray you will forgive me, for else I don't know what I shall
+do!"
+
+"Sweet, gentle girl!" cried Cecilia, affectionately embracing her, "if
+you had excited all the anger I am capable of feeling, such softness as
+this would banish it, and make me love you more than ever!"
+
+Henrietta then said, in her excuse, that she had thought herself quite
+sure of her brother's absence, who almost always spent the whole day at
+the bookseller's, as in writing himself he perpetually wanted to consult
+other authors, and had very few books at their lodgings: but she would
+not mention that the room was his, lest Cecilia should object to
+making use of it, and she knew she had no other chance of having the
+conversation with her she had so very long wished for. She then again
+begged her pardon, and hoped the behaviour of her mother would not
+induce her to give her up, as she was shocked at it beyond measure, and
+as her brother, she assured her, was as innocent of it as herself.
+
+Cecilia heard her with pleasure, and felt for her an encreasing regard.
+The openness of her confidence in the morning had merited all her
+affection, and she gave her the warmest protestations of a friendship
+which she was certain would be lasting as her life.
+
+Henrietta then, with a countenance that spoke the lightness of her
+heart, hastily took her leave, saying she did not dare be out longer,
+lest her mother should discover her excursion. Cecilia insisted,
+however, upon her going in a chair, which she ordered her servant to
+attend, and take care himself to discharge.
+
+This visit, joined to the tender and unreserved conversation of the
+morning, gave Cecilia the strongest desire to invite her to her house in
+the country; but the terror of Mrs Belfield's insinuations, added to
+the cruel interpretations she had to expect from Mr Delvile, forbid her
+indulging this wish, though it was the only one that just now she could
+form.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A CALM.
+
+Cecilia took leave over night of the family, as she would not stay their
+rising in the morning: Mr Monckton, though certain not to sleep when she
+was going, forbearing to mark his solicitude by quitting his apartment
+at any unusual hour. Lady Margaret parted from her with her accustomed
+ungraciousness, and Miss Bennet, because in her presence, in a manner
+scarcely less displeasing.
+
+The next morning, with only her servants, the moment it was light, she
+set out. Her journey was without incident or interruption, and she went
+immediately to the house of Mrs Bayley, where she had settled to board
+till her own was finished.
+
+Mrs Bayley was a mere good sort of woman, who lived decently well with
+her servants, and tolerably well with her neighbours, upon a small
+annuity, which made her easy and comfortable, though by no means
+superior to such an addition to her little income as an occasional
+boarder might produce.
+
+Here Cecilia continued a full month: which time had no other
+employment than what she voluntarily gave to herself by active deeds of
+benevolence.
+
+At Christmas, to the no little joy of the neighbourhood, she took
+possession of her own house, which was situated about three miles from
+Bury.
+
+The better sort of people were happy to see her thus settled amongst
+them, and the poorer, who by what they already had received, knew
+well what they still might expect, regarded the day in which she
+fixed herself in her mansion, as a day to themselves of prosperity and
+triumph.
+
+As she was no longer, as hitherto, repairing to a temporary habitation,
+which at pleasure she might quit, and to which, at a certain period, she
+could have no possible claim, but to a house which was her own for
+ever, or, at least, could solely by her own choice be transferred,
+she determined, as much as was in her power, in quitting her desultory
+dwellings, to empty her mind of the transactions which had passed in
+them, and upon entering a house where she was permanently to reside,
+to make the expulsion of her past sorrows, the basis upon which to
+establish her future serenity.
+
+And this, though a work of pain and difficulty, was not impracticable;
+her sensibility, indeed, was keen, and she had suffered from it the
+utmost torture; but her feelings were not more powerful than her
+understanding was strong, and her fortitude was equal to her trials.
+Her calamities had saddened, but not weakened her mind, and the words
+of Delvile in speaking of his mother occurred to her now with all
+the conviction of experience, that "evils inevitable are always best
+supported, because known to be past amendment, and felt to give defiance
+to struggling." [Footnote: See Vol. ii. p. 317.]
+
+A plan by which so great a revolution was to be wrought in her mind, was
+not to be effected by any sudden effort of magnanimity, but by a regular
+and even tenour of courage mingled with prudence. Nothing, therefore,
+appeared to her so indispensable as constant employment, by which a
+variety of new images might force their way in her mind to supplant
+the old ones, and by which no time might be allowed for brooding over
+melancholy retrospections.
+
+Her first effort, in this work of mental reformation, was to part with
+Fidel, whom hitherto she had almost involuntarily guarded, but whom she
+only could see to revive the most dangerous recollections. She sent him,
+therefore, to the castle, but without any message; Mrs Delvile, she was
+sure, would require none to make her rejoice in his restoration.
+
+Her next step was writing to Albany, who had given her his direction, to
+acquaint him she was now ready to put in practice their long concerted
+scheme. Albany instantly hastened to her, and joyfully accepted the
+office of becoming at once her Almoner and her Monitor. He made it his
+business to seek objects of distress, and always but too certain to find
+them, of conducting her himself to their habitations, and then leaving
+to her own liberality the assistance their several cases demanded: and,
+in the overflowing of his zeal upon these occasions, and the rapture
+of his heart in thus disposing, almost at his pleasure, of her noble
+fortune, he seemed, at times, to feel an extasy that, from its novelty
+and its excess, was almost too exquisite to be borne. He joined with the
+beggars in pouring blessings upon her head, he prayed for her with the
+poor, and he thanked her with the succoured.
+
+The pew-opener and her children failed not to keep their appointment,
+and Cecilia presently contrived to settle them in her neighbourhood:
+where the poor woman, as she recovered her strength, soon got a little
+work, and all deficiencies in her power of maintaining herself were
+supplied by her generous patroness. The children, however, she ordered
+to be coarsely brought up, having no intention to provide for them but
+by helping them to common employments.
+
+The promise, also, so long made to Mrs Harrel of an apartment in
+her house, was now performed. That lady accepted it with the utmost
+alacrity, glad to make any change in her situation, which constant
+solitude had rendered wholly insupportable. Mr Arnott accompanied her to
+the house, and spent one day there; but receiving from Cecilia,
+though extremely civil and sweet to him, no hint of any invitation for
+repeating his visit, he left it in sadness, and returned to his own in
+deep dejection. Cecilia saw with concern how he nourished his hopeless
+passion, but knew that to suffer his visits would almost authorise
+his feeding it; and while she pitied unaffectedly the unhappiness she
+occasioned, she resolved to double her own efforts towards avoiding
+similar wretchedness.
+
+This action, however, was a point of honour, not of friendship, the time
+being long since past that the society of Mrs Harrel could afford her
+any pleasure; but the promises she had so often made to Mr Harrel in
+his distresses, though extorted from her merely by the terrors of the
+moment, still were promises, and, therefore, she held herself bound to
+fulfil them.
+
+Yet far from finding comfort in this addition to her family, Mrs Harrel
+proved to her nothing more than a trouble and an incumbrance; with
+no inherent resources, she was continually in search of occasional
+supplies; she fatigued Cecilia with wonder at the privacy of her life,
+and tormented her with proposals of parties and entertainments. She
+was eternally in amazement that with powers so large, she had wishes so
+confined, and was evidently disappointed that upon coming to so ample an
+estate, she lived, with respect to herself and her family, with no more
+magnificence or shew than if Heiress to only u500 a year.
+
+But Cecilia was determined to think and to live for herself, without
+regard to unmeaning wonder or selfish remonstrances; she had neither
+ambition for splendour, nor spirits for dissipation; the recent sorrow
+of her heart had deadened it for the present to all personal taste of
+happiness, and her only chance for regaining it, seemed through the
+medium of bestowing it upon others. She had seen, too, by Mr Harrel,
+how wretchedly external brilliancy could cover inward woe, and she
+had learned at Delvile Castle to grow sick of parade and grandeur. Her
+equipage, therefore, was without glare, though not without elegance, her
+table was plain, though hospitably plentiful, her servants were for use,
+though too numerous to be for labour. The system of her oeconomy, like
+that of her liberality, was formed by rules of reason, and her own ideas
+of right, and not by compliance with example, nor by emulation with the
+gentry in her neighbourhood.
+
+But though thus deviating in her actions from the usual customs of
+the young and rich, she was peculiarly careful not to offend them
+by singularity of manners. When she mixed with them, she was easy,
+unaffected, and well bred, and though she saw them but seldom, her good
+humour and desire of obliging kept them always her friends. The plan
+she had early formed at Mrs Harrel's she now studied daily to put in
+practice; but that part by which the useless or frivolous were to be
+excluded her house, she found could only be supported by driving from
+her half her acquaintance.
+
+Another part, also, of that project she found still less easy of
+adoption, which was solacing herself with the society of the wise, good,
+and intelligent. Few answered this description, and those few were with
+difficulty attainable. Many might with joy have sought out her liberal
+dwelling, but no one had idly waited till the moment it was at her
+disposal. All who possessed at once both talents and wealth, were
+so generally courted they were rarely to be procured; and all who to
+talents alone owed their consequence, demanded, if worth acquiring, time
+and delicacy to be obtained. Fortune she knew, however, was so often at
+war with Nature, that she doubted not shortly meeting those who would
+gladly avail themselves of her offered protection.
+
+Yet, tired of the murmurs of Mrs Harrel, she longed for some relief from
+her society, and her desire daily grew stronger to owe that relief to
+Henrietta Belfield. The more she meditated upon this wish, the less
+unattainable it appeared to her, till by frequently combating its
+difficulties, she began to consider them imaginary: Mrs Belfield, while
+her son was actually with herself, might see she took not Henrietta as
+his appendage; and Mr Delvile, should he make further enquiries, might
+hear that her real connection was with the sister, since she received
+her in the country, where the brother made no pretence to follow
+her. She considered, too, how ill she should be rewarded in giving up
+Henrietta for Mr Delvile, who was already determined to think ill of
+her, and whose prejudices no sacrifice would remove.
+
+Having hesitated, therefore, some time between the desire of present
+alleviation, and the fear of future mischief, the consciousness of her
+own innocence at length vanquished all dread of unjust censure, and she
+wrote an invitation to Henrietta enclosed in a letter to her mother.
+
+The answer of Henrietta expressed her rapture at the proposal; and that
+of Mrs Belfield made no objection but to the expence.
+
+Cecilia, therefore, sent her own maid to travel with her into Suffolk,
+with proper directions to pay for the journey.
+
+The gratitude of the delighted Henrietta at the meeting was boundless;
+and her joy at so unexpected a mark of favour made her half wild.
+Cecilia suffered it not to languish for want of kindness to support
+it; she took her to her bosom, became the soother of all her cares, and
+reposed in her, in return, every thought that led not to Delvile.
+
+There, however, she was uniformly silent; solemnly and eternally parted
+from him, far from trusting the secret of her former connexion to
+Henrietta, the whole study of her life was to drive the remembrance of
+it from herself.
+
+Henrietta now tasted a happiness to which as yet her whole life had been
+a stranger; she was suddenly removed from turbulent vulgarity to the
+enjoyment of calm elegance; and the gentleness of her disposition,
+instead of being tyrannically imposed upon, not only made her loved with
+affection, but treated with the most scrupulous delicacy. Cecilia had
+her share in all the comfort she bestowed; she had now a friend to
+oblige, and a companion to converse with. She communicated to her all
+her schemes, and made her the partner of her benevolent excursions;
+she found her disposition as amiable upon trial, as her looks and her
+manners had been engaging at first sight; and her constant presence and
+constant sweetness, imperceptibly revived her spirits, and gave a new
+interest to her existence.
+
+Meantime Mr Monckton, who returned in about a fortnight to the Grove,
+observed the encreasing influence of Albany with the most serious
+concern. The bounties of Cecilia, extensive, magnificent, unlimited,
+were the theme of every tongue, and though sometimes censured and
+sometimes admired, they were wondered at universally. He suffered her
+for a while to go on without remonstrance, hoping her enthusiasm would
+abate, as its novelty wore out: but finding that week following week was
+still distinguished by some fresh act of beneficence, he grew so alarmed
+and uneasy, he could restrain himself no longer. He spoke to her
+with warmth, he represented her conduct as highly dangerous in its
+consequence; he said she would but court impostors from every corner of
+the kingdom, called Albany a lunatic, whom she should rather avoid than
+obey; and insinuated that if a report was spread of her proceedings, a
+charity so prodigal, would excite such alarm, that no man would think
+even her large and splendid fortune, would ensure him from ruin in
+seeking her alliance.
+
+Cecilia heard this exhortation without either terror or impatience, and
+answered it with the utmost steadiness. His influence over her mind was
+no longer uncontrolled, for though her suspicions were not strengthened,
+they had never been removed, and friendship has no foe so dangerous as
+distrust! She thanked him, however, for his zeal, but assured him his
+apprehensions were groundless, since though she acted from inclination,
+she acted not without thought. Her income was very large, and she was
+wholly without family or connection; to spend it merely upon herself
+would be something still worse than extravagance, it must result from
+wilfulness the most inexcusable, as her disposition was naturally
+averse to luxury and expence. She might save indeed, but for whom? not a
+creature had such a claim upon her; and with regard to herself, she was
+so provided for it would be unnecessary. She would never, she declared,
+run in debt even for a week, but while her estate was wholly clear, she
+would spend it without restriction.
+
+To his hint of any future alliance, she only said that those who
+disapproved her conduct, would probably be those she should disapprove
+in her turn; should such an event however take place, the retrenching
+from that time all her present peculiar expences, would surely, in a
+clear u3000 a-year, leave her rich enough for any man, without making
+it incumbent upon her at present, to deny herself the only pleasure she
+could taste, in bestowing that money which to her was superfluous, upon
+those who received it as the prolongation of their existence.
+
+A firmness so deliberate in a system he so much dreaded, greatly shocked
+Mr Monckton, though it intimidated him from opposing it; he saw she was
+too earnest, and too well satisfied she was right, to venture giving
+her disgust by controverting her arguments; the conversation, therefore,
+ended with new discontent to himself, and with an impression upon
+the mind of Cecilia, that though he was zealous and friendly, he was
+somewhat too worldly and suspicious.
+
+She went on, therefore, as before, distributing with a lavish hand
+all she could spare from her own household; careful of nothing but of
+guarding against imposition, which, though she sometimes unavoidably
+endured, her discernment, and the activity of her investigating
+diligence, saved her from suffering frequently. And the steadiness with
+which she repulsed those whom she detected in deceit, was a check upon
+tricks and fraud, though it could not wholly put a stop to them.
+
+Money, to her, had long appeared worthless and valueless; it had failed
+to procure her the establishment for which she once flattered herself
+it seemed purposely designed; it had been disdained by the Delviles,
+for the sake of whose connection she had alone ever truly rejoiced in
+possessing it; and after such a conviction of its inefficacy to secure
+her happiness, she regarded it as of little importance to herself, and
+therefore thought it almost the due of those whose distresses gave it a
+consequence to which with her it was a stranger.
+
+In this manner with Cecilia passed the first winter of her majority.
+She had sedulously filled it with occupations, and her occupations had
+proved fertile in keeping her mind from idleness, and in restoring it
+to chearfulness. Calls upon her attention so soothing, and avocations
+so various for her time, had answered the great purpose for which
+originally she had planned them, in almost forcing from her thoughts
+those sorrows which, if indulged, would have rested in them incessantly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER viii.
+
+AN ALARM.
+
+The spring was now advancing, and the weather was remarkably fine; when
+one morning, while Cecilia was walking with Mrs Harrel and Henrietta
+on the lawn before her house, to which the last dinner bell was just
+summoning them, to return, Mrs Harrel looked round and stopt at sight
+of a gentleman galloping towards them, who in less than a minute
+approached, and dismounting and leaving his horse to his servant, struck
+them all at the same instant to be no other than young Delvile!
+
+A sight so unexpected, so unaccountable, so wonderful, after an
+absence so long, and to which they were mutually bound, almost wholly
+over-powered Cecilia from surprise and a thousand other feelings, and
+she caught Mrs Harrel by the arm, not knowing what she did, as if
+for succour; while Henrietta with scarce less, though much more glad
+emotion, suddenly exclaimed, "'tis Mr Delvile!" and sprang forward to
+meet him.
+
+He had reached them, and in a voice that spoke hurry and perturbation,
+respectfully made his compliments to them all, before Cecilia recovered
+even the use of her feet: but no sooner were they restored to her, than
+she employed them with the quickest motion in her power, still leaning
+upon Mrs Harrel, to hasten into the house. Her solemn promise to Mrs
+Delvile became uppermost in her thoughts, and her surprise was soon
+succeeded by displeasure, that thus, without any preparation, he forced
+her to break it by an interview she had no means to prevent.
+
+Just as they reached the entrance into the house, the Butler came to
+tell Cecilia that dinner was upon the table. Delvile then went up to
+her, and said, "May I wait upon you for one instant before--or after you
+dine?"
+
+"I am engaged, Sir," answered she, though hardly able to speak, "for the
+whole day."
+
+"You will not, I hope, refuse to hear me," cried he, eagerly, "I cannot
+write what I have to say,--"
+
+"There is no occasion that you should, Sir," interrupted she, "since I
+should scarcely find time to read it."
+
+She then courtsied, though without looking at him, and went into the
+house; Delvile remaining in utter dismay, not daring, however wishing,
+to follow her. But when Mrs Harrel, much surprised at behaviour so
+unusual from Cecilia, approached him with some civil speeches, he
+started, and wishing her good day, bowed, and remounted his horse:
+pursued by the soft eyes of Henrietta till wholly out of sight.
+
+They then both followed Cecilia to the dining-parlour.
+
+Had not Mrs Harrel been of this small party, the dinner would have been
+served in vain; Cecilia, still trembling with emotion, bewildered with
+conjecture, angry with Delvile for thus surprising her, angry with
+herself for so severely receiving him, amazed what had tempted him to
+such a violation of their joint agreement, and irresolute as much what
+to wish as what to think, was little disposed for eating, and with
+difficulty compelled herself to do the honours of her table.
+
+Henrietta, whom the sight of Delvile had at once delighted and
+disturbed, whom the behaviour of Cecilia had filled with wonder and
+consternation, and whom the evident inquietude and disappointment which
+that behaviour had given to Delvile, had struck with grief and terror,
+could not swallow even a morsel, but having cut her meat about her
+plate, gave it, untouched, to a servant.
+
+Mrs Harrel, however, though she had had her share in the surprise, had
+wholly escaped all other emotion; and only concluded in her own mind,
+that Cecilia could sometimes be out of humour and ill bred, as well as
+the rest of the world.
+
+While the dessert was serving, a note was brought to Henrietta, which a
+servant was waiting in great haste to have answered.
+
+Henrietta, stranger to all forms of politeness, though by nature soft,
+obliging and delicate, opened it immediately; she started as she cast
+her eye over it, but blushed, sparkled, and looked enchanted, and
+hastily rising, without even a thought of any apology, ran out of the
+room to answer it.
+
+Cecilia, whose quick eye, by a glance unavoidable, had seen the hand
+of Delvile, was filled with new amazement at the sight. As soon as the
+servants were gone, she begged Mrs Harrel to excuse her, and went to her
+own apartment.
+
+Here, in a few minutes, she was followed by Henrietta, whose countenance
+beamed with pleasure, and whose voice spoke tumultuous delight. "My
+dear, dear Miss Beverley!" she cried, "I have such a thing to tell
+you!--you would never guess it,--I don't know how to believe it
+myself,--but Mr Delvile has written to me!--he has indeed! that note was
+from him.--I have been locking it up, for fear of accidents, but I'll
+run and fetch it, that you may see it yourself."
+
+She then ran away; leaving Cecilia much perplexed, much uneasy
+for herself, and both grieved and alarmed for the too tender, too
+susceptible Henrietta, who was thus easily the sport of every airy and
+credulous hope.
+
+"If I did not shew it you," cried Henrietta, running back in a
+moment, "you would never think it possible, for it is to make such a
+request--that it has frightened me almost out of my wits!"
+
+Cecilia then read the note.
+
+_To Miss Belfield_.
+
+Mr Delvile presents his compliments to Miss Belfield, and begs to
+be permitted to wait upon her for a few minutes, at any time in the
+afternoon she will be so good as to appoint.
+
+"Only think," cried the rapturous Henrietta, "it was _me_, poor simple
+_me_, of all people, that he wanted so to speak with!--I am sure I
+thought a different thought when he went away! but do, dearest Miss
+Beverley, tell me this one thing, what do you think he can have to say
+to me?"
+
+"Indeed," replied Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, "it is impossible for
+me to conjecture."
+
+"If _you_ can't, I am sure, then, it is no wonder _I_ can't! and I have
+been thinking of a million of things in a minute. It can't be about any
+business, because I know nothing in the world of any business; and it
+can't be about my brother, because he would go to our house in town
+about him, and there he would see him himself; and it can't be about my
+dear Miss Beverley, because then he would have written the note to her
+and it can't be about any body else, because I know nobody else of his
+acquaintance."
+
+Thus went on the sanguine Henrietta, settling whom and what it could
+_not_ be about, till she left but the one thing to which her wishes
+pointed that it _could_ be about. Cecilia heard her with true
+compassion, certain that she was deceiving herself with imaginations
+the most pernicious; yet unable to know how to quell them, while in such
+doubt and darkness herself.
+
+This conversation was soon interrupted, by a message that a gentleman in
+the parlour begged to speak with Miss Belfield.
+
+"O dearest, dearest Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, with encreasing
+agitation, "what in the world shall I say to him, advise me, pray advise
+me, for I can't think of a single word!"
+
+"Impossible, my dear Henrietta, unless I knew what he would say to you!"
+
+"O but I can guess, I can guess!"--cried she, her cheeks glowing, while
+her whole frame shook, "and I sha'n't know what in the whole world to
+answer him! I know I shall behave like a fool,--I know I shall disgrace
+myself sadly!"
+
+Cecilia, truly sorry Delvile should see her in such emotion, endeavoured
+earnestly to compose her, though never less tranquil herself. But
+she could not succeed, and she went down stairs with expectations of
+happiness almost too potent for her reason.
+
+Not such were those of Cecilia; a dread of some new conflict took
+possession of her mind, that mind so long tortured with struggles, so
+lately restored to serenity!
+
+Henrietta soon returned, but not the same Henrietta she went;--the
+glow, the hope, the flutter were all over; she looked pale and wan, but
+attempting, as she entered the room, to call up a smile, she failed, and
+burst into tears.
+
+Cecilia threw her arms round her neck, and tried to console her; but,
+happy to hide her face in her bosom, she only gave the freer indulgence
+to her grief, and rather melted than comforted by her tenderness, sobbed
+aloud.
+
+Cecilia too easily conjectured the disappointment she had met, to pain
+her by asking it; she forbore even to gratify her own curiosity by
+questions that could not but lead to her mortification, and suffering
+her therefore to take her own time for what she had to communicate, she
+hung over her in silence with the most patient pity.
+
+Henrietta was very sensible of this kindness, though she knew not half
+its merit: but it was a long time before she could articulate, for
+sobbing, that _all_ Mr Delvile wanted, at last, was only to beg she
+would acquaint Miss Beverley, that he had done himself the honour of
+waiting upon her with a message from Mrs Delvile.
+
+"From Mrs Delvile?" exclaimed Cecilia, all emotion in her turn, "good
+heaven! how much, then, have I been to blame? where is he now?--where
+can I send to him?--tell me, my sweet Henrietta, this instant!"
+
+"Oh madam!" cried Henrietta, bursting into a fresh flood of tears, "how
+foolish have I been to open my silly heart to you!--he is come to pay
+his addresses to you!--I am sure he is!--"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Cecilia, "indeed he is not!--but I must, I ought to
+see him,--where, my love, is he?",
+
+"In the parlour,--waiting for an answer.--"
+
+Cecilia, who at any other time would have been provoked at such a delay
+in the delivery of a message so important, felt now nothing but concern
+for Henrietta, whom she hastily kissed, but instantly, however, quitted,
+and hurried to Delvile, with expectations almost equally sanguine as
+those her poor friend but the moment before had crushed.
+
+"Oh now," thought she, "if at last Mrs Delvile herself has relented,
+with what joy will I give up all reserve, all disguise, and frankly avow
+the faithful affection of my heart!"
+
+Delvile received her not with the eagerness with which he had first
+addressed her; he looked extremely disturbed, and, even after her
+entrance, undetermined how to begin.
+
+She waited, however, his explanation in silence; and, after an
+irresolute pause, he said, with a gravity not wholly free from
+resentment, "I presumed, madam, to wait upon you from the permission of
+my mother; but I believe I have obtained it so late, that the influence
+I hoped from it is past!"
+
+"I had no means, Sir," answered she, chearfully, "to know that you
+came from her: I should else have received her commands without any
+hesitation."
+
+"I would thank you for the honour you do her, were it less pointedly
+exclusive. I have, however, no right of reproach! yet suffer me to ask,
+could you, madam, after such a parting, after a renunciation so absolute
+of all future claim upon you, which though extorted from me by duty, I
+was bound, having promised, to fulfil by principle,-could you imagine me
+so unsteady, so dishonourable, as to obtrude myself into your presence
+while that promise was still in force?"
+
+"I find," cried Cecilia, in whom a secret hope every moment grew
+stronger, "I have been too hasty; I did indeed believe Mrs Delvile would
+never authorise such a visit; but as you have so much surprised me, I
+have a right to your pardon for a little doubt."
+
+"There spoke Miss Beverley!" cried Delvile, reanimating at this little
+apology, "the same, the unaltered Miss Beverley I hoped to find!--yet
+_is_ she unaltered? am I not too precipitate? and is the tale I have
+heard about Belfield a dream? an error? a falsehood?"
+
+"But that so quick a succession of quarrels," said Cecilia, half
+smiling, "would be endless perplexity, I, now, would be affronted that
+you can ask me such a question."
+
+"Had I, indeed, _thought_ it a question," cried he, "I would not have
+asked it: but never for a moment did I credit it, till the rigour of
+your repulse alarmed me. You have condescended, now, to account for
+that, and I am therefore encouraged to make known to you the purpose
+of my venturing this visit. Yet not with confidence shall I speak
+if, scarce even with hope!--it is a purpose that is the offspring of
+despair,--
+
+"One thing, Sir," cried Cecilia, who now became frightened again, "let
+me say before you proceed; if your purpose has not the sanction of Mrs
+Delvile, as well as your visit, I would gladly be excused hearing it,
+since I shall most certainly refuse it."
+
+"I would mention nothing," answered he, "without her concurrence;
+she has given it me: and my father himself has permitted my present
+application."
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried Cecilia, "is it possible!" clasping her hands
+together in the eagerness of her surprise and delight.
+
+"_Is it possible_!" repeated Delvile, with a look of rapture; "ah Miss
+Beverley!--once my own Cecilia!--do you, can you _wish_ it possible?"
+
+"No, No!" cried she, while pleasure and expectation sparkled in her
+eyes, "I wish nothing about it.--Yet tell me how it has happened,--I am
+_curious_," added she, smiling, "though not interested in it."
+
+"What hope would this sweetness give me," cried he, "were my scheme
+almost any other than it is!--but you cannot,--no, it would be
+unreasonable, it would be madness to expect your compliance!--it is next
+to madness even in me to wish it,--but how shall a man who is desperate
+be prudent and circumspect?"
+
+"Spare, spare yourself," cried the ingenuous Cecilia, "this, unnecessary
+pain!--you will find from me no unnecessary scruples."
+
+"You know not what you say!--all noble as you are, the sacrifice I have
+to propose--"
+
+"Speak it," cried she, "with confidence! speak it even with certainty of
+success! I will be wholly undisguised, and openly, honestly own to you,
+that no proposal, no sacrifice can be mentioned, to which I will not
+instantly agree, if first it has had the approbation of Mrs Delvile."
+
+Delvile's gratitude and thanks for a concession never before so
+voluntarily made to him, interrupted for a while, even his power of
+explaining himself. And now, for the first time, Cecilia's sincerity was
+chearful, since now, for the first time, it seemed opposed by no duty.
+
+When still, therefore, he hesitated, she herself held out her hand to
+him, saying, "what must I do more? must I offer this pledge to you?"
+
+"For my life would I not resign it!" cried he, delightedly receiving it;
+"but oh, how soon will you withdraw it, when the only terms upon which
+I can hold it, are those of making it sign from itself its natural right
+and inheritance?"
+
+Cecilia, not comprehending him, only looked amazed, and he proceeded.
+
+"Can you, for my sake, make such a sacrifice as this? can you for a man
+who for yours is not permitted to give up his name, give up yourself the
+fortune of your late uncle? consent to such settlements as I can
+make upon you from my own? part with so splendid an income wholly and
+for-ever?--and with only your paternal L10,000 condescend to become
+mine, as if your uncle had never existed, and you had been Heiress to no
+other wealth?"
+
+This, indeed, was a stroke to Cecilia unequalled by any she had met,
+and more cruel than any she could have in reserve. At the proposal of
+parting with her uncle's fortune, which, desirable as it was, had as
+yet been only productive to her of misery, her heart, disinterested, and
+wholly careless of money, was prompt to accede to the condition; but at
+the mention of her paternal fortune, that fortune, of which, now, not
+the smallest vestige remained, horror seized all her faculties! she
+turned pale, she trembled, she involuntarily drew back her hand, and
+betrayed, by speechless agitation, the sudden agonies of her soul!
+
+Delvile, struck by this evident dismay, instantly concluded his plan
+had disgusted her. He waited some minutes in anxious expectation of an
+answer, but finding her silence continued while her emotion encreased,
+the deepest crimson dyed his face, and unable to check his chagrin,
+though not daring to confess his disappointment, he suddenly quitted
+her, and walked, in much disorder, about the room. But soon recovering
+some composure, from the assistance of pride, "Pardon, madam," he said,
+"a trial such as no man can be vindicated in making. I have indulged a
+romantic whim, which your better judgment disapproves, and I receive but
+the mortification my presumption deserved."
+
+"You know not then," said Cecilia, in a faint voice, "my inability to
+comply?"
+
+"Your ability or inability, I presume, are elective?"
+
+"Oh no!--my power is lost--my fortune itself is gone!"
+
+"Impossible! utterly impossible!" cried he with vehemence.
+
+"Oh that it were!--your father knows it but too well."
+
+"My father!"
+
+"Did he, then, never hint it to you?"
+
+"Oh distraction!" cried Delvile, "what horrible confirmation is coming!"
+and again he walked away, as if wanting courage to hear her.
+
+Cecilia was too much shocked to force upon him her explanation; but
+presently returning to her, he said, "_you_, only, could have made this
+credible!"
+
+"Had you, then, actually heard it?"
+
+"Oh I had heard it as the most infamous of falsehoods! my heart swelled
+with indignation at so villainous a calumny, and had it not come from my
+father, my resentment at it had been inveterate!"
+
+"Alas!" cried Cecilia, "the fact is undeniable! yet the circumstances
+you may have heard with it, are I doubt not exaggerated."
+
+"Exaggerated indeed!" he answered; "I was told you had been surprised
+concealed with Belfield in a back room, I was told that your parental
+fortune was totally exhausted, and that during your minority you had
+been a dealer with Jews!--I was told all this by my father; you may
+believe I had else not easily been made hear it!"
+
+"Yet thus far," said she, "he told you but what is true; though--"
+
+"True!" interrupted Delvile, with a start almost frantic. "Oh never,
+then, was truth so scandalously wronged!--I denied the whole charge!-I
+disbelieved every syllable!--I pledged my own honour to prove every
+assertion false!"
+
+"Generous Delvile!" cried Cecilia, melting into tears, "this is what I
+expected from you! and, believe me, in _your_ integrity my reliance had
+been similar!"
+
+"Why does Miss Beverley weep?" cried he, softened, and approaching her,
+"and why has she given me this alarm? these things must at least
+have been misrepresented, deign, then, to clear up a mystery in which
+suspense is torture!"
+
+Cecilia, then, with what precision and clearness her agitation allowed
+her, related the whole history of her taking up the money of the Jew
+for Mr Harrel, and told, without reserve, the reason of her trying
+to abscond from his father at Mrs Belfield's. Delvile listened to her
+account with almost an agony of attention, now admiring her conduct;
+now resenting her ill usage; now compassionating her losses; but though
+variously moved by different parts, receiving from the whole the delight
+he most coveted in the establishment of her innocence.
+
+Thanks and applause the warmest, both accompanied and followed her
+narration; and then, at her request, he related in return the several
+incidents and circumstances to which he had owed the permission of this
+visit.
+
+He had meant immediately to have gone abroad; but the indisposition
+of his mother made him unwilling to leave the kingdom till her health
+seemed in a situation less precarious. That time, however, came not; the
+Winter advanced, and she grew evidently worse. He gave over, therefore,
+his design till the next Spring, when, if she were able, it was her
+desire to try the South of France for her recovery, whither he meant to
+conduct her.
+
+But, during his attendance upon her, the plan he had just mentioned
+occurred to him, and he considered how much greater would be his chance
+of happiness in marrying Cecilia with scarce any fortune at all, than
+in marrying another with the largest. He was convinced she was far other
+than expensive, or a lover of shew, and soon flattered himself she might
+be prevailed upon to concur with him, that in living together, though
+comparatively upon little, they should mutually be happier than in
+living asunder upon much.
+
+When he started this scheme to his mother, she heard it with mingled
+admiration of his disinterestedness, and regret at its occasion: yet
+the loftiness of her own mind, her high personal value for Cecilia,
+her anxiety to see her son finally settled while she lived, lest his
+disappointment should keep him single from a lasting disgust, joined to
+a dejection of spirits from an apprehension that her interference had
+been cruel, all favoured his scheme, and forbid her resistance. She
+had often protested, in their former conflicts, that had Cecilia
+been portionless, her objections had been less than to an estate so
+conditioned; and that to give to her son a woman so exalted in herself,
+she would have conquered the mere opposition of interest, though that
+of family honour she held invincible. Delvile now called upon her to
+remember those words, and ever strict in fidelity, she still promised to
+abide by them.
+
+Ah! thought Cecilia, is virtue, then, as inconsistent as vice? and can
+the same character be thus high-souled, thus nobly disinterested with
+regard to riches, whose pride is so narrow and so insurmountable, with
+respect to family prejudice!
+
+Yet such a sacrifice from Cecilia herself, whose income intitled her
+to settlements the most splendid, Mrs Delvile thought scarcely to be
+solicited; but as her son was conscious he gave up in expectation no
+less than she would give up in possession, he resolved upon making the
+experiment, and felt an internal assurance of success.
+
+This matter being finally settled with his mother, the harder task
+remained of vanquishing the father, by whom, and before whom the name of
+Cecilia was never mentioned, not even after his return from town,
+though loaded with imaginary charges against her. Mr Delvile held it
+a diminution of his own in the honour of his son, to suppose he wanted
+still fresh motives for resigning her. He kept, therefore, to himself
+the ill opinion he brought down, as a resource in case of danger, but
+a resource he disdained to make use of, unless driven to it by absolute
+necessity.
+
+But, at the new proposal of his son, the accusation held in reserve
+broke out; he called Cecilia a dabler with Jews, and said she had been
+so from the time of her uncle's death; he charged her with the grossest
+general extravagance, to which he added a most insidious attack upon her
+character, drawn from her visits at Belfield's of long standing, as well
+as the particular time when he had himself surprised her concealed with
+the young man in a back parlour: and he asserted, that most of the
+large sums she was continually taking up from her fortune, were lavished
+without scruple upon this dangerous and improper favourite.
+
+Delvile had heard this accusation with a rage scarce restrained from
+violence; confident in her innocence, he boldly pronounced the whole a
+forgery, and demanded the author of such cruel defamation. Mr Delvile,
+much offended, refused to name any authority, but consented, with an air
+of triumph, to abide by the effect of his own proposal, and gave him a
+supercilious promise no longer to oppose the marriage, if the terms he
+meant to offer to Miss Beverley, of renouncing her uncle's estate, and
+producing her father's fortune, were accepted.
+
+"O little did I credit," said Delvile in conclusion, "that he knew
+indeed so well this last condition was impracticable! his assertions
+were without proof; I thought them prejudiced surmises; and I came in
+the full hope I should convict him of his error. My mother, too, who
+warmly and even angrily defended you, was as firmly satisfied as myself
+that the whole was a mistake, and that enquiry would prove your fortune
+as undiminished as your purity. How will she be shocked at the tale
+I have now to unfold! how irritated at your injuries from Harrel! how
+grieved that your own too great benevolence should be productive of such
+black aspersions upon your character!"
+
+"I have been," cried Cecilia, "too facile and too unguarded; yet always,
+at the moment, I seemed but guided by common humanity. I have ever
+thought myself secure of more wealth than I could require, and regarded
+the want of money as an evil from which I was unavoidably exempted. My
+own fortune, therefore, appeared to me of small consequence, while the
+revenue of my uncle insured me perpetual prosperity.--Oh had I foreseen
+this moment--"
+
+"Would you, then, have listened to my romantic proposal?"
+
+"Would I have listened?--do you not see too plainly I could not have
+hesitated!"
+
+"Oh yet, then, most generous of human beings, yet then be mine! By our
+own oeconomy we will pay off our mortgages; by living a while abroad,
+we will clear all our estates; I will still keep the name to which my
+family is bigotted, and my gratitude for your compliance shall make you
+forget what you lose by it!"
+
+"Speak not to me such words!" cried Cecilia, hastily rising; "your
+friends will not listen to them, neither, therefore, must I."
+
+"My friends," cried he with energy, "are henceforth out of the question:
+my father's concurrence with a proposal he _knew_ you had not power to
+grant, was in fact a mere permission to insult you; for if, instead of
+dark charges, he had given any authority for your losses, I had myself
+spared you the shock you have so undeservedly received from hearing
+it.--But to consent to a plan which _could_ not be accepted!--to make me
+a tool to offer indignity to Miss Beverley!--He has released me from his
+power by so erroneous an exertion of it, and my own honour has a claim
+to which his commands must give place. That honour binds me to Miss
+Beverley as forcibly as my admiration, and no voice but her own shall
+determine my future destiny."
+
+"That voice, then," said Cecilia, "again refers you to your mother.
+Mr Delvile, indeed, has not treated me kindly; and this last mock
+concession was unnecessary cruelty; but Mrs Delvile merits my utmost
+respect, and I will listen to nothing which has not her previous
+sanction."
+
+"But will her sanction be sufficient? and may I hope, in obtaining it,
+the security of yours?"
+
+"When I have said I will hear nothing without it, may you not almost
+infer--I will refuse nothing with it!"
+
+The acknowledgments he would now have poured forth, Cecilia would not
+hear, telling him, with some gaiety, they were yet unauthorized by Mrs
+Delvile. She insisted upon his leaving her immediately, and never again
+returning, without his mother's express approbation. With regard to his
+father, she left him totally to his own inclination; she had received
+from him nothing but pride and incivility, and determined to skew
+publicly her superior respect for Mrs Delvile, by whose discretion and
+decision she was content to abide.
+
+"Will you not, then, from time to time," cried Delvile, "suffer me to
+consult with you?"
+
+"No, no," answered she, "do not ask it! I have never been insincere
+with you, never but from motives not to be overcome, reserved even for
+a moment; I have told you I will put every thing into the power of
+Mrs Delvile, but I will not a second time risk my peace by any action
+unknown to her."
+
+Delvile gratefully acknowledged her goodness, and promised to require
+nothing more. He then obeyed her by taking leave, eager himself to put
+an end to this new uncertainty, and supplicating only that her good
+wishes might follow his enterprise.
+
+And thus, again, was wholly broken the tranquility of Cecilia; new
+hopes, however faint, awakened all her affections, and strong fears, but
+too reasonable, interrupted her repose. Her destiny, once more, was
+as undecided as ever, and the expectations she had crushed, retook
+possession of her heart.
+
+The suspicions she had conceived of Mr Monckton again occurred to her;
+though unable to ascertain and unwilling to believe them, she tried to
+drive them from her thoughts. She lamented, however, with bitterness,
+her unfortunate connexion with Mr Harrel, whose unworthy impositions
+upon her kindness of temper and generosity, now proved to her an evil
+far more serious and extensive, than in the midst of her repugnance to
+them she had ever apprehended.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A SUSPENSE.
+
+Delvile had been gone but a short time, before Henrietta, her eyes still
+red, though no longer streaming, opened the parlour door, and asked if
+she might come in?
+
+Cecilia wished to be alone, yet could not refuse her.
+
+"Well, madam," cried she, with a forced smile, and constrained air of
+bravery, "did not I guess right?"
+
+"In what?" said Cecilia, unwilling to understand her.
+
+"In what I said would happen?--I am sure you know what I mean."
+
+Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, made no answer; she much regretted the
+circumstances which had prevented an earlier communication, and was
+uncertain whether, now, it would prove most kind or most cruel to
+acquaint her with what was in agitation, which, should it terminate in
+nothing, was unnecessarily wounding her delicacy for the openness of her
+confidence, and which, however serviceable it might prove to her in
+the end, was in the means so rough and piercing she felt the utmost
+repugnance to the experiment.
+
+"You think me, madam, too free," said Henrietta, "in asking such a
+question; and indeed your kindness has been so great, it may well make
+me forget myself: but if it does, I am sure I deserve you should send me
+home directly, and then there is not much fear I shall soon be brought
+to my senses!"
+
+"No, my dear Henrietta, I can never think you too free; I have told
+you already every thing I thought you would have pleasure in hearing;
+whatever I have concealed, I have been fearful would only pain you."
+
+"I have _deserved_, madam," said she, with spirit, "to be pained, for
+I have behaved with the folly of a baby. I am very angry with myself
+indeed! I was old enough to have known better,--and I ought to have been
+wise enough."
+
+"You must then be angry with yourself, next," said Cecilia, anxious
+to re-encourage her, "for all the love that I bear you; since to your
+openness and frankness it was entirely owing."
+
+"But there are some things that people should _not_ be frank in;
+however, I am only come now to beg you will tell me, madam, when it is
+to be;--and don't think I ask out of nothing but curiosity, for I have a
+very great reason for it indeed."
+
+"What be, my dear Henrietta?--you are very rapid in your ideas!"
+
+"I will tell you, madam, what my reason is; I shall go away to my
+own home,--and so I would if it were ten times a worse home than it
+is!--just exactly the day before. Because afterwards I shall never like
+to look that gentleman in the face,--never, never!--for married ladies I
+know are not to be trusted!"
+
+"Be not apprehensive; you have no occasion. Whatever may be my fate, I
+will never be so treacherous as to betray my beloved Henrietta to _any_
+body."
+
+"May I ask you, madam, one question?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Why did all this never happen before?"
+
+"Indeed," cried Cecilia, much distressed, "I know not that it will
+happen now."
+
+"Why what, dear madam, can hinder it?"
+
+"A thousand, thousand things! nothing can be less secure."
+
+"And then I am still as much puzzled as ever. I heard, a good while ago,
+and we all heard that it was to be; and I thought that it was no wonder,
+I am sure, for I used often to think it was just what was most likely;
+but afterwards we heard it was no such thing, and from that moment I
+always believed there had been nothing at all in it."
+
+"I must speak to you, I find, with sincerity; my affairs have long been
+in strange perplexity: I have not known myself what to expect; one day
+has perpetually reversed the prospect of another, and my mind has been
+in a state of uncertainty and disorder, that has kept it--that still
+keeps it from comfort and from rest!"
+
+"This surprises me indeed, madam! I thought _you_ were all happiness!
+but I was sure you deserved it, and I thought you had it for that
+reward. And this has been the thing that has made me behave so wrong;
+for I took it into my head I might tell you every thing, because I
+concluded it could be nothing to you; for if great people loved one
+another, I always supposed they married directly; poor people, indeed,
+must stay till they are able to settle; but what in the whole world,
+thought I, if they like one another, should hinder such a rich lady as
+Miss Beverley from marrying such a rich gentleman at once?"
+
+Cecilia now, finding there was no longer any chance for concealment,
+thought it better to give the poor Henrietta at least the gratification
+of unreserved confidence, which might somewhat sooth her uneasiness by
+proving her reliance in her faith. She frankly, therefore, confessed
+to her the whole of her situation. Henrietta wept at the recital with
+bitterness, thought Mr Delvile a monster, and Mrs Delvile herself scarce
+human; pitied Cecilia with unaffected tenderness, and wondered that the
+person could exist who had the heart to give grief to young Delvile! She
+thanked her most gratefully for reposing such trust in her; and Cecilia
+made use of this opportunity, to enforce the necessity of her struggling
+more seriously to recover her indifferency.
+
+She promised she would not fail; and forbore steadily from that time to
+name Delvile any more: but the depression of her spirits shewed she had
+suffered a disappointment such as astonished even Cecilia. Though modest
+and humble, she had conceived hopes the most romantic, and though
+she denied, even to herself, any expectations from Delvile, she
+involuntarily nourished them with the most sanguine simplicity. To
+compose and to strengthen her became the whole business of Cecilia; who,
+during her present suspense, could find no other employment in which she
+could take any interest.
+
+Mr Monckton, to whom nothing was unknown that related to Cecilia, was
+soon informed of Delvile's visit, and hastened in the utmost alarm,
+to learn its event. She had now lost all the pleasure she had formerly
+derived from confiding in him, but though averse and confused, could not
+withstand his enquiries.
+
+Unlike the tender Henrietta's was his disappointment at this relation,
+and his rage at such repeated trials was almost more than he could curb.
+He spared neither the Delviles for their insolence of mutability in
+rejecting or seeking her at their pleasure, nor herself for her easiness
+of submission in being thus the dupe of their caprices. The subject
+was difficult for Cecilia to dilate upon; she wished to clear, as he
+deserved, Delvile himself from any share in the censure, and she felt
+hurt and offended at the charge of her own improper readiness; yet shame
+and pride united in preventing much vindication of either, and she heard
+almost in silence what with pain she bore to hear at all.
+
+He now saw, with inexpressible disturbance, that whatever was his
+power to make her uneasy, he had none to make her retract, and that the
+conditional promise she had given Delvile to be wholly governed by his
+mother, she was firm in regarding to be as sacred as one made at the
+altar.
+
+Perceiving this, he dared trust his temper with no further debate; he
+assumed a momentary calmness for the purpose of taking leave of her,
+and with pretended good wishes for her happiness, whatever might be her
+determination, he stifled the reproaches with which his whole heart was
+swelling, and precipitately left her.
+
+Cecilia, affected by his earnestness, yet perplexed in all her opinions,
+was glad to be relieved from useless exhortations, and not sorry, in her
+present uncertainty, that his visit was not repeated.
+
+She neither saw nor heard from Delvile for a week, and augured nothing
+but evil from such delay. The following letter then came by the post.
+
+_To Miss Beverley. April 2d_, 1780
+
+I must write without comments, for I dare not trust myself with making
+any; I must write without any beginning address, for I know not how you
+will permit me to address you.
+
+I have lived a life of tumult since last compelled to leave you, and
+when it may subside, I am still in utter ignorance.
+
+The affecting account of the losses you have suffered through your
+beneficence to the Harrels, and the explanatory one of the calumnies you
+have sustained from your kindness to the Belfields, I related with the
+plainness which alone I thought necessary to make them felt. I then told
+the high honour I had received, in meeting with no other repulse to my
+proposal, than was owing to an inability to accede to it; and informed
+my mother of the condescending powers with which you had invested her.
+In conclusion I mentioned my new scheme, and firmly, before I would
+listen to any opposition, I declared that though wholly to their
+decision I left the relinquishing my own name or your fortune, I was not
+only by your generosity more internally yours than ever, but that since
+again I had ventured, and with permission to apply to you, I should hold
+myself hence forward unalterably engaged to you.
+
+And so I do, and so I shall! nor, after a renewal so public, will any
+prohibition but yours have force to keep me from throwing myself at your
+feet.
+
+My father's answer I will not mention; I would I could forget it! his
+prejudices are irremediable, his resolutions are inflexible. Who or what
+has worked him into an animosity so irreclaimable, I cannot conjecture,
+nor will he tell; but something darkly mysterious has part in his wrath
+and his injustice.
+
+My mother was much affected by your reference to herself. Words of the
+sweetest praise broke repeatedly from her; no other such woman, she
+said, existed; no other such instance could be found of fidelity
+so exalted! her son must have no heart but for low and mercenary
+selfishness, if, after a proof of regard so unexampled, he could bear
+to live without her! Oh how did such a sentence from lips so highly
+reverenced, animate, delight, confirm, and oblige me at once!
+
+The displeasure of my father at this declaration was dreadful; his
+charges, always as improbable as injurious, now became too horrible
+for my ears; he disbelieved you had taken up the money for Harrel, he
+discredited that you visited the Belfields for Henrietta: passion not
+merely banished his justice, but, clouded his reason, and I soon left
+the room, that at least I might not hear the aspersions he forbid me to
+answer.
+
+I left not, however, your fame to a weak champion: my mother defended it
+with all the spirit of truth, and all the confidence of similar virtue!
+yet they parted without conviction, and so mutually irritated with each
+other, that they agreed to meet no more.
+
+This was too terrible! and I instantly consolidated my resentment to
+my father, and my gratitude to my mother, into concessions and
+supplications to both; I could not, however, succeed; my mother was
+deeply offended, my father was sternly inexorable: nor here rests
+the evil of their dissention, for the violence of the conflict has
+occasioned a return more alarming than ever of the illness of my mother.
+
+All her faith in her recovery is now built upon going abroad; she is
+earnest to set off immediately; but Dr Lyster has advised her to make
+London in her way, and have a consultation of physicians before she
+departs.
+
+To this she has agreed; and we are now upon the road thither.
+
+Such is, at present, the melancholy state of my affairs. My mother
+_advised_ me to write; forgive me, therefore, that I waited not
+something more decisive to say. I could prevail upon neither party
+to meet before the journey; nor could I draw from my father the base
+fabricator of the calumnies by which he has been thus abused.
+
+Unhappily, I have nothing more to add: and whether intelligence, such
+as this, or total suspense, would be least irksome, I know not. If my
+mother bears her journey tolerably well, I have yet one more effort
+to make; and of that the success or the failure will be instantly
+communicated to Miss Beverley, by her eternally devoted, but half
+distracted.
+
+Mortimer Delvile.
+
+Scarcely could Cecilia herself decide whether this comfortless letter
+or none at all were preferable. The implacability of Mr Delvile was
+shocking, but his slandering her character was still more intolerable;
+yet the praises of the mother, and her generous vindication, joined to
+the invariable reliance of Delvile upon her innocence, conferred upon
+her an honour that offered some alleviation.
+
+The mention of a fabricator again brought Mr Monckton to her mind, and
+not all her unwillingness to think him capable of such treachery, could
+now root out her suspicions. Delvile's temper, however, she knew was too
+impetuous to be trusted with this conjecture, and her fear of committing
+injustice being thus seconded by prudence, she determined to keep to
+herself doubts that could not without danger be divulged.
+
+She communicated briefly to Henrietta, who looked her earnest curiosity,
+the continuance of her suspense; and to her own fate Henrietta became
+somewhat more reconciled, when she saw that no station in life rendered
+happiness certain or permanent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER x.
+
+A RELATION.
+
+Another week past still without any further intelligence. Cecilia was
+then summoned to the parlour, and to Delvile himself.
+
+He looked hurried and anxious; yet the glow of his face, and the
+animation of his eyes, immediately declared he at least came not to take
+leave of her.
+
+"Can you forgive," cried he, "the dismal and unsatisfactory letter I
+wrote you? I would not disobey you twice in the same manner, and I could
+not till now have written in any other."
+
+"The consultation with the physicians, then," said Cecilia, "is over?"
+
+"Alas, yes; and the result is most alarming; they all agree my mother is
+in a dangerous way, and they rather forbear to oppose, than advise her
+going abroad: but upon that she is earnestly bent, and intends to set
+out without delay. I shall return to her, therefore, with all speed, and
+mean not to take any rest till I have seen her."
+
+Cecilia expressed with tenderness her sorrow for Mrs Delvile: nor were
+her looks illiberal in including her son in her concern.
+
+"I must hasten," he cried, "to the credentials by which I am authorised
+for coming, and I must hasten to prove if Miss Beverley has not
+flattered my mother in her appeal."
+
+He then informed her that Mrs Delvile, apprehensive for herself, and
+softened for him by the confession of her danger, which she had extorted
+from her physicians, had tenderly resolved upon making one final effort
+for his happiness, and ill and impatient as she was, upon deferring her
+journey to wait its effect.
+
+Generously, therefore, giving up her own resentment, she wrote to Mr
+Delvile in terms of peace and kindness, lamenting their late dissention,
+and ardently expressing her desire to be reconciled to him before she
+left England. She told him the uncertainty of her recovery which had
+been acknowledged by her physicians, who had declared a calmer mind
+was more essential to her than a purer air. She then added, that such
+serenity was only to be given her, by the removal of her anxiety at the
+comfortless state of her son. She begged him, therefore, to make known
+the author of Miss Beverley's defamation, assuring him, that upon
+enquiry, he would find her character and her fame as unsullied as his
+own; and strongly representing, that after the sacrifice to which she
+had consented, their son would be utterly dishonourable in thinking of
+any other connexion. She then to this reasoning joined the most earnest
+supplication, protesting, in her present disordered state, of health,
+her life might pay the forfeiture of her continual uneasiness.
+
+"I held out," she concluded, "while his personal dignity, and the honour
+of his name and family were endangered; but where interest alone is
+concerned, and that interest is combated by the peace of his mind, and
+the delicacy of his word, my opposition is at an end. And though our
+extensive and well founded views for a splendid alliance are abolished,
+you will agree with me hereafter, upon a closer inspection, that the
+object for whom he relinquishes them, offers in herself the noblest
+reparation."
+
+Cecilia felt gratified, humbled, animated and depressed at once by this
+letter, of which Delvile brought her a copy. "And what," cried she, "was
+the answer?"
+
+"I cannot in decency," he replied, "speak my opinion of it: read it
+yourself,--and let me hear yours."
+
+_To the Honourable Mrs Delvile_.
+
+Your extraordinary letter, madam, has extremely surprised me. I had been
+willing to hope the affair over from the time my disapprobation of it
+was formally announced. I am sorry you are so much indisposed, but I
+cannot conclude your health would be restored by my acceding to a plan
+so derogatory to my house. I disapprove it upon every account, not only
+of the name and the fortune, but the lady herself. I have reasons more
+important than those I assign, but they are such as I am bound in
+honour not to mention. After such a declaration, nobody, I presume, will
+affront me by asking them. Her defence you have only from herself,
+her accusation I have received from authority less partial. I command,
+therefore, that my son, upon pain of my eternal displeasure, may never
+speak to me on the subject again, and I hope, madam, from you the same
+complaisance to my request. I cannot explain myself further, nor is it
+necessary; it is no news, I flatter myself, to Mortimer Delvile or his
+mother, that I do nothing without reason, and I believe nothing upon
+slight grounds.
+
+A few cold compliments concerning her journey, and the re-establishment
+of her health, concluded the letter.
+
+Cecilia, having read, hastily returned it, and indignantly said, "My
+opinion, Sir, upon this letter, must surely be yours; that we had done
+wiser, long since, to have spared your mother and ourselves, those vain
+and fruitless conflicts which we ought better to have foreseen were
+liable to such a conclusion. Now, at least, let them be ended, and let
+us not pursue disgrace wilfully, after suffering from it with so much
+rigour involuntarily."
+
+"O no," cried Delvile, "rather let us now spurn it for ever! those
+conflicts must indeed be ended, but not by a separation still more
+bitter than all of them."
+
+He then told her, that his mother, highly offended to observe by the
+extreme coldness of this letter, the rancour he still nourished for
+the contest preceding her leaving him, no longer now refused even her
+separate consent, for a measure which she thought her son absolutely
+engaged to take.
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Cecilia, much amazed, "this from Mrs Delvile!--a
+separate consent?"--
+
+"She has always maintained," he answered, "an independent mind,
+always judged for herself, and refused all other arbitration: when so
+impetuously she parted us, my father's will happened to be her's, and
+thence their concurrence: my father, of a temper immoveable and stern,
+retains stubbornly the prejudices which once have taken possession
+of him; my mother, generous as fiery, and noble as proud, is open to
+conviction, and no sooner convinced, than ingenuous in acknowledging it:
+and thence their dissention. From my father I may hope forgiveness, but
+must never expect concession; from my mother I may hope all she ought
+to grant, for pardon but her vehemence,--and she has every great quality
+that can dignify human nature!"
+
+Cecilia, whose affection and reverence for Mrs Delvile were unfeigned,
+and who loved in her son this filial enthusiasm, readily concurred with
+him in praising her, and sincerely esteemed her the first among women.
+
+"Now, then," cried he, with earnestness, "now is the time when your
+generous admiration of her is put to the test; see what she writes
+to you;--she has left to me all explanation: but I insisted upon some
+credential, lest you should believe I only owed her concurrence to a
+happy dream."
+
+Cecilia in much trepidation took the letter, and hastily run it over.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+Misery, my sweet young friend, has long been busy with us all; much have
+we owed to the clash of different interests, much to that rapacity
+which to enjoy any thing, demands every thing, and much to that general
+perverseness which labours to place happiness in what is with-held.
+Thus do we struggle on till we can struggle no longer; the felicity
+with which we trifle, at best is but temporary; and before reason and
+reflection shew its value, sickness and sorrow are commonly become
+stationary.
+
+Be it yours, my love, and my son's, to profit by the experience, while
+you pity the errors, of the many who illustrate this truth. Your mutual
+partiality has been mutually unfortunate, and must always continue
+so for the interests of both: but how blind is it to wait, in our own
+peculiar lots, for that perfection of enjoyment we can all see wanting
+in the lot of others! My expectations for my son had "outstepped the
+modesty of" probability. I looked for rank and high birth, with
+the fortune of Cecilia, and Cecilia's rare character. Alas! a new
+constellation in the heavens might as rationally have been looked for!
+
+My extravagance, however, has been all for his felicity, dearer to me
+than life,--dearer to me than all things but his own honour! Let us but
+save that, and then let wealth, ambition, interest, grandeur and pride,
+since they cannot constitute his happiness, be removed from destroying
+it. I will no longer play the tyrant that, weighing good and evil by my
+own feelings and opinions, insists upon his acting by the notions I have
+formed, whatever misery they may bring him by opposing all his own.
+
+I leave the kingdom with little reason to expect I shall return to it;
+I leave it--Oh blindness of vanity and passion!--from the effect of
+that violence with which so lately I opposed what now I am content to
+advance! But the extraordinary resignation to which you have agreed,
+shews your heart so wholly my son's, and so even more than worthy the
+whole possession of his, that it reflects upon him an honour more bright
+and more alluring, than any the most illustrious other alliance could
+now confer.
+
+I would fain see you ere I go, lest I should see you no more; fain
+ratify by word of mouth the consent that by word of mouth I so
+absolutely refused! I know not how to come to Suffolk,--is it not
+possible you can come to London? I am told you leave to me the
+arbitration of your fate, in giving you to my son, I best shew my sense
+of such an honour.
+
+Hasten then, my love, to town, that I may see you once more! wait no
+longer a concurrence thus unjustly with-held, but hasten, that I may
+bless the daughter I have so often wished to own! that I may entreat her
+forgiveness for all the pain I have occasioned her, and committing to
+her charge the future happiness of my son, fold to my maternal heart the
+two objects most dear to it!
+
+AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+
+
+
+Cecilia wept over this letter with tenderness, grief and alarm; but
+declared, had it even summoned her to follow her abroad, she could not,
+after reading it, have hesitated in complying.
+
+"O now, then," cried Delvile, "let our long suspenses end! hear me with
+the candour; my mother has already listened to me--be mine, my Cecilia,
+at once,--and force me not, by eternal scruples, to risk another
+separation."
+
+"Good heaven, Sir!" cried Cecilia, starting, "in such a state as Mrs
+Delvile thinks herself, would you have her journey delayed?"
+
+"No, not a moment! I would but ensure you mine, and go with her all over
+the world!"
+
+"Wild and impossible!--and what is to be done with Mr Delvile?"
+
+"It is on his account wholly I am thus earnestly precipitate. If I do
+not by an immediate marriage prevent his further interference, all I
+have already suffered may again be repeated, and some fresh contest with
+my mother may occasion another relapse."
+
+Cecilia, who now understood him, ardently protested she would not listen
+for a moment to any clandestine expedient.
+
+He besought her to be patient; and then anxiously represented to
+her their peculiar situations. All application to his father he was
+peremptorily forbid making, all efforts to remove his prejudices their
+impenetrable mystery prevented; a public marriage, therefore, with such
+obstacles, would almost irritate him to phrenzy, by its daring defiance
+of his prohibition and authority.
+
+"Alas!" exclaimed Cecilia, "we can never do right but in parting!"
+
+"Say it not," cried he, "I conjure you! we shall yet live, I hope, to
+prove the contrary."
+
+"And can you, then," cried she, reproachfully, "Oh Mr Delvile! can you
+again urge me to enter your family in secret?"
+
+"I grieve, indeed," he answered, "that your goodness should so severely
+be tried; yet did you not condescend to commit the arbitration to my
+mother?"
+
+"True; and I thought her approbation would secure my peace of mind; but
+how could I have expected Mrs Delvile's consent to such a scheme!"
+
+"She has merely accorded it from a certainty there is no other resource.
+Believe me, therefore, my whole hope rests upon your present compliance.
+My father, I am certain, by his letter, will now hear neither petition
+nor defence; on the contrary, he will only enrage at the temerity of
+offering to confute him. But when he knows you are his daughter, his
+honour will then be concerned in yours, and it will be as much his
+desire to have it cleared, as it is now to have it censured."
+
+"Wait at least your return, and let us try what can be done with him."
+
+"Oh why," cried Delvile, with much earnestness, "must I linger out month
+after month in this wretched uncertainty! If I wait I am undone! my
+father, by the orders I must unavoidably leave, will discover the
+preparations making without his consent, and he will work upon you in my
+absence, and compel you to give me up!"
+
+"Are you sure," said she, half smiling, "he would have so much power?"
+
+"I am but too sure, that the least intimation, in his present irritable
+state of mind, reaching him of my intentions, would make him not
+scruple, in his fury, pronouncing some malediction upon my disobedience
+that _neither_ of us, I must own, could tranquilly disregard."
+
+This was an argument that came home to Cecilia, whose deliberation upon
+it, though silent, was evidently not unfavourable.
+
+He then told her that with respect to settlements, he would instantly
+have a bond drawn up, similar to that prepared for their former intended
+union, which should be properly signed and sealed, and by which he would
+engage himself to make, upon coming to his estate, the same settlement
+upon her that was made upon his mother.
+
+"And as, instead of keeping up three houses," he continued, "in the
+manner my father does at present, I mean to put my whole estate _out to
+nurse_, while we reside for a while abroad, or in the country, I doubt
+not but in a very few years we shall be as rich and as easy as we shall
+desire."
+
+He told her, also, of his well-founded expectations from the Relations
+already mentioned; which the concurrence of his mother with his marriage
+would thence forward secure to him.
+
+He then, with more coherence, stated his plan at large. He purposed,
+without losing a moment, to return to London; he conjured her, in the
+name of his mother, to set out herself early the next day, that the
+following evening might be dedicated wholly to Mrs Delvile: through her
+intercession he might then hope Cecilia's compliance, and every thing on
+the morning after should be prepared for their union. The long-desired
+ceremony over, he would instantly ride post to his father, and pay him,
+at least, the respect of being the first to communicate it. He would
+then attend his mother to the Continent, and leave the arrangement
+of everything to his return. "Still, therefore, as a single man," he
+continued, "I mean to make the journey, and I shall take care, by the
+time I return, to have all things in readiness for claiming my sweet
+Bride. Tell me, then, now, if you can reasonably oppose this plan?"
+
+"Indeed," said Cecilia, after some hesitation, "I cannot see the
+necessity of such violent precipitancy."
+
+"Do you not try me too much," cried Delvile, impatiently, "to talk now
+of precipitancy! after such painful waiting, such wearisome expectation!
+I ask you not to involve your own affairs in confusion by accompanying
+me abroad; sweet to me as would be such an indulgence, I would not make
+a run-away of you in the opinion of the world. All I wish is the secret
+certainty I cannot be robbed of you, that no cruel machinations may
+again work our separation, that you are mine, unalterably mine, beyond
+the power of caprice or ill fortune."
+
+Cecilia made no answer; tortured with irresolution, she knew not upon
+what to determine.
+
+"We might then, according to the favour or displeasure of my father,
+settle wholly abroad for the present, or occasionally visit him in
+England; my mother would be always and openly our friend--Oh be firm,
+then, I conjure you, to the promise you have given her, and deign to be
+mine on the conditions she prescribes. She will be bound to you for ever
+by so generous a concession, and even her health may be restored by the
+cessation of her anxieties. With such a wife, such a mother, what
+will be wanting for _me_! Could I lament not being richer, I must be
+rapacious indeed!--Speak, then, my Cecilia! relieve me from the agony
+of this eternal uncertainty, and tell me your word is invariable as your
+honour, and tell me my mother gives not her sanction in vain!"
+
+Cecilia sighed deeply, but, after some hesitation, said, "I little knew
+what I had promised, nor know I now what to perform!--there must ever, I
+find, be some check to human happiness! yet, since upon these terms, Mrs
+Delvile herself is content to wish me of her family--"
+
+She stopt; but, urged earnestly by Delvile, added "I must not, I think,
+withdraw the powers with which I entrusted her."
+
+Delvile, grateful and enchanted, now forgot his haste and his business,
+and lost every wish but to re-animate her spirits: she compelled him,
+however, to leave her, that his visit might less be wondered at, and
+sent by him a message to Mrs. Delvile, that, wholly relying upon her
+wisdom, she implicitly submitted to her decree.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER xi.
+
+AN ENTERPRISE.
+
+Cecilia now had no time for afterthoughts or anxious repentance, since
+notwithstanding the hurry of her spirits, and the confusion of her mind,
+she had too much real business, to yield to pensive indulgence.
+
+Averse to all falsehood, she invented none upon this occasion; she
+merely told her guests she was summoned to London upon an affair of
+importance; and though she saw their curiosity, not being at liberty to
+satisfy it with the truth, she attempted not to appease it by fiction,
+but quietly left it to its common fare, conjecture. She would gladly
+have made Henrietta the companion of her journey, but Henrietta was the
+last to whom that journey could give pleasure. She only, therefore, took
+her maid in the chaise, and, attended by one servant on horseback, at
+six o'clock the next morning, she quitted her mansion, to enter into an
+engagement by which soon she was to resign it for ever.
+
+Disinterested as she was, she considered her situation as peculiarly
+perverse, that from the time of her coming to a fortune which most
+others regarded as enviable, she had been a stranger to peace, a
+fruitless seeker of happiness, a dupe to the fraudulent, and a prey to
+the needy! the little comfort she had received, had been merely from
+dispensing it, and now only had she any chance of being happy herself,
+when upon the point of relinquishing what all others built their
+happiness upon obtaining!
+
+These reflections only gave way to others still more disagreeable; she
+was now a second time engaged in a transaction she could not approve,
+and suffering the whole peace of her future life to hang upon an action
+dark, private and imprudent: an action by which the liberal kindness of
+her late uncle would be annulled, by which the father of her intended
+husband would be disobeyed, and which already, in a similar instance,
+had brought her to affliction and disgrace. These melancholy thoughts
+haunted her during the whole journey, and though the assurance of
+Mrs Delvile's approbation was some relief to her uneasiness, she
+involuntarily prepared herself for meeting new mortifications, and was
+tormented with an apprehension that this second attempt made her merit
+them.
+
+She drove immediately, by the previous direction of Delvile, to a
+lodging-house in Albemarle Street, which he had taken care to have
+prepared for her reception. She then sent for a chair, and went to Mrs
+Delvile's. Her being seen by the servants of that house was not very
+important, as their master was soon to be acquainted with the real
+motive of her journey.
+
+She was shewn into a parlour, while Mrs Delvile was informed of her
+arrival, and there flown to by Delvile with the most grateful eagerness.
+Yet she saw in his countenance that all was not well, and heard upon
+enquiry that his mother was considerably worse. Extremely shocked
+by this intelligence, she already began to lament her unfortunate
+enterprise. Delvile struggled, by exerting his own spirits, to restore
+hers, but forced gaiety is never exhilarating; and, full of care and
+anxiety, he was ill able to appear sprightly and easy.
+
+They were soon summoned upstairs into the apartment of Mrs Delvile, who
+was lying upon a couch, pale, weak, and much altered. Delvile led the
+way, saying, "Here, madam, comes one whose sight will bring peace and
+pleasure to you!"
+
+"This, indeed," cried Mrs Delvile, half rising and embracing her, "is
+the form in which they are most welcome to me! virtuous, noble Cecilia!
+what honour you do my son! with what joy, should I ever recover, shall I
+assist him in paying the gratitude he owes you!"
+
+Cecilia, grieved at her situation, and affected by her kindness, could
+only answer with her tears; which, however, were not shed alone; for
+Delvile's eyes were full, as he passionately exclaimed, "This, this is
+the sight my heart has thus long desired! the wife of my choice taken
+to the bosom of the parent I revere! be yet but well, my beloved mother,
+and I will be thankful for every calamity that has led to so sweet a
+conclusion!"
+
+"Content yourself, however, my son, with one of us," cried Mrs Delvile,
+smiling; "and content yourself, if you can, though your hard lot should
+make that one this creature of full bloom, health, and youth! Ah, my
+love," added she, more seriously, and addressing the still weeping
+Cecilia, "should now Mortimer, in losing me, lose those cares by which
+alone, for some months past, my life has been rendered tolerable, how
+peaceably shall I resign him to one so able to recompense his filial
+patience and services!"
+
+This was not a speech to stop the tears of Cecilia, though such warmth
+of approbation quieted her conscientious scruples. Delvile now earnestly
+interfered; he told her that his mother had been ordered not to talk or
+exert herself, and entreated her to be composed, and his mother to be
+silent.
+
+"Be it _your_ business, then," said Mrs Delvile, more gaily, "to find
+us entertainment. We will promise to be very still if you will take that
+trouble upon yourself."
+
+"I will not," answered he, "be rallied from my purpose; if I cannot
+entertain, it will be something to weary you, for that may incline you
+to take rest, which will he answering a better purpose."
+
+"Mortimer," returned she, "is this the ingenuity of duty or of love?
+and which are you just now thinking of, my health, or a conversation
+uninterrupted with Miss Beverley?"
+
+"Perhaps a little of both!" said he, chearfully, though colouring.
+
+"But you rather meant it should pass," said Mrs Delvile, "you were
+thinking only of me? I have always observed, that where one scheme
+answers two purposes, the ostensive is never the purpose most at heart."
+
+"Why it is but common prudence," answered Delvile, "to feel our way a
+little before we mention what we most wish, and so cast the hazard of
+the refusal upon something rather less important."
+
+"Admirably settled!" cried Mrs Delvile: "so my rest is but to prove Miss
+Beverley's disturbance!--Well, it is only anticipating our future way of
+life, when her disturbance, in taking the management of you to herself,
+will of course prove my rest."
+
+She then quietly reposed herself, and Delvile discoursed with Cecilia
+upon their future plans, hopes and actions.
+
+He meant to set off from the church-door to Delvile Castle, to acquaint
+his father with his marriage, and then to return instantly to London:
+there he entreated Cecilia to stay with his mother, that, finding them
+both together, he might not exhaust her patience, by making his parting
+visit occasion another journey to Suffolk.
+
+But here Cecilia resolutely opposed him; saying, her only chance to
+escape discovery, was going instantly to her own house; and representing
+so earnestly her desire that their marriage should be unknown till his
+return to England, upon a thousand motives of delicacy, propriety, and
+fearfulness, that the obligation he owed already to a compliance which
+he saw grew more and more reluctant, restrained him both in gratitude
+and pity from persecuting her further. Neither would she consent to
+seeing him in Suffolk; which could but delay his mother's journey, and
+expose her to unnecessary suspicions; she promised, however, to write
+to him often, and as, from his mother's weakness, he must travel very
+slowly, she took a plan of his route, and engaged that he should find a
+letter from her at every great town.
+
+The bond which he had already had altered, he insisted upon leaving in
+her own custody, averse to applying to Mr Monckton, whose behaviour to
+him had before given him disgust, and in whom Cecilia herself no
+longer wished to confide. He had again applied to the same lawyer, Mr
+Singleton, to give her away; for though to his secrecy he had no tie, he
+had still less to any entire stranger. Mrs Delvile was too ill to attend
+them to church, nor would Delvile have desired from her such absolute
+defiance of his father.
+
+Cecilia now gave another sigh to her departed friend Mrs Charlton, whose
+presence upon this awful occasion would else again have soothed and
+supported her. She had no female friend in whom she could rely; but
+feeling a repugnance invincible to being accompanied only by men, she
+accepted the attendance of Mrs Delvile's own woman, who had lived many
+years in the family, and was high in the favour and confidence of her
+lady.
+
+The arrangement of these and other articles, with occasional
+interruptions from Mrs Delvile, fully employed the evening. Delvile
+would not trust again to meeting her at the church; but begged her to
+send out her servants between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, at
+which time he would himself call for her with a chair.
+
+She went away early, that Mrs Delvile might go to rest, and it was
+mutually agreed they should risk no meeting the next day. Delvile
+conjured them to part with firmness and chearfulness, and Cecilia,
+fearing her own emotion, would have retired without bidding her adieu.
+But Mrs Delvile, calling after her, said, "Take with you my blessing!"
+and tenderly embracing her, added, "My son, as my chief nurse, claims
+a prescriptive right to govern me, but I will break from his control to
+tell my sweet Cecilia what ease and what delight she has already given
+to my mind! my best hope of recovery is founded on the pleasure I
+anticipate to witnessing your mutual happiness: but should my illness
+prove fatal, and that felicity be denied me, my greatest earthly care is
+already removed by the security I feel of Mortimer's future peace. Take
+with you, then, my blessing, for you are become one to me! long daughter
+of my affection, now wife of my darling son! love her, Mortimer, as
+she merits, and cherish her with tenderest gratitude!--banish, sweetest
+Cecilia, every apprehension that oppresses you, and receive in Mortimer
+Delvile a husband that will revere your virtues, and dignify your
+choice!"
+
+She then embraced her again, and seeing that her heart was too full for
+speech, suffered her to go without making any answer. Delvile attended
+her to her chair, scarce less moved than herself, and found only
+opportunity to entreat her punctuality the next morning.
+
+She had, indeed, no inclination to fail in her appointment, or risk
+the repetition of scenes so affecting, or situations so alarming. Mrs
+Delvile's full approbation somewhat restored to her her own, but nothing
+could remove the fearful anxiety, which still privately tormented her
+with expectations of another disappointment.
+
+The next morning she arose with the light, and calling all her courage
+to her aid, determined to consider this day as decisive of her destiny
+with regard to Delvile, and, rejoicing that at least all suspense would
+be over, to support herself with fortitude, be that destiny what it
+might.
+
+At the appointed time she sent her maid to visit Mrs Hill, and gave some
+errands to her man that carried him to a distant part of the town: but
+she charged them both to return to the lodgings by nine o'clock, at
+which hour she ordered a chaise for returning into the country.
+
+Delvile, who was impatiently watching for their quitting the house, only
+waited till they were out of sight, to present himself at the door. He
+was shewn into a parlour, where she instantly attended him; and being
+told that the clergyman, Mr Singleton, and Mrs Delvile's woman, were
+already in the church, she gave him her hand in silence, and he led her
+to the chair.
+
+The calmness of stifled hope had now taken place in Cecilia of quick
+sensations and alarm. Occupied with a firm belief she should never be
+the wife of Delvile, she only waited, with a desperate sort of patience,
+to see when and by whom she was next to be parted from him.
+
+When they arrived near the church, Delvile stopt the chair. He handed
+Cecilia out of it, and discharging the chairmen, conducted her into the
+church. He was surprised himself at her composure, but earnestly wishing
+it to last, took care not to say to her a word that should make any
+answer from her necessary.
+
+He gave her, as before, to Mr Singleton, secretly praying that not, as
+before, she might be given him in vain: Mrs Delvile's woman attended
+her; the clergyman was ready, and they all proceeded to the altar.
+
+The ceremony was begun; Cecilia, rather mechanically than with
+consciousness, appearing to listen to it but at the words, _If any man
+can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together_,
+Delvile himself shook with terror, lest some concealed person should
+again answer it, and Cecilia, with a sort of steady dismay in her
+countenance, cast her eyes round the church, with no other view than
+that of seeing from what corner the prohibiter would start.
+
+She looked, however, to no purpose; no prohibiter appeared, the ceremony
+was performed without any interruption, and she received the thanks
+of Delvile, and the congratulations of the little set, before the idea
+which had so strongly pre-occupied her imagination, was sufficiently
+removed from it to satisfy her she was really married.
+
+They then went to the vestry, where their business was not long; and
+Delvile again put Cecilia into a chair, which again he accompanied on
+foot.
+
+Her sensibility now soon returned, though still attended with
+strangeness and a sensation of incredulity. But the sight of Delvile at
+her lodgings, contrary to their agreement, wholly recovered her
+senses from the stupor which had dulled them. He came, however, but to
+acknowledge how highly she had obliged him, to see her himself restored
+to the animation natural to her, character, and to give her a million
+of charges, resulting from anxiety and tenderness. And then, fearing the
+return of her servants, he quitted her, and set out for Delvile Castle.
+
+The amazement of Cecilia was still unconquerable; to be actually united
+with Delvile! to be his with the full consent of his mother,--to have
+him her's, beyond the power of his father,--she could not reconcile it
+with possibility; she fancied it a dream,--but a dream from which she
+wished not to wake.
+
+
+
+BOOK X.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER i
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+Cecilia's journey back to the country was as safe and free from
+interruption as her journey had been to town, and all that distinguished
+them was what passed in her own mind: the doubts, apprehensions, and
+desponding suspense which had accompanied her setting out, were now
+all removed, and certainty, ease, the expectation of happiness, and the
+cessation of all perplexity, had taken their place. She had nothing left
+to dread but the inflexibility of Mr Delvile, and hardly any thing even
+to hope but the recovery of his lady.
+
+Her friends at her return expressed their wonder at her expedition,
+but their wonder at what occasioned it, though still greater, met no
+satisfaction. Henrietta rejoiced in her sight, though her absence had
+been so short; and Cecilia, whose affection with her pity increased,
+intimated to her the event for which she wished her to prepare herself,
+and frankly acknowledged she had reason to expect it would soon take
+place.
+
+Henrietta endeavoured with composure to receive this intelligence, and
+to return such a mark of confidence with chearful congratulations: but
+her fortitude was unequal to an effort so heroic, and her character was
+too simple to assume a greatness she felt not: she sighed and changed
+colour; and hastily quitted the room that she might sob aloud in
+another.
+
+Warm-hearted, tender, and susceptible, her affections were all
+undisguised: struck with the elegance of Delvile, and enchanted by his
+services to her brother, she had lost to him her heart at first without
+missing it, and, when missed, without seeking to reclaim it. The
+hopelessness of such a passion she never considered, nor asked herself
+its end, or scarce suspected its aim; it was pleasant to her at the
+time, and she looked not to the future, but fed it with visionary
+schemes, and soothed it with voluntary fancies. Now she knew all was
+over, she felt the folly she had committed, but though sensibly and
+candidly angry at her own error, its conviction offered nothing but
+sorrow to succeed it.
+
+The felicity of Cecilia, whom she loved, admired and revered, she wished
+with the genuine ardour of zealous sincerity; but that Delvile, the very
+cause and sole subject of her own personal unhappiness, should himself
+constitute that felicity, was too much for her spirits, and seemed to
+her mortified mind too cruel in her destiny.
+
+Cecilia, who in the very vehemence of her sorrow saw its innocence,
+was too just and too noble to be offended by it, or impute to the bad
+passions of envy or jealousy, the artless regret of an untutored mind.
+To be penetrated too deeply with the merit of Delvile, with her wanted
+no excuse, and she grieved for her situation with but little mixture
+of blame, and none of surprise. She redoubled her kindness and caresses
+with the hope of consoling her, but ventured to trust her no further,
+till reflection, and her natural good sense, should better enable her to
+bear an explanation.
+
+Nor was this friendly exertion any longer a hardship to her; the sudden
+removal, in her own feelings and affairs, of distress and expectation,
+had now so much lightened her heart, that she could spare without
+repining, some portion of its spirit to her dejected young friend.
+
+But an incident happened two mornings after which called back, and most
+unpleasantly, her attention to herself. She was told that Mrs Matt, the
+poor woman she had settled in Bury, begged an audience, and upon sending
+for her up stairs, and desiring to know what she could do for her,
+"Nothing, madam, just now," she answered, "for I don't come upon my own
+business, but to tell some news to you, madam. You bid me never take
+notice of the wedding, that was to be, and I'm sure I never opened my
+mouth about it from that time to this; but I have found out who it was
+put a stop to it, and so I come to tell you."
+
+Cecilia, extremely amazed, eagerly desired her to go on.
+
+"Why, madam, I don't know the gentlewoman's name quite right yet, but
+I can tell you where she lives, for I knew her as soon as I set eyes on
+her, when I see her at church last Sunday, and I would have followed her
+home, but she went into a coach, and I could not walk fast enough; but I
+asked one of the footmen where she lived, and he said at the great house
+at the Grove: and perhaps, madam, you may know where that is: and then
+he told me her name, but that I can't just now think of."
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Cecilia,--"it could not be Bennet?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, that's the very name; I know it again now I hear it."
+
+Cecilia then hastily dismissed her, first desiring her not to mention
+the circumstance to any body.
+
+Shocked and dismayed, she now saw, but saw with horror, the removal of
+all her doubts, and the explanation of all her difficulties, in the
+full and irrefragable discovery of the perfidy of her oldest friend and
+confident.
+
+Miss Bennet herself she regarded in the affair as a mere tool, which,
+though in effect it did the work, was innocent of its mischief, because
+powerless but in the hand of its employer.
+
+"That employer," cried she, "must be Mr Monckton! Mr Monckton whom so
+long I have known, who so willingly has been my counsellor, so ably my
+instructor! in whose integrity I have confided, upon whose friendship
+I have relied! my succour in all emergencies, my guide in all
+perplexities!--Mr _Monckton_ thus dishonourably, thus barbarously to
+betray me! to turn against me the very confidence I had reposed in his
+regard for me! and make use of my own trust to furnish the means to
+injure me!"--
+
+She was now wholly confirmed that he had wronged her with Mr Delvile;
+she could not have two enemies so malignant without provocation, and he
+who so unfeelingly could dissolve a union at the very altar, could alone
+have the baseness to calumniate her so cruelly.
+
+Evil thoughts thus awakened, stopt not merely upon facts; conjecture
+carried her further, and conjecture built upon probability. The
+officiousness of Morrice in pursuing her to London, his visiting her
+when there, and his following and watching Delvile, she now reasonably
+concluded were actions directed by Mr Monckton, whose house he had but
+just left, and whose orders, whatever they might be, she was almost
+certain he would obey. Availing himself, therefore, of the forwardness
+and suppleness which met in this young man, she doubted not but his
+intelligence had contributed to acquaint him with her proceedings.
+
+The motive of such deep concerted and accumulated treachery was next to
+be sought: nor was the search long; one only could have tempted him to
+schemes so hazardous and costly; and, unsuspicious as she was, she now
+saw into his whole design.
+
+Long accustomed to regard him as a safe and disinterested old friend,
+the respect with which, as a child, she had looked up to him, she
+had insensibly preserved when a woman. That respect had taught her to
+consider his notice as a favour, and far from suspiciously shunning, she
+had innocently courted it: and his readiness in advising and tutoring
+her, his frank and easy friendliness of behaviour, had kept his
+influence unimpaired, by preventing its secret purpose from being
+detected.
+
+But now the whole mystery was revealed; his aversion to the Delviles, to
+which hitherto she had attributed all she disapproved in his behaviour,
+she was convinced must be inadequate to stimulate him to such lengths.
+That aversion itself was by this late surmise accounted for, and no
+sooner did it occur to her, than a thousand circumstances confirmed it.
+
+The first among these was the evident ill will of Lady Margaret, which
+though she had constantly imputed to the general irascibility for which
+her character was notorious, she had often wondered to find impenetrable
+to all endeavours to please or soften her. His care of her fortune, his
+exhortations against her expences, his wish to make her live with Mr
+Briggs, all contributed to point out the selfishness of his attentions,
+which in one instance rendered visible, became obvious in every other.
+
+Yet various as were the incidents that now poured upon her memory to
+his disgrace, not one among them took its rise from his behaviour to
+herself, which always had been scrupulously circumspect, or if for a
+moment unguarded, only at a season when her own distress or confusion
+had prevented her from perceiving it. This recollection almost staggered
+her suspicions; yet so absolute seemed the confirmation they received
+from every other, that her doubt was overpowered, and soon wholly
+extinguished.
+
+She was yet ruminating on this subject, when, word was brought her that
+Mr Monckton was in the parlour.
+
+Mingled disgust and indignation made her shudder at his name, and
+without pausing a moment, she sent him word she was engaged, and could
+not possibly leave her room.
+
+Astonished by such a dismission, he left the house in the utmost
+confusion. But Cecilia could not endure to see him, after a discovery of
+such hypocrisy and villainy.
+
+She considered, however, that the matter could not rest here: he would
+demand an explanation, and perhaps, by his unparalleled address, again
+contrive to seem innocent, notwithstanding appearances were at present
+so much against him. Expecting, therefore, some artifice, and determined
+not to be duped by it, she sent again for the Pew-opener, to examine her
+more strictly.
+
+The woman was out at work in a private family, and could not come till
+the evening: but, when further questioned, the description she gave of
+Miss Bennet was too exact to be disputed.
+
+She then desired her to call again the next morning and sent a servant
+to the Grove, with her compliments to Miss Bennet, and a request that
+she might send her carriage for her the next day, at any time she
+pleased, as she wished much to speak with her.
+
+This message, she was aware, might create some suspicion, and put her
+upon her guard; but she thought, nevertheless, a sudden meeting with the
+Pew-opener, whom she meant abruptly to confront with her, would baffle
+the security of any previously settled scheme.
+
+To a conviction such as this even Mr Monckton must submit, and since he
+was lost to her as a friend, she might at least save herself the pain of
+keeping up his acquaintance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ii.
+
+AN INTERVIEW.
+
+The servant did not return till it was dark; and then, with a look of
+much dismay, said he had been able to meet with nobody who could either
+give or take a message; that the Grove was all in confusion, and the
+whole country in an uproar, for Mr Monckton, just as he arrived, had
+been brought home dead!
+
+Cecilia screamed with involuntary horror; a pang like remorse seized her
+mind, with the apprehension she had some share in this catastrophe,
+and innocent as she was either of his fall or his crimes, she no
+sooner heard he was no more, than she forgot he had offended her, and
+reproached herself with severity for the shame to which she meant to
+expose him the next morning.
+
+Dreadfully disturbed by this horrible incident, she entreated Mrs
+Harrel and Henrietta to sup by themselves, and going into her own room,
+determined to write the whole affair to Delvile, in a letter she should
+direct to be left at the post-office for him at Margate.
+
+And here strongly she felt the happiness of being actually his wife; she
+could now without reserve make him acquainted with all her affairs, and
+tell to the master of her heart every emotion that entered it.
+
+While engaged in this office, the very action of which quieted her,
+a letter was brought her from Delvile himself. She received it with
+gratitude and opened it with joy; he had promised to write soon, but so
+soon she had thought impossible.
+
+The reading took not much time; the letter contained but the following
+words:
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+MY CECILIA!--Be alone, I conjure you; dismiss every body, and admit me
+this moment!
+
+Great was her astonishment at this note! no name to it, no conclusion,
+the characters indistinct, the writing crooked, the words so few, and
+those few scarce legible!
+
+He desired to see her, and to see her alone; she could not hesitate in
+her compliance,--but whom could she dismiss?--her servants, if ordered
+away, would but be curiously upon the watch,--she could think of no
+expedient, she was all hurry and amazement.
+
+She asked if any one waited for an answer? The footman said no; that
+the note was given in by somebody who did not speak, and who ran out of
+sight the moment he had delivered it.
+
+She could not doubt this was Delvile himself,--Delvile who should now
+be just returned from the castle to his mother, and whom she had thought
+not even a letter would reach if directed any where nearer than Margate!
+
+All she could devise in obedience to him, was to go and wait for him
+alone in her dressing-room, giving orders that if any one called they
+might be immediately brought up to her, as she expected somebody upon
+business, with whom she must not be interrupted.
+
+This was extremely disagreeable to her; yet, contrary as it was to their
+agreement, she felt no inclination to reproach Delvile; the abruptness
+of his note, the evident hand-shaking with which it had been written,
+the strangeness of the request in a situation such as theirs,--all
+concurred to assure her he came not to her idly, and all led her to
+apprehend he came to her with evil tidings.
+
+What they might be, she had no time to conjecture; a servant, in a few
+minutes, opened the dressing-room door, and said, "Ma'am, a gentleman;"
+and Delvile, abruptly entering, shut it himself, in his eagerness to get
+rid of him.
+
+At his sight, her prognostication of ill became stronger! she went
+forward to meet him, and he advanced to her smiling and in haste;
+but that smile did not well do its office; it concealed not a pallid
+countenance, in which every feature spoke horror; it disguised not an
+aching heart, which almost visibly throbbed with intolerable emotion!
+Yet he addressed her in terms of tenderness and peace; but his tremulous
+voice counteracted his words, and spoke that all within was tumult and
+war!
+
+Cecilia, amazed, affrighted, had no power to hasten an explanation,
+which, on his own part, he seemed unable, or fearful to begin. He talked
+to her of his happiness in again seeing her before he left the kingdom,
+entreated her to write to him continually, said the same thing two and
+three times in a breath, began with one subject, and seemed unconscious
+he wandered presently into another, and asked her questions innumerable
+about her health, journey, affairs, and ease of mind, without hearing
+from her any answer, or seeming to miss that she had none.
+
+Cecilia grew dreadfully terrified; something strange and most alarming
+she was sure must have happened, but _what_, she had no means to know,
+nor courage, nor even words to enquire.
+
+Delvile, at length, the first hurry of his spirits abating, became more
+coherent and considerate: and looking anxiously at her, said, "Why this
+silence, my Cecilia?"
+
+"I know not!" said she, endeavouring to recover herself, "but your
+coming was unexpected: I was just writing to you at Margate."
+
+"Write still, then; but direct to Ostend; I shall be quicker than the
+post; and I would not lose a letter--a line--a word from you, for all
+the world can offer me!"
+
+"Quicker than the post?" cried Cecilia; "but how can Mrs Delvile--" she
+stopt; not knowing what she might venture to ask.
+
+"She is now on the road to Margate; I hope to be there to receive her. I
+mean but to bid you adieu, and be gone."
+
+Cecilia made no answer; she was more and more astonished, more and more
+confounded.
+
+"You are thoughtful?" said he, with tenderness; "are you
+unhappy?--sweetest Cecilia! most excellent of human creatures! if I have
+made you unhappy--and I must!--it is inevitable!--"
+
+"Oh Delvile!" cried she, now assuming more courage, "why will you not
+speak to me openly?--something, I see, is wrong; may I not hear it? may
+I not tell you, at least, my concern that any thing has distressed you?"
+
+"You are too good!" cried he; "to deserve you is not possible, but to
+afflict you is inhuman!"
+
+"Why so?" cried she, more chearfully; "must I not share the common lot?
+or expect the whole world to be new modelled, lest I should meet in it
+any thing but happiness?"
+
+"There is not, indeed, much danger! Have you pen and ink here?"
+
+She brought them to him immediately, with paper.
+
+"You have been writing to me, you say?--I will begin a letter myself."
+
+"To me?" cried she.
+
+He made no answer, but took up the pen, and wrote a few words, and then,
+flinging it down, said, "Fool!--I could have done this without coming!"
+
+"May I look at it?" said she; and, finding he made no opposition,
+advanced and read.
+
+_I fear to alarm you by rash precipitation,--I fear to alarm you by
+lingering suspense,--but all is not well--_
+
+"Fear nothing!" cried she, turning to him with the kindest earnestness;
+"tell me, whatever it may be!--Am I not your wife? bound by every tie
+divine and human to share in all your sorrows, if, unhappily, I cannot
+mitigate them!"
+
+"Since you allow me," cried he, gratefully, "so sweet a claim, a claim
+to which all others yield, and which if you repent not giving me, will
+make all others nearly immaterial to me,--I will own to you that all,
+indeed, is not well! I have been hasty,--you will blame me; I deserve,
+indeed, to be blamed!--entrusted with your peace and happiness, to
+suffer rage, resentment, violence, to make me forego what I owed to such
+a deposite!--If your blame, however, stops short of repentance--but it
+cannot!"
+
+"What, then," cried she with warmth, "must you have done? for there
+is not an action of which I believe you capable, there is not an event
+which I believe to be possible, that can ever make me repent belonging
+to you wholly!"
+
+"Generous, condescending Cecilia!" cried he; "Words such as these, hung
+there not upon me an evil the most depressing, would be almost more than
+I could bear--would make me too blest for mortality!"
+
+"But words such as these," said she more gaily, "I might long have
+coquetted ere I had spoken, had you not drawn them from me by this
+alarm. Take, therefore, the good with the ill, and remember, if all does
+not go right, you have now a trusty friend, as willing to be the partner
+of your serious as your happiest hours."
+
+"Shew but as much firmness as you have shewn sweetness," cried he, "and
+I will fear to tell you nothing."
+
+She reiterated her assurances; they then both sat down, and he began his
+account.
+
+"Immediately from your lodgings I went where I had ordered a chaise, and
+stopped only to change horses till I reached Delvile Castle. My father
+saw me with surprise, and received me with coldness. I was compelled by
+my situation to be abrupt, and told him I came, before I accompanied
+my mother abroad, to make him acquainted with an affair which I thought
+myself bound in duty and respect to suffer no one to communicate to him
+but myself. He then sternly interrupted me, and declared in high terms,
+that if this affair concerned _you_, he would not listen to it. I
+attempted to remonstrate upon this injustice, when he passionately broke
+forth into new and horrible charges against you, affirming that he had
+them from authority as indisputable as ocular demonstration. I was then
+certain of some foul play."--
+
+"Foul play indeed!" cried Cecilia, who now knew but too well by whom she
+had been injured. "Good heaven, how have I been deceived, where most I
+have trusted!"
+
+"I told him," continued Delvile, "some gross imposition had been
+practiced upon him, and earnestly conjured him no longer to conceal
+from me by whom. This, unfortunately, encreased his rage; imposition,
+he said, was not so easily played upon him, he left that for _me_ who so
+readily was duped; while for himself, he had only given credit to a man
+of much consideration in Suffolk, who had known you from a child, who
+had solemnly assured him he had repeatedly endeavoured to reclaim you,
+who had rescued you from the hands of Jews at his own hazard and loss,
+and who actually shewed him bonds acknowledging immense debts, which
+were signed with your own hand."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Cecilia, "I believed not such guilt and perfidy
+possible!"
+
+"I was scarce myself," resumed Delvile, "while I heard him: I demanded
+even with fierceness his author, whom I scrupled not to execrate as he
+deserved; he coldly answered he was bound by an oath never to reveal
+him, nor should he repay his honourable attention to his family by a
+breach of his own word, were it even less formally engaged. I then
+lost all patience; to mention honour, I cried, was a farce, where
+such infamous calumnies were listened to;--but let me not shock you
+unnecessarily, you may readily conjecture what passed."
+
+"Ah me!" cried Cecilia, "you have then quarrelled with your father!"
+
+"I have!" said he; "nor does he yet know I am married: in so much wrath
+there was no room for narration; I only pledged myself by all I held
+sacred, never to rest till I had cleared your fame, by the detection of
+this villainy, and then left him without further explanation."
+
+"Oh return, then, to him directly!" cried Cecilia, "he is your father,
+you are bound to bear with his displeasure;--alas! had you never known
+me, you had never incurred it!"
+
+"Believe me," he answered, "I am ill at ease under it: if you wish it,
+when you have heard me, I will go to him immediately; if not, I will
+write, and you shall yourself dictate what."
+
+Cecilia thanked him, and begged he would continue his account.
+
+"My first step, when I left the Castle, was to send a letter to my
+mother, in which I entreated her to set out as soon as possible for
+Margate, as I was detained from her unavoidably, and was unwilling my
+delay should either retard our journey, or oblige her to travel faster.
+At Margate I hoped to be as soon as herself, if not before her."
+
+"And why," cried Cecilia, "did you not go to town as you had promised,
+and accompany her?"
+
+"I had business another way. I came hither."
+
+"Directly?"
+
+"No; but soon."
+
+"Where did you go first?"
+
+"My Cecilia, it is now you must summon your fortitude: I left my
+father without an explanation on my part;--but not till, in his rage of
+asserting his authority, he had unwarily named his informant."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"That informant--the most deceitful of men!--was your long pretended
+friend, Mr Monckton!"
+
+"So I feared!" said Cecilia, whose blood now ran cold through her veins
+with sudden and new apprehensions.
+
+"I rode to the Grove, on hack-horses, and on a full gallop the whole
+way. I got to him early in the evening. I was shewn into his library. I
+told him my errand.--You look pale, my love? You are not well?--"
+
+Cecilia, too sick for speech, leant her head upon a table. Delvile was
+going to call for help; but she put her hand upon his arm to stop
+him, and, perceiving she was only mentally affected, he rested, and
+endeavoured by every possible means to revive her.
+
+After a while, she again raised her head, faintly saying, "I am sorry
+I interrupted you; but the conclusion I already know,--Mr Monckton is
+dead!"
+
+"Not dead," cried he; "dangerously, indeed, wounded, but thank heaven,
+not actually dead!"
+
+"Not dead?" cried Cecilia, with recruited strength and spirits, "Oh then
+all yet may be well!--if he is not dead; he may recover!"
+
+"He may; I hope he will!"
+
+"Now, then," she cried, "tell me all: I can bear any intelligence but of
+death by human means."
+
+"I meant not to have gone such lengths; far from it; I hold duels in
+abhorrence, as unjustifiable acts of violence, and savage devices of
+revenge. I have offended against my own conviction,--but, transported
+with passion at his infamous charges, I was not master of my reason; I
+accused hum of his perfidy; he denied it; I told him I had it from my
+father,--he changed the subject to pour abuse upon him; I insisted on a
+recantation to clear you; he asked by what right? I fiercely answered;
+by a husband's! His countenance, then, explained at least the motives
+of his treachery,--he loves you himself! he had probably schemed to keep
+you free till his wife died, and then concluded his machinations would
+secure you his own. For this purpose, finding he was in danger of losing
+you, he was content even to blast your character, rather than suffer you
+to escape him! But the moment I acknowledged my marriage he grew more
+furious than myself; and, in short-for why relate the frenzies of rage?
+we walked out together; my travelling pistols were already charged;
+I gave him his choice of them, and, the challenge being mine, for
+insolence joined with guilt had robbed me of all forbearance, he fired
+first, but missed me: I then demanded whether he would clear your
+fame? he called out 'Fire! I will make no terms,'--I did fire,--and
+unfortunately aimed better! We had neither of us any second, all was the
+result of immediate passion; but I soon got people to him, and assisted
+in conveying him home. He was at, first believed to be dead, and I was
+seized by his servants; but he afterwards shewed signs of life, and by
+sending for my friend Biddulph, I was released. Such is the melancholy
+transaction I came to relate to you, flattering myself it would
+something less shock you from me than from another: yet my own real
+concern for the affair, the repentance with which from the moment the
+wretch fell, I was struck in being his destroyer, and the sorrow, the
+remorse, rather, which I felt, in coming to wound you with such
+black, such fearful intelligence,--you to whom all I owe is peace and
+comfort!--these thoughts gave me so much disturbance, that, in fact, I
+knew less than any other how to prepare you for such a tale."
+
+He stopt; but Cecilia could say nothing: to censure him now would both
+be cruel and vain; yet to pretend she was satisfied with his conduct,
+would be doing violence to her judgment and veracity. She saw, too, that
+his error had sprung wholly from a generous ardor in her defence, and
+that his confidence in her character, had resisted, without wavering,
+every attack that menaced it. For this she felt truly grateful; yet
+his quarrel with his father,--the danger of his mother,--his necessary
+absence,--her own clandestine situation,--and more than all, the
+threatened death of Mr Monckton by his hands, were circumstances so full
+of dread and sadness, she knew not upon which to speak,--how to offer
+him comfort,--how to assume a countenance that looked able to receive
+any, or by what means to repress the emotions which to many ways
+assailed her. Delvile, having vainly waited some reply, then in a
+tone the most melancholy, said, "If it is yet possible you can be
+sufficiently interested in my fate to care what becomes of me, aid me
+now with your counsel, or rather with your instructions; I am scarce
+able to think for myself, and to be thought for by you, would yet be a
+consolation that would give me spirit for any thing."
+
+Cecilia, starting from her reverie, repeated, "To care what becomes of
+you-? Oh Delvile!--make not my heart bleed by words of such unkindness!"
+
+"Forgive me," cried he, "I meant not a reproach; I meant but to state
+my own consciousness how little I deserve from you. You talked to me of
+going to my father? do you still wish it?"
+
+"I think so!" cried she; too much disturbed to know what she said, yet
+fearing again to hurt him by making him wait her answer.
+
+"I will go then," said he, "without doubt: too happy to be guided by
+you, which-ever way I steer. I have now, indeed much to tell him; but
+whatever may be his wrath, there is little fear, at this time, that my
+own temper cannot bear it! what next shall I do?"
+
+"What next?" repeated she; "indeed I know not!"
+
+"Shall I go immediately to Margate? or shall I first ride hither?"
+
+"If you please," said she, much perturbed, and deeply sighing.
+
+"I please nothing but by your direction, to follow that is my only
+chance of pleasure. Which, then, shall I do?-you will not, now, refuse
+to direct me?"
+
+"No, certainly, not for the world!"
+
+"Speak to me, then, my love, and tell me;--why are you thus silent?--is
+it painful to you to counsel me?"
+
+"No, indeed!" said she, putting her hand to her head, "I will speak to
+you in a few minutes."
+
+"Oh my Cecilia!" cried he, looking at her with much alarm, "call back
+your recollection! you know not what you say, you take no interest in
+what you answer."
+
+"Indeed I do!" said she, sighing deeply, and oppressed beyond the
+power of thinking, beyond any power but an internal consciousness of
+wretchedness.
+
+"Sigh not so bitterly," cried he, "if you have any compassion! sigh not
+so bitterly,--I cannot bear to hear you!"
+
+"I am very sorry indeed!" said she, sighing again, and not seeming
+sensible she spoke.
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried he, rising, "distract me not with this
+horror!--speak not to me in such broken sentences!--Do you hear me,
+Cecilia?--why will you not answer me?"
+
+She started and trembled, looked pale and affrighted, and putting both
+her hands upon her heart, said, "Oh yes!--but I have an oppression
+here,--a tightness, a fulness,--I have not room for breath!"
+
+"Oh beloved of my heart!" cried he, wildly casting himself at her feet,
+"kill me not with this terror!--call back your faculties,--awake from
+this dreadful insensibility! tell me at least you know me!--tell me I
+have not tortured you quite to madness!--sole darling of my affections!
+my own, my wedded Cecilia!--rescue me from this agony! it is more than I
+can support!"---
+
+This energy of distress brought back her scattered senses, scarce more
+stunned by the shock of all this misery, than by the restraint of her
+feelings in struggling to conceal it. But these passionate exclamations
+restoring her sensibility, she burst into tears, which happily relieved
+her mind from the conflict with which it was labouring, and which, not
+thus effected, might have ended more fatally.
+
+Never had Delvile more rejoiced in her smiles than now in these
+seasonable tears, which he regarded and blest as the preservers of her
+reason. They flowed long without any intermission, his soothing and
+tenderness but melting her to more sorrow: after a while, however, the
+return of her faculties, which at first seemed all consigned over to
+grief, was manifested by the returning strength of her mind: she blamed
+herself severely for the little fortitude she had shewn, but having now
+given vent to emotions too forcible to be wholly stiffed, she assured
+him he might depend upon her' better courage for the future, and
+entreated him to consider and settle his affairs.
+
+Not speedily, however, could Delvile himself recover. The torture he had
+suffered in believing, though only for a few moments, that the terror
+he had given to Cecilia had affected her intellects, made even a deeper
+impression upon his imagination, than the scene of fury and death, which
+had occasioned that terror: and Cecilia, who now strained every nerve
+to repair by her firmness, the pain which by her weakness she had given
+him, was sooner in a condition for reasoning and deliberation than
+himself.
+
+"Ah Delvile!" she cried, comprehending what passed within him, "do
+you allow nothing for surprize? and nothing for the hard conflict of
+endeavouring to suppress it? do you think me still as unfit to advise
+with, and as worthless, as feeble a counsellor, as during the first
+confusion of my mind?"
+
+"Hurry not your tender spirits, I beseech you," cried he, "we have time
+enough; we will talk about business by and by."
+
+"What time?" cried she, "what is it now o'clock?"
+
+"Good Heaven!" cried he, looking at his watch, "already past ten! you
+must turn me out, my Cecilia, or calumny will still be busy, even though
+poor Monckton is quiet."
+
+"I _will_ turn you out," cried she, "I am indeed most earnest to have
+you gone. But tell me your plan, and which way you mean to go?"
+
+"That;" he answered, "you shall decide for me yourself: whether to
+Delvile Castle, to finish one tale, and wholly communicate another, or
+to Margate, to hasten my mother abroad, before the news of this calamity
+reaches her."
+
+"Go to Margate," cried she, eagerly, "set off this very moment! you can
+write to your father from Ostend. But continue, I conjure you, on the
+continent, till we see if this unhappy man lives, and enquire, of those
+who can judge, what must follow if he should not!"
+
+"A trial," said he, "must follow, and it will go, I fear, but hardly
+with me! the challenge was mine; his servants can all witness I went
+to him, not he to me,--Oh my Cecilia! the rashness of which I have been
+guilty, is so opposite to my principles, and, all generous as is your
+silence, I know it so opposite to yours, that never, should his blood be
+on my hands, wretch as he was, never will my heart be quiet more."
+
+"He will live, he will live!" cried Cecilia, repressing her horror,
+"fear nothing, for he will live;--and as to his wound and his
+sufferings, his perfidy has deserved them. Go, then, to Margate; think
+only of Mrs Delvile, and save her, if possible, from hearing what has
+happened."
+
+"I will go,--stay,--do which and whatever you bid me: but, should what I
+fear come to pass, should my mother continue ill, my father inflexible,
+should this wretched man die, and should England no longer be a country
+I shall love to dwell in,--could you, then, bear to own,--would you,
+then, consent to follow me?"
+
+"Could I?--am I not yours? may you not command me? tell me, then, you
+have only to say,--shall I accompany you at once?"
+
+Delvile, affected by her generosity, could scarce utter his thanks; yet
+he did not hesitate in denying to avail himself of it; "No, my Cecilia,"
+he cried, "I am not so selfish. If we have not happier days, we will at
+least wait for more desperate necessity. With the uncertainty if I have
+not this man's life to answer for at the hazard of my own, to take my
+wife--my bride,--from the kingdom I must fly!--to make her a fugitive
+and an exile in the first publishing that she is mine! No, if I am not a
+destined alien for life I can never permit it. Nothing less, believe
+me, shall ever urge my consent to wound the chaste propriety of your
+character, by making you an eloper with a duelist."
+
+They then again consulted upon their future plans; and concluded that in
+the present disordered state of their affairs, it would be best not to
+acknowledge even to Mr Delvile their marriage, to whom the news of the
+duel, and Mr Monckton's danger, would be a blow so severe, that, to add
+to it any other might half distract him.
+
+To the few people already acquainted with it, Delvile therefore
+determined to write from Ostend, re-urging his entreaties for their
+discretion and secrecy. Cecilia promised every post to acquaint him how
+Mr Monckton went on, and she then besought him to go instantly, that he
+might out-travel the ill news to his mother.
+
+He complied, and took leave of her in the tenderest manner, conjuring
+her to support her spirits, and be careful of her health. "Happiness,"
+said he, "is much in arrears with us, and though my violence may have
+frightened it away, your sweetness and gentleness will yet attract it
+back: all that for me is in store must be received at your hands,--what
+is offered in any other way, I shall only mistake for evil! droop not,
+therefore, my generous Cecilia, but in yourself preserve me!"
+
+"I will not droop," said she; "you will find, I hope, you have not
+intrusted yourself in ill hands."
+
+"Peace then be with you, my love!--my comforting, my soul-reviving
+Cecilia! Peace, such as angels give, and such as may drive from your
+mind the remembrance of this bitter hour!"
+
+He then tore himself away.
+
+Cecilia, who to his blessings could almost, like the tender Belvidera,
+have exclaimed,
+
+           "O do not leave me!--stay with me and curse me!"
+
+listened to his steps till she could hear them no longer, as if the
+remaining moments of her life were to be measured by them: but then,
+remembering the danger both to herself and him of his stay, she
+endeavoured to rejoice that he was gone, and, but that her mind was in
+no state for joy, was too rational not to have succeeded.
+
+Grief and horror for what was past, apprehension and suspense for
+what was to come, so disordered her whole frame, so confused even her
+intellects, that when not all the assistance of fancy could persuade
+her she still heard the footsteps of Delvile, she went to the chair upon
+which he had been seated, and taking possession of it, sat with her arms
+crossed, silent, quiet, and erect, almost vacant of all thought, yet
+with a secret idea she was doing something right.
+
+Here she continued till Henrietta came to wish her good night; whose
+surprise and concern at the strangeness of her look and attitude, once
+more recovered her. But terrified herself at this threatened wandering
+of her reason, and certain she must all night be a stranger to rest, she
+accepted the affectionate offer of the kind-hearted girl to stay with
+her, who was too much grieved for her grief to sleep any more than
+herself.
+
+She told her not what had passed; that, she knew, would be fruitless
+affliction to her: but she was soothed by her gentleness, and her
+conversation was some security from the dangerous rambling of her ideas.
+
+Henrietta herself found no little consolation in her own private
+sorrows, that she was able to give comfort to her beloved Miss Beverley,
+from whom she had received favours and kind offices innumerable. She
+quitted her not night nor day, and in the honest pride of a little
+power to skew the gratefulness of her heart, she felt a pleasure and
+self-consequence she had never before experienced.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iii.
+
+A SUMMONS.
+
+Cecilia's earliest care, almost at break of day, was to send to the
+Grove; from thence she heard nothing but evil; Mr Monckton was still
+alive, but with little or no hope of recovery, constantly delirious, and
+talking of Miss Beverley, and of her being married to young Delvile.
+
+Cecilia, who knew well this, at least, was no delirium, though shocked
+that he talked of it, hoped his danger less than was apprehended.
+
+The next day, however, more fatal news was brought her, though not from
+the quarter she expected it: Mr Monckton, in one of his raving fits, had
+sent for Lady Margaret to his bed side, and used her almost inhumanly:
+he had railed at her age and her infirmities with incredible fury,
+called her the cause of all his sufferings, and accused her as the
+immediate agent of Lucifer in his present wound and danger. Lady
+Margaret, whom neither jealousy nor malignity had cured of loving him,
+was dismayed and affrighted; and in hurrying out of the room upon his
+attempting, in his frenzy, to strike her, she dropt down dead in an
+apoplectic fit.
+
+"Good Heaven!" thought Cecilia, "what an exemplary punishment has this
+man! he loses his hated wife at the very moment when her death could
+no longer answer his purposes! Poor Lady Margaret! her life has been as
+bitter as her temper! married from a view of interest, ill used as a bar
+to happiness, and destroyed from the fruitless ravings of despair!"
+
+She wrote all this intelligence to Ostend, whence she received a letter
+from Delvile, acquainting her he was detained from proceeding further
+by the weakness and illness of his mother, whose sufferings from
+seasickness had almost put an end to her existence.
+
+Thus passed a miserable week; Monckton still merely alive, Delvile
+detained at Ostend, and Cecilia tortured alike by what was recently
+passed, actually present, and fearfully expected; when one morning she
+was told a gentleman upon business desired immediately to speak with
+her.
+
+She hastily obeyed the summons; the constant image of her own mind,
+Delvile, being already present to her, and a thousand wild conjectures
+upon what had brought him back, rapidly occurring to her.
+
+Her expectations, however, were ill answered, for she found an entire
+stranger; an elderly man, of no pleasant aspect or manners.
+
+She desired to know his business.
+
+"I presume, madam, you are the lady of this house?"
+
+She bowed an assent.
+
+"May I take the liberty, madam, to ask your name?'
+
+"My name, sir?"
+
+"You will do me a favour, madam, by telling it me."
+
+"Is it possible you are come hither without already knowing it?"
+
+"I know it only by common report, madam."
+
+"Common report, sir, I believe is seldom wrong in a matter where to be
+right is so easy."
+
+"Have you any objection, madam, to telling me your name?"
+
+"No, sir; but your business can hardly be very important, if you are yet
+to learn whom you are to address. It will be time enough, therefore, for
+us to meet when you are elsewhere satisfied in this point."
+
+She would then have left the room.
+
+"I beg, madam," cried the stranger, "you will have patience; it is
+necessary, before I can open my business, that I should hear your name
+from yourself."
+
+"Well, sir," cried she with some hesitation, "you can scarce have come
+to this house, without knowing that its owner is Cecilia Beverley."
+
+"That, madam, is your maiden name."
+
+"My maiden name?" cried she, starting.
+
+"Are you not married, madam?"
+
+"Married, sir?" she repeated, while her cheeks were the colour of
+scarlet.
+
+"It is, properly, therefore, madam, the name of your husband that I mean
+to ask."
+
+"And by what authority, sir," cried she, equally astonished and
+offended, "do you make these extraordinary enquiries?"
+
+"I am deputed, madam, to wait upon you by Mr Eggleston, the next heir
+to this estate, by your uncle's will, if you die without children, or
+change your name when you marry. His authority of enquiry, madam,
+I presume you will allow, and he has vested it in me by a letter of
+attorney."
+
+Cecilia's distress and confusion were now unspeakable; she knew not what
+to own or deny, she could not conjecture how she had been betrayed, and
+she had never made the smallest preparation against such an attack.
+
+"Mr Eggleston, madam," he continued, "has been pretty credibly informed
+that you are actually married: he is very desirous, therefore, to
+know what are your intentions, for your continuing to be called _Miss_
+Beverley, as if still single, leaves him quite in the dark: but, as he
+is so deeply concerned in the affair, he expects, as a lady of honour,
+you will deal with him without prevarication."
+
+"This demand, sir," said Cecilia, stammering, "is so extremely--so--so
+little expected--"
+
+"The way, madam, in these cases, is to keep pretty closely to the point;
+are you married or are you not?"
+
+Cecilia, quite confounded, made no answer: to disavow her marriage, when
+thus formally called upon, was every way unjustifiable; to acknowledge
+it in her present situation, would involve her in difficulties
+innumerable.
+
+"This is not, madam, a slight thing; Mr Eggleston has a large family and
+a small fortune, and that, into the bargain, very much encumbered;
+it cannot, therefore, be expected that he will knowingly connive at
+cheating himself, by submitting to your being actually married, and
+still enjoying your estate though your husband does not take your name."
+
+Cecilia, now, summoning more presence of mind, answered, "Mr Eggleston,
+sir, has, at least, nothing to fear from imposition: those with whom he
+has, or may have any transactions in this affair, are not accustomed to
+practice it."
+
+"I am far from meaning any offence, madam; my commission from Mr
+Eggleston is simply this, to beg you will satisfy him upon what grounds
+you now evade the will of your late uncle, which, till cleared up,
+appears a point manifestly to his prejudice."
+
+"Tell him, then, sir, that whatever he wishes to know shall be explained
+to him in about a week. At present I can give no other answer."
+
+"Very well, madam; he will wait that time, I am sure, for he does not
+wish to put you to any inconvenience. But when he heard the gentleman
+was gone abroad without owning his marriage, he thought it high time to
+take some notice of the matter."
+
+Cecilia, who by this speech found she was every way discovered, was
+again in the utmost confusion, and with much trepidation, said, "since
+you seem so well, sir, acquainted with this affair, I should be glad you
+would inform me by what means you came to the knowledge of it?"
+
+"I heard it, madam, from Mr Eggleston himself, who has long known it."
+
+"Long, sir?--impossible! when it is not yet a fortnight--not ten days,
+or no more, that---"
+
+She stopt, recollecting she was making a confession better deferred.
+
+"That, madam," he answered, "may perhaps bear a little contention: for
+when this business comes to be settled, it will be very essential to
+be exact as to the time, even to the very hour; for a large income per
+annum, divides into a small one per diem: and if your husband keeps his
+own name, you must not only give up your uncle's inheritance from
+the time of relinquishing yours, but refund from the very day of your
+marriage."
+
+"There is not the least doubt of it," answered she; "nor will the
+smallest difficulty be made."
+
+"You will please, then, to recollect, madam, that this sum is every hour
+encreasing; and has been since last September, which made half a year
+accountable for last March. Since then there is now added---"
+
+"Good Heaven, Sir," cried Cecilia, "what calculation are you making out?
+do you call last week last September?"
+
+"No, madam; but I call last September the month in which you were
+married."
+
+"You will find yourself, then, sir, extremely mistaken; and Mr Eggleston
+is preparing himself for much disappointment, if he supposes me so long
+in arrears with him."
+
+"Mr Eggleston, madam, happens to be well informed of this transaction,
+as, if there is any dispute in it, you will find. He was your immediate
+successor in the house to which you went last September in Pall-Mall;
+the woman who kept it acquainted his servants that the last lady who
+hired it stayed with her but a day, and only came to town, she found, to
+be married: and hearing, upon enquiry, this lady was Miss Beverley, the
+servants, well knowing that their master was her conditional heir, told
+him the circumstance."
+
+"You will find all this, sir, end in nothing."
+
+"That, madam, as I said before, remains to be proved. If a young lady at
+eight o'clock in the morning, is seen,--and she was seen, going into a
+church with a young gentleman, and one female friend; and is afterwards
+observed to come out of it, followed by a clergyman and another person,
+supposed to have officiated as father, and is seen get into a coach with
+same young gentleman, and same female friend, why the circumstances are
+pretty strong!--"
+
+"They may seem so, Sir; but all conclusions drawn from them will be
+erroneous. I was not married then, upon my honour!"
+
+"We have little, madam, to do with professions; the circumstances are
+strong enough to bear a trial, and--"
+
+"A trial!--"
+
+"We have traced, madam, many witnesses able to stand to divers
+particulars; and eight months share of such an estate as this, is well
+worth a little trouble."
+
+"I am amazed, sir! surely Mr Eggleston never desired you to make use of
+this language to me?"
+
+"Mr Eggleston, madam, has behaved very honourably; though he knew
+the whole affair so long ago, he was persuaded Mr Delvile had private
+reasons for a short concealment; and expecting every day when they would
+be cleared up by his taking your name, he never interfered: but being
+now informed he set out last week for the continent, he has been advised
+by his friends to claim his rights."
+
+"That claim, sir, he need not fear will be satisfied; and without any
+occasion for threats of enquiries or law suits."
+
+"The truth, madam, is this; Mr Eggleston is at present in a little
+difficulty about some money matters, which makes it a point with him of
+some consequence to have the affair settled speedily: unless you could
+conveniently compromise the matter, by advancing a particular sum,
+till it suits you to refund the whole that is due to him, and quit the
+premises."
+
+"Nothing, sir, is due to him! at least, nothing worth mentioning. I
+shall enter into no terms, for I have no compromise to make. As to the
+premises, I will quit them with all the expedition in my power."
+
+"You will do well, madam; for the truth is, it will not be convenient to
+him to wait much longer."
+
+He then went away.
+
+"When, next," cried Cecilia, "shall I again be weak, vain, blind enough
+to form any plan with a hope of secresy? or enter, with _any_ hope, into
+a clandestine scheme! betrayed by those I have trusted, discovered
+by those I have not thought of, exposed to the cruellest alarms, and
+defenceless from the most shocking attacks!--Such has been the life I
+have led since the moment I first consented to a private engagement!--Ah
+Delvile! your mother, in her tenderness, forgot her dignity, or she
+would not have concurred in an action which to such disgrace made me
+liable!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER iv.
+
+A DELIBERATION.
+
+It was necessary, however, not to moralize, but to act; Cecilia had
+undertaken to give her answer in a week, and the artful attorney had
+drawn from her an acknowledgment of her situation, by which he might
+claim it yet sooner.
+
+The law-suit with which she was threatened for the arrears of eight
+months, alarmed her not, though it shocked her, as she was certain she
+could prove her marriage so much later.
+
+It was easy to perceive that this man had been sent with a view of
+working from her a confession, and terrifying from her some money;
+the confession, indeed, in conscience and honesty she could not wholly
+elude, but she had suffered too often by a facility in parting with
+money to be there easily duped.
+
+Nothing, however, was more true, than that she now lived upon an estate
+of which she no longer was the owner, and that all she either spent or
+received was to be accounted for and returned, since by the will of her
+uncle, unless her husband took her name, her estate on the very day of
+her marriage was to be forfeited, and entered upon by the Egglestons.
+Delvile's plan and hope of secresy had made them little weigh this
+matter, though this premature discovery so unexpectedly exposed her to
+their power.
+
+The first thought that occurred to her, was to send an express to
+Delvile, and desire his instructions how to proceed; but she dreaded his
+impetuosity of temper, and was almost certain that the instant he should
+hear she was in any uneasiness or perplexity, he would return to her, at
+all hazards, even though Mr Monckton were dead, and his mother herself
+dying. This step, therefore, she did not dare risk, preferring any
+personal hardship, to endangering the already precarious life of Mrs
+Delvile, or to hastening her son home while Mr Monckton was in so
+desperate a situation.
+
+But though what to avoid was easy to settle, what to seek was difficult
+to devise. She bad now no Mrs Charlton to receive her, not a creature in
+whom she could confide. To continue her present way of living was deeply
+involving Delvile in debt, a circumstance she had never considered, in
+the confusion and hurry attending all their plans and conversations, and
+a circumstance which, though to him it might have occurred, he could not
+in common delicacy mention.
+
+Yet to have quitted her house, and retrenched her expences, would have
+raised suspicions that must have anticipated the discovery she so much
+wished to have delayed. That wish, by the present danger of its failure,
+was but more ardent; to have her affairs and situation become
+publicly known at the present period, she felt would half distract
+her.--Privately married, parted from her husband at the very moment of
+their union, a husband by whose hand the apparent friend of her earliest
+youth was all but killed, whose father had execrated the match, whose
+mother was now falling a sacrifice to the vehemence with which she had
+opposed it, and who himself, little short of an exile, knew not yet
+if, with personal safety, he might return to his native land! To
+circumstances so dreadful, she had now the additional shock of being
+uncertain whether her own house might not be seized, before any other
+could be prepared for her reception!
+
+Yet still whither to go, what to do, or what to resolve, she was wholly
+unable to determine; and after meditating almost to madness in the
+search of some plan or expedient, she was obliged to give over the
+attempt, and be satisfied with remaining quietly where she was, till she
+had better news from Delvile of his mother, or better news to send him
+of Mr Monckton; carefully, mean time, in all her letters avoiding to
+alarm him by any hint of her distress.
+
+Yet was she not idle, either from despair or helplessness: she found her
+difficulties encreased, and she called forth more resolution to combat
+them: she animated herself by the promise she had made Delvile, and
+recovering from the sadness to which she had at first given way, she now
+exerted herself with vigour to perform it as she ought.
+
+She began by making an immediate inspection into her affairs, and
+endeavouring, where expence seemed unnecessary, to lessen it. She gave
+Henrietta to understand she feared they must soon part; and so afflicted
+was the unhappy girl at the news, that she found it the most cruel
+office she had to execute. The same intimation she gave to Mrs Harrel,
+who repined at it more openly, but with a selfishness so evident that it
+blunted the edge of pity. She then announced to Albany her inability to
+pursue, at present, their extensive schemes of benevolence; and though
+he instantly left her, to carry on his laborious plan elsewhere, the
+reverence she had now excited in him of her character, made him leave
+her with no sensation but of regret, and readily promise to return when
+her affairs were settled, or her mind more composed.
+
+These little preparations, which were all she could make, with enquiries
+after Mr Monckton, and writing to Delvile, sufficiently filled up her
+time, though her thoughts were by no means confined to them. Day after
+day passed, and Mr Monckton continued to linger rather than live; the
+letters of Delvile, still only dated from Ostend, contained the most
+melancholy complaints of the illness of his mother; and the time
+advanced when her answer would be claimed by the attorney.
+
+The thought of such another visit was almost intolerable; and within two
+days of the time that she expected it, she resolved to endeavour herself
+to prevail with Mr Eggleston to wait longer.
+
+Mr Eggleston was a gentleman whom she knew little more than by sight; he
+was no relation to her family, nor had any connection with the Dean,
+but by being a cousin to a lady he had married, and who had left him
+no children. The dean had no particular regard for him, and had rather
+mentioned him in his will as the successor of Cecilia, in case she died
+unmarried or changed her name, as a mark that he approved of her doing
+neither, than as a matter he thought probable, if even possible, to turn
+out in his favour.
+
+He was a man of a large family, the sons of which, who were extravagant
+and dissipated, had much impaired his fortune by prevailing with him to
+pay their debts, and much distressed him in his affairs by successfully
+teasing him for money.
+
+Cecilia, acquainted with these circumstances, knew but too well with
+what avidity her estate would be seized by them, and how little the sons
+would endure delay, even if the father consented to it. Yet since the
+sacrifice to which she had agreed must soon make it indisputably
+their own, she determined to deal with them openly; and acknowledged,
+therefore, in her letter, her marriage without disguise, but begged
+their patience and secresy, and promised, in a short time, the most
+honourable retribution and satisfaction.
+
+She sent this letter by a man and horse, Mr Eggleston's habitation being
+within fifteen miles of her own.
+
+The answer was from his eldest son, who acquainted her that his father
+was very ill, and had put all his affairs into the hands of Mr Carn, his
+attorney, who was a man of great credit, and would see justice done on
+all sides.
+
+If this answer, which she broke open the instant she took it into
+her hand, was in itself a cruel disappointment to her, how was that
+disappointment embittered by shame and terror, when, upon again folding
+it up, she saw it was directed to Mrs Mortimer Delvile!
+
+This was a decisive stroke; what they wrote to her, she was sure they
+would mention to all others; she saw they were too impatient for her
+estate to be moved by any representations to a delay, and that their
+eagerness to publish their right, took from them all consideration of
+what they might make her suffer. Mr Eggleston, she found, permitted
+himself to be wholly governed by his son; his son was a needy and
+profligate spendthrift, and by throwing the management of the affair
+into the hands of an attorney, craftily meant to shield himself from the
+future resentment of Delvile, to whom, hereafter, he might affect, at
+his convenience, to disapprove Mr Carn's behaviour, while Mr Carn was
+always secure, by averring he only exerted himself for the interest of
+his client.
+
+The discerning Cecilia, though but little experienced in business, and
+wholly unsuspicious by nature, yet saw into this management, and doubted
+not these excuses were already arranged. She had only, therefore, to
+save herself an actual ejectment, by quitting a house in which she was
+exposed to such a disgrace.
+
+But still whither to go she knew not! One only attempt seemed in her
+power for an honourable asylum, and that was more irksomely painful to
+her than seeking shelter in the meanest retreat: it was applying to Mr
+Delvile senior.
+
+The action of leaving her house, whether quietly or forcibly, could not
+but instantly authenticate the reports spread by the Egglestons of her
+marriage: to hope therefore for secresy any longer would be folly, and
+Mr Delvile's rage at such intelligence might be still greater to hear
+it by chance than from herself. She now lamented that Delvile had not
+at once told the tale, but, little foreseeing such a discovery as the
+present, they had mutually concluded to defer the communication till his
+return.
+
+Her own anger at the contemptuous ill treatment she had repeatedly met
+from him, she was now content not merely to suppress but to dismiss,
+since, as the wife of his son without his consent, she considered
+herself no longer as wholly innocent of incurring it. Yet, such was her
+dread of his austerity and the arrogance of his reproaches, that, by
+choice, she would have preferred an habitation with her own pensioner,
+the pew-opener, to the grandest apartment in Delvile Castle while he
+continued its lord.
+
+In her present situation, however, her choice was little to be
+consulted: the honour of Delvile was concerned in her escaping even
+temporary disgrace, and nothing, she knew, would so much gratify him, as
+any attention from her to his father. She wrote to him, therefore, the
+following letter, which she sent by an express.
+
+_To the Hon. Compton Delvile.
+
+April 29th_, 1780.
+
+SIR,--I should not, even by letter, presume thus to force myself upon
+your remembrance, did I not think it a duty I now owe your son, both to
+risk and to bear the displeasure it may unhappily occasion. After
+such an acknowledgment, all other confession would be superfluous; and
+uncertain as I am if you will ever deign to own me, more words than are
+necessary would be merely impertinent.
+
+It was the intention of your son, Sir, when he left the kingdom, to
+submit wholly to your arbitration, at his return, which should be
+resigned, his own name or my fortune: but his request for your decision,
+and his supplication for your forgiveness, are both, most unfortunately,
+prevented, by a premature and unforeseen discovery of our situation,
+which renders an immediate determination absolutely unavoidable.
+
+At this distance from him, I cannot, in time, receive his directions
+upon the measures I have to take; pardon me then, Sir, if well knowing
+my reference to him will not be more implicit than his own to you, I
+venture, in the present important crisis of my affairs, to entreat those
+commands instantly, by which I am certain of being guided ultimately.
+
+I would commend myself to your favour but that I dread exciting your
+resentment. I will detain you, therefore, only to add, that the father
+of Mr Mortimer Delvile, will ever meet the most profound respect from
+her who, without his permission, dare sign no name to the honour she now
+has in declaring herself his most humble, and most obedient servant.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Her mind was somewhat easier when this letter was written, because she
+thought it a duty, yet felt reluctance in performing it. She wished to
+have represented to him strongly the danger of Delvile's hearing her
+distress, but she knew so well his inordinate self-sufficiency, she
+feared a hint of that sort might be construed into an insult, and
+concluded her only chance that he would do any thing, was by leaving
+wholly to his own suggestions the weighing and settling what.
+
+But though nothing was more uncertain than whether she should be
+received at Delvile Castle, nothing was more fixed than that she must
+quit her own house, since the pride of Mr Delvile left not even a chance
+that his interest would conquer it. She deferred not, therefore, any
+longer making preparations for her removal, though wholly unsettled
+whither.
+
+Her first, which was also her most painful task, was to acquaint
+Henrietta with her situation: she sent, therefore, to desire to speak
+with her, but the countenance of Henrietta shewed her communication
+would not surprise her.
+
+"What is the matter with my dear Henrietta?" cried Cecilia; "who is
+it has already afflicted that kind heart which I am now compelled to
+afflict for myself?"
+
+Henrietta, in whom anger appeared to be struggling with sorrow,
+answered, "No, madam, not afflicted for _you_! it would be strange if I
+were, thinking as I think!"
+
+"I am glad," said Cecilia, calmly, "if you are not, for I would give to
+you, were it possible, nothing but pleasure and joy."
+
+"Ah madam!" cried Henrietta, bursting into tears, "why will you say so
+when you don't care what becomes of me! when you are going to cast me
+off!--and when you will soon be too happy ever to think of me more!"
+
+"If I am never happy till then," said Cecilia, "sad, indeed, will be
+my life! no, my gentlest friend, you will always have your share in
+my heart; and always, to me, would have been the welcomest guest in my
+house, but for those unhappy circumstances which make our separating
+inevitable."
+
+"Yet you suffered me, madam, to hear from any body that you was married
+and going away; and all the common servants in the house knew it before
+me."
+
+"I am amazed!" said Cecilia; "how and which way can they have heard it?"
+
+"The man that went to Mr Eggleston brought the first news of it, for
+he said all the servants there talked of nothing else, and that their
+master was to come and take possession here next Thursday."
+
+Cecilia started at this most unwelcome intelligence; "Yet you envy
+me," she cried, "Henrietta, though I am forced from my house! though in
+quitting it, I am unprovided with any other, and though him for whom
+I relinquish it, is far off, without means of protecting, or power of
+returning to me!"
+
+"But you are married to him, madam!" cried she, expressively.
+
+"True, my love; but, also, I am parted from him!"
+
+"Oh how differently," exclaimed Henrietta, "do the great think from
+the little! were _I_ married,--and _so_ married, I should want neither
+house, nor fine cloaths, nor riches, nor any thing;--I should not care
+where I lived,--every place would be paradise! I would walk to him
+barefoot if he were a thousand miles off, and I should mind nobody else
+in the world while I had him to take care of me!"
+
+Ah Delvile! thought Cecilia, what powers of fascination are yours!
+should I be tempted to repine at what I have to bear, I will think of
+this heroick girl and blush!
+
+Mrs Harrel now broke in upon them, eager to be informed of the truth or
+falsehood of the reports which were buzzed throughout the house.
+Cecilia briefly related to them both the state of her affairs, earnestly
+expressing her concern at the abrupt separation which must take place,
+and for which she had been unable to prepare them, as the circumstances
+which led to it had been wholly unforeseen by herself.
+
+Mrs Harrel listened to the account with much curiosity and surprize; but
+Henrietta wept incessantly in hearing it: the object of a passion ardent
+as it was romantic, lost to her past recovery; torn herself, probably
+for ever, from the best friend she had in the world; and obliged to
+return thus suddenly to an home she detested,--Henrietta possessed not
+the fortitude to hear evils such as these, which, to her inexperienced
+heart, appeared the severest that could be inflicted.
+
+This conversation over, Cecilia sent for her Steward, and desired him,
+with the utmost expedition, to call in all her bills, and instantly to
+go round to her tenants within twenty miles, and gather in, from those
+who were able to pay, the arrears now due to her; charging him, however,
+upon no account, to be urgent with such as seemed distressed.
+
+The bills she had to pay were collected without difficulty; she never
+owed much, and creditors are seldom hard of access; but the money she
+hoped to receive fell very short of her expectations, for the indulgence
+she had shewn to her tenants had ill prepared them for so sudden a
+demand.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER v.
+
+A DECISION.
+
+This business effectually occupied the present and following day; the
+third, Cecilia expected her answer from Delvile Castle, and the visit
+she so much dreaded from the attorney.
+
+The answer arrived first.
+
+_To Miss Beverley_.
+
+MADAM,--As my son has never apprized me of the extraordinary step which
+your letter intimates, I am too unwilling to believe him capable of so
+far forgetting what he owes his family, to ratify any such intimation by
+interfering with my counsel or opinion.--I am, Madam, &c.,
+
+COMPTON DELVILE.
+
+DELVILE CASTLE, _May 1st, 1780_.
+
+Cecilia had little right to be surprised by this letter, and she had not
+a moment to comment upon it, before the attorney arrived.
+
+"Well, madam," said the man, as he entered the parlour, "Mr Eggleston
+has stayed your own time very patiently: he commissions me now to
+enquire if it is convenient to you to quit the premises."
+
+"No, Sir, it is by no means convenient to me; and if Mr Eggleston will
+wait some time longer, I shall be greatly obliged to him."
+
+"No doubt, madam, but he will, upon proper considerations."
+
+"What, Sir, do you call proper?"
+
+"Upon your advancing to him, as I hinted before, an immediate particular
+sum from what must, by and bye, be legally restituted."
+
+"If this is the condition of his courtesy, I will quit the house without
+giving him further trouble."
+
+"Just as it suits you, madam. He will be glad to take possession
+to-morrow or next day."
+
+"You did well, Sir, to commend his patience! I shall, however, merely
+discharge my servants, and settle my accounts, and be ready to make way
+for him."
+
+"You will not take it amiss, madam, if I remind you that the account
+with Mr Eggleston must be the first that is settled."
+
+"If you mean the arrears of this last fortnight or three weeks,
+I believe I must desire him to wait Mr Delvile's return, as I may
+otherwise myself be distressed for ready money."
+
+"That, madam, is not likely, as it is well known you have a fortune that
+was independent of your late uncle; and as to distress for ready money,
+it is a plea Mr Eggleston can urge much more strongly."
+
+"This is being strangely hasty, Sir!--so short a time as it is since Mr
+Eggleston could expect _any_ of this estate!"
+
+"That, madam, is nothing to the purpose; from the moment it is his, he
+has as many wants for it as any other gentleman. He desired me, however,
+to acquaint you, that if you still chose an apartment in this house,
+till Mr Delvile returns, you shall have one at your service."
+
+"To be a _guest_ in this house, Sir," said Cecilia, drily, "might
+perhaps seem strange to me; I will not, therefore, be so much in his
+way."
+
+Mr Carn then informed her she might put her seal upon whatever she meant
+hereafter to claim or dispute, and took his leave.
+
+Cecilia now shut herself up in her own room, to meditate without
+interruption, before she would proceed to any action. She felt much
+inclination to send instantly for some lawyer; but when she considered
+her peculiar situation, the absence of her husband, the renunciation of
+his father, the loss of her fortune, and her ignorance upon the subject,
+she thought it better to rest quiet till Delvile's own fate, and own
+opinion could be known, than to involve herself in a lawsuit she was so
+little able to superintend.
+
+In this cruel perplexity of her mind and her affairs, her first thought
+was to board again with Mrs Bayley; but that was soon given up, for she
+felt a repugnance unconquerable to continuing in her native county, when
+deprived of her fortune, and cast out of her dwelling.
+
+Her situation, indeed, was singularly unhappy, since, by this unforeseen
+vicissitude of fortune, she was suddenly, from being an object of envy
+and admiration, sunk into distress, and threatened with disgrace; from
+being every where caressed, and by every voice praised, she blushed to
+be seen, and expected to be censured; and, from being generally regarded
+as an example of happiness, and a model of virtue, she was now in
+one moment to appear to the world, an outcast from her own house, yet
+received into no other! a bride, unclaimed by a husband! an HEIRESS,
+dispossessed of all wealth!
+
+To be first acknowledged as _Mrs Delvile_ in a state so degrading, she
+could not endure; and to escape from it, one way alone remained, which
+was going instantly abroad.
+
+Upon this, therefore, she finally determined: her former objections to
+such a step being now wholly, though unpleasantly removed, since she had
+neither estate nor affairs to demand her stay, and since all hopes of
+concealment were totally at an end. Her marriage, therefore, and its
+disgraceful consequences being published to the world, she resolved
+without delay to seek the only asylum which was proper for her, in the
+protection of the husband for whom she had given up every other.
+
+She purposed, therefore, to go immediately and privately to London,
+whence she could best settle her route for the continent: where she
+hoped to arrive before the news of her distress reached Delvile, whom
+nothing, she was certain, but her own presence, could keep there for a
+moment after hearing it.
+
+Thus decided, at length, in her plan, she proceeded to put it in
+execution with calmness and intrepidity; comforting herself that the
+conveniencies and indulgencies with which she was now parting, would
+soon be restored to her, and though not with equal power, with far more
+satisfaction. She told her steward her design of going the next morning
+to London, bid him pay instantly all her debts, and discharge all
+her servants, determining to keep no account open but that with Mr
+Eggleston, which he had made so intricate by double and undue demands,
+that she thought it most prudent and safe to leave him wholly to
+Delvile.
+
+She then packed up all her papers and letters, and ordered her maid to
+pack up her clothes.
+
+She next put her own seal upon her cabinets, draws, and many other
+things, and employed almost all her servants at once, in making complete
+inventories of what every room contained.
+
+She advised Mrs Harrel to send without delay for Mr Arnott, and return
+to his house. She had first purposed to carry Henrietta home to her
+mother herself; but another scheme for her now occurred, from which she
+hoped much future advantage to the amiable and dejected girl.
+
+She knew well, that deep as was at present her despondency, the removal
+of all possibility of hope, by her knowledge of Delvile's marriage, must
+awaken her before long from the delusive visions of her romantic fancy;
+Mr Arnott himself was in a situation exactly similar, and the knowledge
+of the same event would probably be productive of the same effect. When
+Mrs Harrel, therefore, began to repine at the solitude to which she was
+returning, Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad
+to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened
+to with pleasure, and seconded by an invitation.
+
+Henrietta, to whom all houses appeared preferable to her own home,
+joyfully accepted the offer, committing to Cecilia the communication of
+the change of her abode to Mrs Belfield.
+
+Cecilia, who in the known and tried honour of Mr Arnott would
+unreluctantly have trusted a sister, was much pleased by this little
+arrangement, from which should no good ensue, no evil, at least, was
+probable. But she hoped, through the mutual pity their mutual melancholy
+might inspire, that their minds, already not dissimilar, would be
+softened in favour of each other, and that, in conclusion, each might
+be happy in receiving the consolation each could give, and a union would
+take place, in which their reciprocal disappointment might, in time, be
+nearly forgotten.
+
+There was not, indeed, much promise of such an event in the countenance
+of Mr Arnott, when, late at night, he came for his sister, nor in the
+unbounded sorrow of Henrietta, when the moment of leave-taking arrived.
+Mr Arnott looked half dead with the shock his sister's intelligence had
+given him, and Henrietta's heart, torn asunder between friendship
+and love, was scarce able to bear a parting, which from Cecilia, she
+regarded as eternal, added to the consciousness it was occasioned by her
+going to join Delvile for life!
+
+Cecilia, who both read and pitied these conflicting emotions, was
+herself extremely hurt by this necessary separation. She tenderly
+loved Henrietta, she loved her even the more for the sympathy of their
+affections, which called forth the most forcible commiseration,--that
+which springs from fellow-feeling!
+
+"Farewell," she cried, "my Henrietta, be but happy as you are innocent,
+and be both as I love you, and nothing will your friends have to wish
+for you, or yourself to regret."
+
+"I must always regret," cried the sobbing Henrietta, "that I cannot live
+with you for ever! I should regret it if I were queen of all the world,
+how much more then, when I am nothing and nobody! I do not wish _you_
+happy, madam, for I think happiness was made on purpose for you, and
+nobody else ever had it before; I only wish you health and long life,
+for the sake of those who will be made as happy as you,--for you will
+spoil them,--as you have spoilt me,--from being ever happy without you!"
+
+Cecilia re-iterated her assurances of a most faithful regard, embraced
+Mrs Harrel, spoke words of kindness to the drooping Mr Arnott, and then
+parted with them all.
+
+Having still many small matters to settle, and neither company nor
+appetite, she would eat no supper; but, in passing thro' the hall, in
+her way to her own room, she was much surprised to see all her domestics
+assembled in a body. She stopt to enquire their intention, when they
+eagerly pressed forward, humbly and earnestly entreating to know why
+they were discharged? "For no reason in the world," cried Cecilia, "but
+because it is at present out of my power to keep you any longer."
+
+"Don't part with _me_, madam, for that," cried one of them, "for I will
+serve you for nothing!"
+
+"So will I!" cried another, "And I!" "And I!" was echoed by them all;
+while "no other such mistress is to be found!" "We can never bear any
+other place!" and "keep _me_, madam, at least!" was even clamorously
+urged by each of them.
+
+Cecilia, distressed and flattered at once by their unwillingness to
+quit her, received this testimony of gratitude for the kind and liberal
+treatment they had received, with the warmest thanks both for their
+services and fidelity, and assured them that when again she was settled,
+all those who should be yet unprovided with places, should be preferred
+in her house before any other claimants.
+
+Having, with difficulty, broken from them, she sent for her own man,
+Ralph, who had lived with her many years before the death of the Dean,
+and told him she meant still to continue him in her service. The man
+heard it with great delight, and promised to re-double his diligence to
+deserve her favour. She then communicated the same news to her maid, who
+had also resided with her some years, and by whom with the same, or more
+pleasure it was heard.
+
+These and other regulations employed her almost all night; yet late
+and fatigued as she went to bed, she could not close her eyes: fearful
+something was left undone, she robbed herself of the short time she had
+allowed to rest, by incessant meditation upon what yet remained to be
+executed. She could recollect, however, one only thing that had escaped
+her vigilance, which was acquainting the pew-opener, and two or three
+other poor women who had weekly pensions from her, that they must, at
+least for the present, depend no longer upon her assistance.
+
+Nothing indeed could be more painful to her than giving them such
+information, yet not to be speedy with it would double the barbarity of
+their disappointment. She even felt for these poor women, whose loss in
+her she knew would be irreparable, a compassion that drove from her mind
+almost every other subject, and determined her, in order to soften to
+them this misfortune, to communicate it herself, that she might prevent
+them from sinking under it, by reviving them with hopes of her future
+assistance.
+
+She had ordered at seven o'clock in the morning an hired chaise at the
+door, and she did not suffer it long to wait for her. She quitted her
+house with a heart full of care and anxiety, grieving at the necessity
+of making such a sacrifice, uncertain how it would turn out, and
+labouring under a thousand perplexities with respect to the measures
+she ought immediately to take. She passed, when she reached the hall,
+through a row of weeping domestics, not one of whom with dry eyes could
+see the house bereft of such a mistress. She spoke to them all with
+kindness, and as much as was in her power with chearfulness: but the
+tone of her voice gave them little reason to think the concern at this
+journey was all their own.
+
+She ordered her chaise to drive round to the pew-opener's and thence to
+the rest of her immediate dependents. She soon, however, regretted that
+she had given herself this task; the affliction of these poor pensioners
+was clamorous, was almost heart-breaking; they could live, they said, no
+longer, they were ruined for ever; they should soon be without bread
+to eat, and they might cry for help in vain, when their generous, their
+only benefactress was far away!
+
+Cecilia made the kindest efforts, to comfort and encourage them,
+assuring them the very moment her own affairs were arranged, she would
+remember them all, visit them herself, and contribute to their relief,
+with all the power she should have left. Nothing, however, could console
+them; they clung about her, almost took the horses from the chaise,
+and conjured her not to desert those who were solely cherished by her
+bounty!
+
+Nor was this all she had to suffer; the news of her intention to quit
+the county was now reported throughout the neighbourhood, and had spread
+the utmost consternation among the poor in general, and the lower close
+of her own tenants in particular, and the road was soon lined with
+women and children, wringing their hands and crying. They followed
+her carriage with supplications that she would return to them, mixing
+blessings with their lamentations, and prayers for her happiness with
+the bitterest repinings at their own loss!
+
+Cecilia was extremely affected; her liberal and ever-ready hand was
+every other instant involuntarily seeking her purse, which her many
+immediate expences, made her prudence as often check: and now first she
+felt the capital error she had committed, in living constantly to the
+utmost extent of her income, without ever preparing, though so able to
+have done it, against any unfortunate contingency.
+
+When she escaped, at last, from receiving any longer this painful
+tribute to her benevolence, she gave orders to her man to ride forward
+and stop at the Grove, that a precise and minute account of Mr Monckton,
+might be the last, as it was now become the most important, news she
+should hear in Suffolk. This he did, when to her equal surprise and
+delight, she heard that he was suddenly so much better, there were hopes
+of his recovery.
+
+Intelligence so joyful made her amends for almost every thing; yet she
+hesitated not in her plan of going abroad, as she knew not where to be
+in England, and could not endure to hurry Delvile from his sick mother,
+by acquainting him with her helpless and distressed situation. But so
+revived were her spirits by these unexpected tidings, that a gleam of
+brightest hope once more danced before her eyes, and she felt herself
+invigorated with fresh courage and new strength, sufficient to support
+her through all hardships and fatigues.
+
+Spirits and courage were indeed much wanted for the enterprize she had
+formed; but little used to travelling, and having never been out of
+England, she knew nothing of the route but by a general knowledge of
+geography, which, though it could guide her east or west, could teach
+her nothing of foreign customs, the preparations necessary for the
+journey, the impositions she should guard against, nor the various
+dangers to which she might be exposed, from total ignorance of the
+country through which she had to pass.
+
+Conscious of these deficiencies for such an undertaking, she deliberated
+without intermission how to obviate them. Yet sometimes, when to these
+hazards, those arising from her youth and sex were added, she was upon
+the point of relinquishing her scheme, as too perilous for execution,
+and resolving to continue privately in London till some change happened
+in her affairs.
+
+But though to every thing she could suggest, doubts and difficulties
+arose, she had no friend to consult, nor could devise any means by which
+they might be terminated. Her maid was her only companion, and Ralph,
+who had spent almost his whole life in Suffolk, her only guard and
+attendant. To hire immediately some French servant, used to travelling
+in his own country, seemed the first step she had to take, and so
+essential, that no other appeared feasible till it was done. But where
+to hear of such a man she could not tell, and to take one not
+well recommended, would be exposing herself to frauds and dangers
+innumerable.
+
+Yet so slow as Delvile travelled, from whom her last letter was still
+dated Ostend, she thought herself almost certain, could she once reach
+the continent, of overtaking him in his route within a day or two of her
+landing.
+
+The earnest inclination with which this scheme was seconded, made her
+every moment less willing to forego it. It seemed the only harbour for
+her after the storm she had weathered, and the only refuge she could
+properly seek while thus houseless and helpless. Even were Delvile in
+England, he had no place at present to offer her, nor could any thing be
+proposed so unexceptionable as her living with Mrs Delvile at Nice,
+till he knew his father's pleasure, and, in a separate journey home, had
+arranged his affairs either for her return, or her continuance abroad.
+
+With what regret did she now look back to the time when, in a distress
+such as this, she should have applied for, and received the advice of
+Mr Monckton as oracular! The loss of a counsellor so long, so implicitly
+relied upon, lost to her also, only by his own interested worthlessness,
+she felt almost daily, for almost daily some intricacy or embarrassment
+made her miss his assistance: and though glad, since she found him so
+undeserving, that she had escaped the snares he had spread for her,
+she grieved much that she knew no man of honest character and equal
+abilities, that would care for her sufficiently to supply his place in
+her confidence.
+
+As she was situated at present, she could think only of Mr Belfield to
+whom she could apply for any advice. Nor even to him was the application
+unexceptionable, the calumnies of Mr Delvile senior making it
+disagreeable to her even to see him. But he was at once a man of
+the world and a man of honour; he was the friend of Mortimer, whose
+confidence in him was great, and his own behaviour had uniformly shewn a
+respect far removed from impertinence or vanity, and a mind superior to
+being led to them by the influence of his gross mother. She had, indeed,
+when she last quitted his house, determined never to re-enter it; but
+determinations hasty or violent, are rarely observed, because rarely
+practicable; she had promised Henrietta to inform Mrs Belfield whither
+she was gone, and reconcile her to the absence she still hoped to make
+from home. She concluded, therefore, to go to Portland-street without
+delay, and enquire openly and at once whether, and when, she might
+speak with Mr Belfield; resolving, if tormented again by any forward
+insinuations, to rectify all mistakes by acknowledging her marriage.
+
+She gave directions accordingly to the post-boy and Ralph.
+
+With respect to her own lodgings while in town, as money was no longer
+unimportant to her, she meant from the Belfields to go to the Hills, by
+whom she might be recommended to some reputable and cheap place. To the
+Belfields, however, though very late when she arrived in town, she
+went first, unwilling to lose a moment in promoting her scheme of going
+abroad.
+
+She left her maid in the chaise, and sent Ralph on to Mrs Hill, with
+directions to endeavour immediately to procure her a lodging.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vi.
+
+A PRATING.
+
+Cecilia was shewn into a parlour, where Mrs Belfield was very earnestly
+discoursing with Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins; and Belfield himself, to her
+great satisfaction, was already there, and reading.
+
+"Lack a-day!" cried Mrs Belfield, "if one does not always see the people
+one's talking of! Why it was but this morning, madam, I was saying to Mr
+Hobson, I wonder, says I, a young lady of such fortunes as Miss Beverley
+should mope herself up so in the country! Don't you remember it, Mr
+Hobson?"
+
+"Yes, madam," answered Mr Hobson, "but I think, for my part, the young
+lady's quite in the right to do as she's a mind; for that's what I call
+living agreeable: and if I was a young lady to-morrow, with such fine
+fortunes, and that, it's just what I should do myself: for what I say
+is this: where's the joy of having a little money, and being a little
+matter above the world, if one has not one's own will?"
+
+"Ma'am," said Mr Simkins, who had scarce yet raised his head from the
+profoundness of his bow upon Cecilia's entrance into the room, "if I may
+be so free, may I make bold just for to offer you this chair?"
+
+"I called, madam," said Cecilia, seizing the first moment in her power
+to speak, "in order to acquaint you that your daughter, who is perfectly
+well, has made a little change in her situation, which she was anxious
+you should hear from myself."
+
+"Ha! ha! stolen a match upon you, I warrant!" cried the facetious Mr
+Hobson; "a good example for you, young lady; and if you take my advice,
+you won't be long before you follow it; for as to a lady, let her be
+worth never so much, she's a mere nobody, as one may say, till she can
+get herself a husband, being she knows nothing of business, and is made
+to pay for every thing through the nose."
+
+"Fie, Mr Hobson, fie!" said Mr Simkins, "to talk so slighting of the
+ladies before their faces! what one says in a corner, is quite of
+another nature; but for to talk so rude in their company,--I thought you
+would scorn to do such a thing."
+
+"Sir, I don't want to be rude no more than yourself," said Mr Hobson,
+"for what I say is, rudeness is a thing that makes nobody agreeable;
+but I don't see because of that, why a man is not to speak his mind to
+a lady as well as to a gentleman, provided he does it in a complaisant
+fashion."
+
+"Mr Hobson," cried Mrs Belfield, very impatiently, "you might as well
+let _me_ speak, when the matter is all about my own daughter."
+
+"I ask pardon, ma'am," said he, "I did not mean to stop you; for as to
+not letting a lady speak, one might as well tell a man in business not
+to look at the Daily Advertiser; why, it's morally impossible!"
+
+"But sure, madam," cried Mrs Belfield, "it's no such thing? You can't
+have got her off already?"
+
+"I would I had!" thought Cecilia; who then explained her meaning; but in
+talking of Mrs Harrel, avoided all mention of Mr Arnott, well foreseeing
+that to hear such a man existed, and was in the same house with her
+daughter, would be sufficient authority to her sanguine expectations,
+for depending upon a union between them, and reporting it among her
+friends, his circumstance being made clear, Cecilia added, "I could
+by no means have consented voluntarily to parting so soon with Miss
+Belfield, but that my own affairs call me at present out of the
+kingdom." And then, addressing herself to Belfield, she enquired if he
+could recommend to her a trusty foreign servant, who would be hired only
+for the time she was to spend abroad?
+
+While Belfield was endeavouring to recollect some such person, Mr Hobson
+eagerly called out "As to going abroad, madam, to be sure you're to do
+as you like, for that, as I say, is the soul of every thing; but else I
+can't say it's a thing I much approve; for my notion is this: here's a
+fine fortune, got as a man may say, out of the bowels of one's mother
+country, and this fine fortune, in default of male issue, is obliged to
+come to a female, the law making no proviso to the contrary. Well, this
+female, going into a strange country, naturally takes with her this
+fortune, by reason it's the main article she has to depend upon; what's
+the upshot? why she gets pilfered by a set of sharpers that never saw
+England in their lives, and that never lose sight of her till she has
+not a sous in the world. But the hardship of the thing is this:
+when it's all gone, the lady can come back, but will the money come
+back?--No, you'll never see it again: now this is what I call being no
+true patriot."
+
+"I am quite ashamed for to hear you talk so, Mr Hobson!" cried Mr
+Simkins, affecting to whisper; "to go for to take a person to task at
+this rate, is behaving quite unbearable; it's enough to make the young
+lady afraid to speak before you."
+
+"Why, Mr Simkins," answered Mr Hobson, "truth is truth, whether one
+speaks it or not; and that, ma'am, I dare say, a young lady of your good
+sense knows as well as myself."
+
+"I think, madam," said Belfield, who waited their silence with great
+impatience, "that I know just such a man as you will require, and one
+upon whose honesty I believe you may rely."
+
+"That's more," said Mr Hobson, "than I would take upon me to say for
+any _Englishman_! where you may meet with such a _Frenchman_, I won't be
+bold to say."
+
+"Why indeed," said Mr Simkins, "if I might take the liberty for to put
+in, though I don't mean in no shape to go to contradicting the young
+gentleman, but if I was to make bold to speak my private opinion upon
+the head, I should be inclinable for to say, that as to putting a
+dependance upon the French, it's a thing quite dubious how it may turn
+out."
+
+"I take it as a great favour, ma'am," said Mrs Belfield, "that you have
+been so complaisant as to make me this visit to-night, for I was almost
+afraid you would not have done me the favour any more; for, to be sure,
+when you was here last, things went a little unlucky: but I had no
+notion, for my part, who the old gentleman was till after he was gone,
+when Mr Hobson told me it was old Mr Delvile: though, sure enough, I
+thought it rather upon the extraordinary order, that he should come here
+into my parlour, and make such a secret of his name, on purpose to ask
+me questions about my own son."
+
+"Why I think, indeed, if I may be so free," said Mr Simkins, "it was
+rather petickeler of the gentleman; for, to be sure, if he was so over
+curious to hear about your private concerns, the genteel thing, if I may
+take the liberty for to differ, would have been for him to say, ma'am,
+says he, I'm come to ask the favour of you just to let me a little into
+your son's goings on; and any thing, ma'am, you should take a fancy for
+to ask me upon the return, why I shall be very compliable, ma'am, says
+he, to giving of you satisfaction."
+
+"I dare say," answered Mrs Belfield, "he would not have said so much if
+you'd have gone down on your knees to ask him. Why he was upon the very
+point of being quite in a passion because I only asked him his name!
+though what harm that could do him, I'm sure I never could guess.
+However, as he was so mighty inquisitive about my son, if I had but
+known who he was in time, I should have made no scruple in the world to
+ask him if he could not have spoke a few words for him to some of those
+great people that could have done him some good. But the thing that I
+believe put him so out of humour, was my being so unlucky as to say,
+before ever I knew who he was, that I had heard he was not over and
+above good-natured; for I saw he did not seem much to like it at the
+time."
+
+"If he had done the generous thing," said Mr Simkins, "it would have
+been for him to have made the proffer of his services of his own
+free-will; and it's rather surpriseable to me he should never have
+thought of it; for what could be so natural as for him to say, I see,
+ma'am, says he, you've got a very likely young gentleman here, that's a
+little out of cash, says he, so I suppose, ma'am, says he, a place, or a
+pension, or something in that shape of life, would be no bad compliment,
+says he."
+
+"But no such good luck as that will come to my share," cried Mrs
+Belfield, "I can tell you that, for every thing I want to do goes quite
+contrary. Who would not have thought such a son as mine, though I say it
+before his face, could not have made his fortune long ago, living as he
+did, among all the great folks, and dining at their table just like one
+of themselves? yet, for all that, you see they let him go on his own
+way, and think of him no more than of nobody! I'm sure they might be
+ashamed to shew their faces, and so I should tell them at once, if I
+could but get sight of them."
+
+"I don't mean, ma'am," said Mr Simkins, "for to be finding fault with
+what you say, for I would not be unpelite in no shape; but if I might be
+so free as for to differ a little bit, I must needs say I am rather for
+going to work in anotherguess sort of a manner; and if I was as you--"
+
+"Mr Simkins," interrupted Belfield, "we will settle this matter another
+time." And then, turning to the wearied Cecilia, "The man, madam," he
+said, "whom I have done myself the honour to recommend to you, I can see
+to-morrow morning; may I then tell him to wait upon you?"
+
+"I ask pardon for just putting in," cried Mr Simkins, before Cecilia
+could answer, and again bowing down to the ground, "but I only mean to
+say I had no thought for to be impertinent, for as to what I was agoing
+to remark, is was not of no consequence in the least."
+
+"Its a great piece of luck, ma'am," said Mrs Belfield, "that you should
+happen to come here, of a holiday! If my son had not been at home, I
+should have been ready to cry for a week: and you might come any day the
+year through but a Sunday, and not meet with him any more than if he had
+never a home to come to."
+
+"If Mr Belfield's home-visits are so periodical," said Cecilia, "it must
+be rather less, than more, difficult to meet with him."
+
+"Why you know, ma'am," answered Mrs Belfield, "to-day is a red-letter
+day, so that's the reason of it."
+
+"A red-letter day?"
+
+"Good lack, madam, why have not you heard that my son is turned
+book-keeper?"
+
+Cecilia, much surprised, looked at Belfield, who, colouring very high,
+and apparently much provoked by his mother's loquacity, said, "Had Miss
+Beverley not heard it even now, madam, I should probably have lost with
+her no credit."
+
+"You can surely lose none, Sir," answered Cecilia, "by an employment too
+little pleasant to have been undertaken from any but the most laudable
+motives."
+
+"It is not, madam, the employment," said he, "for which I so much blush
+as for the person employed--for _myself_! In the beginning of the winter
+you left me just engaged in another business, a business with which
+I was madly delighted, and fully persuaded I should be enchanted
+for ever;--now, again, in the beginning of the summer,--you find me,
+already, in a new occupation!"
+
+"I am sorry," said Cecilia, "but far indeed from surprised, that you
+found yourself deceived by such sanguine expectations."
+
+"Deceived!" cried he, with energy, "I was bewitched, I was infatuated!
+common sense was estranged by the seduction of a chimera; my
+understanding was in a ferment from the ebullition of my imagination!
+But when this new way of life lost its novelty,--novelty! that
+short-liv'd, but exquisite bliss! no sooner caught than it vanishes, no
+sooner tasted than it is gone! which charms but to fly, and comes but
+to destroy what it leaves behind!--when that was lost, reason, cool,
+heartless reason, took its place, and teaching me to wonder at the
+frenzy of my folly, brought me back to the tameness--the sadness of
+reality!"
+
+"I am sure," cried Mrs Belfield, "whatever it has brought you back to,
+it has brought you back to no good! it's a hard case, you must needs
+think, madam, to a mother, to see a son that might do whatever he would,
+if he'd only set about it, contenting himself with doing nothing but
+scribble and scribe one day, and when he gets tired of that, thinking of
+nothing better than casting up two and two!"
+
+"Why, madam," said Mr Hobson, "what I have seen of the world is this;
+there's nothing methodizes a man but business. If he's never so much
+upon the stilts, that's always a sure way to bring him down, by reason
+he soon finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading. Let every man
+be his own carver; but what I say is, them gentlemen that are what one
+may call geniuses, commonly think nothing of the main chance, till they
+get a tap on the shoulder with a writ; and a solid lad, that knows three
+times five is fifteen, will get the better of them in the long run. But
+as to arguing with gentlemen of that sort, where's the good of it? You
+can never bring them to the point, say what you will; all you can get
+from them, is a farrago of fine words, that you can't understand without
+a dictionary."
+
+"I am inclinable to think," said Mr Simkins, "that the young gentleman
+is rather of opinion to like pleasure better than business; and, to be
+sure, it's very excusable of him, because it's more agreeabler. And I
+must needs say, if I may be so free, I'm partly of the young gentleman's
+mind, for business is a deal more trouble."
+
+"I hope, however," said Cecilia to Belfield, "your present situation is
+less irksome to you?"
+
+"Any situation, madam, must be less irksome than that which I quitted:
+to write by rule, to compose by necessity, to make the understanding,
+nature's first gift, subservient to interest, that meanest offspring of
+art!--when weary, listless, spiritless, to rack the head for invention,
+the memory for images, and the fancy for ornament and illusion; and when
+the mind is wholly occupied by its own affections and affairs, to call
+forth all its faculties for foreign subjects, uninteresting discussions,
+or fictitious incidents!--Heavens! what a life of struggle between
+the head and the heart! how cruel, how unnatural a war between the
+intellects and the feelings!"
+
+"As to these sort of things," said Mr Hobson, "I can't say I am much
+versed in them, by reason they are things I never much studied; but if I
+was to speak my notion, it is this; the best way to thrive in the world
+is to get money; but how is it to be got? Why by business: for business
+is to money, what fine words are to a lady, a sure road to success. Now
+I don't mean by this to be censorious upon the ladies, being they have
+nothing else to go by, for as to examining if a man knows any thing of
+the world, and that, they have nothing whereby to judge, knowing nothing
+of it themselves. So that when they are taken in by rogues and sharpers,
+the fault is all in the law, for making no proviso against their having
+money in their own hands. Let every one be trusted according to their
+headpiece and what I say is this: a lady in them cases is much to be
+pitied, for she is obligated to take a man upon his own credit, which is
+tantamount to no credit at all, being what man will speak an ill word of
+himself? you may as well expect a bad shilling to cry out don't take me!
+That's what I say, and that's my way of giving my vote."
+
+Cecilia, quite tired of these interruptions, and impatient to be gone,
+now said to Belfield, "I should be much obliged to you, Sir, if you
+could send to me the man you speak of tomorrow morning. I wished, also
+to consult you with regard to the route I ought to take. My purpose is
+to go to Nice, and as I am very desirous to travel expeditiously, you
+may perhaps be able to instruct me what is the best method for me to
+pursue."
+
+"Come, Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins," cried Mrs Belfield, with a look of
+much significance and delight, "suppose you two and I was to walk into
+the next room? There's no need for us to hear all the young lady may
+have a mind to say."
+
+"She has nothing to say, madam," cried Cecilia, "that the whole world
+may not hear. Neither is it my purpose to talk, but to listen, if Mr
+Belfield is at leisure to favour me with his advice."
+
+"I must always be at leisure, and always be proud, madam," Belfield
+began, when Hobson, interrupting him, said, "I ask pardon, Sir, for
+intruding, but I only mean to wish the young lady good night. As to
+interfering with business, that's not my way, for it's not the right
+method, by reason--"
+
+"We will listen to your reason, Sir," cried Belfield, "some other time;
+at present we will give you all credit for it unheard."
+
+"Let every man speak his own maxim, Sir," cried Hobson; "for that's what
+I call fair arguing: but as to one person's speaking, and then making an
+answer for another into the bargain, why it's going to work no-how; you
+may as well talk to a counter, and think because you make a noise upon
+it with your own hand, it gives you the reply."
+
+"Why, Mr Hobson," cried Mrs Belfield, "I am quite ashamed of you for
+being so dull! don't you see my son has something to say to the lady
+that you and I have no business to be meddling with?"
+
+"I'm sure, ma'am, for my part," said Mr Simkins, "I'm very agreeable to
+going away, for as to putting the young lady to the blush, it's what I
+would not do in no shape."
+
+"I only mean," said Mr Hobson, when he was interrupted by Mrs Belfield,
+who, out of all patience, now turned him out of the room by the
+shoulders, and, pulling Mr Simkins after, followed herself, and shut
+the door, though Cecilia, much provoked, desired she would stay, and
+declared repeatedly that all her business was public.
+
+Belfield, who had, looked ready to murder them all during this short
+scene, now approached Cecilia, and with an air of mingled spirit and
+respect, said, "I am much grieved, much confounded, madam, that your
+ears should be offended by speeches so improper to reach them; yet if
+it is possible I can have the honour of being of any use to you, in me,
+still, I hope, you feel you may confide. I am too distant from you in
+situation to give you reason to apprehend I can form any sinister views
+in serving you; and, permit me to add, I am too near you in mind, ever
+to give you the pain of bidding me remember that distance."
+
+Cecilia then, extremely unwilling to shock a sensibility not more
+generous than jealous, determined to continue her enquiries, and, at
+the same time, to prevent any further misapprehension, by revealing her
+actual situation.
+
+"I am sorry, Sir," she answered, "to have occasioned this disturbance;
+Mrs Belfield, I find, is wholly unacquainted with the circumstance which
+now carries me abroad, or it would not have happened."
+
+Here a little noise in the passage interrupting her, she heard Mrs
+Belfield, though in a low voice, say, "Hush, Sir, hush! you must not
+come in just now; you've caught me, I confess, rather upon the listening
+order; but to tell you the truth, I did not know what might be going
+forward. However, there's no admittance now, I assure you, for my son's
+upon particular business with a lady, and Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins and
+I, have all been as good as turned out by them but just now."
+
+Cecilia and Belfield, though they heard this speech with mutual
+indignation, had no time to mark or express it, as it was answered
+without in a voice at once loud and furious, "_You_, madam, may be
+content to listen here; pardon me if I am less humbly disposed!" And the
+door was abruptly opened by young Delvile!
+
+Cecilia, who half screamed from excess of astonishment, would scarcely,
+even by the presence of Belfield and his mother, have been restrained
+from flying to meet him, had his own aspect invited such a mark of
+tenderness; but far other was the case; when the door was open, he stopt
+short with a look half petrified, his feet seeming rooted to the spot
+upon which they stood.
+
+"I declare I ask pardon, ma'am," cried Mrs Belfield, "but the
+interruption was no fault of mine, for the gentleman would come in;
+and--"
+
+"It is no interruption, madam;" cried Belfield, "Mr Delvile does me
+nothing but honour."
+
+"I thank you, Sir!" said Delvile, trying to recover and come forward,
+but trembling violently, and speaking with the most frigid coldness.
+
+They were then, for a few instants, all silent; Cecilia, amazed by his
+arrival, still more amazed by his behaviour, feared to speak lest
+he meant not, as yet, to avow his marriage, and felt a thousand
+apprehensions that some new calamity had hurried him home: while
+Belfield was both hurt by his strangeness, and embarrassed for the sake
+of Cecilia; and his mother, though wondering at them all, was kept quiet
+by her son's looks.
+
+Delvile then, struggling for an appearance of more ease, said, "I seem
+to have made a general confusion here:--pray, I beg"--
+
+"None at all, Sir," said Belfield, and offered a chair to Cecilia.
+
+"No, Sir," she answered, in a voice scarce audible, "I was just going."
+And again rang the bell.
+
+"I fear I hurry you, madam?" cried Delvile, whose whole frame was now
+shaking with uncontrollable emotion; "you are upon business--I ought to
+beg your pardon--my entrance, I believe, was unseasonable."--
+
+"Sir!" cried she, looking aghast at this speech.
+
+"I should have been rather surprised," he added, "to have met you here,
+so late,--so unexpectedly,--so deeply engaged--had I not happened to see
+your servant in the street, who told me the honour I should be likely to
+have by coming."
+
+"Good God!--" exclaimed she, involuntarily; but, checking herself as
+well as she could, she courtsied to Mrs Belfield, unable to speak to
+her, and avoiding even to look at Belfield, who respectfully hung back,
+she hastened out of the room: accompanied by Mrs Belfield, who again
+began the most voluble and vulgar apologies for the intrusion she had
+met with.
+
+Delvile also, after a moment's pause, followed, saying, "Give me leave,
+madam, to see you to your carriage."
+
+Cecilia then, notwithstanding Mrs Belfield still kept talking, could no
+longer refrain saying, "Good heaven, what does all this mean?"
+
+"Rather for _me_ is that question," he answered, in such agitation he
+could not, though he meant it, assist her into the chaise, "for mine, I
+believe, is the greater surprise!"
+
+"What surprise?" cried she, "explain, I conjure you!"
+
+"By and bye I will," he answered; "go on postilion."
+
+"Where, Sir?"
+
+"Where you came from, I suppose."
+
+"What, Sir, back to Rumford?"
+
+"Rumford!" exclaimed he, with encreasing disorder, "you came then from
+Suffolk hither?--from Suffolk to this very house?"
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Cecilia, "come into the chaise, and let me speak
+and hear to be understood!"
+
+"Who is that now in it?"
+
+"My Maid."
+
+"Your maid?--and she waits for you thus at the door?"--
+
+"What, what is it you mean?"
+
+"Tell the man, madam, whither to go."
+
+"I don't know myself--any where you please--do you order him."
+
+"I order him!--you came not hither to receive orders from _me_!--where
+was it you had purposed to rest?"
+
+"I don't know--I meant to go to Mrs Hill's--I have no place taken."--
+
+"No place taken!" repeated he, in a voice faultering between passion
+and grief; "you purposed, then, to stay here?--I have perhaps driven you
+away?"
+
+"Here!" cried Cecilia, mingling, in her turn, indignation with surprise,
+"gracious heaven! what is it you mean to doubt?"
+
+"Nothing!" cried he, with emphasis, "I never have had, I never _will_
+have a doubt! I will know, I will have _conviction_ for every thing!
+Postilion, drive to St James's-square!--to Mr Delvile's. There, madam, I
+will wait upon you."
+
+"No! stay, postilion!" called out Cecilia, seized with terror
+inexpressible; "let me get out, let me speak with you at once!"
+
+"It cannot be; I will follow you in a few minutes--drive on, postilion!"
+
+"No, no!--I will not go--I dare not leave you--unkind Delvile!--what is
+it you suspect."
+
+"Cecilia," cried he, putting his hand upon the chaise-door, "I have
+ever believed you spotless as an angel! and, by heaven! I believe you so
+still, in spite of appearances--in defiance of every thing!--Now then be
+satisfied;--I will be with you very soon. Meanwhile, take this letter,
+I was just going to send to you.--Postilion, drive on, or be at your
+peril!"
+
+The man waited no further orders, nor regarded the prohibition of
+Cecilia, who called out to him without ceasing; but he would not listen
+to her till he got to the end of the street; he then stopt, and she
+broke the seal of her letter, and read, by the light of the lamps,
+enough to let her know that Delvile had written it upon the road from
+Dover to London, to acquaint her his mother was now better, and had
+taken pity of his suspense and impatience, and insisted upon his coming
+privately to England, to satisfy himself fully about Mr Monckton,
+communicate his marriage to his father, and give those orders towards
+preparing for its being made public, which his unhappy precipitation in
+leaving the kingdom had prevented.
+
+This letter, which, though written but a few hours before she received
+it, was full of tenderness, gratitude and anxiety for her happiness,
+instantly convinced her that his strange behaviour had been wholly
+the effect of a sudden impulse of jealousy; excited by so unexpectedly
+finding her in town, at the very house where his father had assured
+him she had an improper connexion, and alone, so suspiciously, with
+the young man affirmed to be her favourite. He knew nothing of the
+ejectment, nothing of any reason for her leaving Suffolk, every thing
+had the semblance of no motive but to indulge a private and criminal
+inclination.
+
+These thoughts, which confusedly, yet forcibly, rushed upon her mind,
+brought with them at once an excuse for his conduct, and an alarm for
+his danger; "He must think," she cried, "I came to town only to meet Mr
+Belfield!" then, opening the chaise-door herself, she jumpt out, and ran
+back into Portland-street, too impatient to argue with the postilion to
+return with her, and stopt not till she came to Mrs Belfield's house.
+
+She knocked at the door with violence; Mrs Belfield came to it herself;
+"Where," cried she, hastily entering as she spoke, "are the gentlemen?"
+
+"Lack-a-day! ma'am," answered Mrs Belfield, "they are both gone out."
+
+"Gone out?--where to?--which way?"
+
+"I am sure I can't tell, ma'am, no more than you can; but I am sadly
+afraid they'll have a quarrel before they've done."
+
+"Oh heaven!" cried Cecilia, who now doubted not a second duel, "tell me,
+shew me, which way they went?"
+
+"Why, ma'am, to let you into the secret," answered Mrs Belfield, "only I
+beg you'll take no notice of it to my son, but, seeing them so much out
+of sorts, I begged the favour of Mr Simkins, as Mr Hobson was gone out
+to his club, just to follow them, and see what they were after."
+
+Cecilia was much rejoiced this caution had been taken, and determined to
+wait his return. She would have sent for the chaise to follow her; but
+Mrs Belfield kept no servant, and the maid of the house was employed in
+preparing the supper.
+
+When Mr Simkins came back, she learnt, after various interruptions from
+Mrs Belfield, and much delay from his own slowness and circumlocution,
+that he had pursued the two gentlemen to the * * coffee-house.
+
+She hesitated not a moment in resolving to follow them: she feared the
+failure of any commission, nor did she know whom to entrust with
+one: and the danger was too urgent for much deliberation. She begged,
+therefore, that Mr. Simkins would walk with her to the chaise; but
+hearing that the coffee-house was another way, she desired Mrs Belfield
+to let the servant run and order it to Mrs Roberts, in Fetterlane, and
+then eagerly requested Mr Simkins to accompany her on foot till they met
+with an hackney-coach.
+
+They then set out, Mr Simkins feeling proud and happy in being allowed
+to attend her, while Cecilia, glad of any protection, accepted his offer
+of continuing with her, even after she met with an hackney-coach.
+
+When she arrived at the coffee-house, she ordered the coachman to desire
+the master of it to come and speak with her.
+
+He came, and she hastily called out, "Pray, are two gentlemen here?"
+
+"Here are several gentlemen here, madam."
+
+"Yes, yes,--but are two upon any business--any particular business--"
+
+"Two gentlemen, madam, came about half an hour ago, and asked for a room
+to themselves."
+
+"And where are they now?--are they up stairs?--down stairs?--where are
+they?"
+
+"One of them went away in about ten minutes, and the other soon after."
+
+Bitterly chagrined and disappointed, she knew not what step to take
+next; but, after some consideration, concluded upon obeying Delvile's
+own directions, and proceeding to St James's-square, where alone, now,
+she seemed to have any chance of meeting with him. Gladly, however, she
+still consented to be accompanied by Mr Simkins, for her dread of being
+alone, at so late an hour, in an hackney-coach, was invincible. Whether
+Delvile himself had any authority for directing her to his father's,
+or whether, in the perturbation of his new--excited and agonising
+sensations of jealousy, he had forgotten that any authority was
+necessary, she knew not; nor could she now interest herself in the
+doubt: a second scene, such as had so lately passed with Mr Monckton,
+occupied all her thoughts: she knew the too great probability that
+the high spirit of Belfield would disdain making the explanation which
+Delvile in his present agitation might require, and the consequence of
+such a refusal must almost inevitably be fatal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+A PURSUIT.
+
+The moment the porter came to the door, Cecilia eagerly called out from
+the coach, "Is Mr Delvile here?"
+
+"Yes, madam," he answered, "but I believe he is engaged."
+
+"Oh no matter for any engagement!" cried she, "on the door,--I must speak
+to him this moment!"
+
+"If you will please to step into the parlour, madam, I will tell
+his gentleman you are here; but he will be much displeased if he is
+disturbed without notice."
+
+"Ah heaven!" exclaimed she, "what Mr Delvile are you talking of?"
+
+"My master, madam."
+
+Cecilia, who had got out of the coach, now hastily returned to it,
+and was some time in too great agony to answer either the porter, who
+desired some message, or the coachman, who asked whither he was to
+drive. To see Mr Delvile, unprotected by his son, and contrary to his
+orders, appeared to her insupportable; yet to what place could she go?
+where was she likely to meet with Delvile? how could he find her if she
+went to Mrs Hill's? and in what other house could she at present claim
+admittance?
+
+After a little recovering from this cruel shock, she ventured, though in
+a faultering voice, to enquire whether young Mr Delvile had been there?
+
+"Yes, madam," the porter answered; "we thought he was abroad, but he
+called just now, and asked if any lady had been at the house. He would
+not even stay to go up to my master, and we have not dared tell him of
+his arrival."
+
+This a little revived her; to hear that he had actually been enquiring
+for her, at least assured her of his safety from any immediate violence,
+and she began to hope she might now possibly meet with him time
+enough to explain all that had past in his absence, and occasioned her
+seemingly strange and suspicious situation at Belfield's. She compelled
+herself, therefore, to summon courage for seeing his father, since, as
+he had directed her to the house, she concluded he would return there to
+seek her, when he had wandered elsewhere to no purpose.
+
+She then, though with much timidity and reluctance, sent a message to Mr
+Delvile to entreat a moment's audience.
+
+An answer was brought her that he saw no company so late at night.
+
+Losing now all dread of his reproaches, in her superior dread of missing
+Delvile, she called out earnestly to the man, "Tell him, Sir, I beseech
+him not to refuse me! tell him I have something to communicate that
+requires his immediate attention!"
+
+The servant obeyed; but soon returning, said his master desired him to
+acquaint her he was engaged every moment he stayed in town, and must
+positively decline seeing her.
+
+"Go to him again," cried the harassed Cecilia, "assure him I come not
+from myself, but by the desire of one he most values: tell him I entreat
+but permission to wait an hour in his house, and that I have no other
+place in the world whither I can go!"
+
+Mr Delvile's own gentleman brought, with evident concern, the answer
+to this petition; which was, that while the Honourable Mr Delvile was
+himself alive, he thought the desire of any other person concerning his
+house, was taking with him a very extraordinary liberty; and that he was
+now going to bed, and had given orders to his servants to carry him no
+more messages whatsoever, upon pain of instant dismission.
+
+Cecilia now seemed totally destitute of all resource, and for a few
+dreadful minutes, gave herself up to utter despondency: nor, when she
+recovered her presence of mind, could she form any better plan than that
+of waiting in the coach to watch the return of Delvile.
+
+She told the coachman, therefore, to drive to a corner of the square,
+begging Mr Simkins to have patience, which he promised with much
+readiness, and endeavoured to give her comfort, by talking without
+cessation.
+
+She waited here near half an hour. She then feared the disappointment of
+Delvile in not meeting her at first, had made him conclude she meant
+not to obey his directions, and had perhaps urged him to call again upon
+Belfield, whom he might fancy privy to her non-appearance. This was
+new horror to her, and she resolved at all risks to drive to
+Portland-street, and enquire if Belfield himself was returned home. Yet,
+lest they should mutually be pursuing each other all night, she stopt
+again at Mr Delvile's, and left word with the porter, that if young Mr
+Delvile should come home, he would hear of the person he was enquiring
+for at Mrs Roberts's in Fetter-lane. To Belfield's she did not dare
+to direct him; and it was her intention, if there she procured no new
+intelligence, to leave the same message, and then go to Mrs Roberts
+without further delay. To make such an arrangement with a servant who
+knew not her connection with his young master, was extremely repugnant
+to her; but the exigence was too urgent for scruples, and there was
+nothing to which she would not have consented, to prevent the fatal
+catastrophe she apprehended.
+
+When she came to Belfield's, not daring to enter the house, she sent in
+Mr Simkins, to desire that Mrs Belfield would be so good as to step to
+the coach door.
+
+"Is your son, madam," she cried, eagerly, "come home? and is any body
+with him?"
+
+"No, ma'am; he has never once been across the threshold since that
+gentleman took him out; and I am half out of my wits to think"--
+
+"Has that gentleman," interrupted Cecilia, "been here anymore?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, that's what I was going to tell you; he came again just
+now, and said"--
+
+"Just now?--good heaven!--and which way is he gone?"
+
+"Why he is after no good, I am afraid, for he was in a great passion,
+and would hardly hear any thing I said."
+
+"Pray, pray answer me quick!--where, which way did he go?"
+
+"Why, he asked me if I knew whither my son was come from the * *
+coffee-house; why, says I, I'm sure I can't tell, for if it had not been
+for Mr Simkins, I should not so much as have known he ever went to the
+* * coffee-house; however, I hope he a'n't come away, because if he is,
+poor Miss Beverley will have had all that trouble for nothing; for she's
+gone after him in a prodigious hurry; and upon my only saying that, he
+seemed quite beside himself, and said, if I don't meet with your son at
+the * * coffee-house myself, pray, when he comes in, tell him I shall be
+highly obliged to him to call there; and then he went away, in as great
+a pet as ever you saw."
+
+Cecilia listened to this account with the utmost terror and misery; the
+suspicions of Delvile would now be aggravated, and the message he
+had left for Belfield, would by him be regarded as a defiance. Again,
+however, to the * * coffee-house she instantly ordered the coach, an
+immediate explanation from herself seeming the only possible chance for
+preventing the most horrible conclusion to this unfortunate and eventful
+evening.
+
+She was still accompanied by Mr Simkins, and, but that she attended to
+nothing he said, would not inconsiderably have been tormented by his
+conversation. She sent him immediately into the coffee-room, to enquire
+if either of the gentlemen were then in the house.
+
+He returned to her with a waiter, who said, "One of them, madam, called
+again just now, but he only stopt to write a note, which he left to be
+given to the gentleman who came with him at first. He is but this moment
+gone, and I don't think he can be at the bottom of the street."
+
+"Oh drive then, gallop after him!"--cried Cecilia; "coachman! go this
+moment!"
+
+"My horses are tired," said the man, "they have been out all day, and
+they will gallop no further, if I don't stop and give them a drink."
+
+Cecilia, too full of hope and impatience for this delay, forced open
+the door herself, and without saying another word, jumped out of the
+carriage, with intention to run down the street; but the coachman
+immediately seizing her, protested she should not stir till he was paid.
+
+In the utmost agony of mind at an hindrance by which she imagined
+Delvile would be lost to her perhaps for ever, she put her hand in her
+pocket, in order to give up her purse for her liberty; but Mr Simkins,
+who was making a tiresome expostulation with the coachman, took it
+himself, and declaring he would not see the lady cheated, began a
+tedious calculation of his fare.
+
+"O pay him any thing!" cried she, "and let us be gone! an instant's
+delay may be fatal!"
+
+Mr Simkins, too earnest to conquer the coachman to attend to her
+distress, continued his prolix harangue concerning a disputed shilling,
+appealing to some gathering spectators upon the justice of his cause;
+while his adversary, who was far from sober, still held Cecilia, saying
+the coach had been hired for the lady, and he would be paid by herself.
+
+"Good God!" cried the agitated Cecilia,--"give him my purse at
+once!--give him every thing he desires!"--
+
+The coachman, at this permission, encreased his demands, and Mr Simkins,
+taking the number of his coach, protested he would summons him to the
+Court of Conscience the next morning. A gentleman, who then came out
+of the coffee-house, offered to assist the lady, but the coachman, who
+still held her arm, swore he would have his right.
+
+"Let me go! let me pass!" cried she, with encreasing eagerness and
+emotion; "detain me at your peril!--release me this moment--only let me
+run to the end of the street,--good God! good Heaven! detain me not for
+mercy!"
+
+Mr Simkins, humbly desiring her not to be in haste, began a formal
+apology for his conduct; but the inebriety of the coachman became
+evident; a mob was collecting; Cecilia, breathless with vehemence and
+terror, was encircled, yet struggled in vain to break away; and the
+stranger gentleman, protesting, with sundry compliments, he would
+himself take care of her, very freely seized her hand.
+
+This moment, for the unhappy Cecilia, teemed with calamity; she was
+wholly overpowered; terror for Delvile, horror for herself, hurry,
+confusion, heat and fatigue, all assailing her at once, while all means
+of repelling them were denied her, the attack was too strong for her
+fears, feelings, and faculties, and her reason suddenly, yet totally
+failing her, she madly called out, "He will be gone! he will be gone!
+and I must follow him to Nice!"
+
+The gentleman now retreated; but Mr Simkins, who was talking to the mob,
+did not hear her; and the coachman, too much intoxicated to perceive her
+rising frenzy, persisted in detaining her.
+
+"I am going to France!" cried she, still more wildly, "why do you stop
+me? he will die if I do not see him, he will bleed to death!"
+
+The coachman, still unmoved, began to grow very abusive; but the
+stranger, touched by compassion, gave up his attempted gallantry, and Mr
+Simkins, much astonished, entreated her not to be frightened: she was,
+however, in no condition to listen to him; with a strength hitherto
+unknown to her, she forcibly disengaged herself from her persecutors;
+yet her senses were wholly disordered; she forgot her situation, her
+intention, and herself; the single idea of Delvile's danger took sole
+possession of her brain, though all connection with its occasion was
+lost, and the moment she was released, she fervently clasped her hands,
+exclaiming, "I will yet heal his wound, even at the hazard of my life!"
+and springing forward, was almost instantly out of sight.
+
+Mr Simkins now, much alarmed, and earnestly calling after her, entered
+into a compromise with the coachman, that he might attend her; but the
+length of his negociation defeated its purpose, and before he was
+at liberty to follow her, all trace was lost by which he might have
+overtaken her. He stopt every passenger he met to make enquiries, but
+though they led him on some way, they led him on in vain; and, after
+a useless and ill-managed pursuit, he went quietly to his own home,
+determining to acquaint Mrs Belfield with what had happened the next
+morning.
+
+Mean while the frantic Cecilia escaped both pursuit and insult by the
+velocity of her own motion. She called aloud upon Delvile as she flew to
+the end of the street. No Delvile was there!--she turned the corner;
+yet saw nothing of him; she still went on, though unknowing whither,
+the distraction of her mind every instant growing greater, from the
+inflammation of fatigue, heat, and disappointment. She was spoken to
+repeatedly; she was even caught once or twice by her riding habit; but
+she forced herself along by her own vehement rapidity, not hearing what
+was said, nor heeding what was thought. Delvile, bleeding by the arm of
+Belfield, was the image before her eyes, and took such full possession
+of her senses, that still, as she ran on, she fancied it in view. She
+scarce touched the ground; she scarce felt her own motion; she seemed
+as if endued with supernatural speed, gliding from place to place, from
+street to street; with no consciousness of any plan, and following no
+other direction than that of darting forward where-ever there was most
+room, and turning back when she met with any obstruction; till quite
+spent and exhausted, she abruptly ran into a yet open shop, where,
+breathless and panting, she sunk upon the floor, and, with a look
+disconsolate and helpless, sat for some time without speaking.
+
+The people of the house, concluding at first she was a woman of the
+town, were going roughly to turn her out; but soon seeing their mistake,
+by the evident distraction of her air and manner, they enquired of some
+idle people who, late as it was, had followed her, if any of them knew
+who she was, or whence she came?
+
+They could give no account of her, but supposed she was broke loose from
+Bedlam.
+
+Cecilia then, wildly starting up, exclaimed, "No, no,--I am not mad,--I
+am going to Nice--to my husband."
+
+"She's quite crazy," said the man of the house, who was a Pawn-Broker;
+"we had better get rid of her before she grows mischievous--"
+
+"She's somebody broke out from a private mad house, I dare say," said a
+man who had followed her into the shop; "and if you were to take care of
+her a little while, ten to one but you'll get a reward for it."
+
+"She's a gentlewoman, sure enough," said the mistress of the house,
+"because she's got such good things on."
+
+And then, under pretence of trying to find some direction to her upon
+a letter, or paper, she insisted upon searching her pockets: here,
+however, she was disappointed in her expectations: her purse was in the
+custody of Mr Simkins, but neither her terror nor distress had saved her
+from the daring dexterity of villainy, and her pockets, in the mob,
+had been rifled of whatever else they contained. The woman therefore
+hesitated some time whether to take charge of her or, not: but being
+urged by the man who made the proposal, and who said they might depend
+upon seeing her soon advertised, as having escaped from her keepers,
+they ventured to undertake her.
+
+Mean while she endeavoured again to get out, calling aloud upon Delvile
+to rescue her, but so wholly bereft of sense and recollection, she could
+give no account who she was, whence she came, or whither she wished to
+go.
+
+They then carried her up stairs, and attempted to make her lie down
+upon a bed; but supposing she refused because it was not of straw, they
+desisted; and, taking away the candle, locked the door, and all went to
+rest.
+
+In this miserable condition, alone and raving, she was left to pass
+the night! in the early part of it, she called upon Delvile without
+intermission, beseeching him to come to her defence in one moment, and
+deploring his death the next; but afterwards, her strength being wholly
+exhausted by these various exertions and fatigues, she threw herself
+upon the floor, and lay for some minutes quite still. Her head then
+began to grow cooler, as the fever into which terror and immoderate
+exercise had thrown her abated, and her memory recovered its functions.
+
+This was, however, only a circumstance of horror to her: she found
+herself shut up in a place of confinement, without light, without
+knowledge where she was, and not a human being near her!
+
+Yet the same returning reason which enabled her to take this view of
+her own situation, brought also to her mind that in which she had left
+Delvile;--under all the perturbation of new-kindled jealousy, just
+calling upon Belfield,--Belfield, tenacious of his honour even more than
+himself,--to satisfy doubts of which the very mention would be received
+as a challenge!
+
+"Oh yet, oh yet," cried she, "let me fly and overtake them!--I may find
+them before morning, and to-night it must surely have been too late for
+this work of death!"
+
+She then arose to feel for the door, and succeeded; but it was locked,
+and no effort she could make enabled her to open it.
+
+Her agony was unspeakable; she called out with violence upon the people
+of the house, conjured them to set her at liberty, offered any reward
+for their assistance, and threatened them with a prosecution if
+detained.
+
+Nobody, however, came near her: some slept on notwithstanding all the
+disturbance she could make, and others; though awakened by her cries,
+concluded them the ravings of a mad woman, and listened not to what she
+said.
+
+Her head was by no means in a condition to bear this violence of
+distress; every pulse was throbbing, every vein seemed bursting, her
+reason, so lately returned, could not bear the repetition of such a
+shock, and from supplicating for help with all the energy of feeling
+and understanding, she soon continued the cry from mere vehemence of
+distraction.
+
+Thus dreadfully passed the night; and in the morning, when the woman of
+the house came to see after her, she found her raving with such frenzy,
+and desperation, that her conscience was perfectly at ease in the
+treatment she had given her, being now firmly satisfied she required the
+strictest confinement.
+
+She still, however, tried to get away; talked of Delvile without
+cessation, said she should be too late to serve him, told the woman she
+desired but to prevent murder, and repeatedly called out, "Oh beloved of
+my heart! wait but a moment, and I will snatch thee from destruction!"
+
+Mrs Wyers, this woman, now sought no longer to draw from her whence she
+came, or who she was, but heard her frantic exclamations without any
+emotion, contentedly concluding that her madness was incurable: and
+though she was in a high fever, refused all sustenance, and had every
+symptom of an alarming and dangerous malady, she was fully persuaded
+that her case was that of decided insanity, and had not any notion of
+temporary or accidental alienation of reason.
+
+All she could think of by way of indulgence to her, was to bring her
+a quantity of straw, having heard that mad people were fond of it; and
+putting it in a heap in one corner of the room, she expected to see her
+eagerly fly at it.
+
+Cecilia, however, distracted as she was, was eager for nothing but to
+escape, which was constantly her aim, alike when violent or when quiet.
+Mrs Wyers, finding this, kept her closely confined, and the door always
+locked, whether absent or present.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER vii.
+
+AN ENCOUNTER.
+
+Two whole days passed thus; no enquiries reached Mrs Wyers, and she
+found in the news-papers no advertisement. Meanwhile Cecilia grew worse
+every moment, tasted neither drink nor food, raved incessantly, called
+out twenty times in a breath, "Where is he? which way is he gone?"
+and implored the woman by the most pathetic remonstrances, to save her
+unhappy Delvile, _dearer to her than life, more precious than peace or
+rest_!
+
+At other times she talked of her marriage, of the displeasure of his
+family, and of her own remorse; entreated the woman not to betray her,
+and promised to spend the remnant of her days in the heaviness of sorrow
+and contrition.
+
+Again her fancy roved, and Mr Monckton took sole possession of it. She
+reproached him for his perfidy, she bewailed that he was massacred, she
+would not a moment out-live him, and wildly declared _her last remains
+should moulder in his hearse_! And thus, though naturally and commonly
+of a silent and quiet disposition, she was now not a moment still, for
+the irregular starts of a terrified and disordered imagination, were
+changed into the constant ravings of morbid delirium.
+
+The woman, growing uneasy from her uncertainty of pay for her trouble,
+asked the advice of some of her friends what was proper for her to do;
+and they counselled her to put an advertisement into the papers herself
+the next morning.
+
+The following, therefore, was drawn up and sent to the printer of the
+Daily Advertiser.
+
+MADNESS.
+
+Whereas a crazy young lady, tall, fair complexioned, with blue eyes and
+light hair, ran into the Three Blue Balls, in----street, on Thursday
+night, the 2nd instant, and has been kept there since out of charity.
+She was dressed in a riding habit. Whoever she belongs to is desired to
+send after her immediately. She has been treated with the utmost care
+and tenderness. She talks much of some person by the name of Delvile.
+
+N.B.--She had no money about her.
+
+May, 1780.
+
+This had but just been sent off, when Mr Wyers, the man of the house,
+coming up stairs, said, "Now we shall have two of them, for here's
+the crazy old gentleman below, that says he has just heard in the
+neighbourhood of what has happened to us, and he desires to see the poor
+lady."
+
+"It's as well let him come up, then," answered Mrs Wyers, "for he goes
+to all sort of places and people, and ten to one but he'll bustle about
+till he finds out who she is."
+
+Mr Wyers then went down stairs to send him up.
+
+He came instantly. It was Albany, who in his vagrant rambles, having
+heard an unknown mad lady was at this pawn-broker's, came, with his
+customary eagerness to visit and serve the unhappy, to see what could be
+done for her.
+
+When he entered the room, she was sitting upon the bed, her eyes
+earnestly fixed upon the window, from which she was privately indulging
+a wish to make her escape. Her dress was in much disorder, her fine hair
+was dishevelled, and the feathers of her riding hat were broken and half
+falling down, some shading her face, others reaching to her shoulder.
+
+"Poor lady!" cried Albany, approaching her, "how long has she been in
+this state?"
+
+She started at the sound of a new voice, she looked round,--but what was
+the astonishment of Albany to see who it was!--He stept back,-he came
+forward,--he doubted his own senses,--he looked at her earnestly,--he
+turned from her to look at the woman of the house,--he cast his eyes
+round the room itself, and then, lifting up his hands, "O sight of woe!"
+he cried, "the generous and good! the kind reliever of distress! the
+benign sustainer of misery!--is _This_ Cecilia!"--
+
+Cecilia, imperfectly recollecting, though not understanding him, sunk
+down at his feet, tremblingly called out, "Oh, if he is yet to be saved,
+if already he is not murdered,--go to him! fly after him! you will
+presently overtake him, he is only in the next street, I left him there
+myself, his sword drawn, and covered with human blood!"
+
+"Sweet powers of kindness and compassion!" cried the old man, "look upon
+this creature with pity! she who raised the depressed, she who cheared
+the unhappy! she whose liberal hand turned lamentations into joy! who
+never with a tearless eye could hear the voice of sorrow!--is _This_ she
+herself!--can _This_ be Cecilia!"
+
+"O do not wait to talk!" cried she, "go to him now, or you will never
+see him more! the hand of death is on him,--cold, clay-cold is its
+touch! he is breathing his last--Oh murdered Delvile! massacred husband
+of my heart! groan not so piteously! fly to him, and weep over him!--fly
+to him and pluck the poniard from his wounded bosom!"
+
+"Oh sounds of anguish and horror!" cried the melted moralist, tears
+running quick down his rugged cheeks; "melancholy indeed is this
+sight, humiliating to morality! such is human strength, such human
+felicity!--weak as our virtues, frail as our guilty natures!"
+
+"Ah," cried she, more wildly, "no one will save me now! I am married,
+and no one will listen to me! ill were the auspices under which I gave
+my hand! Oh it was a work of darkness, unacceptable and offensive! it
+has been sealed, therefore, with blood, and to-morrow it will be signed
+with murder!"
+
+"Poor distracted creature!" exclaimed he, "thy pangs I have felt, but
+thy innocence I have forfeited!--my own wounds bleed afresh,--my own
+brain threatens new frenzy."--
+
+Then, starting up, "Good woman," he added, "kindly attend her,--I will
+seek out her friends, put her into bed, comfort, sooth, compose her.--I
+will come to you again, and as soon as I can."
+
+He then hurried away.
+
+"Oh hour of joy!" cried Cecilia, "he is gone to rescue him! oh blissful
+moment! he will yet be snatched from slaughter!"
+
+The woman lost not an instant in obeying the orders she had received;
+she was put into bed, and nothing was neglected, as far as she had
+power and thought, to give a look of decency and attention to her
+accommodations.
+
+He had not left them an hour, when Mary, the maid who had attended
+her from Suffolk, came to enquire for her lady. Albany, who was now
+wandering over the town in search of some of her friends, and who
+entered every house where he imagined she was known, had hastened to
+that of Mrs Hill the first of any, as he was well acquainted with her
+obligations to Cecilia; there, Mary herself, by the directions which
+her lady had given Mrs Belfield, had gone; and there, in the utmost
+astonishment and uneasiness, had continued till Albany brought news of
+her.
+
+She was surprised and afflicted beyond measure, not only at the state of
+her mind, and her health, but to find her in a bed and an apartment so
+unsuitable to her rank of life, and so different to what she had ever
+been accustomed. She wept bitterly while she enquired at the bed-side
+how her lady did, but wept still more, when, without answering, or
+seeming to know her, Cecilia started up, and called out, "I must be
+removed this moment! I must go to St James's-square,--if I stay an
+instant longer, the passing-bell will toll, and then how shall I be in
+time for the funeral?"
+
+Mary, alarmed and amazed, turned hastily from her to the woman of the
+house, who calmly said, the lady was only in a raving fit, and must not
+be minded.
+
+Extremely frightened at this intelligence, she entreated her to be quiet
+and lie still. But Cecilia grew suddenly so violent, that force only
+could keep her from rising; and Mary, unused to dispute her commands,
+prepared to obey them.
+
+Mrs Wyers now in her turn opposed in vain; Cecilia was peremptory, and
+Mary became implicit, and, though not without much difficulty, she
+was again dressed in her riding habit. This operation over, she moved
+towards the door, the temporary strength of delirium giving, her a
+hardiness that combated fever, illness, fatigue, and feebleness. Mary,
+however averse and fearful, assisted her, and Mrs Wyers, compelled by
+the obedience of her own servant, went before them to order a chair.
+
+Cecilia, however, felt her weakness when she attempted to move down
+stairs; her feet tottered, and her head became dizzy; she leaned it
+against Mary, who called aloud for more help, and made her sit down till
+it came. Her resolution, however, was not to be altered; a stubbornness,
+wholly foreign to her genuine character, now made her stern and
+positive; and Mary, who thought her submission indispensable, cried, but
+did not offer to oppose her.
+
+Mr and Mrs Wyers both came up to assist in supporting her, and Mr Wyers
+offered to carry her in his arms; but she would not consent; when she
+came to the bottom of the stairs, her head grew worse, she again lent
+it upon Mary, but Mr Wyers was obliged to hold them both. She still,
+however, was firm in her determination, and was making another effort to
+proceed, when Delvile rushed hastily into the shop.
+
+He had just encountered Albany; who, knowing his acquaintance, though
+ignorant of his marriage, with Cecilia, had informed him where to seek
+her.
+
+He was going to make enquiry if he was come to the right house, when
+he perceived her,--feeble, shaking, leaning upon one person, and half
+carried by another!--he started back, staggered, gasped for breath,--but
+finding they were proceeding, advanced with trepidation, furiously
+calling out, "Hold! stop!--what is it you are doing? Monsters of savage
+barbarity, are you murdering my wife?"
+
+The well-known voice no sooner struck the ears of Cecilia, than
+instantly recollecting it, she screamed, and, is suddenly endeavouring
+to spring forward, fell to the ground.
+
+Delvile had vehemently advanced to catch her in his arms and save her
+fall, which her unexpected quickness had prevented her attendants from
+doing; but the sight of her changed complection, and the wildness of her
+eyes and air, again made him start,--his blood froze through his veins,
+and he stood looking at her, cold and almost petrified.
+
+Her own recollection of him seemed lost already; and exhausted by the
+fatigue she had gone through in dressing and coming down stairs, she
+remained still and quiet, forgetting her design of proceeding, and
+forming no new one for returning.
+
+Mary, to whom, as to all her fellow servants, the marriage of Cecilia
+had been known, before she left the country, now desired from Delvile
+directions what was to be done.
+
+Delvile, starting suddenly at this call from the deepest horror into the
+most desperate rage, fiercely exclaimed, "Inhuman wretches! unfeeling,
+execrable wretches, what is it you have done to her? how came she
+hither?--who brought her?--who dragged her?--by what infamous usage has
+she been sunk into this state?"
+
+"Indeed, sir, I don't know!" cried Mary.
+
+"I assure you, sir," said Mrs Wyers, "the lady--"
+
+"Peace!" cried he, furiously, "I will not hear your falsehoods!--peace,
+and begone!"--
+
+Then, casting himself upon the ground by her side, "Oh my Cecilia,"
+he cried, "where hast thou been thus long? how have I lost thee? what
+dreadful calamity has befallen thee?--answer me, my love! raise your
+sweet head and answer me!--oh speak!--say to me any thing; the bitterest
+words will be mercy to this silence!"---
+
+Cecilia then, suddenly looking up, called out with great quickness, "Who
+are you?"
+
+"Who am I!" cried he, amazed and affrighted.
+
+"I should be glad you would go away," cried she, in a hurrying manner,
+"for you are quite unknown to me."
+
+Delvile, unconscious of her insanity, and attributing to resentment
+this aversion and repulse, hastily moved from her, mournfully answering,
+"Well indeed may you disclaim me, refuse all forgiveness, load me with
+hatred and reproach, and consign me to eternal anguish! I have merited
+severer punishment still; I have behaved like a monster, and I am
+abhorrent to myself!"
+
+Cecilia now, half rising, and regarding him with mingled terror and
+anger, eagerly exclaimed, "If you do not mean to mangle and destroy me,
+begone this instant."
+
+"To mangle you!" repeated Delvile, shuddering, "how horrible!--but I
+deserve it!--look not, however, so terrified, and I will tear myself
+away from you. Suffer me but to assist in removing you from this place,
+and I will only watch you at a distance, and never see you more till you
+permit me to approach you."
+
+"Why, why," cried Cecilia, with a look of perplexity and impatience,
+"will you not tell me your name, and where you come from?"
+
+"Do you not know me?" said he, struck with new horror; "or do you only
+mean to kill me by the question?"
+
+"Do you bring me any message from Mr Monckton?"
+
+"From Mr Monckton?--no; but he lives and will recover."
+
+"I thought you had been Mr Monckton yourself."
+
+"Too cruel, yet justly cruel Cecilia!--is then Delvile utterly
+renounced?--the guilty, the unhappy Delvile!--is he cast off for ever?
+have you driven him wholly from your heart? do you deny him even a place
+in your remembrance?"
+
+"Is your name, then, Delvile?"
+
+"O what is it you mean? Is it me or my name you thus disown?"
+
+"'Tis a name," cried she, sitting up, "I well remember to have heard,
+and once I loved it, and three times I called upon it in the dead of
+night. And when I was cold and wretched, I cherished it; and when I was
+abandoned and left alone, I repeated it and sung to it."
+
+"All-gracious powers!" cried Delvile, "her reason is utterly gone!"
+And, hastily rising, he desperately added, "what is death to this
+blow?--Cecilia, I am content to part with thee!"
+
+Mary now, and Mrs Wyers, poured upon him eagerly an account of her
+illness, and insanity, her desire of removal, and their inability to
+control her.
+
+Delvile, however, made no answer; he scarce heard them: the deepest
+despair took possession of his mind, and, rooted to the spot where he
+stood, he contemplated iii dreadful stillness the fallen and altered
+object of his best hopes and affections; already in her faded cheeks
+and weakened frame, his agonising terror read the quick impending
+destruction of all his earthly happiness! the sight was too much for
+his fortitude, and almost for his understanding; and when his woe became
+utterable, he wrung his hands, and groaning aloud, called out, "Art thou
+gone so soon! my wife! my Cecilia! have I lost thee already?"
+
+Cecilia, with utter insensibility to what was passing, now suddenly, and
+with a rapid yet continued motion, turned her head from side to side,
+her eyes wildly glaring, and yet apparently regarding nothing.
+
+"Dreadful! dreadful!" exclaimed Delvile, "what a sight is this!" and
+turning from her to the people of the house, he angrily said, "why is
+she here upon the floor? could you not even allow her a bed? Who attends
+her? Who waits upon her? Why has nobody sent for help?--Don't answer
+me,--I will not hear you, fly this moment for a physician,--bring two,
+bring three--bring all you can find?"
+
+Then, still looking from Cecilia, whose sight he could no longer
+support, he consulted with Mary whither she should be conveyed: and, as
+the night was far advanced, and no place was prepared for her elsewhere,
+they soon agreed that she could only be removed up stairs.
+
+Delvile now attempted to carry her in his arms; but trembling and
+unsteady, he had not strength to sustain her; yet not enduring to behold
+the helplessness he could not assist, he conjured them to be careful
+and gentle, and, committing her to their trust, ran out himself for a
+physician.
+
+Cecilia resisted them with her utmost power, imploring them not to bury
+her alive, and averring she had received intelligence they meant to
+entomb her with Mr Monckton.
+
+They put her, however, to bed, but her raving grew still more wild and
+incessant.
+
+Delvile soon returned with a physician, but had not courage to attend
+him to her room. He waited for him at the foot of the stairs, where,
+hastily stopping him,
+
+"Well, sir," he cried, "is it not all over? is it not impossible she can
+live?"
+
+"She is very ill, indeed, sir," he answered, "but I have given
+directions which perhaps---"
+
+"_Perhaps_!" interrupted Delvile, shuddering, "do not stab me with such
+a word!"
+
+"She is very delirious," he continued, "but as her fever is very high,
+that is not so material. If the orders I have given take effect, and the
+fever is got under, all the rest will be well of course."
+
+He then went away; leaving Delvile as much thunderstruck by answers
+so alarming, as if he had consulted him in full hope, and without even
+suspicion of her danger.
+
+The moment he recovered from this shock, he flew out of the house for
+more advice.
+
+He returned and brought with him two physicians. They confirmed the
+directions already given, but would pronounce nothing decisively of her
+situation.
+
+Delvile, half mad with the acuteness of his misery, charged them all
+with want of skill, and wrote instantly into the country for Dr Lyster.
+
+He went out himself in search of a messenger to ride off express, though
+it was midnight, with his letter; and then, returning, he was hastening
+to her room, but, while yet at the door, hearing her still raving, his
+horror conquered his eagerness, and, hurrying down stairs, he spent the
+remnant of the long and seemingly endless night in the shop.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ix.
+
+A TRIBUTE.
+
+Mean while Cecilia went through very severe discipline, sometimes
+strongly opposing it, at other times scarce sensible what was done to
+her.
+
+The whole of the next day passed in much the same manner, neither did
+the next night bring any visible alteration. She had now nurses and
+attendants even more than sufficient, for Delvile had no relief but from
+calling in more help. His terror of again seeing her encreased with his
+forbearance; the interview which had already past had almost torn him
+asunder, and losing all courage for attempting to enter her room, he now
+spent almost all his time upon the stairs which led to it. Whenever she
+was still, he seated himself at her chamber door, where, if he could
+hear her breathe or move, a sudden hope of her recovery gave to him a
+momentary extasy that recompensed all his sufferings. But the instant
+she spoke, unable to bear the sound of so loved a voice uttering nothing
+but the incoherent ravings of lightheadedness, he hastened down stairs,
+and flying out of the house, walked in the neighbouring streets, till he
+could again gather courage to enquire or to listen how she went on.
+
+The following morning, however, Dr Lyster came, and every hope revived.
+He flew to embrace him, told him instantly his marriage with Cecilia,
+and besought him by some superior effort of his extraordinary abilities
+to save him the distraction of her loss.
+
+"My good friend," cried the worthy Doctor, "what is this you ask of me?
+and how can this poor young lady herself want advice more than you do?
+Do you think these able physicians actually upon the spot, with all
+the experience of full practice in London to assist their skill, want a
+petty Doctor out of the country to come and teach them what is right?"
+
+"I have more reliance upon you," cried Delvile, than upon the whole
+faculty; come, therefore, and prescribe for her,--take some new course
+"--
+
+"Impossible, my good Sir, impossible! I must not lose my wits from
+vanity, because you have lost yours from affliction. I could not refuse
+to come to you when you wrote to me with such urgency, and I will now go
+and see the young lady, as a _friend_, with all my heart. I am sorry for
+you at my soul, Mr Mortimer! She is a lovely young creature, and has an
+understanding, for her years and sex, unequalled."
+
+"Never mention her to me!" cried the impatient Delvile, "I cannot bear
+it! Go up to her, dear Doctor, and if you want a consultation, send, if
+you please, for every physician in town."
+
+Dr Lyster desired only that those who had already attended might
+be summoned; and then, giving up to his entreaties the accustomed
+ceremonial of waiting for them, he went to Cecilia.
+
+Delvile did not dare accompany him; and so well was he acquainted with
+his plainness and sincerity, that though he expected his return with
+eagerness, he no sooner heard him upon the stairs, than fearing to know
+his opinion, he hastily snatched up his hat, and rushed vehemently out
+of the house to avoid him.
+
+He continued to walk about the streets, till even the dread of ill
+news was less horrible to him than this voluntary suspense, and then he
+returned to the house.
+
+He found Dr Lyster in a small back parlour, which Mrs Wyers, finding she
+should now be well paid, had appropriated for Delvile's use.
+
+Delvile, putting his hand upon the Doctor's shoulder, said, "Well, my
+dear Dr Lyster, _you_, still, I hope"--
+
+"I would I could make you easy!" interrupted the Doctor; "yet, if you
+are rational, one comfort, at all events, I can give you; the crisis
+seems approaching, and either she will recover, or before to-morrow
+morning"---
+
+"Don't go on, Sir!" cried Delvile, with mingled rage and horror, "I
+will not have her days limited! I sent not for you to give me such an
+account!"
+
+And again he flew out of the house, leaving Dr Lyster unaffectedly
+concerned for him, and too kind-hearted and too wise to be offended at
+the injustice of immoderate sorrow.
+
+In a few minutes, however, from the effect rather of despair than
+philosophy, Delvile grew more composed, and waited upon Dr Lyster to
+apologize for his behaviour. He received his hearty forgiveness, and
+prevailed upon him to continue in town till the whole was decided.
+
+About noon, Cecilia, from the wildest rambling and most perpetual
+agitation, sunk suddenly into a state of such utter insensibility,
+that she appeared unconscious even of her existence; and but that she
+breathed, she might already have passed for being dead.
+
+When Delvile heard this, he could no longer endure even his post upon
+the stairs; he spent his whole time in wandering about the streets, or
+stopping in Dr Lyster's parlour to enquire if all was over.
+
+That humane physician, not more alarmed at the danger of Cecilia, than
+grieved at the situation of Delvile, thought the present fearful crisis
+at least offered an opportunity of reconciling him with his father. He
+waited, therefore, upon that gentleman in St James's-square, and openly
+informed him of the dangerous state of Cecilia, and the misery of his
+son.
+
+Mr Delvile, though he would gladly, to have annulled an alliance he held
+disgraceful to his family, have received intelligence that Cecilia was
+no more, was yet extremely disconcerted to hear of sufferings to which
+his own refusal of an asylum he was conscious had largely contributed;
+and after a haughty struggle between tenderness and wrath, he begged the
+advice of Dr Lyster how his son might be drawn from such a scene.
+
+Dr Lyster, who well knew Delvile was too desperate to be tractable,
+proposed surprising him into an interview by their returning together:
+Mr Delvile, however apprehensive and relenting, conceded most
+unwillingly to a measure he held beneath him, and, when he came to the
+shop, could scarce be persuaded to enter it. Mortimer, at that time,
+was taking a solitary ramble; and Dr Lyster, to complete the work he
+had begun of subduing the hard pride of his father, contrived, under
+pretence of waiting for him, to conduct him to the room of the invalide.
+
+Mr Delvile, who knew not whither he was going, at first sight of the bed
+and the attendants, was hastily retreating; but the changed and livid
+face of Cecilia caught his eye, and, struck with sudden consternation,
+he involuntarily stopt.
+
+"Look at the poor young lady!" cried Dr Lyster; "can you wonder a sight
+such as this should make Mr Mortimer forget every thing else?"
+
+She was wholly insensible, but perfectly quiet; she seemed to
+distinguish nothing, and neither spoke nor moved.
+
+Mr Delvile regarded her with the utmost horror: the refuge he so
+implacably refused her on the night when her intellects were disordered,
+he would now gladly have offered at the expence of almost similar
+sufferings, to have relieved himself from those rising pangs which
+called him author of this scene of woe. His pride, his pomp, his ancient
+name, were now sunk in his estimation; and while he considered himself
+the destroyer of this unhappy young creature, he would have sacrificed
+them all to have called himself her protector. Little is the boast of
+insolence when it is analysed by the conscience! bitter is the agony
+of self-reproach, where misery follows hardness of heart! yet, when the
+first painful astonishment from her situation abated, the remorse she
+excited being far stronger than the pity, he gave an angry glance at Dr
+Lyster for betraying him into such a sight, and hastily left the room.
+
+Delvile, who was now impatiently waiting to see Dr Lyster in the little
+parlour, alarmed at the sound of a new step upon the stairs, came out to
+enquire who had been admitted. When he saw his father, he shrunk back;
+but Mr Delvile, no longer supported by pride, and unable to recover from
+the shock he had just received, caught him in his arms, and said "Oh
+come home to me, my son! this is a place to destroy you!"
+
+"Ah, Sir," cried Delvile, "think not of me now!--you must shew me no
+kindness; I am not in a state to bear it!" And, forcibly breaking from
+him, he hurried out of the house.
+
+Mr Delvile, all the father awakened in his bosom, saw his departure
+with more dread than anger; and returned himself to St James's-square,
+tortured with parental fears, and stung by personal remorse, lamenting
+his own inflexibility, and pursued by the pale image of Cecilia.
+
+She was still in this unconscious state, and apparently as free from
+suffering as from enjoyment, when a new voice was suddenly heard
+without, exclaiming, "Oh where is she? where is she? where is my dear
+Miss Beverley?" and Henrietta Belfield ran wildly into the room.
+
+The advertisement in the news-papers had at once brought her to town,
+and directed her to the house: the mention that the lost lady _talked
+much of a person by the name of Delvile_, struck her instantly to mean
+Cecilia; the description corresponded with this idea, and the account of
+the dress confirmed it: Mr Arnott, equally terrified with herself, had
+therefore lent her his chaise to learn the truth of this conjecture, and
+she had travelled all night.
+
+Flying up to the bedside, "Who is this?" she cried, "this is not Miss
+Beverley?" and then screaming with unrestrained horror, "Oh mercy!
+mercy!" she called out, "yes, it is indeed! and nobody would know
+her!--her own mother would not think her her child!"
+
+"You must come away, Miss Belfield," said Mary, "you must indeed,--the
+doctors all say my lady must not be disturbed."
+
+"Who shall take me away?" cried she, angrily, "nobody Mary! not all the
+doctors in the world! Oh sweet Miss Beverley! I will lie down by your
+side,--I will never quit you while you live,--and I wish, I wish I could
+die to save your precious life!"
+
+Then, leaning over her, and wringing her hands, "Oh I shall break my
+heart," she cried, "to see her in this condition! Is this the so happy
+Miss Beverley, that I thought every body born to give joy to? the
+Miss Beverley that seemed queen of the whole world! yet so good and so
+gentle, so kind to the meanest person! excusing every body's faults but
+her own, and telling them how they might mend, and trying to make them
+as good as herself!--Oh who would know her! who would know her! what
+have they done to you, my beloved Miss Beverley? how have they altered
+and disfigured you in this wicked and barbarous manner?"
+
+In the midst of this simple yet pathetic testimony, to the worth and
+various excellencies of Cecilia, Dr Lyster came into the room. The women
+all flocked around him, except Mary, to vindicate themselves from any
+share in permitting this new comer's entrance and behaviour; but Mary
+only told him who she was, and said, that if her lady was well enough to
+know her, there was nobody she was certain she would have been so glad
+to see.
+
+"Young lady," said the doctor, "I would advise you to walk into another
+room till you are a little more composed."
+
+"Every body, I find, is for hurrying me away," cried the sobbing
+Henrietta, whose honest heart swelled with its own affectionate
+integrity; "but they might all save themselves the trouble, for go I
+will not!"
+
+"This is very wrong," said the doctor, "and must not be suffered: do you
+call it friendship to come about a sick person in this manner?"
+
+"Oh my Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, "do you hear how they all
+upbraid me? how they all want to force me away from you, and to hinder
+me even from looking at you! Speak for me, sweet lady! speak for me
+yourself! tell them the poor Henrietta will not do you any harm; tell
+them she only wishes just to sit by you, and to see you!--I will hold by
+this dear hand,--I will cling to it till the last minute; and you will
+not, I know you will not, give orders to have it taken away from me!"
+
+Dr Lyster, though his own good nature was much affected by this fond
+sorrow, now half angrily represented to her the impropriety of indulging
+it: but Henrietta, unused to disguise or repress her feelings, grew only
+the more violent, the more she was convinced of Cecilia's danger: "Oh
+look but at her," she exclaimed, "and take me from her if you can!
+see how her sweet eyes are fixed! look but what a change in her
+complexion!--She does not see me, she does not know me,--she does not
+hear me! her hand seems quite lifeless already, her face is all fallen
+away!--Oh that I had died twenty deaths before I had lived to see this
+sight!--poor wretched Henrietta, thou bast now no friend left in the
+world! thou mayst go and lie down in some corner, and no one will come
+and say to thee a word of comfort!"
+
+"This must not be!" said Dr Lyster, "you must take her away."
+
+"You shall not!" cried she, desperately, "I will stay with her till she
+has breathed her last, and I will stay with her still longer! and if she
+was to speak to you this moment, she would tell you that she chose it.
+She loved the poor Henrietta, and loved to have her near her; and when
+she was ill, and in much distress, she never once bid me leave her room.
+Is it not true, my sweet Miss Beverley? do you not know it to be true?
+Oh look not so dreadfully! turn to your unhappy Henrietta; sweetest,
+best of ladies! will you not speak to her once more? will you not say to
+her one single word?"
+
+Dr Lyster now grew very angry, and telling her such violence might have
+fatal consequences, frightened her into more order, and drew her away
+himself. He had then the kindness to go with her into another room,
+where, when her first vehemence was spent, his remonstrances and
+reasoning brought her to a sense of the danger she might occasion, and
+made her promise not to return to the room till she had gained strength
+to behave better.
+
+When Dr Lyster went again to Delvile, he found him greatly alarmed
+by his long stay; he communicated to him briefly what had passed, and
+counselled him to avoid encreasing his own grief by the sight of
+what was suffered by this unguarded and ardent girl. Delvile readily
+assented, for the weight of his own woe was too heavy to bear any
+addition.
+
+Henrietta now, kept in order by Dr Lyster, contented herself with only
+sitting on the bed, without attempting to speak, and with no other
+employment than alternately looking at her sick friend, and covering
+her streaming eyes with her handkerchief; from time to time quitting the
+room wholly, for the relief of sobbing at liberty and aloud in another.
+
+But, in the evening, while Delvile and Dr Lyster were taking one of
+their melancholy rambles, a new scene was acted in the apartment of
+the still senseless Cecilia. Albany suddenly made his entrance into it,
+accompanied by three children, two girls and one boy, from the ages of
+four to six, neatly dressed, clean, and healthy.
+
+"See here!"' cried he, as he came in, "see here what I've brought
+you! raise, raise your languid head, and look this way! you think me
+rigid,--an enemy to pleasure, austere, harsh, and a forbidder of joy:
+look at this sight, and see the contrary! who shall bring you comfort,
+joy, pleasure, like this? three innocent children, clothed and fed by
+your bounty!"
+
+Henrietta and Mary, who both knew him well, were but little surprised at
+anything he said or did, and the nurses presumed not to interfere but by
+whispers.
+
+Cecilia, however, observed nothing that passed; and Albany, somewhat
+astonished, approached nearer to the bed; "Wilt thou not speak?" he
+cried.
+
+"She can't, Sir," said one of the women; "she has been speechless many
+hours."
+
+The air of triumph with which he had entered the room was now changed
+into disappointment and consternation. For some minutes he thoughtfully
+and sorrowfully contemplated her, and then, with a deep sigh, said, "How
+will the poor rue this day!" Then, turning to the children, who, awed by
+this scene, were quiet from terror. "Alas!" he said, "ye helpless babes,
+ye know not what you have lost: presumptuously we came; unheeded we must
+return! I brought you to be seen by your benefactress, but she is going
+where she will find many such."
+
+He then led them away; but, suddenly coming back, "I may see her,
+perhaps, no more! shall I not, then, pray for her? Great and aweful is
+the change she is making; what are human revolutions, how pitiful, how
+insignificant, compared with it!--Come, little babies, come; with gifts
+has she often blessed _you_, with wishes bless _her_! Come, let us kneel
+round her bed; let us all pray for her together; lift up your innocent
+hands, and for all of you I will speak."
+
+He then made the children obey his injunctions, and having knelt
+himself, while Henrietta and Mary instantly did the same, "Sweet
+flower!" he cried, "untimely cropt in years, yet in excellence mature!
+early decayed in misery, yet fragrant in innocence! Gentle be thy exit,
+for unsullied have been thy days; brief be thy pains, for few have been
+thy offences! Look at her sweet babes, and bear her in your remembrance;
+often will I visit you and revive the solemn scene. Look at her ye,
+also, who are nearer to your end--Ah! will you bear it like her!"
+
+He paused; and the nurses and Mrs Wyers, struck by this call, and moved
+by the general example, crept to the bed, and dropt on their knees,
+almost involuntarily.
+
+"She departs," resumed Albany, "the envy of the world! while yet no
+guilt had seized her soul, and no remorse had marred her peace. She was
+the hand-maid of charity, and pity dwelt in her bosom! her mouth
+was never open but to give comfort; her foot-steps were followed by
+blessings! Oh happy in purity, be thine the song of triumph!--softly
+shalt thou sink to temporary sleep,--sublimely shalt thou rise to life
+that wakes for ever!"
+
+He then got up, took the children by their little hands, and went away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER x.
+
+A TERMINATION.
+
+Dr Lyster and Delvile met them at the entrance into the house. Extremely
+alarmed lest Cecilia had received any disturbance, they both hastened
+up stairs, but Delvile proceeded only to the door. He stopt there and
+listened; but all was silent; the prayers of Albany had struck an awe
+into every one; and Dr Lyster soon returned to tell him there was no
+alteration in his patient.
+
+"And he has not disturbed her?" cried Delvile.
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+"I think, then," said he, advancing, though trembling, "I will yet see
+her once more."
+
+"No, no, Mr Mortimer," cried the doctor, "why should you give yourself
+so unnecessary a shock?"
+
+"The shock," answered he, "is over!--tell me, however, is there any
+chance I may hurt _her_?"
+
+"I believe not; I do not think, just now, she will perceive you."
+
+"Well, then,--I may grieve, perhaps, hereafter, that once more--that
+one glance!"--He stopt, irresolute the doctor would again have dissuaded
+him, but, after a little hesitation, he assured him he was prepared for
+the worst, and forced himself into the room.
+
+When again, however, he beheld Cecilia,--senseless, speechless,
+motionless, her features void of all expression, her cheeks without
+colour, her eyes without meaning,--he shrunk from the sight, he leant
+upon Dr Lyster, and almost groaned aloud.
+
+The doctor would have conducted him out of the apartment; but,
+recovering from this first agony, he turned again to view her, and
+casting up his eyes, fervently ejaculated, "Oh merciful powers! Take,
+or destroy her! let her not linger thus, rather let me lose her
+for ever!--O far rather would I see her dead, glad in this dreadful
+condition!"
+
+Then, advancing to the bed side, and yet more earnestly looking at her,
+"I pray not now," he cried, "for thy life! inhumanly as I have treated
+thee, I am not yet so hardened as to wish thy misery lengthened no;
+quick be thy restoration, or short as pure thy passage to eternity!--Oh
+my Cecilia! lovely, however altered! sweet even in the arms of death and
+insanity! and dearer to my tortured heart in this calamitous state, than
+in all thy pride of health and beauty!"--
+
+He stopt, and turned from her, yet could not tear himself away; he came
+back, he again looked at her, he hung over her in anguish unutterable;
+he kissed each burning hand, he folded to his bosom her feeble form,
+and, recovering his speech, though almost bursting with sorrow, faintly
+articulated, "Is all over? no ray of reason left? no knowledge of thy
+wretched Delvile?--no, none! the hand of death is on her, and she
+is utterly gone!--sweet suffering excellence! loved, lost, expiring
+Cecilia!--but I will not repine! peace and kindred angels are watching
+to receive thee, and if thou art parted from thyself, it were impious
+to lament thou shouldst be parted from me.--Yet in thy tomb will be
+deposited all that to me could render existence supportable, every
+frail chance of happiness, every sustaining hope, and all alleviation of
+sorrow!"--
+
+Dr Lyster now again approaching, thought he perceived some change in
+his patient, and peremptorily forced him away from her: then returning
+himself, he found that her eyes were shut, and she was dropt asleep.
+
+This was an omen the most favourable he could hope. He now seated
+himself by the bedside, and determined not to quit her till the expected
+crisis was past. He gave the strictest orders for the whole house to be
+kept quiet, and suffered no one in the room either to speak or move.
+
+Her sleep was long and heavy; yet, when she awoke, her sensibility
+was evidently returned. She started, suddenly raised her head from the
+pillow, looked round her, and called out, "where am I now?"
+
+"Thank Heaven!" cried Henrietta, and was rushing forward, when Dr
+Lyster, by a stern and angry look, compelled her again to take her seat.
+
+He then spoke to her himself, enquired how she did, and found her quite
+rational.
+
+Henrietta, who now doubted not her perfect recovery, wept as violently
+for joy as she had before wept for grief; and Mary, in the same belief,
+ran instantly to Delvile, eager to carry to him the first tidings that
+her mistress had recovered her reason.
+
+Delvile, in the utmost emotion, then returned to the chamber; but
+stood at some distance from the bed, waiting Dr Lyster's permission to
+approach it.
+
+Cecilia was quiet and composed, her recollection seemed restored,
+and her intellects sound: hut she was faint and weak, and contentedly
+silent, to avoid the effort of speaking.
+
+Dr Lyster encouraged this stillness, and suffered not anyone, not even
+Delvile, to advance to her. After a short time, however, she again, and
+very calmly, began to talk to him. She now first knew him, and seemed
+much surprised by his attendance. She could not tell, she said, what
+of late had happened to her, nor could guess where she was, or by what
+means she came into such a place. Dr Lyster desired her at present
+not to think upon the subject, and promised her a full account of
+everything, when she was stronger, and more fit for conversing.
+
+This for a while silenced her. But, after a short pause, "Tell me," she
+said, "Dr Lyster, have I no friend in this place but you?"
+
+"Yes, yes, you have several friends here," answered the Doctor, "only I
+keep them in order, lest they should hurry or disturb you."
+
+She seemed much pleased by this speech; but soon after said, "You must
+not, Doctor, keep them in order much longer, for the sight of them, I
+think, would much revive me."
+
+"Ah, Miss Beverley!" cried Henrietta, who could not now restrain
+herself, "may not _I_, among the rest, come and speak to you?"
+
+"Who is that?" said Cecilia, in a voice of pleasure, though very feeble;
+"is it my ever-dear Henrietta?"
+
+"Oh this is joy indeed!" cried she, fervently kissing her cheeks and
+forehead, "joy that I never, never expected to have more!"
+
+"Come, come," cried Dr Lyster, "here's enough of this; did I not do well
+to keep such people off?"
+
+"I believe you did," said Cecilia, faintly smiling; "my too kind
+Henrietta, you must be more tranquil!"
+
+"I will, I will indeed, madam!--my dear, dear Miss Beverley, I will
+indeed!--now once you have owned me, and once again I hear your sweet
+voice, I will do any thing, and every thing, for I am made happy for my
+whole life!"
+
+"Ah, sweet Henrietta!" cried Cecilia, giving her her hand, "you must
+suppress these feelings, or our Doctor here will soon part us. But tell
+me, Doctor, is there no one else that you can let me see?"
+
+Delvile, who had listened to this scene in the unspeakable perturbation
+of that hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair, was now
+springing forward; but Dr Lyster, fearful of the consequences, hastily
+arose, and with a look and air not to be disputed, took hold of his arm,
+and led him out of the room. He then represented to him strongly the
+danger of agitating or disturbing her, and charged him to keep from her
+sight till better able to bear it; assuring him at the same time that he
+might now reasonably hope her recovery.
+
+Delvile, lost in transport, could make no answer, but flew into his
+arms, and almost madly embraced him; he then hastened out of sight to
+pour forth fervent thanks, and hurrying back with equal speed, again
+embraced the Doctor, and while his manly cheeks were burnt with tears of
+joy, he could not yet articulate the glad tumult of his soul.
+
+The worthy Dr Lyster, who heartily partook of his happiness, again urged
+him to be discreet; and Delvile, no longer intractable and desperate,
+gratefully concurred in whatever he commanded. Dr Lyster then returned
+to Cecilia, and to relieve her mind from any uneasy suspense, talked to
+her openly of Delvile, gave her to understand he was acquainted with
+her marriage, and told her he had prohibited their meeting till each was
+better able to support it.
+
+Cecilia by this delay seemed half gratified, and half disappointed;
+but the rest of the physicians, who had been summoned upon this happy
+change, now appearing, the orders were yet more strictly enforced for
+keeping her quiet.
+
+She submitted, therefore, peaceably; and Delvile, whose gladdened heart
+still throbbed with speechless rapture, contentedly watched at her
+chamber door, and obeyed implicitly whatever was said to him.
+
+She now visibly, and almost hourly grew better; and, in a short time,
+her anxiety to know all that was passed, and by what means she became so
+ill, and confined in a house of which she had not any knowledge, obliged
+Dr Lyster to make himself master of these particulars, that he might
+communicate them to her with a calmness that Delvile could not attain.
+
+Delvile himself, happy to be spared the bitter task of such a relation,
+informed him all he knew of the story, and then entreated him to narrate
+to her also the motives of his own strange, and he feared unpardonable
+conduct, and the scenes which had followed their parting.
+
+He came, he said, to England, ignorant of all that had past in his
+absence, intending merely to wait upon his father, and communicate his
+marriage, before he gave directions to his lawyer for the settlements
+and preparations which were to precede its further publication. He
+meant, also, to satisfy himself, of the real situation of Mr Monckton,
+and then, after an interview with Cecilia, to have returned to his
+mother, and waited at Nice till he might publicly claim his wife.
+
+To this purpose he had written in his letter, which he meant to have put
+in the Post-office in London himself; and he had but just alighted from
+his chaise, when he met Ralph, Cecilia's servant, in the street.
+
+Hastily stopping him, he enquired if he had left his place? "No,"
+answered Ralph, "I am only come up to town with my lady."
+
+"With your lady?" cried the astonished Delvile, is your lady then in
+town?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she is at Mrs Belfield's."
+
+"At Mrs Belfield's?--is her daughter returned home?
+
+"No, sir, we left her in the country."
+
+He was then going on with a further account, but, in too much confusion
+of mind to hear him Delvile abruptly wished him good night, and marched
+on himself towards Belfield's.
+
+The pleasure with which he would have heard that Cecilia was so near to
+him, was totally lost in his perplexity to account for her journey. Her
+letters had never hinted at such a purpose,--the news reached him
+only by accident,--it was ten o'clock at night,--yet she was at
+Belfield's--though the sister was away,--though the mother was
+professedly odious to her!--In an instant, all he had formerly heard,
+all he had formerly disregarded, rushed suddenly upon his memory, and
+he began to believe he had been deluded, that his father was right, and
+that Belfield had some strange and improper influence over her heart.
+
+The suspicion was death to him; he drove it from him, he concluded
+the whole was some error: his reason as powerfully as his tenderness
+vindicated her innocence; and though he arrived at the house in much
+disorder, he yet arrived with a firm persuasion of an honourable
+explanation.
+
+The door was open,--a chaise was at it in waiting,--Mrs Belfield was
+listening in the passage; these appearances were strange, and encreased
+his agitation. He asked for her son in a voice scarce audible,--she told
+him he was engaged with a lady, and must not be disturbed.
+
+That fatal answer, at a moment so big with the most horrible surmises,
+was decisive: furiously, therefore, he forced himself past her, and
+opened the door:--but when he saw them together,--the rest of the family
+confessedly excluded, his rage turned to horror, and he could hardly
+support himself.
+
+"O Dr Lyster!" he continued, "ask of the sweet creature if these
+circumstances offer any extenuation for the fatal jealousy which seized
+me? never by myself while I live will it be forgiven, but she, perhaps,
+who is all softness, all compassion, and all peace, may some time hence
+think my sufferings almost equal to my offence."
+
+He then proceeded in his narration.
+
+When he had so peremptorily ordered her chaise to St James's-square, he
+went back to the house, and desired Belfield to walk out with him. He
+complied, and they were both silent till they came to a Coffee-house,
+where they asked for a private room. The whole way they went, his heart,
+secretly satisfied of the purity of Cecilia, smote him for the situation
+in which he had left her; yet, having unfortunately gone so far as to
+make his suspicions apparent, he thought it necessary to his character
+that their abolition should be equally public.
+
+When they were alone, "Belfield," he said, "to obviate any imputation of
+impertinence in my enquiries, I deny not, what I presume you have been
+told by herself, that I have the nearest interest in whatever concerns
+the lady from whom we are just now parted: I must beg, therefore, an
+explicit account of the purpose of your private conversation with her."
+
+"Mr Delvile," answered Belfield, with mingled candour and spirit, "I am
+not commonly much disposed to answer enquiries thus cavalierly put to
+me; yet here, as I find myself not the principal person concerned, I
+think I am bound in justice to speak for the absent who is. I assure
+you, therefore, most solemnly, that your interest in Miss Beverley I
+never heard but by common report, that our being alone together was by
+both of us undesigned and undesired, that the honour she did our house
+in calling at it, was merely to acquaint my mother with my sister's
+removal to Mrs Harrel's, and that the part which I had myself in her
+condescension, was simply to be consulted upon a journey which she has
+in contemplation to the South of France. And now, sir, having given you
+this peaceable satisfaction, you will find me extremely at your service
+to offer any other."
+
+Delvile instantly held out his hand to him; "What you assert," he said,
+"upon your honour, requires no other testimony. Your gallantry and
+your probity are equally well known to me; with either, therefore, I am
+content, and by no means require the intervention of both."
+
+They then parted; and now, his doubts removed, and his punctilio
+satisfied, he flew to St James's-square, to entreat the forgiveness of
+Cecilia for the alarm he had occasioned her, and to hear the reason of
+her sudden journey, and change of measures. But when he came there, to
+find that his father, whom he had concluded was at Delvile Castle,
+was in the house, while Cecilia had not even enquired for him at the
+door,--"Oh let me not," he continued, "even to myself, let me not trace
+the agony of that moment!--where to seek her I knew not, why she was in
+London I could not divine, for what purpose she had given the postilion
+a new direction I could form no idea. Yet it appeared that she wished to
+avoid me, and once more, in the frenzy of my disappointment, I supposed
+Belfield a party in her concealment. Again, therefore, I sought him,--at
+his own house,--at the coffee-house where I had left him,--in vain,
+wherever I came, I just missed him, for, hearing of my search, he went
+with equal restlessness, from place to place to meet me. I rejoice we
+both failed; a repetition of my enquiries in my then irritable state,
+must inevitably have provoked the most fatal resentment.
+
+"I will not dwell upon the scenes that followed,--my laborious search,
+my fruitless wanderings, the distraction of my suspense, the excess of
+my despair!--even Belfield, the fiery Belfield, when I met with him the
+next day, was so much touched by my wretchedness, that he bore with
+all my injustice; feeling, noble young man! never will I lose the
+remembrance of his high-souled patience.
+
+"And now, Dr Lyster, go to my Cecilia; tell her this tale, and try,
+for you have skill sufficient, to soften, yet not wound her with my
+sufferings. If then she can bear to see me, to bless me with the sound
+of her sweet voice, no longer at war with her intellects, to hold out
+to me her loved hand, in token of peace and forgiveness.--Oh, Dr Lyster!
+preserver of _my_ life in hers! give to me but that exquisite moment,
+and every past evil will be for ever obliterated!"
+
+"You must be calmer, Sir," said the Doctor, "before I make the attempt.
+These heroicks are mighty well for sound health, and strong nerves, but
+they will not do for an invalide."
+
+He went, however, to Cecilia, and gave her this narration, suppressing
+whatever he feared would most affect her, and judiciously enlivening the
+whole by his strictures. Cecilia was much easier for this removal of her
+perplexities, and, as her anguish and her terror had been unmixed with
+resentment, she had now no desire but to reconcile Delvile with himself.
+
+Dr Lyster, however, by his friendly authority, obliged her for some
+time to be content with this relation; but when she grew better, her
+impatience became stronger, and he feared opposition would be as hurtful
+as compliance.
+
+Delvile, therefore, was now admitted; yet slowly and with trepidation he
+advanced, terrified for her, and fearful of himself, filled with remorse
+for the injuries she had sustained, and impressed with grief and horror
+to behold her so ill and altered.
+
+Supported by pillows, she sat almost upright. The moment she saw him,
+she attempted to bend forward and welcome him, calling out in a tone of
+pleasure, though faintly, "Ah! dearest Delvile! is it you?" but too
+weak for the effort she had made, she sunk back upon her pillow, pale,
+trembling, and disordered.
+
+Dr Lyster would then have interfered to postpone their further
+conversation; but Delvile was no longer master of himself or his
+passions: he darted forward, and kneeling at the bed side, "Sweet
+injured excellence!" he cried, "wife of my heart! sole object of my
+chosen affection! dost thou yet live? do I hear thy loved voice?--do I
+see thee again?--art thou my Cecilia? and have I indeed not lost thee?"
+then regarding her more fixedly, "Alas," he cried, "art thou indeed my
+Cecilia! so pale, so emaciated!--Oh suffering angel! and couldst thou
+then call upon Delvile, the guilty, but heart-broken Delvile, thy
+destroyer, thy murderer, and yet not call to execrate him?"
+
+Cecilia, extremely affected, could not utter a word; she held out to
+him her hand, she looked at him with gentleness and kindness, but tears
+started into her eyes, and trickled in large drops down her colourless
+cheeks.
+
+"Angelic creature!" cried Delvile, his own tears overflowing, while he
+pressed to his lips the kind token of her pardon, "can you give to me
+again a hand so ill deserved? can you look with such compassion on the
+author of your woes? on the wretch, who for an instant could doubt the
+purity of a mind so seraphic!"
+
+"Ah, Delvile!" cried she, a little reviving, "think no more of what is
+past!--to see you,--to be yours,--drives all evil from my remembrance!"
+
+"I am not worthy this joy!" cried he, rising, kneeling, and rising
+again; "I know not how to sustain it! a forgiveness such as this,--when
+I believed You must hate me for ever! when repulse and aversion were
+all I dared expect,--when my own inhumanity had bereft thee of thy
+reason,--when the grave, the pitiless grave, was already open to receive
+thee."--
+
+"Too kind, too feeling Delvile!" cried the penetrated Cecilia, "relieve
+your loaded heart from these bitter recollections; mine is lightened
+already,--lightened, I think, of every thing but its affection for
+_you_!"
+
+"Oh words of transport and extacy!" cried the enraptured Delvile, "oh
+partner of my life! friend, solace, darling of my bosom! that so lately
+I thought expiring! that I folded to my bleeding heart in the agony of
+eternal separation!"--
+
+"Come away, Sir, come away," cried Dr Lyster, who now saw that Cecilia
+was greatly agitated, "I will not be answerable for the continuation of
+this scene;" and taking him by the arm, he awakened him from his frantic
+rapture, by assuring him she would faint, and forced him away from her.
+
+Soon after he was gone, and Cecilia became more tranquil, Henrietta,
+who had wept with bitterness in a corner of the room during this scene,
+approached her, and, with an attempted smile, though in a voice hardly
+audible, said, "Ah, Miss Beverley, you will, at last, then be happy!
+happy as all your goodness deserves. And I am sure I should rejoice in
+it if I was to die to make you happier!"
+
+Cecilia, who but too well knew her full meaning, tenderly embraced her,
+but was prevented by Dr Lyster from entering into any discourse with
+her.
+
+The first meeting, however, with Delvile being over, the second was
+far more quiet, and in a very short time, he would scarcely quit her a
+moment, Cecilia herself receiving from his sight a pleasure too great
+for denial, yet too serene for danger.
+
+The worthy Dr Lyster, finding her prospect of recovery thus fair,
+prepared for leaving London: but, equally desirous to do good out of his
+profession as in it, he first, at the request of Delvile, waited upon
+his father, to acquaint him with his present situation, solicit his
+directions for his future proceedings, and endeavour to negociate a
+general reconciliation.
+
+Mr Delvile, to whose proud heart social joy could find no avenue, was
+yet touched most sensibly by the restoration of Cecilia. Neither his
+dignity nor his displeasure had been able to repress remorse, a feeling
+to which, with all his foibles, he had not been accustomed. The view of
+her distraction had dwelt upon his imagination, the despondency of his
+son had struck him with fear and horror. He had been haunted by self
+reproach, and pursued by vain regret; and those concessions he had
+refused to tenderness and entreaty, he now willingly accorded to change
+repentance for tranquility. He sent instantly for his son, whom even
+with tears he embraced, and felt his own peace restored as he pronounced
+his forgiveness.
+
+New, however, to kindness, he retained it not long, and a stranger to
+generosity, he knew not how to make her welcome: the extinction of his
+remorse abated his compassion for Cecilia, and when solicited to receive
+her, he revived the charges of Mr Monckton.
+
+Cecilia, informed of this, determined to write to that gentleman
+herself, whose long and painful illness, joined to his irrecoverable
+loss of her, she now hoped might prevail with him to make reparation for
+the injuries he had done her.
+
+_To Mr Monckton_.
+
+I write not, Sir, to upbraid you; the woes which have followed your ill
+offices, and which you may some time hear, will render my reproaches
+superfluous. I write but to beseech that what is past may content you;
+and that, however, while I was single, you chose to misrepresent me to
+the Delvile family, you will have so much honour, since I am now become
+one of it, as to acknowledge my innocence of the crimes laid to my
+charge.
+
+In remembrance of my former long friendship, I send you my good wishes;
+and in consideration of my hopes from your recantation, I send you, Sir,
+if you think it worth acceptance, my forgiveness.
+
+CECILIA DELVILE.
+
+Mr Monckton, after many long and painful struggles between useless rage,
+and involuntary remorse, at length sent the following answer.
+
+_To Mrs Mortimer Delvile_.
+
+Those who could ever believe you guilty, must have been eager to think
+you so. I meant but your welfare at all times, and to have saved you
+from a connection I never thought equal to your merit. I am grieved,
+but not surprised, to hear of your injuries; from the alliance you
+have formed, nothing else could be expected: if my testimony to your
+innocence can, however, serve to mitigate them, I scruple not to declare
+I believe it without taint.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Delvile sent by Dr Lyster this letter to his father, whose rage at the
+detection of the perfidy which had deceived him, was yet inferior to
+what he felt that his family was mentioned so injuriously.
+
+His conference with Dr Lyster was long and painful, but decisive: that
+sagacious and friendly man knew well how to work upon, his passions,
+and so effectually awakened them by representing the disgrace of his own
+family from the present situation of Cecilia, that before he quitted his
+house he was authorised to invite her to remove to it.
+
+When he returned from his embassy, he found Delvile in her room, and
+each waiting with impatience the event of his negociation.
+
+The Doctor with much alacrity gave Cecilia the invitation with which he
+had been charged; but Delvile, jealous for her dignity, was angry and
+dissatisfied his father brought it not himself, and exclaimed with much
+mortification, "Is this all the grace accorded me?"
+
+"Patience, patience, Sir," answered the Doctor; "when you have thwarted
+any body in their first hope and ambition, do you expect they will send
+you their compliments and many thanks for the disappointment? Pray let
+the good gentleman have his way in some little matters, since you have
+taken such effectual care to put out of his reach the power of having it
+in greater."
+
+"O far from starting obstacles," cried Cecilia, "let us solicit a
+reconciliation with whatever concessions he may require. The misery of
+DISOBEDIENCE we have but too fatally experienced; and thinking as we
+think of filial ties and parental claims, how can we ever hope happiness
+till forgiven and taken into favour?"
+
+"True, my Cecilia," answered Delvile, "and generous and condescending
+as true; and if _you_ can thus sweetly comply, I will gratefully forbear
+making any opposition. Too much already have you suffered from the
+impetuosity of my temper, but I will try to curb it in future by the
+remembrance of your injuries."
+
+"The whole of this unfortunate business," said Dr Lyster, "has been the
+result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. Your uncle, the Dean, began it, by his
+arbitrary will, as if an ordinance of his own could arrest the course of
+nature! and as if _he_ had power to keep alive, by the loan of a name,
+a family in the male branch already extinct. Your father, Mr Mortimer,
+continued it with the same self-partiality, preferring the wretched
+gratification of tickling his ear with a favourite sound, to the solid
+happiness of his son with a rich and deserving wife. Yet this,
+however, remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so
+wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you
+will also owe their termination: for all that I could say to Mr Delvile,
+either of reasoning or entreaty,--and I said all I could suggest, and I
+suggested all a man need wish to hear,--was totally thrown away, till
+I pointed out to him his _own_ disgrace, in having a _daughter-in-law_
+immured in these mean lodgings!
+
+"Thus, my dear young lady, the terror which drove you to this house, and
+the sufferings which have confined you in it, will prove, in the event,
+the source of your future peace: for when all my best rhetorick failed
+to melt Mr Delvile, I instantly brought him to terms by coupling his
+name with a pawnbroker's! And he could not with more disgust hear his
+son called Mr Beverley, than think of his son's wife when he hears of
+the _Three Blue Balls_! Thus the same passions, taking but different
+directions, _do_ mischief and _cure_ it alternately.
+
+"Such, my good young friends, is the MORAL of your calamities. You have
+all, in my opinion, been strangely at cross purposes, and trifled, no
+one knows why, with the first blessings of life. My only hope is that
+now, having among you thrown away its luxuries, you will have known
+enough of misery to be glad to keep its necessaries."
+
+This excellent man was yet prevailed upon by Delvile to stay and assist
+in removing the feeble Cecilia to St James's-square.
+
+Henrietta, for whom Mr Arnott's equipage and servants had still remained
+in town, was then, though with much difficulty, persuaded to go back to
+Suffolk: but Cecilia, however fond of her society, was too sensible of
+the danger and impropriety of her present situation, to receive from it
+any pleasure.
+
+Mr Delvile's reception of Cecilia was formal and cold: yet, as she now
+appeared publicly in the character of his son's wife, the best
+apartment in his house had been prepared for her use, his domestics were
+instructed to wait upon her with the utmost respect, and Lady Honoria
+Pemberton, who was accidentally in town, offered from curiosity, what
+Mr Delvile accepted from parade, to be herself in St James's-square, in
+order to do honour to his daughter-in-law's first entrance.
+
+When Cecilia was a little recovered from the shock of the first
+interview, and the fatigue of her removal, the anxious Mortimer would
+instantly have had her conveyed to her own apartment; but, willing to
+exert herself, and hoping to oblige Mr Delvile, she declared she was
+well able to remain some time longer in the drawing-room.
+
+"My good friends," said Dr Lyster, "in the course of my long practice,
+I have found it impossible to study the human frame, without a little
+studying the human mind; and from all that I have yet been able to make
+out, either by observation, reflection, or comparison, it appears to me
+at this moment, that Mr Mortimer Delvile has got the best wife, and that
+you, Sir, have here the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husband
+or any father in the three kingdoms belonging to his Majesty can either
+have or desire."
+
+Cecilia smiled; Mortimer looked his delighted concurrence; Mr Delvile
+forced himself to make a stiff inclination of the head; and Lady Honoria
+gaily exclaimed, "Dr Lyster, when you say the _best_ and the most
+_faultless_, you should always add the rest of the company excepted."
+
+"Upon my word," cried the Doctor, "I beg your ladyship's pardon; but
+there is a certain unguarded warmth comes across a man now and then,
+that drives _etiquette_ out of his head, and makes him speak truth
+before he well knows where he is."
+
+"O terrible!" cried she, "this is sinking deeper and deeper. I had hoped
+the town air would have taught you better things; but I find you have
+visited at Delvile Castle till you are fit for no other place."
+
+"Whoever, Lady Honoria," said Mr Delvile, much offended, "is fit for
+Delvile Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every other
+place may by no means be fit for him."
+
+"O yes, Sir," cried she, giddily, "every possible place will be fit for
+him, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr Lyster?"
+
+"Why, when a man has the honour to see your ladyship," answered he,
+good-humouredly, "he is apt to think too much of the person, to care
+about the place."
+
+"Come, I begin to have some hopes of you," cried she, "for I see, for a
+Doctor, you have really a very pretty notion of a compliment: only you
+have one great fault still; you look the whole time as if you said it
+for a joke."
+
+"Why, in fact, madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both in
+word and look for upwards of fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick a
+reformation to demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow.
+However, give me but a little time and a little encouragement, and, with
+such a tutress, 'twill be hard if I do not, in a very few lessons,
+learn the right method of seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion of
+twisting words from meaning."
+
+"But pray," cried she, "upon those occasions, always remember to look
+serious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If you
+are tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvile Castle; 'tis an
+expedient I commonly make use of myself when I am afraid of being too
+frisky: and it always succeeds, for the very recollection of it gives me
+the head-ache in a moment. Upon my word, Mr Delvile, you must have the
+constitution of five men, to have kept such good health, after living so
+long at that horrible place. You can't imagine how you've surprised me,
+for I have regularly expected to hear of your death at the end of every
+summer: and, I assure you, once, I was very near buying mourning."
+
+"The estate which descends to a man from his own ancestors, Lady
+Honoria," answered Mr Delvile, "will seldom be apt to injure his health,
+if he is conscious of committing no misdemeanour which has degraded
+their memory."
+
+"How vastly odious this new father of yours is!" said Lady Honoria, in a
+whisper to Cecilia; "what could ever induce you to give up your charming
+estate for the sake of coming into this fusty old family! I would really
+advise you to have your marriage annulled. You have only, you know, to
+take an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you are
+an Heiress, and the Delviles are all so violent, it will easily be
+credited. And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to
+marry my little Lord Derford."
+
+"Would you only, then," said Cecilia, "have me regain my freedom in
+order to part with it?"
+
+"Certainly," answered Lady Honoria, "for you can do nothing at all
+without being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackled
+than a wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know,
+has nothing to do but just to manage her husband."
+
+"And that," said Cecilia, smiling, "you consider as a trifle?"
+
+"Yes, if you do but marry a man you don't care for."
+
+"You are right, then, indeed, to recommend to me my Lord Derford!"
+
+"O yes, he will make the prettiest husband in the world; you may fly
+about yourself as wild as a lark, and keep him the whole time as tame as
+a jack-daw: and though he may complain of you to your friends, he will
+never have the courage to find fault to your face. But as to Mortimer,
+you will not be able to govern him as long as you live; for the moment
+you have put him upon the fret, you'll fall into the dumps yourself,
+hold out your hand to him, and, losing the opportunity of gaining some
+material point, make up at the first soft word."
+
+"You think, then, the quarrel more amusing than the reconciliation?"
+
+"O, a thousand times! for while you are quarrelling, you may say any
+thing, and demand any thing, but when you are reconciled, you ought to
+behave pretty, and seem contented."
+
+"Those who presume to have any pretensions to your ladyship," said
+Cecilia, "would be made happy indeed should they hear your principles!"
+
+"O, it would not signify at all," answered she, "for one's fathers, and
+uncles, and those sort of people, always make connexions for one, and
+not a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by our
+conduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for they
+give us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the world
+while we are single, but how we can dance a minuet, or play a lesson
+upon the harpsichord."
+
+"And what else," said Mr Delvile, who advanced, and heard this last
+speech, "need a young lady of rank desire to be known for? your ladyship
+surely would not have her degrade herself by studying like an artist or
+professor?"
+
+"O no, Sir, I would not have her study at all; it's mighty well for
+children, but really after sixteen, and when one is come out, one
+has quite fatigue enough in dressing, and going to public places,
+and ordering new things, without all that torment of first and second
+position, and E upon the first line, and F upon the first, space!"
+
+"Your ladyship must, however, pardon me for hinting," said Mr Delvile,
+"that a young lady of condition, who has a proper sense of her dignity,
+cannot be seen too rarely, or known too little."
+
+"O but I hate dignity!" cried she carelessly, "for it's the dullest
+thing in the world. I always thought it was owing to that you were so
+little amusing;--really I beg your pardon, Sir, I meant to say so little
+talkative."
+
+"I can easily credit that your ladyship spoke hastily," answered he,
+highly piqued, "for I believe, indeed, a person of a family such as
+mine, will hardly be supposed to have come into the world for the office
+of amusing it!"
+
+"O no, Sir," cried she, with pretended innocence, "nobody, I am sure,
+ever saw you with such a thought." Then, turning to Cecilia, she added
+in a whisper, "You cannot imagine, my dear Mrs Mortimer, how I detest
+this old cousin of mine! Now pray tell me honestly if you don't hate him
+yourself?"
+
+"I hope," said Cecilia, "to have no reason."
+
+"Lord, how you are always upon your guard! If I were half as cautious,
+I should die of the vapours in a month; the only thing that keeps me
+at all alive, is now and then making people angry; for the folks at our
+house let me go out so seldom, and then send me with such stupid
+old chaperons, that giving them a little torment is really the only
+entertainment I can procure myself. O--but I had almost forgot to tell
+you a most delightful thing!"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why you must know I have the greatest hopes in the world that my father
+will quarrel with old Mr Delvile!"
+
+"And is that such a delightful thing!"
+
+"O yes; I have lived upon the very idea this fortnight; for then, you
+know, they'll both be in a passion, and I shall see which of them looks
+frightfullest."
+
+"When Lady Honoria whispers," cried Mortimer, "I always suspect some
+mischief."
+
+"No indeed," answered her ladyship, "I was merely congratulating Mrs
+Mortimer about her marriage. Though really, upon second thoughts, I
+don't know whether I should not rather condole with her, for I have long
+been convinced she has a prodigious antipathy to you. I saw it the whole
+time I was at Delvile Castle, where she used to change colour at the
+very sound of your name; a symptom I never perceived when I talked to
+her of my Lord Derford, who would certainly have made her a thousand
+times a better husband."
+
+"If you mean on account of his title, Lady Honoria," said Mr Delvile;
+"your ladyship must be strangely forgetful of the connections of your
+family, not to remember that Mortimer, after the death of his uncle
+and myself, must inevitably inherit one far more honourable than a
+new-sprung-up family, like my Lord Ernolf's, could offer."
+
+"Yes, Sir; but then, you know, she would have kept her estate, which
+would have been a vastly better thing than an old pedigree of new
+relations. Besides, I don't find that any body cares for the noble blood
+of the Delviles but themselves; and if she had kept her fortune, every
+body, I fancy, would have cared for _that_."
+
+"Every body, then," said Mr Delvile, "must be highly mercenary and
+ignoble, or the blood of an ancient and honourable house, would
+be thought contaminated by the most distant hint of so degrading a
+comparison."
+
+"Dear Sir, what should we all do with birth if it was not for wealth?
+it would neither take us to Ranelagh nor the Opera; nor buy us caps nor
+wigs, nor supply us with dinners nor bouquets."
+
+"Caps and wigs, dinners and bouquets!" interrupted Mr Delvile; "your
+ladyship's estimate of wealth is really extremely minute."
+
+"Why, you know, Sir, as to caps and wigs, they are very serious things,
+for we should look mighty droll figures to go about bare-headed; and
+as to dinners, how would the Delviles have lasted all these thousand
+centuries if they had disdained eating them?"
+
+"Whatever may be your ladyship's satisfaction," said Mr Delvile,
+angrily, "in depreciating a house that has the honour of being nearly
+allied with your own, you will not, I hope at least, instruct this
+lady," turning to Cecilia, "to adopt a similar contempt of its antiquity
+and dignity."
+
+"This lady," cried Mortimer, "will at least, by condescending to become
+one of it, secure us from any danger that such contempt may spread
+further."
+
+"Let me but," said Cecilia, looking gratefully at him, "be as secure
+from exciting as I am from feeling contempt, and what can I have to
+wish?"
+
+"Good and excellent young lady!" said Dr Lyster, "the first of blessings
+indeed is yours in the temperance of your own mind. When you began your
+career in life, you appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to possess
+more than your share of the good things of this world; such a union of
+riches, beauty, independence, talents, education and virtue, seemed
+a monopoly to raise general envy and discontent; but mark with what
+scrupulous exactness the good and bad is ever balanced! You have had
+a thousand sorrows to which those who have looked up to you have been
+strangers, and for which not all the advantages you possess have been
+equivalent. There is evidently throughout this world, in things as
+well as persons, a levelling principle, at war with pre-eminence, and
+destructive of perfection."
+
+"Ah!" cried Mortimer, in a low voice to Cecilia, "how much higher
+must we all rise, or how much lower must you fall, ere any levelling
+principle will approximate us with YOU!"
+
+He then entreated her to spare her strength and spirits by returning to
+her own apartment, and the conversation was broken up.
+
+"Pray permit me, Mrs Mortimer," cried Lady Honoria, in taking leave,
+"to beg that the first guest you invite to Delvile Castle may be me.
+You know my partiality to it already. I shall be particularly happy in
+waiting upon you in tempestuous weather! We can all stroll out together,
+you know, very sociably; and I sha'n't be much in your way, for if there
+should happen to be a storm, you can easily lodge me under some great
+tree, and while you amuse yourselves with a _tete-a-tete_, give me the
+indulgence of my own reflections. I am vastly fond of thinking, and
+being alone, you know,--especially in thunder and lightning!"
+
+She then ran away; and they all separated: Cecilia was conveyed up
+stairs, and the worthy Dr Lyster, loaded with acknowledgments of every
+kind, set out for the country.
+
+Cecilia, still weak, and much emaciated, for some time lived almost
+wholly in her own room, where the grateful and solicitous attendance of
+Mortimer, alleviated the pain both of her illness and confinement: but
+as soon as her health permitted travelling, he hastened with her abroad.
+
+Here tranquility once more made its abode the heart of Cecilia; that
+heart so long torn with anguish, suspense and horrour! Mrs Delvile
+received her with the most rapturous fondness, and the impression of her
+sorrows gradually wore away, from her kind and maternal cares, and from
+the watchful affection and delighted tenderness of her son.
+
+The Egglestons now took entire possession of her estate, and Delvile, at
+her entreaty, forbore shewing any personal resentment of their conduct,
+and put into the hands of a lawyer the arrangement of the affair.
+
+They continued abroad some months, and the health of Mrs Delvile was
+tolerably re-established. They were then summoned home by the death of
+Lord Delvile, who bequeathed to his nephew Mortimer his town house, and
+whatever of his estate was not annexed to his title, which necessarily
+devolved to his brother.
+
+The sister of Mrs Delvile, a woman of high spirit and strong passions,
+lived not long after him; but having, in her latter days, intimately
+connected herself with Cecilia, she was so much charmed with her
+character, and so much dazzled by her admiration of the extraordinary
+sacrifice she had made, that, in a fit of sudden enthusiasm, she altered
+her will, to leave to her, and to her sole disposal, the fortune which,
+almost from his infancy, she had destined for her nephew. Cecilia,
+astonished and penetrated, opposed the alteration; but even her sister,
+now Lady Delvile, to whom she daily became dearer, earnestly supported
+it; while Mortimer, delighted to restore to her through his own family,
+any part of that power and independence of which her generous and pure
+regard for himself had deprived her, was absolute in refusing that the
+deed should be revoked.
+
+Cecilia, from this flattering transaction, received a further conviction
+of the malignant falsehood of Mr Monckton, who had always represented
+to her the whole of the Delvile family as equally poor in their
+circumstances, and illiberal in their minds. The strong spirit of
+active benevolence which had ever marked her character, was now again
+displayed, though no longer, as hitherto, unbounded. She had learnt
+the error of profusion, even in charity and beneficence; and she had a
+motive for oeconomy, in her animated affection for Mortimer.
+
+She soon sent for Albany, whose surprise that she still existed, and
+whose rapture at her recovered prosperity, now threatened his senses
+from the tumult of his joy, with nearly the same danger they had lately
+been menaced by terror. But though her donations were circumscribed by
+prudence, and their objects were selected with discrimination, she
+gave to herself all her former benevolent pleasure, in solacing his
+afflictions, while she softened his asperity, by restoring to him his
+favourite office of being her almoner and monitor.
+
+She next sent to her own pensioners, relieved those distresses which her
+sudden absence had occasioned, and renewed and continued the salaries
+she had allowed them. All who had nourished reasonable expectations from
+her bounty she remembered, though she raised no new claimants but with
+oeconomy and circumspection. But neither Albany nor the old pensioners
+felt the satisfaction of Mortimer, who saw with new wonder the virtues
+of her mind, and whose admiration of her excellencies, made his
+gratitude perpetual for the happiness of his lot.
+
+The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,
+with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding Mr
+Arnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soon
+endeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in either
+by Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
+
+Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, took
+the earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation;
+she married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and,
+quickly forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again,
+with new hopes, new connections,--new equipages and new engagements!
+
+Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, though
+deprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar,
+she was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and so
+solitary his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her to
+town, and returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And there
+the gentle gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from the
+worthy Mr Arnott the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the wound
+of his early and hopeless passion.
+
+The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whose
+mutable and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginning
+than progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from public
+life to retirement, soured with the world, and discontented with
+himself, till vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship of
+Delvile, he consented to accept his good offices in again entering the
+army; and, being fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopes
+were revived by ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view of
+future honour.
+
+The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, still
+lived in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain of
+his wound and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led on
+by a vain belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he had
+indulged without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded by
+inclination. Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly suffered
+nothing to stop his course; and though when he began his career he would
+have started at the mention of actual dishonour, long before it was
+concluded, neither treachery nor perjury were regarded by him as
+stumbling blocks.
+
+All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk in
+interest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of the
+chace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,
+illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, that
+even in worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joins
+dishonour to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
+
+The upright mind of Cecilia, her purity, her virtue, and the moderation
+of her wishes, gave to her in the warm affection of Lady Delvile, and
+the unremitting fondness of Mortimer, all the happiness human life seems
+capable of receiving:--yet human it was, and as such imperfect! she knew
+that, at times, the whole family must murmur at her loss of fortune, and
+at times she murmured herself to be thus portionless, tho' an HEIRESS.
+Rationally, however, she surveyed the world at large, and finding that
+of the few who had any happiness, there were none without some misery,
+she checked the rising sigh of repining mortality, and, grateful with
+general felicity, bore partial evil with chearfullest resignation.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
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diff --git a/7152.zip b/7152.zip
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #7152 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7152)
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Cecilia, by Frances Burney
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
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+               font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+  <body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3)
+       Memoirs of an Heiress
+
+Author: Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7152]
+This file was first posted on March 18, 2003
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CECILIA, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) ***
+
+
+
+
+Text file produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP
+
+HTML file produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      CECILIA
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      VOLUME III (of III)
+    </h3>
+    <h4>
+      Or
+    </h4>
+    <h2>
+      MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Frances Burney
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <b>CONTENTS</b>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>BOOK VIII. <i>Continued</i></b>. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN EVENT. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONSTERNATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A PERTURBATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER v. &mdash; A COTTAGE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A CONTEST. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A MESSAGE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PARTING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER viii. &mdash; A TALE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SHOCK. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> <b>BOOK IX.</b> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER i. &mdash; A COGITATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER ii. &mdash; A SURPRIZE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONFABULATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A WRANGLING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER v. &mdash; A SUSPICION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A DISTURBANCE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A CALM. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER viii. &mdash; AN ALARM. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SUSPENSE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER x. &mdash; A RELATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER xi. &mdash; AN ENTERPRISE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> <b>BOOK X.</b> </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER i </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN INTERVIEW. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A SUMMONS. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A DELIBERATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER v. &mdash; A DECISION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A PRATING. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PURSUIT. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER vii. &mdash; AN ENCOUNTER. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A TRIBUTE. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p class="toc">
+      <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER x. &mdash; A TERMINATION. </a>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK VIII. <i>Continued</i>.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN EVENT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Scarce less unhappy in her decision than in her uncertainty, and every way
+      dissatisfied with her situation, her views and herself, Cecilia was still
+      so distressed and uncomfortable, when Delvile called the next morning,
+      that he could not discover what her determination had been, and fearfully
+      enquired his doom with hardly any hope of finding favour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Cecilia was above affectation, and a stranger to art. &ldquo;I would not,
+      Sir,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;keep you an instant in suspense, when I am no longer in
+      suspense myself. I may have appeared trifling, but I have been nothing
+      less, and you would readily exculpate me of caprice, if half the distress
+      of my irresolution was known to you. Even now, when I hesitate no more, my
+      mind is so ill at ease, that I could neither wonder nor be displeased
+      should you hesitate in your turn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hesitate no more?&rdquo; cried he, almost breathless at the sound of those
+      words, &ldquo;and is it possible&mdash;Oh my Cecilia!&mdash;is it possible your
+      resolution is in my favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;how little is your reason to rejoice! a dejected and
+      melancholy gift is all you can receive!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ere I take it, then,&rdquo; cried he, in a voice that spoke joy; pain, and fear
+      all at once in commotion, &ldquo;tell me if your reluctance has its origin in <i>me</i>,
+      that I may rather even yet relinquish you, than merely owe your hand to
+      the selfishness of persecution?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your pride,&rdquo; said she, half smiling, &ldquo;has some right to be alarmed,
+      though I meant not to alarm it. No! it is with myself only I am at
+      variance, with my own weakness and want of judgment that I quarrel,&mdash;in
+      <i>you</i> I have all the reliance that the highest opinion of your honour
+      and integrity can give me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was enough for the warm heart of Delvile, not only to restore peace,
+      but to awaken rapture. He was almost as wild with delight, as he had
+      before been with apprehension, and poured forth his acknowledgments with
+      so much fervour of gratitude, that Cecilia imperceptibly grew reconciled
+      to herself, and before she missed her dejection, participated in his
+      contentment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She quitted him as soon as she had power, to acquaint Mrs Charlton with
+      what had passed, and assist in preparing her to accompany them to the
+      altar; while Delvile flew to his new acquaintance, Mr Singleton, the
+      lawyer, to request him to supply the place of Mr Monckton in giving her
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All was now hastened with the utmost expedition, and to avoid observation,
+      they agreed to meet at the church; their desire of secrecy, however
+      potent, never urging them to wish the ceremony should be performed in a
+      place less awful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the chairs, however, came, which were to carry the two ladies
+      thither, Cecilia trembled and hung back. The greatness of her undertaking,
+      the hazard of all her future happiness, the disgraceful secrecy of her
+      conduct, the expected reproaches of Mrs Delvile, and the boldness and
+      indelicacy of the step she was about to take, all so forcibly struck, and
+      so painfully wounded her, that the moment she was summoned to set out, she
+      again lost her resolution, and regretting the hour that ever Delvile was
+      known to her, she sunk into a chair, and gave up her whole soul to anguish
+      and sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The good Mrs Charlton tried in vain to console her; a sudden horror
+      against herself had now seized her spirits, which, exhausted by long
+      struggles, could rally no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this situation she was at length surprised by Delvile, whose uneasy
+      astonishment that she had failed in her appointment, was only to be
+      equalled by that with which he was struck at the sight of her tears. He
+      demanded the cause with the utmost tenderness and apprehension; Cecilia
+      for some time could not speak, and then, with a deep sigh, &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; she
+      cried, &ldquo;Mr Delvile! how weak are we all when unsupported by our own
+      esteem! how feeble, how inconsistent, how changeable, when our courage has
+      any foundation but duty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, much relieved by finding her sadness sprung not from any new
+      affliction, gently reproached her breach of promise, and earnestly
+      entreated her to repair it. &ldquo;The clergyman,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;is waiting; I have
+      left him with Mr Singleton in the vestry; no new objections have started,
+      and no new obstacles have intervened; why, then, torment ourselves with
+      discussing again the old ones, which we have already considered till every
+      possible argument upon them is exhausted? Tranquillize, I conjure you,
+      your agitated spirits, and if the truest tenderness, the most animated
+      esteem, and the gratefullest admiration, can soften your future cares, and
+      ensure your future peace, every anniversary of this day will recompense my
+      Cecilia for every pang she now suffers!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, half soothed and half ashamed, finding she had in fact nothing
+      new to say or to object, compelled herself to rise, and, penetrated by his
+      solicitations, endeavoured to compose her mind, and promised to follow
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He would not trust her, however, from his sight, but seizing the very
+      instant of her renewed consent, he dismissed the chairs, and ordering a
+      hackney-coach, preferred any risk to that of her again wavering, and
+      insisted upon accompanying her in it himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had now scarce time to breathe, before she found herself at the
+      porch of&mdash;&mdash;church. Delvile hurried her out of the carriage, and
+      then offered his arm to Mrs Charlton. Not a word was spoken by any of the
+      party till they went into the vestry, where Delvile ordered Cecilia a
+      glass of water, and having hastily made his compliments to the clergyman,
+      gave her hand to Mr Singleton, who led her to the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ceremony was now begun; and Cecilia, finding herself past all power of
+      retracting, soon called her thoughts from wishing it, and turned her whole
+      attention to the awful service; to which though she listened with
+      reverence, her full satisfaction in the object of her vows, made her
+      listen without terror. But when the priest came to that solemn adjuration,
+      <i>If any man can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined
+      together</i>, a conscious tear stole into her eye, and a sigh escaped from
+      Delvile that went to her heart: but, when the priest concluded the
+      exhortation with <i>let him now speak, or else hereafter for-ever hold his
+      peace</i>, a female voice at some distance, called out in shrill accents,
+      &ldquo;I do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The ceremony was instantly stopt. The astonished priest immediately shut
+      up the book to regard the intended bride and bridegroom; Delvile started
+      with amazement to see whence the sound proceeded; and Cecilia, aghast, and
+      struck with horror, faintly shriekt, and caught hold of Mrs Charlton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The consternation was general, and general was the silence, though all of
+      one accord turned round towards the place whence the voice issued: a
+      female form at the same moment was seen rushing from a pew, who glided out
+      of the church with the quickness of lightning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a word was yet uttered, every one seeming rooted to the spot on which
+      he stood, and regarding in mute wonder the place this form had crossed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile at length exclaimed, &ldquo;What can this mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you not know the woman, Sir?&rdquo; said the clergyman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir, I did not even see her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor you, madam?&rdquo; said he, addressing Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; she answered, in a voice that scarce articulated the two
+      syllables, and changing colour so frequently, that Delvile, apprehensive
+      she would faint, flew to her, calling out, &ldquo;Let <i>me</i> support you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned from him hastily, and still, holding by Mrs Charlton, moved
+      away from the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whither,&rdquo; cried Delvile, fearfully following her, &ldquo;whither are you
+      going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made not any answer; but still, though tottering as much from emotion
+      as Mrs Charlton from infirmity, she walked on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you stop the ceremony, Sir?&rdquo; cried Delvile, impatiently speaking
+      to the clergyman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No ceremony, Sir,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;could proceed with such an
+      interruption.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been wholly accidental,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;for we neither of us know the
+      woman, who could not have any right or authority for the prohibition.&rdquo;
+       Then yet more anxiously pursuing Cecilia, &ldquo;why,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;do you
+      thus move off?&mdash;Why leave the ceremony unfinished?&mdash;Mrs
+      Charlton, what is it you are about?&mdash;Cecilia, I beseech you return,
+      and let the service go on!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, making a motion with her hand to forbid his following her, still
+      silently proceeded, though drawing along with equal difficulty Mrs
+      Charlton and herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is insupportable!&rdquo; cried Delvile, with vehemence, &ldquo;turn, I conjure
+      you!&mdash;my Cecilia!&mdash;my wife!&mdash;why is it you thus abandon me?&mdash;Turn,
+      I implore you, and receive my eternal vows!&mdash;Mrs Charlton, bring her
+      back,&mdash;Cecilia, you <i>must</i> not go!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He now attempted to take her hand, but shrinking from his touch, in an
+      emphatic but low voice, she said, &ldquo;Yes, Sir, I must!&mdash;an interdiction
+      such as this!&mdash;for the world could I not brave it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then made an effort to somewhat quicken her pace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where,&rdquo; cried Delvile, half frantic, &ldquo;where is this infamous woman? This
+      wretch who has thus wantonly destroyed me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And he rushed out of the church in pursuit of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergyman and Mr Singleton, who had hitherto been wondering
+      spectators, came now to offer their assistance to Cecilia. She declined
+      any help for herself, but gladly accepted their services for Mrs Charlton,
+      who, thunderstruck by all that had past, seemed almost robbed of her
+      faculties. Mr Singleton proposed calling a hackney coach, she consented,
+      and they stopt for it at the church porch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergyman now began to enquire of the pew-opener, what she knew of the
+      woman, who she was, and how she had got into the church? She knew of her,
+      she answered, nothing, but that she had come in to early prayers, and she
+      supposed she had hid herself in a pew when they were over, as she had
+      thought the church entirely empty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hackney coach now drew up, and while the gentlemen were assisting Mrs
+      Charlton into it, Delvile returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have pursued and enquired,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;in vain, I can neither discover
+      nor hear of her.&mdash;But what is all this? Whither are you going?&mdash;What
+      does this coach do here?&mdash;Mrs Charlton, why do you get into it?&mdash;Cecilia,
+      what are you doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia turned away from him in silence. The shock she had received, took
+      from her all power of speech, while amazement and terror deprived her even
+      of relief from tears. She believed Delvile to blame, though she knew not
+      in what, but the obscurity of her fears served only to render them more
+      dreadful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now getting into the coach herself, but Delvile, who could neither
+      brook her displeasure, nor endure her departure, forcibly caught her hand,
+      and called out, &ldquo;You are <i>mine</i>, you are my <i>wife</i>!&mdash;I will
+      part with you no more, and go whithersoever you will, I will follow and
+      claim you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop me not!&rdquo; cried she, impatiently though faintly, &ldquo;I am sick, I am ill
+      already,&mdash;if you detain me any longer, I shall be unable to support
+      myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh then rest on <i>me</i>!&rdquo; cried he, still holding her; &ldquo;rest but upon
+      me till the ceremony is over!&mdash;you will drive me to despair and to
+      madness if you leave me in this barbarous manner!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A crowd now began to gather, and the words bride and bridegroom reached
+      the ears of Cecilia; who half dead with shame, with fear, and with
+      distress, hastily said &ldquo;You are determined to make me miserable!&rdquo; and
+      snatching away her hand, which Delvile at those words could no longer
+      hold, she threw herself into the carriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, however, jumped in after her, and with an air of authority
+      ordered the coachman to Pall-Mall, and then drew up the glasses, with a
+      look of fierceness at the mob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had neither spirits nor power to resist him; yet, offended by his
+      violence, and shocked to be thus publickly pursued by him, her looks spoke
+      a resentment far more mortifying than any verbal reproach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inhuman Cecilia!&rdquo; cried he, passionately, &ldquo;to desert me at the very
+      altar!&mdash;to cast me off at the instant the most sacred rites were
+      uniting us!&mdash;and then thus to look at me!&mdash;to treat me with this
+      disdain at a time of such distraction!&mdash;to scorn me thus injuriously
+      at the moment you unjustly abandon me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To how dreadful a scene,&rdquo; said Cecilia, recovering from her
+      consternation, &ldquo;have you exposed me! to what shame, what indignity, what
+      irreparable disgrace!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh heaven!&rdquo; cried he with horror, &ldquo;if any crime, any offence of mine has
+      occasioned this fatal blow, the whole world holds not a wretch so culpable
+      as myself, nor one who will sooner allow the justice of your rigour! my
+      veneration for you has ever equalled my affection, and could I think it
+      was through <i>me</i> you have suffered any indignity, I should soon abhor
+      myself, as you seem to abhor me. But what is it I have done? How have I
+      thus incensed you? By what action, by what guilt, have I incurred this
+      displeasure?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whence,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;came that voice which still vibrates in my ear? The
+      prohibition could not be on <i>my</i> account, since none to whom I am
+      known have either right or interest in even wishing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What an inference is this! over <i>me</i>, then, do you conclude this
+      woman had any power?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here they stopt at the lodgings. Delvile handed both the ladies out.
+      Cecilia, eager to avoid his importunities, and dreadfully disturbed,
+      hastily past him, and ran up stairs; but Mrs Charlton refused not his arm,
+      on which she lent till they reached the drawing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then rang the bell for her servant, and gave orders that a
+      post-chaise might be sent for immediately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile now felt offended in his turn; but suppressing his vehemence, he
+      gravely and quietly said &ldquo;Determined as you are to leave me, indifferent
+      to my peace, and incredulous of my word, deign, at least, before we part,
+      to be more explicit in your accusation, and tell me if indeed it is
+      possible you can suspect that the wretch who broke off the ceremony, had
+      ever from me received provocation for such an action?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know not what to suspect,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;where every thing is thus
+      involved in obscurity; but I must own I should have some difficulty to
+      think those words the effect of chance, or to credit that their speaker
+      was concealed without design.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right, then, madam,&rdquo; cried he, resentfully, &ldquo;to discard me! to
+      treat me with contempt, to banish me without repugnance, since I see you
+      believe me capable of duplicity, and imagine I am better informed in this
+      affair than I appear to be. You have said I shall make you miserable,&mdash;no,
+      madam, no! your happiness and misery depend not upon one you hold so
+      worthless!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On whatever they depend,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I am too little at ease for
+      discussion. I would no more be daring than superstitious, but none of our
+      proceedings have prospered, and since their privacy has always been
+      contrary both to my judgment and my principles, I know not how to repine
+      at a failure I cannot think unmerited. Mrs Charlton, our chaise is coming;
+      you will be ready, I hope, to set off in it directly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, too angry to trust himself to speak, now walked about the room,
+      and endeavoured to calm himself; but so little was his success, that
+      though silent till the chaise was announced, when he heard that dreaded
+      sound, and saw Cecilia steady in her purpose of departing, he was so much
+      shocked and afflicted, that, clasping his hands in a transport of passion
+      and grief, he exclaimed. &ldquo;This, then, Cecilia, is your faith! this is the
+      felicity you bid me hope! this is the recompense of my sufferings, and the
+      performing of your engagement!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, struck by these reproaches, turned back; but while she hesitated
+      how to answer them, he went on, &ldquo;You are insensible to my misery, and
+      impenetrable to my entreaties; a secret enemy has had power to make me
+      odious in your sight, though for her enmity I can assign no cause, though
+      even her existence was this morning unknown to me! Ever ready to abandon,
+      and most willing to condemn me, you have more confidence in a vague
+      conjecture, than in all you have observed of the whole tenour of my
+      character. Without knowing why, you are disposed to believe me criminal,
+      without deigning to say wherefore, you are eager to banish me your
+      presence. Yet scarce could a consciousness of guilt itself, wound me so
+      forcibly, so keenly, as your suspecting I am guilty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Again, then,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;shall I subject myself to a scene of such
+      disgrace and horror? No, never!&mdash;The punishment of my error shall at
+      least secure its reformation. Yet if I merit your reproaches, I deserve
+      not your regard; cease, therefore, to profess any for me, or make them no
+      more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shew but to them,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;the smallest sensibility, shew but for me
+      the most distant concern, and I will try to bear my disappointment without
+      murmuring, and submit to your decrees as to those from which there is no
+      appeal: but to wound without deigning even to look at what you destroy,&mdash;to
+      shoot at random those arrows that are pointed with poison,&mdash;to see
+      them fasten on the heart, and corrode its vital functions, yet look on
+      without compunction, or turn away with cold disdain,&mdash;Oh where is the
+      candour I thought lodged in Cecilia! where the justice, the equity, I
+      believed a part of herself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After all that has past,&rdquo; said Cecilia, sensibly touched by his distress,
+      &ldquo;I expected not these complaints, nor that, from me, any assurances would
+      be wanted; yet, if it will quiet your mind, if it will better reconcile
+      you to our separation&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh fatal prelude!&rdquo; interrupted he, &ldquo;what on earth can quiet my mind that
+      leads to our separation?&mdash;Give to me no condescension with any such
+      view,&mdash;preserve your indifference, persevere in your coldness,
+      triumph still in your power of inspiring those feelings you can never
+      return,&mdash;all, every thing is more supportable than to talk of our
+      separation!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet how,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;parted, torn asunder as we have been, how is it now
+      to be avoided?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Trust in my honour! Shew me but the confidence which I will venture to
+      say I deserve, and then will that union no longer be impeded, which in
+      future, I am certain, will never be repented!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven, what a request! faith so implicit would be frenzy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You doubt, then, my integrity? You suspect&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I do not; yet in a case of such importance, what ought to guide me
+      but my own reason, my own conscience, my own sense of right? Pain me not,
+      therefore, with reproaches, distress me no more with entreaties, when I
+      solemnly declare that no earthly consideration shall ever again make me
+      promise you my hand, while the terror of Mrs Delvile's displeasure has
+      possession of my heart. And now adieu.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You give me, then, up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be patient, I beseech you; and attempt not to follow me; 'tis a step I
+      cannot permit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not follow you? And who has power to prevent me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I</i> have, Sir, if to incur my endless resentment is of any
+      consequence to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then, with an air of determined steadiness, moved on; Mrs Charlton,
+      assisted by the servants, being already upon the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O tyranny!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;what submission is it you exact!&mdash;May I not
+      even enquire into the dreadful mystery of this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And may I not acquaint you with it, should it be discovered?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not be sorry to hear it. Adieu.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now half way down the stairs; when, losing all forbearance, he
+      hastily flew after her, and endeavouring to stop her, called out, &ldquo;If you
+      do not hate and detest me,&mdash;if I am not loathsome and abhorrent to
+      you, O quit me not thus insensibly!&mdash;Cecilia! my beloved Cecilia!&mdash;speak
+      to me, at least, one word of less severity! Look at me once more, and tell
+      me we part not for-ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then turned round, and while a starting tear shewed her
+      sympathetic distress, said, &ldquo;Why will you thus oppress me with entreaties
+      I ought not to gratify?&mdash;Have I not accompanied you to the altar,&mdash;and
+      can you doubt what I have thought of you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Have</i> thought?&mdash;Oh Cecilia!&mdash;is it then all over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray suffer me to go quietly, and fear not I shall go too happily!
+      Suppress your own feelings, rather than seek to awaken mine. Alas! there
+      is little occasion!&mdash;Oh Mr Delvile! were our connection opposed by no
+      duty, and repugnant to no friends, were it attended by no impropriety, and
+      carried on with no necessity of disguise,&mdash;you would not thus charge
+      me with indifference, you would not suspect me of insensibility,&mdash;Oh
+      no! the choice of my heart would then be its glory, and all I now blush to
+      feel, I should openly and with pride acknowledge!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then hurried to the chaise, Delvile pursuing her with thanks and
+      blessings, and gratefully assuring her, as he handed her into it, that he
+      would obey all her injunctions, and not even attempt to see her, till he
+      could bring her some intelligence concerning the morning's transaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chaise then drove off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONSTERNATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The journey was melancholy and tedious: Mrs Charlton, extremely fatigued
+      by the unusual hurry and exercise both of mind and body which she had
+      lately gone through, was obliged to travel very slowly, and to lie upon
+      the road. Cecilia, however, was in no haste to proceed: she was going to
+      no one she wished to see, she was wholly without expectation of meeting
+      with any thing that could give her pleasure. The unfortunate expedition in
+      which she had been engaged, left her now nothing but regret, and only
+      promised her in future sorrow and mortification.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton, after her return home, still continued ill, and Cecilia, who
+      constantly attended her, had the additional affliction of imputing her
+      indisposition to herself. Every thing she thought conspired to punish the
+      error she had committed; her proceedings were discovered, though her
+      motives were unknown; the Delvile family could not fail to hear of her
+      enterprize, and while they attributed it to her temerity, they would exult
+      in its failure: but chiefly hung upon her mind the unaccountable
+      prohibition of her marriage. Whence that could proceed she was wholly
+      without ability to divine, yet her surmizes were not more fruitless than
+      various. At one moment she imagined it some frolic of Morrice, at another
+      some perfidy of Monckton, and at another an idle and unmeaning trick of
+      some stranger to them all. But none of these suppositions carried with
+      them any air of probability; Morrice, even if he had watched their motions
+      and pursued them to the church, which his inquisitive impertinence made by
+      no means impossible, could yet hardly have either time or opportunity to
+      engage any woman in so extraordinary an undertaking; Mr Monckton, however
+      averse to the connection, she considered as a man of too much honour to
+      break it off in a manner so alarming and disgraceful; and mischief so
+      wanton in any stranger, seemed to require a share of unfeeling effrontery,
+      which could fall to the lot of so few as to make this suggestion unnatural
+      and incredible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes she imagined that Delvile might formerly have been affianced to
+      some woman, who having accidentally discovered his intentions, took this
+      desperate method of rendering them abortive: but this was a short-lived
+      thought, and speedily gave way to her esteem for his general character,
+      and her confidence in the firmness of his probity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All, therefore, was dark and mysterious; conjecture was baffled, and
+      meditation was useless. Her opinions were unfixed, and her heart was
+      miserable; she could only be steady in believing Delvile as unhappy as
+      herself, and only find consolation in believing him, also, as blameless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three days passed thus, without incident or intelligence; her time wholly
+      occupied in attending Mrs Charlton; her thoughts all engrossed upon her
+      own situation: but upon the fourth day she was informed that a lady was in
+      the parlour, who desired to speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She presently went down stairs,&mdash;and, upon entering the room,
+      perceived Mrs Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seized with astonishment and fear, she stopt short, and, looking aghast,
+      held by the door, robbed of all power to receive so unexpected and
+      unwelcome a visitor, by an internal sensation of guilt, mingled with a
+      dread of discovery and reproach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile, addressing her with the coldest politeness, said, &ldquo;I fear I
+      have surprised you; I am sorry I had not time to acquaint you of my
+      intention to wait upon you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, moving from the door, faintly answered, &ldquo;I cannot, madam,
+      but be honoured by your notice, whenever you are pleased to confer it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then sat down; Mrs Delvile preserving an air the most formal and
+      distant, and Cecilia half sinking with apprehensive dismay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a short and ill-boding silence, &ldquo;I mean not,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;to
+      embarrass or distress you; I will not, therefore, keep you in suspense of
+      the purport of my visit. I come not to make enquiries, I come not to put
+      your sincerity to any trial, nor to torture your delicacy; I dispense with
+      all explanation, for I have not one doubt to solve: I <i>know</i> what has
+      passed, I <i>know</i> that my son loves you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not all her secret alarm, nor all the perturbation of her fears, had
+      taught Cecilia to expect so direct an attack, nor enabled her to bear the
+      shock of it with any composure: she could not speak, she could not look at
+      Mrs Delvile; she arose, and walked to the window, without knowing what she
+      was doing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, however, her distress was not likely to diminish; for the first
+      sight she saw was Fidel, who barked, and jumped up at the window to lick
+      her hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God! Fidel here!&rdquo; exclaimed Mrs Delvile, amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, totally overpowered, covered her glowing face with both her
+      hands, and sunk into a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile for a few minutes was silent; and then, following her, said,
+      &ldquo;Imagine not I am making any discovery, nor suspect me of any design to
+      develop your sentiments. That Mortimer could love in vain I never,
+      believed; that Miss Beverley, possessing so much merit, could be blind to
+      it in another, I never thought possible. I mean not, therefore, to solicit
+      any account or explanation, but merely to beg your patience while I talk
+      to you myself, and your permission to speak to you with openness and
+      truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though relieved by this calmness from all apprehension of
+      reproach, found in her manner a coldness that convinced her of the loss of
+      her affection, and in the introduction to her business a solemnity that
+      assured her what she should decree would be unalterable. She uncovered her
+      face to shew her respectful attention, but she could not raise it up, and
+      could not utter a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile then seated herself next her, and gravely continued her
+      discourse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley, however little acquainted with the state of our family
+      affairs, can scarcely have been uninformed that a fortune such as hers
+      seems almost all that family can desire; nor can she have failed to
+      observe, that her merit and accomplishments have no where been more felt
+      and admired: the choice therefore of Mortimer she could not doubt would
+      have our sanction, and when she honoured his proposals with her favour,
+      she might naturally conclude she gave happiness and pleasure to all his
+      friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, superior to accepting a palliation of which she felt herself
+      undeserving, now lifted up her head, and forcing herself to speak, said
+      &ldquo;No, madam, I will not deceive you, for I have never been deceived myself:
+      I presumed not to expect your approbation,&mdash;though in missing it I
+      have for ever lost my own!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Mortimer, then,&rdquo; cried she with eagerness, &ldquo;been strictly honourable?
+      has he neither beguiled nor betrayed you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; said she, blushing, &ldquo;I have nothing to reproach him with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he is indeed my son!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, with emotion; &ldquo;had he been
+      treacherous to you, while disobedient to us, I had indisputably renounced
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who now seemed the only culprit, felt herself in a state of
+      humiliation not to be borne; she collected, therefore, all her courage,
+      and said, &ldquo;I have cleared Mr Delvile; permit me, madam, now, to say
+      something for myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly; you cannot oblige me more than by speaking without disguise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not in the hope of regaining your good opinion,&mdash;that, I see,
+      is lost!&mdash;but merely&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not lost,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;but if once it was yet higher, the
+      fault was my own, in indulging an expectation of perfection to which human
+      nature is perhaps unequal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, then, thought Cecilia, all is over! the contempt I so much feared is
+      incurred, and though it may be softened, it can never be removed!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak, then, and with sincerity,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;all you wish me to
+      hear, and then grant me your attention in return to the purpose of my
+      present journey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have little, madam,&rdquo; answered the depressed Cecilia, &ldquo;to say; you tell
+      me you already know all that has past; I will not, therefore, pretend to
+      take any merit from revealing it: I will only add, that my consent to this
+      transaction has made me miserable almost from the moment I gave it; that I
+      meant and wished to retract as soon as reflection pointed out to me my
+      error, and that circumstances the most perverse, not blindness to
+      propriety, nor stubbornness in wrong, led me to make, at last, that fatal
+      attempt, of which the recollection, to my last hour, must fill me with
+      regret and shame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder not,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;that in a situation where delicacy was
+      so much less requisite than courage, Miss Beverley should feel herself
+      distressed and unhappy. A mind such as hers could never err with impunity;
+      and it is solely from a certainty of her innate sense of right, that I
+      venture to wait upon her now, and that I have any hope to influence <i>her</i>
+      upon whose influence alone our whole family must in future depend. Shall I
+      now proceed, or is there any thing you wish to say first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam, nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me, then, I beg of you, with no predetermination to disregard me,
+      but with an equitable resolution to attend to reason, and a candour that
+      leaves an opening to conviction. Not easy, indeed, is such a task, to a
+      mind pre-occupied with an intention to be guided by the dictates of
+      inclination,&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wrong me, indeed, madam!&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, greatly hurt, &ldquo;my mind
+      harbours no such intention, it has no desire but to be guided by duty, it
+      is wretched with a consciousness of having failed in it! I pine, I sicken
+      to recover my own good opinion; I should then no longer feel unworthy of
+      yours; and whether or not I might be able to regain it, I should at least
+      lose this cruel depression that now sinks me in your presence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To regain it,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;were to exercise but half your power,
+      which at this moment enables you, if such is your wish, to make me think
+      of you more highly than one human being ever thought of another. Do you
+      condescend to hold this worth your while?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia started at the question; her heart beat quick with struggling
+      passions; she saw the sacrifice which was to be required, and her pride,
+      her affronted pride, arose high to anticipate the rejection; but the
+      design was combated by her affections, which opposed the indignant
+      rashness, and told her that one hasty speech might separate her from
+      Delvile for ever. When this painful conflict was over, of which Mrs
+      Delvile patiently waited the issue, she answered, with much hesitation,
+      &ldquo;To regain your good opinion, madam, greatly, truly as I value it,&mdash;is
+      what I now scarcely dare hope.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say not so,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;since, if you hope, you cannot miss it. I
+      purpose to point out to you the means to recover it, and to tell you how
+      greatly I shall think myself your debtor if you refuse not to employ
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt; but Cecilia hung back; fearful of her own strength, she dared
+      venture at no professions; yet, how either to support, or dispute her
+      compliance, she dreaded to think.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come to you, then,&rdquo; Mrs Delvile solemnly resumed, &ldquo;in the name of Mr
+      Delvile, and in the name of our whole family; a family as ancient as it is
+      honourable, as honourable as it is ancient. Consider me as its
+      representative, and hear in me its common voice, common opinion, and
+      common address.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, the supporter of our house, the sole guardian of its name, and
+      the heir of our united fortunes, has selected you, we know, for the lady
+      of his choice, and so fondly has, fixed upon you his affections, that he
+      is ready to relinquish us all in preference to subduing them. To yourself
+      alone, then, can we apply, and I come to you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O hold, madam, hold!&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, whose courage now revived from
+      resentment, &ldquo;I know, what you would say; you come to tell me of your
+      disdain; you come to reproach my presumption, and to kill me with your
+      contempt! There is little occasion for such a step; I am depressed, I am
+      self-condemned already; spare me, therefore, this insupportable
+      humiliation, wound me not with your scorn, oppress me not with your
+      superiority! I aim at no competition, I attempt no vindication, I
+      acknowledge my own littleness as readily as you can despise it, and
+      nothing but indignity could urge me to defend it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;I meant not to hurt or offend you, and I
+      am sorry if I have appeared to you either arrogant or assuming. The
+      peculiar and perilous situation of my family has perhaps betrayed me into
+      offensive expressions, and made me guilty myself of an ostentation which
+      in others has often disgusted me. Ill, indeed, can we any of us bear the
+      test of experiment, when tried upon those subjects which call forth our
+      particular propensities. We may strive to be disinterested, we may
+      struggle to be impartial, but self will still predominate, still shew us
+      the imperfection of our natures, and the narrowness of our souls. Yet
+      acquit me, I beg, of any intentional insolence, and imagine not that in
+      speaking highly of my own family, I, mean to depreciate yours: on the
+      contrary, I know it to be respectable, I know, too, that were it the
+      lowest in the kingdom, the first might envy it that it gave birth to such
+      a daughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, somewhat soothed by this speech, begged her pardon for having
+      interrupted her, and she proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To your family, then, I assure you, whatever may be the pride of our own,
+      <i>you</i> being its offspring, we would not object. With your merit we
+      are all well acquainted, your character has our highest esteem, and your
+      fortune exceeds even our most sanguine desires. Strange at once and
+      afflicting! that not all these requisites for the satisfaction of
+      prudence, nor all these allurements for the gratification of happiness,
+      can suffice to fulfil or to silence the claims of either! There are yet
+      other demands to which we must attend, demands which ancestry and blood
+      call upon us aloud to ratify! Such claimants are not to be neglected with
+      impunity; they assert their rights with the authority of prescription,
+      they forbid us alike either to bend to inclination, or stoop to interest,
+      and from generation to generation their injuries will call out for
+      redress, should their noble and long unsullied name be voluntarily
+      consigned to oblivion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely struck by these words, scarce wondered, since so strong
+      and so established were her opinions, that the obstacle to her marriage,
+      though but one, should be considered as insuperable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not, therefore, to <i>your</i> name are we averse,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;but
+      simply to our own more partial. To sink that, indeed, in <i>any</i> other,
+      were base and unworthy:&mdash;what, then, must be the shock of my
+      disappointment, should Mortimer Delvile, the darling of my hopes, the last
+      survivor of his house, in whose birth I rejoiced as the promise of its
+      support, in whose accomplishments I gloried, as the revival of its lustre,&mdash;should
+      <i>he</i>, should, <i>my</i> son be the first to abandon it! to give up
+      the name he seemed born to make live, and to cause in effect its utter
+      annihilation!&mdash;Oh how should I know my son when an alien to his
+      family! how bear to think I had cherished in my bosom the betrayer of its
+      dearest interests, the destroyer of its very existence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, scarce more afflicted than offended, now hastily answered, &ldquo;Not
+      for me, madam, shall he commit this crime, not on <i>my</i> account shall
+      he be reprobated by his family! Think of him, therefore, no more, with any
+      reference to me, for I would not be the cause of unworthiness or guilt in
+      him to be mistress of the universe!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nobly said!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, her eyes sparkling with joy, and her
+      cheeks glowing with pleasure, &ldquo;now again do I know Miss Beverley! now
+      again see the refined, the excellent young woman, whose virtues taught me
+      to expect the renunciation even of her own happiness, when found to be
+      incompatible with her duty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now trembled and turned pale; she scarce knew herself what she had
+      said, but, she found by Mrs Delvile's construction of her words, they had
+      been regarded as her final relinquishing of her son. She ardently wished
+      to quit the room before she was called upon to confirm the sentence, but,
+      she had not courage to make the effort, nor to rise, speak, or move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I grieve, indeed,&rdquo; continued Mrs Delvile, whose coldness and austerity
+      were changed into mildness and compassion, &ldquo;at the necessity I have been
+      under to draw from you a concurrence so painful: but no other resource was
+      in my power. My influence with Mortimer, whatever it may be, I have not
+      any right to try, without obtaining your previous consent, since I regard
+      him myself as bound to you in honour, and only to be released by your own
+      virtuous desire. I will leave you, however, for my presence, I see, is
+      oppressive to you. Farewell; and when you <i>can</i> forgive me, I think
+      you <i>will</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, coldly, &ldquo;to forgive; you have only
+      asserted your own dignity, and I have nobody to blame but myself, for
+      having given you occasion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;if worth and nobleness of soul on your part,
+      if esteem and tenderest affection on mine, were all which that dignity
+      which offends you requires, how should I crave the blessing of such a
+      daughter! how rejoice in joining my son to excellence so like his own, and
+      ensuring his happiness while I stimulated his virtue!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not talk to me of affection, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, turning away from
+      her; &ldquo;whatever you had for me is past,&mdash;even your esteem is gone,&mdash;you
+      may pity me, indeed, but your pity is mixed with contempt, and I am not so
+      abject as to find comfort from exciting it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O little,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, looking at her with the utmost tenderness,
+      &ldquo;little do you see the state of my heart, for never have you appeared to
+      me so worthy as at this moment! In tearing you from my son, I partake all
+      the wretchedness I give, but your own sense of duty must something plead
+      for the strictness with which I act up to mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then moved towards the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your carriage, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, struggling to disguise her inward
+      anguish under an appearance of sullenness, &ldquo;in waiting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile then came back, and holding out her hand, while her eyes
+      glistened with tears, said, &ldquo;To part from you thus frigidly, while my
+      heart so warmly admires you, is almost more than I can endure. Oh gentlest
+      Cecilia! condemn not a mother who is impelled to this severity, who
+      performing what she holds to be her duty, thinks the office her bitterest
+      misfortune, who forsees in the rage of her husband, and the resistance of
+      her son, all the misery of domestic contention, and who can only secure
+      the honour of her family by destroying its peace!&mdash;You will not,
+      then, give me your hand?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had affected not to see that she waited for it, now coldly
+      put it out, distantly [courtseying], and seeking to preserve her
+      steadiness by avoiding to speak. Mrs Delvile took it, and as she repeated
+      her adieu, affectionately pressed it to her lips; Cecilia, starting, and
+      breathing short, from encreasing yet smothered agitation, called out &ldquo;Why,
+      why this condescension?&mdash;pray,&mdash;I entreat you, madam!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heaven bless you, my love!&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, dropping a tear upon the
+      hand she still held, &ldquo;heaven bless you, and restore the tranquillity you
+      so nobly deserve!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, vainly striving to repress any longer the tears
+      which now forced their way down her cheeks, &ldquo;why will you break my heart
+      with this kindness! why will you still compel me to love!&mdash;when now I
+      almost wish to hate you!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, hate me not,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, kissing from her cheeks the tears
+      that watered them, &ldquo;hate me not, sweetest Cecilia, though in wounding your
+      gentle bosom, I am almost detestable to myself. Even the cruel scene which
+      awaits me with my son will not more deeply afflict me. But adieu,&mdash;I
+      must now prepare for him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then left the room: but Cecilia, whose pride had no power to resist
+      this tenderness, ran hastily after her, saying &ldquo;Shall I not see you again,
+      madam?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall yourself decide,&rdquo; answered she; &ldquo;if my coming will not give you
+      more pain than pleasure, I will wait upon you whenever you please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sighed and paused; she knew not what to desire, yet rather wished
+      any thing to be done, than quietly to sit down to uninterrupted
+      reflection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I postpone quitting this place,&rdquo; continued Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;till
+      to-morrow morning, and will you admit me this afternoon, should I call
+      upon you again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be sorry,&rdquo; said she, still hesitating, &ldquo;to detain you,&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will rejoice me,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;by bearing me in your sight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And she then went into her carriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, unfitted to attend her old friend, and unequal to the task of
+      explaining to her the cruel scene in which she had just been engaged, then
+      hastened to her own apartment. Her hitherto stifled emotions broke forth
+      in tears and repinings: her fate was finally determined, and its
+      determination was not more unhappy than humiliating; she was openly
+      rejected by the family whose alliance she was known to wish; she was
+      compelled to refuse the man of her choice, though satisfied his affections
+      were her own. A misery so peculiar she found hard to support, and almost
+      bursting with conflicting passions, her heart alternately swelled from
+      offended pride, and sunk from disappointed tenderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A PERTURBATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecelia was still in this tempestuous state, when a message was brought
+      her that a gentleman was below stairs, who begged to have the honour of
+      seeing her. She concluded he was Delvile, and the thought of meeting him
+      merely to communicate what must so bitterly afflict him, redoubled her
+      distress, and she went down in an agony of perturbation and sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He met her at the door, where, before he could speak, &ldquo;Mr Delvile,&rdquo; she
+      cried, in a hurrying manner, &ldquo;why will you come? Why will you thus insist
+      upon seeing me, in defiance of every obstacle, and in contempt of my
+      prohibition?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens,&rdquo; cried he, amazed, &ldquo;whence this reproach? Did you not
+      permit me to wait upon you with the result of my enquiries? Had I not your
+      consent&mdash;but why do you look thus disturbed?&mdash;Your eyes are red,&mdash;you
+      have been weeping.&mdash;Oh my Cecilia! have I any share in your sorrow?&mdash;Those
+      tears, which never flow weakly, tell me, have they&mdash;has <i>one</i> of
+      them been shed upon my account?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;has been the result of your enquiries?&mdash;Speak
+      quick, for I wish to know,&mdash;and in another instant I must be gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How strange,&rdquo; cried the astonished Delvile, &ldquo;is this language! how
+      strange are these looks! What new has come to pass? Has any fresh calamity
+      happened? Is there yet some evil which I do not expect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why will you not answer first?&rdquo; cried she; &ldquo;when <i>I</i> have spoken,
+      you will perhaps be less willing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You terrify, you shock, you amaze me! What dreadful blow awaits me? For
+      what horror are you preparing me?&mdash;That which I have just
+      experienced, and which tore you from me even at the foot of the altar,
+      still remains inexplicable, still continues to be involved in darkness and
+      mystery; for the wretch who separated us I have never been able to
+      discover.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you procured, then, no intelligence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, none; though since we parted I have never rested a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Make, then, no further enquiry, for now all explanation would be useless.
+      That we <i>were</i> parted, we know, though <i>why</i> we cannot tell: but
+      that again we shall ever meet&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She, stopt; her streaming eyes cast upwards, and a deep sigh bursting from
+      her heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh what,&rdquo; cried Delvile, endeavouring to take her hand, which she hastily
+      withdrew from him, &ldquo;what does this mean? loveliest, dearest Cecilia, my
+      betrothed, my affianced wife! why flow those tears which agony only can
+      wring from you? Why refuse me that hand which so lately was the pledge of
+      your faith? Am I not the same Delvile to whom so few days since you gave
+      it? Why will you not open to him your heart? Why thus distrust his honour,
+      and repulse his tenderness? Oh why, giving him such exquisite misery,
+      refuse him the smallest consolation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What consolation,&rdquo; cried the weeping Cecilia, &ldquo;can I give? Alas! it is
+      not, perhaps, <i>you</i> who most want it!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the door was opened by one of the Miss Charltons, who came into the
+      room with a message from her grandmother, requesting to see Cecilia.
+      Cecilia, ashamed of being thus surprised with Delvile, and in tears,
+      waited not either to make any excuse to him, or any answer to Miss
+      Charlton, but instantly hurried out of the room;&mdash;not, however, to
+      her old friend, whom now less than ever she could meet, but to her own
+      apartment, where a very short indulgence of grief was succeeded by the
+      severest examination of her own conduct.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A retrospection of this sort rarely brings much subject of exultation,
+      when made with the rigid sincerity of secret impartiality: so much
+      stronger is our reason than our virtue, so much higher our sense of duty
+      than our performance!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All she had done she now repented, all she had said she disapproved; her
+      conduct, seldom equal to her notions of right, was now infinitely below
+      them, and the reproaches of her judgment made her forget for a while the
+      afflictions which had misled it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sorrow to which she had openly given way in the presence of Delvile,
+      though their total separation but the moment before had been finally
+      decreed, she considered as a weak effusion of tenderness, injurious to
+      delicacy, and censurable by propriety. &ldquo;His power over my heart,&rdquo; cried
+      she, &ldquo;it were now, indeed, too late to conceal, but his power over my
+      understanding it is time to cancel. I am not to be his,&mdash;my own voice
+      has ratified the renunciation, and since I made it to his mother, it must
+      never, without her consent, be invalidated. Honour, therefore, to her, and
+      regard for myself, equally command me to fly him, till I cease to be thus
+      affected by his sight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When Delvile, therefore, sent up an entreaty that he might be again
+      admitted into her presence, she returned for answer that she was not well,
+      and could not see any body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then left the house, and, in a few minutes, she received the following
+      note from him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>. You drive me from you, Cecilia, tortured with
+      suspense, and distracted with apprehension, you drive me from you, certain
+      of my misery, yet leaving me to bear it as I may! I would call you
+      unfeeling, but that I saw you were unhappy; I would reproach you with
+      tyranny, but that your eyes when you quitted me were swollen with weeping!
+      I go, therefore, I obey the harsh mandate, since my absence is your
+      desire, and I will shut myself up at Biddulph's till I receive your
+      commands. Yet disdain not to reflect that every instant will seem endless,
+      while Cecilia must appear to me unjust, or wound my very soul by the
+      recollection of her in sorrow. MORTIMER DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mixture of fondness and resentment with which this letter was
+      dictated, marked so strongly the sufferings and disordered state of the
+      writer, that all the softness of Cecilia returned when she perused it, and
+      left her not a wish but to lessen his inquietude, by assurances of
+      unalterable regard: yet she determined not to trust herself in his sight,
+      certain they could only meet to grieve over each other, and conscious that
+      a participation of sorrow would but prove a reciprocation of tenderness.
+      Calling, therefore, upon her duty to resist her inclination, she resolved
+      to commit the whole affair to the will of Mrs Delvile, to whom, though
+      under no promise, she now considered herself responsible. Desirous,
+      however, to shorten the period of Delvile's uncertainty, she would not
+      wait till the time she had appointed to see his mother, but wrote the
+      following note to hasten their meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To the Hon. Mrs Delvile</i>. MADAM,&mdash;Your son is now at Bury;
+      shall I acquaint him of your arrival? or will you announce it yourself?
+      Inform me of your desire, and I will endeavour to fulfil it. As my own
+      Agent I regard myself no longer; if, as yours, I can give pleasure, or be
+      of service, I shall gladly receive your commands. I have the honour to be,
+      Madam, your most obedient servant, CECILIA BEVERLEY.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she had sent off this letter, her heart was more at ease, because
+      reconciled with her conscience: she had sacrificed the son, she had
+      resigned herself to the mother; it now only remained to heal her wounded
+      pride, by suffering the sacrifice with dignity, and to recover her
+      tranquility in virtue, by making the resignation without repining.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her reflections, too, growing clearer as the mist of passion was
+      dispersed, she recollected with confusion her cold and sullen behaviour to
+      Mrs Delvile. That lady had but done what she had believed was her duty,
+      and that duty was no more than she had been taught to expect from her. In
+      the beginning of her visit, and while doubtful of its success, she had
+      indeed, been austere, but the moment victory appeared in view, she became
+      tender, affectionate and gentle. Her justice, therefore, condemned the
+      resentment to which she had given way, and she fortified her mind for the
+      interview which was to follow, by an earnest desire to make all reparation
+      both to Mrs Delvile and herself for that which was past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this resolution she was not a little strengthened, by seriously
+      considering with herself the great abatement to all her possible
+      happiness, which must have been made by the humiliating circumstance of
+      forcing herself into a family which held all connection with her as
+      disgraceful. She desired not to be the wife even of Delvile upon such
+      terms, for the more she esteemed and admired him, the more anxious she
+      became for his honour, and the less could she endure being regarded
+      herself as the occasion of its diminution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, therefore, her plan of conduct settled, with calmer spirits, though a
+      heavy heart, she attended upon Mrs Charlton; but fearing to lose the
+      steadiness she had just acquired before it should be called upon, if she
+      trusted herself to relate the decision which had been made, she besought
+      her for the present to dispense with the account, and then forced herself
+      into conversation upon less interesting subjects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This prudence had its proper effect, and with tolerable tranquility she
+      heard Mrs Delvile again announced, and waited upon her in the parlour with
+      an air of composure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not so did Mrs Delvile receive her; she was all eagerness and emotion; she
+      flew to her the moment she appeared, and throwing her arms around her,
+      warmly exclaimed &ldquo;Oh charming girl! Saver of our family! preserver of our
+      honour! How poor are words to express my admiration! how inadequate are
+      thanks in return for such obligations as I owe you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You owe me none, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, suppressing a sigh; &ldquo;on my side
+      will be all the obligation, if you can pardon the petulance of my
+      behaviour this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Call not by so harsh a name,&rdquo; answered Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;the keenness of a
+      sensibility by which you have yourself alone been the sufferer. You have
+      had a trial the most severe, and however able to sustain, it was
+      impossible you should not feel it. That you should give up any man whose
+      friends solicit not your alliance, your mind is too delicate to make
+      wonderful; but your generosity in submitting, unasked, the arrangement of
+      that resignation to those for whose interest it is made, and your high
+      sense of honour in holding yourself accountable to me, though under no
+      tie, and bound by no promise, mark a greatness of mind which calls for
+      reverence rather than thanks, and which I never can praise half so much as
+      I admire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who received this applause but as a confirmation of her
+      rejection, thanked her only by courtsying; and Mrs Delvile, having seated
+      herself next her, continued her speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, you have the goodness to tell me, is here,&mdash;have you seen
+      him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; answered she, blushing, &ldquo;but hardly for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he knows not of my arrival?&rdquo; No,&mdash;I believe he certainly does
+      not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sad then, is the trial which awaits him, and heavy for me the office I
+      must perform! Do you expect to see him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&mdash;yes,&mdash;perhaps&mdash;indeed I hardly&mdash;&rdquo; She stammered,
+      and Mrs Delvile, taking her hand, said &ldquo;Tell me, Miss Beverley, <i>why</i>
+      should you see him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was thunderstruck by this question, and, colouring yet more
+      deeply, looked down, but could not answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Consider,&rdquo; continued Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;the <i>purpose</i> of any further
+      meeting; your union is impossible, you have nobly consented to relinquish
+      all thoughts of it why then tear your own heart, and torture his, by an
+      intercourse which seems nothing but an ill-judged invitation to fruitless
+      and unavailing sorrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was still silent; the truth of the expostulation her reason
+      acknowledged, but to assent to its consequence her whole heart refused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The ungenerous triumph of little female vanity,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;is
+      far, I am sure, from your mind, of which the enlargement and liberality
+      will rather find consolation from lessening than from embittering his
+      sufferings. Speak to me, then, and tell me honestly, judiciously, candidly
+      tell me, will it not be wiser and more right, to avoid rather than seek an
+      object which can only give birth to regret? an interview which can excite
+      no sensations but of misery and sadness?&rdquo; Cecilia then turned pale, she
+      endeavoured to speak, but could not; she wished to comply,&mdash;yet to
+      think she had seen him for the last time, to remember how abruptly she had
+      parted from him, and to fear she had treated him unkindly;&mdash;these
+      were obstacles which opposed her concurrence, though both judgment and
+      propriety demanded it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you, then,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, after a pause, &ldquo;can you wish to see
+      Mortimer merely to behold his grief? Can you desire he should see you,
+      only to sharpen his affliction at your loss?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, to whom this reproof restored speech and
+      resolution, &ldquo;I am not so despicable, I am not, I hope, so unworthy!&mdash;I
+      will&mdash;be ruled by you wholly; I will commit to you every thing;&mdash;yet
+      <i>once</i>, perhaps,&mdash;no more!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear Miss Beverley! to meet confessedly for <i>once</i>,&mdash;what
+      were that but planting a dagger in the heart of Mortimer? What were it but
+      infusing poison into your own?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you think so, madam,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I had better&mdash;I will certainly&mdash;&rdquo;
+       she sighed, stammered, and stopt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;and rather let me try to convince than
+      persuade you. Were there any possibility, by argument, by reflection, or
+      even by accident, to remove the obstacles to our connection, then would it
+      be well to meet, for then might discussion turn to account, and an
+      interchange of sentiments be productive of some happy expedients: but here&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated, and Cecilia, shocked and ashamed, turned away her face, and
+      cried &ldquo;I know, madam, what you would say,&mdash;here all is over! and
+      therefore&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet suffer me,&rdquo; interrupted she, &ldquo;to be explicit, since we speak upon,
+      this matter now for the last time. Here, then, I say, where not ONE doubt
+      remains, where ALL is finally, though not happily decided, what can an
+      interview produce? Mischief of every sort, pain, horror, and repining! To
+      Mortimer you may think it would be kind, and grant it to his prayers, as
+      an alleviation of his misery; mistaken notion! nothing could so greatly
+      augment it. All his passions would be raised, all his prudence would be
+      extinguished, his soul would be torn with resentment and regret, and
+      force, only, would part him from you, when previously he knew that parting
+      was to be eternal. To yourself&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk not, madam, of me,&rdquo; cried the unhappy Cecilia, &ldquo;what you say of your
+      son is sufficient, and I will yield&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet hear me,&rdquo; proceeded she, &ldquo;and believe me not so unjust as to consider
+      him alone; you, also, would be an equal, though a less stormy sufferer.
+      You fancy, at this moment, that once more to meet him would soothe your
+      uneasiness, and that to take of him a farewell, would soften the pain of
+      the separation: how false such reasoning! how dangerous such consolation!
+      acquainted ere you meet that you were to meet him no more, your heart
+      would be all softness and grief, and at the very moment when tenderness
+      should be banished from your intercourse, it would bear down all
+      opposition of judgment, spirit, and dignity: you would hang upon every
+      word, because every word would seem the last, every look, every expression
+      would be rivetted in your memory, and his image in this parting distress
+      would-be painted upon your mind, in colours that would eat into its peace,
+      and perhaps never be erased.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough, enough,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I will not see him,&mdash;I will not even
+      desire it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this compliance or conviction? Is what I have said true, or only
+      terrifying?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Both, both! I believe, indeed, the conflict would have overpowered me,&mdash;I
+      see you are right,&mdash;and I thank you, madam, for saving me from a
+      scene I might so cruelly have rued.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh Daughter of my mind!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her,
+      &ldquo;noble, generous, yet gentle Cecilia! what tie, what connection, could
+      make you more dear to me? Who is there like you? Who half so excellent? So
+      open to reason, so ingenuous in error! so rational! so just! so feeling,
+      yet so wise!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very good,&rdquo; said Cecilia, with a forced serenity, &ldquo;and I am
+      thankful that your resentment for the past obstructs not your lenity for
+      the present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, my love, how shall I resent the past, when I ought myself to have
+      foreseen this calamity! and I <i>should</i> have foreseen it, had I not
+      been informed you were engaged, and upon your engagement built our
+      security. Else had I been more alarmed, for my own admiration would have
+      bid me look forward to my son's. You were just, indeed, the woman he had
+      least chance to resist, you were precisely the character to seize his very
+      soul. To a softness the most fatally alluring, you join a dignity which
+      rescues from their own contempt even the most humble of your admirers. You
+      seem born to have all the world wish your exaltation, and no part of it
+      murmur at your superiority. Were any obstacle but this insuperable one in
+      the way, should nobles, nay, should princes offer their daughters to my
+      election, I would reject without murmuring the most magnificent proposals,
+      and take in triumph to my heart my son's nobler choice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;talk not to me thus!&mdash;speak not such
+      flattering words!&mdash;ah, rather scorn and upbraid me, tell me you
+      despise my character, my family and my connections,&mdash;load, load me
+      with contempt, but do not thus torture me with approbation!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, sweetest girl, if I have awakened those emotions you so wisely
+      seek to subdue. May my son but emulate your example, and my pride in his
+      virtue shall be the solace of my affliction for his misfortunes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then tenderly embraced her, and abruptly took her leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had now acted her part, and acted it to her own satisfaction; but
+      the curtain dropt when Mrs Delvile left the house, nature resumed her
+      rights, and the sorrow of her heart was no longer disguised or repressed.
+      Some faint ray of hope had till now broke through the gloomiest cloud of
+      her misery, and secretly flattered her that its dispersion was possible,
+      though distant: but that ray was extinct, that hope was no more; she had
+      solemnly promised to banish Delvile her sight, and his mother had
+      absolutely declared that even the subject had been discussed for the last
+      time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton, impatient of some explanation of the morning's transactions,
+      soon sent again to beg Cecilia would come to her. Cecilia reluctantly
+      obeyed, for she feared encreasing her indisposition by the intelligence
+      she had to communicate; she struggled, therefore, to appear to her with
+      tolerable calmness, and in briefly relating what had passed, forbore to
+      mingle with the narrative her own feelings and unhappiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton heard the account with the utmost concern; she accused Mrs
+      Delvile of severity, and even of cruelty; she lamented the strange
+      accident by which the marriage ceremony had been stopt, and regretted that
+      it had not again been begun, as the only means to have rendered
+      ineffectual the present fatal interposition. But the grief of Cecilia,
+      however violent, induced her not to join in this regret; she mourned only
+      the obstacle which had occasioned the separation, and not the incident
+      which had merely interrupted the ceremony: convinced, by the conversations
+      in which she had just been engaged, of Mrs Delvile's inflexibility, she
+      rather rejoiced than repined that she had put it to no nearer trial:
+      sorrow was all she felt; for her mind was too liberal to harbour
+      resentment against a conduct which she saw was dictated by a sense of
+      right; and too ductile and too affectionate to remain unmoved by the
+      personal kindness which had softened the rejection, and the many marks of
+      esteem and regard which had shewn her it was lamented, though considered
+      as indispensable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How and by whom this affair had been betrayed to Mrs Delvile she knew not;
+      but the discovery was nothing less than surprising, since, by various
+      unfortunate accidents, it was known to so many, and since, in the horror
+      and confusion of the mysterious prohibition to the marriage, neither
+      Delvile nor herself had thought of even attempting to give any caution to
+      the witnesses of that scene, not to make it known: an attempt, however,
+      which must almost necessarily have been unavailing, as the incident was
+      too extraordinary and too singular to have any chance of suppression.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this conversation, one of the servants came to inform Cecilia, that
+      a man was below to enquire if there was no answer to the note he had
+      brought in the forenoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, greatly distressed, knew not upon what to resolve; that the
+      patience of Delvile should be exhausted, she did not, indeed, wonder, and
+      to relieve his anxiety was now almost her only wish; she would therefore
+      instantly have written to him, confessed her sympathy in his sufferings,
+      and besought him to endure with fortitude an evil which was no longer to
+      be withstood: but she was uncertain whether he was yet acquainted with the
+      journey of his mother to Bury, and having agreed to commit to her the
+      whole management of the affair, she feared it would be dishonourable to
+      take any step in it without her concurrence. She returned, therefore, a
+      message that she had yet no answer ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a very few minutes Delvile called himself, and sent up an earnest
+      request for permission to see her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, at least, she had no perplexity; an interview she had given her
+      positive word to refuse, and therefore, without a moment's hesitation, she
+      bid the servant inform him she was particularly engaged, and sorry it was
+      not in her power to see any company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the greatest perturbation he left the house, and immediately wrote to
+      her the following lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>. I entreat you to see me! if only for an instant,
+      I entreat, I implore you to see me! Mrs Charlton may be present, all the
+      world, if you wish it, may be present,&mdash;but deny me not admission, I
+      supplicate, I conjure you!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I will call in an hour; in that time you may have finished your present
+      engagement. I will otherwise wait longer, and call again. You will not, I
+      think, turn me from' your door, and, till I have seen you, I can only live
+      in its vicinity. M. D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man who brought this note, waited not for any answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia read it in an agony of mind inexpressible: she saw, by its style,
+      how much Delvile was irritated, and her knowledge of his temper made her
+      certain his irritation proceeded from believing himself ill-used. She
+      ardently wished to appease and to quiet him, and regretted the necessity
+      of appearing obdurate and unfeeling, even more, at that moment, than the
+      separation itself. To a mind priding in its purity, and animated in its
+      affections, few sensations can excite keener misery, than those by which
+      an apprehension is raised of being thought worthless or ungrateful by the
+      objects of our chosen regard. To be deprived of their society is less
+      bitter, to be robbed of our own tranquillity by any other means, is less
+      afflicting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet to this it was necessary to submit, or incur the only penalty which,
+      to such a mind, would be more severe, self-reproach: she had promised to
+      be governed by Mrs Delvile, she had nothing, therefore, to do but obey
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet <i>to turn</i>, as he expressed himself, <i>from the door</i>, a man
+      who, but for an incident the most incomprehensible, would now have been
+      sole master of herself and her actions, seemed so unkind and so
+      tyrannical, that she could not endure to be within hearing of his repulse:
+      she begged, therefore, the use of Mrs Charlton's carriage, and determined
+      to make a visit to Mrs Harrel till Delvile and his mother had wholly
+      quitted Bury. She was not, indeed, quite satisfied in going to the house
+      of Mr Arnott, but she had no time to weigh objections, and knew not any
+      other place to which still greater might not be started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She wrote a short letter to Mrs Delvile, acquainting her with her purpose,
+      and its reason, and repeating her assurances that she would be guided by
+      her implicitly; and then, embracing Mrs Charlton, whom she left to the
+      care of her grand-daughters, she got into a chaise, accompanied only by
+      her maid, and one man and horse, and ordered the postilion to drive to Mr
+      Arnott's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER v. &mdash; A COTTAGE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The evening was already far advanced, and before she arrived at the end of
+      her little journey it was quite dark. When they came within a mile of Mr
+      Arnott's house, the postilion, in turning too suddenly from the turnpike
+      to the cross-road, overset the carriage. The accident, however, occasioned
+      no other mischief than delaying their proceeding, and Cecilia and her maid
+      were helped out of the chaise unhurt. The servants, assisted by a man who
+      was walking upon the road, began lifting it up; and Cecilia, too busy
+      within to be attentive to what passed without, disregarded what went
+      forward, till she heard her footman call for help. She then hastily
+      advanced to enquire what was the matter, and found that the passenger who
+      had lent his aid, had, by working in the dark, unfortunately slipped his
+      foot under one of the wheels, and so much hurt it, that without great pain
+      he could not put it to the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia immediately desired that the sufferer might be carried to his own
+      home in the chaise, while she and the maid walked on to Mr Arnott's,
+      attended by her servant on horseback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This little incident proved of singular service to her upon first entering
+      the house; Mrs Harrel was at supper with her brother, and hearing the
+      voice of Cecilia in the hall, hastened with the extremest surprise to
+      enquire what had occasioned so late a visit; followed by Mr Arnott, whose
+      amazement was accompanied with a thousand other sensations too powerful
+      for speech. Cecilia, unprepared with any excuse, instantly related the
+      adventure she had met with on the road, which quieted their curiosity, by
+      turning their attention to her personal safety. They ordered a room to be
+      prepared for her, entreated her to go to rest with all speed, and postpone
+      any further account till the next day. With this request she most gladly
+      complied, happy to be spared the embarrassment of enquiry, and rejoiced to
+      be relieved from the fatigue of conversation. Her night was restless and
+      miserable: to know how Delvile would bear her flight was never a moment
+      from her thoughts, and to hear whether he would obey or oppose his mother
+      was her incessant wish. She was fixt, however, to be faithful in refusing
+      to see him, and at least to suffer nothing new from her own enterprize or
+      fault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the morning Mrs Harrel came to see her. She was eager to learn
+      why, after invitations repeatedly refused, she was thus suddenly arrived
+      without any; and she was still more eager to talk of herself, and relate
+      the weary life she led thus shut up in the country, and confined to the
+      society of her brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia evaded giving any immediate answer to her questions, and Mrs
+      Harrel, happy in an opportunity to rehearse her own complaints, soon
+      forgot that she had asked any, and, in a very short time, was perfectly,
+      though imperceptibly, contented to be herself the only subject upon which
+      they conversed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But not such was the selfishness of Mr Arnott; and Cecilia, when she went
+      down to breakfast, perceived with the utmost concern that he had passed a
+      night as sleepless as her own. A visit so sudden, so unexpected, and so
+      unaccountable, from an object that no discouragement could make him think
+      of with indifference, had been a subject to him of conjecture and wonder
+      that had revived all the hopes and the fears which had lately, though
+      still unextinguished, lain dormant. The enquiries, however, which his
+      sister had given up, he ventured not to renew, and thought himself but too
+      happy in her presence, whatever might be the cause of her visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He perceived, however, immediately, the sadness that hung upon her mind,
+      and his own was redoubled by the sight: Mrs Harrel, also, saw that she
+      looked ill, but attributed it to the fatigue and fright of the preceding
+      evening, well knowing that a similar accident would have made her ill
+      herself, or fancy that she was so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During breakfast, Cecilia sent for the postilion, to enquire of him how
+      the man had fared, whose good-natured assistance in their distress had
+      been so unfortunate to himself. He answered that he had turned out to be a
+      day labourer, who lived about half a mile off. And then, partly to gratify
+      her own humanity, and partly to find any other employment for herself and
+      friends than uninteresting conversation, she proposed that they should all
+      walk to the poor man's habitation, and offer him some amends for the
+      injury he had received. This was readily assented to, and the postilion
+      directed them whither to go. The place was a cottage, situated upon a
+      common; they entered it without ceremony, and found a clean looking woman
+      at work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia enquired for her husband, and was told that he was gone out to
+      day-labour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad to hear it,&rdquo; returned she; &ldquo;I hope then he has got the
+      better of the accident he met with last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not him, madam,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;met with the accident, it was
+      John;&mdash;there he is, working in the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To the garden then they all went, and saw him upon the ground, weeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moment they approached he arose, and, without speaking, began to limp,
+      for he could hardly walk; away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, master,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;that you are so much hurt. Have you
+      had anything put to your foot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man made no answer, but still turned away from her; a glance, however,
+      of his eye, which the next instant he fixed upon the ground, startled her;
+      she moved round to look at him again,&mdash;and perceived Mr Belfield!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; she exclaimed; but seeing him still retreat, she recollected
+      in a moment how little he would be obliged to her for betraying him, and
+      suffering him to go on, turned back to her party, and led the way again
+      into the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the first emotion of her surprise was over, she enquired how
+      long John had belonged to this cottage, and what was his way of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman answered he had only been with them a week, and that he went out
+      to day-labour with her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, finding their stay kept him from his employment, and willing
+      to save him the distress of being seen by Mr Arnott or Mrs Harrel,
+      proposed their returning home. She grieved most sincerely at beholding in
+      so melancholy an occupation a young man of such talents and abilities; she
+      wished much to assist him, and began considering by what means it might be
+      done, when, as they were walking from the cottage, a voice at some
+      distance called out &ldquo;Madam! Miss Beverley!&rdquo; and, looking round, to her
+      utter amazement she saw Belfield endeavouring to follow her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She instantly stopt, and he advanced, his hat in his hand, and his whole
+      air indicating he sought not to be disguised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Surprised at this sudden change of behaviour, she then stept forward to
+      meet him, accompanied by her friends: but when they came up to each other,
+      she checked her desire of speaking, to leave him fully at liberty to make
+      himself known, or keep concealed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed with a look of assumed gaiety and ease, but the deep scarlet that
+      tinged his whole face manifested his internal confusion; and in a voice
+      that attempted to sound lively, though its tremulous accents betrayed
+      uneasiness and distress, he exclaimed, with a forced smile, &ldquo;Is it
+      possible Miss Beverley can deign to notice a poor miserable day-labourer
+      such as I am? how will she be justified in the beau monde, when even the
+      sight of such a wretch ought to fill her with horror? Henceforth let
+      hysterics be blown to the winds, and let nerves be discarded from the
+      female vocabulary, since a lady so young and fair can stand this shock
+      without hartshorn or fainting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am happy,&rdquo; answered Cecilia, &ldquo;to find your spirits so good; yet my own,
+      I must confess, are not raised by seeing you in this strange situation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My spirits!&rdquo; cried he, with an air of defiance, &ldquo;never were they better,
+      never so good as at this moment. Strange as seems my situation, it is all
+      that I wish; I have found out, at last, the true secret of happiness! that
+      secret which so long I pursued in vain, but which always eluded my grasp,
+      till the instant of despair arrived, when, slackening my pace, I gave it
+      up as a phantom. Go from me, I cried, I will be cheated no more! thou airy
+      bubble! thou fleeting shadow! I will live no longer in thy sight, since
+      thy beams dazzle without warming me! Mankind seems only composed as matter
+      for thy experiments, and I will quit the whole race, that thy delusions
+      may be presented to me no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This romantic flight, which startled even Cecilia, though acquainted with
+      his character, gave to Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott the utmost surprize; his
+      appearance, and the account they had just heard of him, having by no means
+      prepared them for such sentiments or such language.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is then this great secret of happiness,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;nothing, at last,
+      but total seclusion from the world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;it is Labour with Independence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now wished much to ask some explanation of his affairs, but was
+      doubtful whether he would gratify her before Mrs Harrel and Mr Arnott, and
+      hurt to keep him standing, though he leant upon a stick; she told him,
+      therefore, she would at present detain him no longer, but endeavour again
+      to see him before she quitted her friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Arnott then interfered, and desired his sister would entreat Miss
+      Beverley to invite whom she pleased to his house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia thanked him, and instantly asked Belfield to call upon her in the
+      afternoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam, no,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I have done with visits and society! I will
+      not so soon break through a system with much difficulty formed, when all
+      my future tranquility depends upon adhering to it. The worthlessness of
+      mankind has disgusted me with the world, and my resolution in quitting it
+      shall be immoveable as its baseness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must not venture then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to enquire&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enquire, madam,&rdquo; interrupted he, with quickness, &ldquo;what you please: there
+      is nothing I will not answer to you,&mdash;to this lady, to this
+      gentleman, to any and to every body. What can I wish to conceal, where I
+      have nothing to gain or to lose? When first, indeed, I saw you, I
+      involuntarily shrunk; a weak shame for a moment seized me, I felt fallen
+      and debased, and I wished to avoid you: but a little recollection brought
+      me back to my senses, And where, cried I, is the disgrace of exercising
+      for my subsistence the strength with which I am endued? and why should I
+      blush to lead the life which uncorrupted Nature first prescribed to man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, more and more interested to hear him, &ldquo;if you
+      will not visit us, will you at least permit us to return with you to some
+      place where you can be seated?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will with pleasure,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;go to any place where you may be seated
+      yourselves; but for me, I have ceased to regard accommodation or
+      inconvenience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then all went back to the cottage, which was now empty, the woman
+      being out at work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you then, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;give me leave to enquire whether Lord
+      Vannelt is acquainted with your retirement, and if it will not much
+      surprize and disappoint him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord Vannelt,&rdquo; cried he, haughtily, &ldquo;has no right to be surprised. I
+      would have quitted <i>his</i> house, if no other, not even this cottage,
+      had a roof to afford me shelter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, indeed, to hear it,&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;I had hoped he would have
+      known your value, and merited your regard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ill-usage,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;is as hard to relate as to be endured. There is
+      commonly something pitiful in a complaint; and though oppression in a
+      general sense provokes the wrath of mankind, the investigation of its
+      minuter circumstances excites nothing but derision. Those who give the
+      offence, by the worthy few may be hated; but those who receive it, by the
+      world at large will be despised. Conscious of this, I disdained making any
+      appeal; myself the only sufferer, I had a right to be the only judge, and,
+      shaking off the base trammels of interest and subjection, I quitted the
+      house in silent indignation, not chusing to remonstrate, where I desired
+      not to be reconciled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And was there no mode of life,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to adopt, but living with
+      Lord Vannelt, or giving up the whole world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I weighed every thing maturely,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;before I made my
+      determination, and I found it so much, the most eligible, that I am
+      certain I can never repent it. I had friends who would with pleasure have
+      presented me to some other nobleman; but my whole heart revolted against
+      leading that kind of life, and I would not, therefore, idly rove from one
+      great man to another, adding ill-will to disgrace, and pursuing hope in
+      defiance of common sense; no; when I quitted Lord Vannelt, I resolved to
+      give up patronage for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I retired to private lodgings to deliberate what next could be done. I
+      had lived in many ways, I had been unfortunate or imprudent in all. The
+      law I had tried, but its rudiments were tedious and disgusting; the army,
+      too, but there found my mind more fatigued with indolence, than my body
+      with action; general dissipation had then its turn, but the expence to
+      which it led was ruinous, and self-reproach baffled pleasure while I
+      pursued it; I have even&mdash;yes, there are few things I have left
+      untried,&mdash;I have even,&mdash;for why now disguise it?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt and coloured, but in a quicker voice presently proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Trade, also, has had its share in my experiments; for that, in truth, I
+      was originally destined,&mdash;but my education had ill suited me to such
+      a destination, and the trader's first maxim I reversed, in lavishing when
+      I ought to have accumulated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then, remained for me? to run over again the same irksome round I
+      had not patience, and to attempt any thing new I was unqualified: money I
+      had none; my friends I could bear to burthen no longer; a fortnight I
+      lingered in wretched irresolution,&mdash;a simple accident at the end of
+      it happily settled me; I was walking, one morning, in Hyde Park, forming a
+      thousand plans for my future life, but quarrelling with them all; when a
+      gentleman met me on horseback, from whom, at my Lord Vannelt's, I had
+      received particular civilities; I looked another way not to be seen by
+      him, and the change in my dress since I left his Lordship's made me easily
+      pass unnoticed. He had rode on, however, but a few yards, before, by some
+      accident or mismanagement, he had a fall from his horse. Forgetting all my
+      caution, I flew instantly to his assistance; he was bruised, but not
+      otherwise hurt; I helpt him up, and he leant 'pon my arm; in my haste of
+      enquiring how he had fared, I called him by his name. He knew me, but
+      looked surprised at my appearance; he was speaking to me, however, with
+      kindness, when seeing some gentlemen of his acquaintance gallopping up to
+      him, he hastily disengaged himself from me, and instantly beginning to
+      recount to them what had happened, he sedulously looked another way, and
+      joining his new companions, walked off without taking further notice of
+      me. For a moment I was almost tempted to trouble him to come back; but a
+      little recollection told me how ill he deserved my resentment, and bid me
+      transfer it for the future from the pitiful individual to the worthless
+      community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here finished my deliberation; the disgust to the world which I had
+      already conceived, this little incident confirmed; I saw it was only made
+      for the great and the rich;&mdash;poor, therefore, and low, what had I to
+      do in it? I determined to quit it for ever, and to end every
+      disappointment, by crushing every hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wrote to Lord Vannelt to send my trunks to my mother; I wrote to my
+      mother that I was well, and would soon let her hear more: I then paid off
+      my lodgings, and 'shaking the dust from my feet,' bid a long adieu to
+      London; and, committing my route to chance, strole on into the country,
+      without knowing or caring which way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My first thought was simply to seek retirement, and to depend for my
+      future repose upon nothing but a total seclusion from society: but my slow
+      method of travelling gave me time for reflection, and reflection soon
+      showed me the error of this notion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guilt, cried I, may, indeed, be avoided by solitude; but will misery?
+      will regret? will deep dejection of mind? no, they will follow more
+      assiduously than ever; for what is there to oppose them, where neither
+      business occupies the time, nor hope the imagination? where the past has
+      left nothing but resentment, and the future opens only to a dismal,
+      uninteresting void? No stranger to life, I knew human nature could not
+      exist on such terms; still less a stranger to books, I respected the voice
+      of wisdom and experience in the first of moralists, and most enlightened
+      of men, [Footnote: Dr Johnson.] and reading the letter of Cowley, I saw
+      the vanity and absurdity of <i>panting after solitude</i>. [Footnote: Life
+      of Cowley, p.34.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sought not, therefore, a cell; but, since I purposed to live for
+      myself, I determined for myself also to think. Servility of imitation has
+      ever been as much my scorn as servility of dependence; I resolved,
+      therefore, to strike out something new, and no more to retire as every
+      other man had retired, than to linger in the world as every other man had
+      lingered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The result of all you now see. I found out this cottage, and took up my
+      abode in it. I am here out of the way of all society, yet avoid the great
+      evil of retreat, <i>having nothing to do</i>. I am constantly, not
+      capriciously employed, and the exercise which benefits my health,
+      imperceptibly raises my spirits in despight of adversity. I am removed
+      from all temptation, I have scarce even the power to do wrong; I have no
+      object for ambition, for repining I have no time:&mdash;I have, found out,
+      I repeat, the true secret of happiness, Labour with Independence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt; and Cecilia, who had listened to this narrative with a mixture
+      of compassion, admiration and censure, was too much struck with its
+      singularity to be readily able to answer it. Her curiosity to hear him had
+      sprung wholly from her desire to assist him, and she had expected from his
+      story to gather some hint upon which her services might be offered. But
+      none had occurred; he professed himself fully satisfied with his
+      situation; and though reason and probability contradicted the profession,
+      she could not venture to dispute it with any delicacy or prudence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She thanked him, therefore, for his relation, with many apologies for the
+      trouble she had given him, and added, &ldquo;I must not express my concern for
+      misfortunes which you seem to regard as conducive to your contentment, nor
+      remonstrate at the step you have taken, since you have been led to it by
+      choice, not necessity: but yet, you must pardon me if I cannot help hoping
+      I shall some time see you happier, according to the common, however vulgar
+      ideas of the rest of the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, never, never! I am sick of mankind, not from theory, but experience;
+      and the precautions I have taken against mental fatigue, will secure me
+      from repentance, or any desire of change; for it is not the active, but
+      the indolent who weary; it is not the temperate, but the pampered who are
+      capricious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your sister, Sir, acquainted with this change in your fortune and
+      opinions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor girl, no! She and her unhappy mother have borne but too long with my
+      enterprizes and misfortunes. Even yet they would sacrifice whatever they
+      possess to enable me to play once more the game so often lost; but I will
+      not abuse their affection, nor suffer them again to be slaves to my
+      caprices, nor dupes to their own delusive expectations. I have sent them
+      word I am happy; I have not yet told them how or where. I fear much the
+      affliction of their disappointment, and, for a while, shall conceal from
+      them my situation, which they would fancy was disgraceful, and grieve at
+      as cruel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is it not cruel?&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;is labour indeed so sweet? and can
+      you seriously derive happiness from what all others consider as misery?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not sweet,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;in itself; but sweet, most sweet and salutary
+      in its effects. When I work, I forget all the world; my projects for the
+      future, my disappointments from the past. Mental fatigue is overpowered by
+      personal; I toil till I require rest, and that rest which nature, not
+      luxury demands, leads not to idle meditation, but to sound, heavy,
+      necessary sleep. I awake the next morning to the same thought-exiling
+      business, work again till my powers are exhausted, and am relieved again
+      at night by the same health-recruiting insensibility.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if this,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;is the life of happiness, why have we so
+      many complaints of the sufferings of the poor, and why so eternally do we
+      hear of their hardships and distress?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have known no other life. They are strangers, therefore, to the
+      felicity of their lot. Had they mingled in the world, fed high their fancy
+      with hope, and looked forward with expectation of enjoyment; had they been
+      courted by the great, and offered with profusion adulation for their
+      abilities, yet, even when starving, been offered nothing else!&mdash;had
+      they seen an attentive circle wait all its entertainment from their
+      powers, yet found themselves forgotten as soon as out of sight, and
+      perceived themselves avoided when no longer buffoons!&mdash;Oh had they
+      known and felt provocations such as these, how gladly would their
+      resentful spirits turn from the whole unfeeling race, and how would they
+      respect that noble and manly labour, which at once disentangles them from
+      such subjugating snares, and enables them to fly the ingratitude they
+      abhor! Without the contrast of vice, virtue unloved may be lovely; without
+      the experience of misery, happiness is simply a dull privation of evil.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And are you so content,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;with your present situation, as
+      even to think it offers you reparation for your past sufferings?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Content!&rdquo; repeated he with energy, &ldquo;O more than content, I am proud of my
+      present situation! I glory in chewing to the world, glory still more in
+      shewing to myself, that those whom I cannot but despise I will not scruple
+      to defy, and that where I have been treated unworthily, I will scorn to be
+      obliged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But will you pardon me,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;should I ask again, why in
+      quitting Lord Vannelt, you concluded no one else worthy a trial?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because it was less my Lord Vannelt, madam, than my own situation, that
+      disgusted me: for though I liked not his behaviour, I found him a man too
+      generally esteemed to flatter myself better usage would await me in merely
+      changing my abode, while my station was the same. I believe, indeed, he
+      never meant to offend me; but I was offended the more that he should think
+      me an object to receive indignity without knowing it. To have had this
+      pointed out to him, would have been at once mortifying and vain; for
+      delicacy, like taste, can only partially be taught, and will always be
+      superficial and erring where it is not innate. Those wrongs, which though
+      too trifling to resent, are too humiliating to be borne, speech can convey
+      no idea of; the soul must feel, or the understanding can never comprehend
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;though people of refinement are rare, they
+      yet exist; why, then, remove yourself from the possibility of meeting with
+      them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must I run about the nation,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;proclaiming my distress, and
+      describing my temper? telling the world that though dependent I demand
+      respect as well as assistance; and publishing to mankind, that though poor
+      I will accept no gifts if offered with contumely? Who will listen to such
+      an account? who will care for my misfortunes, but as they may humble me to
+      his service? Who will hear my mortifications, but to say I deserve them?
+      what has the world to do with my feelings and peculiarities? I know it too
+      well to think calamity will soften it; I need no new lessons to instruct
+      me that to conquer affliction is more wise than to relate it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unfortunate as you have been,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I cannot wonder at your
+      asperity; but yet, it is surely no more than justice to acknowledge, that
+      hard-heartedness to distress is by no means the fault of the present
+      times: on the contrary, it is scarce sooner made known, than every one is
+      ready to contribute to its relief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how contribute?&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;by a paltry donation of money? Yes, the
+      man whose only want is a few guineas, may, indeed, obtain them; but he who
+      asks kindness and protection, whose oppressed spirit calls for consolation
+      even more than his ruined fortune for repair, how is his struggling soul,
+      if superior to his fate, to brook the ostentation of patronage, and the
+      insolence of condescension? Yes, yes, the world will save the poor beggar
+      who is starving; but the fallen wretch, who will not cringe for his
+      support, may consume in his own wretchedness without pity and without
+      help!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now saw that the wound his sensibility had received was too
+      painful for argument, and too recent immediately to be healed. She
+      forbore, therefore, to detain him any longer, but expressing her best
+      wishes, without venturing to hint at her services, she arose, and they all
+      took their leave;&mdash;Belfield hastening, as they went, to return to the
+      garden, where, looking over the hedge as they passed, they saw him
+      employed again in weeding, with the eagerness of a man who pursues his
+      favourite occupation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia half forgot her own anxieties and sadness, in the concern which
+      she felt for this unfortunate and extraordinary young man. She wished much
+      to devise some means for drawing him from a life of such hardship and
+      obscurity; but what to a man thus &ldquo;jealous in honour,&rdquo; thus scrupulous in
+      delicacy, could she propose, without more risk of offence, than
+      probability of obliging? His account had, indeed, convinced her how much
+      he stood in need of assistance, but it had shewn her no less how
+      fastidious he would be in receiving it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was she wholly without fear that an earnest solicitude to serve him,
+      his youth, talents, and striking manners considered, might occasion even
+      in himself a misconstruction of her motives, such as she already had given
+      birth to in his forward and partial mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The present, therefore, all circumstances weighed, seemed no season for
+      her liberality, which she yet resolved to exert the first moment it was
+      unopposed by propriety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A CONTEST.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The rest of the day was passed in discussing this adventure; but in the
+      evening, Cecilia's interest in it was all sunk, by the reception of the
+      following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I grieve to interrupt the tranquillity of a retirement so judiciously
+      chosen, and I lament the necessity of again calling to trial the virtue of
+      which the exertion, though so captivating, is so painful; but alas, my
+      excellent young friend, we came not hither to enjoy, but to suffer; and
+      happy only are those whose sufferings have neither by folly been sought,
+      nor by guilt been merited, but arising merely from the imperfection of
+      humanity, have been resisted with fortitude, or endured with patience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am informed of your virtuous steadiness, which corresponds with my
+      expectations, while it excites my respect. All further conflict I had
+      hoped to have saved you; and to the triumph of your goodness I had trusted
+      for the recovery of your peace: but Mortimer has disappointed me, and our
+      work is still unfinished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He avers that he is solemnly engaged to you, and in pleading to me his
+      honour, he silences both expostulation and authority. From your own words
+      alone will he acknowledge his dismission; and notwithstanding my
+      reluctance to impose upon you this task, I cannot silence or quiet him
+      without making the request.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a purpose such as this, can you, then, admit us? Can you bear with
+      your own lips to confirm the irrevocable decision? You will feel, I am
+      sure, for the unfortunate Mortimer, and it was earnestly my desire to
+      spare you the sight of his affliction; yet such is my confidence in your
+      prudence, that since I find him bent upon seeing you, I am not without
+      hope, that from witnessing the greatness of your mind, the interview may
+      rather calm than inflame him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This proposal you will take into consideration, and if you are able, upon
+      such terms, to again meet my son, we will wait upon you together, where
+      and when you will appoint; but if the gentleness of your nature will make
+      the effort too severe for you, scruple not to decline it, for Mortimer,
+      when he knows your pleasure, will submit to it as he ought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Adieu, most amiable and but too lovely Cecilia; whatever you determine, be
+      sure of my concurrence, for nobly have you earned, and ever must you
+      retain, the esteem, the affection, and the gratitude of AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;when shall I be at rest? when cease to be
+      persecuted by new conflicts! Oh why must I so often, so cruelly, though so
+      reluctantly, reject and reprove the man who of all men I wish to accept
+      and to please!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But yet, though repining at this hard necessity, she hesitated not a
+      moment in complying with Mrs Delvile's request, and immediately sent an
+      answer that she would meet her the next morning at Mrs Charlton's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then returned to the parlour, and apologized to Mrs Harrel and Mr
+      Arnott for the abruptness of her visit, and the suddenness of her
+      departure. Mr Arnott heard her in silent dejection; and Mrs Harrel used
+      all the persuasion in her power to prevail with her to stay, her presence
+      being some relief to her solitude: but finding it ineffectual, she
+      earnestly pressed her to hasten her entrance into her own house, that
+      their absence might be shortened, and their meeting more sprightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia passed the night in planning her behaviour for the next day; she
+      found how much was expected from her by Mrs Delvile, who had even exhorted
+      her to decline the interview if doubtful of her own strength. Delvile's
+      firmness in insisting the refusal should come directly from herself,
+      surprised, gratified and perplexed her in turn; she had imagined, that
+      from the moment of the discovery, he would implicitly have submitted to
+      the award of a parent at once so reverenced and so beloved, and how he had
+      summoned courage to contend with her she could not conjecture: yet that
+      courage and that contention astonished not more than they soothed her,
+      since, from her knowledge of his filial tenderness, she considered them as
+      the most indubitable proofs she had yet received of the fervour and
+      constancy of his regard for her. But would he, when she had ratified the
+      decision of his mother, forbear all further struggle, and for ever yield
+      up all pretensions to her? this was the point upon which her uncertainty
+      turned, and the ruling subject of her thoughts and meditation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To be steady, however, herself, be his conduct what it might, was
+      invariably her intention, and was all her ambition: yet earnestly she
+      wished the meeting over, for she dreaded to see the sorrow of Delvile, and
+      she dreaded still more the susceptibility of her own heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, to her great concern, Mr Arnott was waiting in the hall
+      when she came down stairs, and so much grieved at her departure, that he
+      handed her to the chaise without being able to speak to her, and hardly
+      heard her thanks and compliments but by recollection after she was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She arrived at Mrs Charlton's very early, and found her old friend in the
+      same state she had left her. She communicated to her the purpose of her
+      return, and begged she would keep her granddaughters up stairs, that the
+      conference in the parlour might be uninterrupted and unheard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then made a forced and hasty breakfast, and went down to be ready to
+      receive them. They came not till eleven o'clock, and the time of her
+      waiting was passed in agonies of expectation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length they were announced, and at length they entered the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, with her utmost efforts for courage, could hardly stand to
+      receive them. They came in together, but Mrs Delvile, advancing before her
+      son, and endeavouring so to stand as to intercept his view of her, with
+      the hope that in a few instants her emotion would be less visible, said,
+      in the most soothing accents, &ldquo;What honour Miss Beverley does us by
+      permitting this visit! I should have been sorry to have left Suffolk
+      without the satisfaction of again seeing you; and my son, sensible of the
+      high respect he owes you, was most unwilling to be gone, before he had
+      paid you his devoirs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia courtsied; but depressed by the cruel task which awaited her, had
+      no power to speak; and Mrs Delvile, finding she still trembled, made her
+      sit down, and drew a chair next to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while Delvile, with an emotion far more violent, because wholly
+      unrestrained, waited impatiently till the ceremonial of the reception was
+      over, and then, approaching Cecilia, in a voice of perturbation and
+      resentment, said, &ldquo;In this presence, at least, I hope I may be heard;
+      though my letters have been unanswered, my visits refused, though
+      inexorably you have flown me&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mortimer,&rdquo; interrupted Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;forget not that what I have told you
+      is irrevocable; you now meet Miss Beverley for no other purpose than to
+      give and to receive a mutual release of all to or engagement with each
+      other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, madam,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;this is a condition to which I have never
+      assented. I come not to release, but to claim her! I am hers, and hers
+      wholly! I protest it in the face of the world! The time, therefore, is now
+      past for the sacrifice which you demand, since scarce are you more my
+      mother, than I consider her as my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, amazed at this dauntless declaration, now almost lost her fear in
+      her surprise; while Mrs Delvile, with an air calm though displeased,
+      answered, &ldquo;This is not a point to be at present discussed, and I had hoped
+      you knew better what was due to your auditors. I only consented to this
+      interview as a mark of your respect for Miss Beverley, to whom in
+      propriety it belongs to break off this unfortunate connexion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who at this call could no longer be silent, now gathered
+      fortitude to say, &ldquo;Whatever tie or obligation may be supposed to depend
+      upon me, I have already relinquished; and I am now ready to declare&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That you wholly give me up?&rdquo; interrupted Delvile, &ldquo;is that what you would
+      say?&mdash;Oh how have I offended you? how have I merited a displeasure
+      that can draw upon me such a sentence?&mdash;Answer, speak to me, Cecilia,
+      what is it I have done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, confounded at this language in the presence
+      of his mother, &ldquo;you have done nothing,&mdash;but yet&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet what?&mdash;have you conceived to me an aversion? has any dreadful
+      and horrible antipathy succeeded to your esteem?&mdash;tell, tell me
+      without disguise, do you hate, do you abhor me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sighed, and turned away her head; and Mrs Delvile indignantly
+      exclaimed, &ldquo;What madness and absurdity! I scarce know you under the
+      influence of such irrational violence. Why will you interrupt Miss
+      Beverley in the only speech you ought to hear from her? Why, at once,
+      oppress her, and irritate me, by words of more passion than reason? Go on,
+      charming girl, finish what so wisely, so judiciously you were beginning,
+      and then you shall be released from this turbulent persecution.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam, she must not go on!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;if she does not utterly
+      abhor me, I will not suffer her to go on;&mdash;Pardon, pardon me,
+      Cecilia, but your too exquisite delicacy is betraying not only my
+      happiness, but your own. Once more, therefore, I conjure you to hear me,
+      and then if, deliberately and unbiassed, you renounce me, I will never
+      more distress you by resisting your decree.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, abashed and changing colour, was silent, and he proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All that has past between us, the vows I have offered you of faith,
+      constancy and affection, the consent I obtained from you to be legally
+      mine, the bond of settlement I have had drawn up, and the high honour you
+      conferred upon me in suffering me to lead you to the altar,&mdash;all
+      these particulars are already known to so many, that the least reflection
+      must convince you they will soon be concealed from none: tell me, then, if
+      your own fame pleads not for me, and if the scruples which lead you to
+      refuse, by taking another direction, will not, with much more propriety,
+      urge, nay enjoin you to accept me!&mdash;You hesitate at least,&mdash;O
+      Miss Beverley!&mdash;I see in that hesitation&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, nothing!&rdquo; cried she, hastily, and checking her rising
+      irresolution; &ldquo;there is nothing for you to see, but that every way I now
+      turn I have rendered myself miserable!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mortimer,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, seized with terror as she penetrated into
+      the mental yielding of Cecilia, &ldquo;you have now spoken to Miss Beverley; and
+      unwilling as I am to obtrude upon her our difference of sentiment, it is
+      necessary, since she has heard you, that I, also, should claim her
+      attention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First let her speak!&rdquo; cried Delvile, who in her apparent wavering built
+      new hopes, &ldquo;first let her answer what she has already deigned to listen
+      to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, first let her hear!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;for so only can she judge
+      what answer will reflect upon her most honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, solemnly turning to Cecilia, she continued: &ldquo;You see here, Miss
+      Beverley, a young man who passionately adores you, and who forgets in his
+      adoration friends, family, and connections, the opinions in which he has
+      been educated, the honour of his house, his own former views, and all his
+      primitive sense of duty, both public and private!&mdash;A passion built on
+      such a defalcation of principle renders him unworthy your acceptance; and
+      not more ignoble for him would be a union which would blot his name from
+      the injured stock whence he sprung, than indelicate for you, who upon such
+      terms ought to despise him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, madam,&rdquo; exclaimed Delvile, &ldquo;what a speech!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O never,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, rising, &ldquo;may I hear such another! Indeed, madam,
+      there is no occasion to probe me so deeply, for I would not now enter your
+      family, for all that the whole world could offer me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At length, then, madam,&rdquo; cried Delvile, turning reproachfully to his
+      mother, &ldquo;are you satisfied? is your purpose now answered? and is the
+      dagger you have transfixed in my heart sunk deep enough to appease you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O could I draw it out,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;and leave upon it no stain of
+      ignominy, with what joy should my own bosom receive it, to heal the wound
+      I have most compulsatorily inflicted!&mdash;Were this excellent young
+      creature portionless, I would not hesitate in giving my consent; every
+      claim of interest would be overbalanced by her virtues, and I would not
+      grieve to see you poor, where so conscious you were happy; but here to
+      concede, would annihilate every hope with which hitherto I have looked up
+      to my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us now, then, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;break up this conference. I have
+      spoken, I have heard, the decree is past, and therefore,&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are indeed an angel!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, rising and embracing her;
+      &ldquo;and never can I reproach my son with what has passed, when I consider for
+      what an object the sacrifice was planned. <i>You</i> cannot be unhappy,
+      you have purchased peace by the exercise of virtue, and the close of every
+      day will bring to you a reward, in the sweets of a self-approving mind.&mdash;But
+      we will part, since you think it right; I do wrong to occasion any delay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, we will <i>not</i> part!&rdquo; cried Delvile, with encreasing vehemence;
+      &ldquo;if you force me, madam, from her, you will drive me to distraction! What
+      is there in this world that can offer me a recompense? And what can pride
+      even to the proudest afford as an equivalent? Her perfections you
+      acknowledge, her greatness of mind is like your own; she has generously
+      given me her heart,&mdash;Oh sacred and fascinating charge! Shall I, after
+      such a deposite, consent to an eternal separation? Repeal, repeal your
+      sentence, my Cecilia! let us live to ourselves and our consciences, and
+      leave the vain prejudices of the world to those who can be paid by them
+      for the loss of all besides!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this conflict, then,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;to last for-ever? Oh end it,
+      Mortimer, finish it, and make me happy! she is just, and will forgive you,
+      she is noble-minded, and will honour you. Fly, then, at this critical
+      moment, for in flight alone is your safety; and then will your father see
+      the son of his hopes, and then shall the fond blessings of your idolizing
+      mother soothe all your affliction, and soften all your regret!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;for mercy, for humanity, forbear this cruel
+      supplication!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, more than supplication, you have my commands; commands you have
+      never yet disputed, and misery, ten-fold misery, will follow their
+      disobedience. Hear me, Mortimer, for I speak prophetically; I know your
+      heart, I know it to be formed for rectitude and duty, or destined by their
+      neglect to repentance and horror.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, struck by these words, turned suddenly from them both, and in
+      gloomy despondence walked to the other end of the room. Mrs Delvile
+      perceived the moment of her power, and determined to pursue the blow:
+      taking, therefore, the hand of Cecilia, while her eyes sparkled with the
+      animation of reviving hope, &ldquo;See,&rdquo; she cried, pointing to her son, &ldquo;see if
+      I am deceived! can he bear even the suggestion of future contrition! Think
+      you when it falls upon him, he will support it better? No; he will sink
+      under it. And you, pure as you are of mind, and steadfast in principle,
+      what would your chance be of happiness with a man who never erring till he
+      knew you, could never look at you without regret, be his fondness what it
+      might?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam,&rdquo; cried the greatly shocked Cecilia, &ldquo;let him, then, see me no
+      more!&mdash;take, take him all to yourself! forgive, console him! I will
+      not have the misery of involving him in repentance, nor of incurring the
+      reproaches of the mother he so much reverences!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exalted creature!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile; &ldquo;tenderness such as this would
+      confer honour upon a monarch.&rdquo; Then, calling out exultingly to her son,
+      &ldquo;See,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;how great a woman can act, when stimulated by
+      generosity, and a just sense of duty! Follow then, at least, the example
+      you ought to have led, and deserve my esteem and love, or be content to
+      forego them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And can I only deserve them,&rdquo; said Delvile, in a tone of the deepest
+      anguish, &ldquo;by a compliance to which not merely my happiness, but my reason
+      must be sacrificed? What honour do I injure that is not factitious? What
+      evil threatens our union, that is not imaginary? In the general commerce
+      of the world it may be right to yield to its prejudices, but in matters of
+      serious importance, it is weakness to be shackled by scruples so
+      frivolous, and it is cowardly to be governed by the customs we condemn.
+      Religion and the laws of our country should then alone be consulted, and
+      where those are neither opposed nor infringed, we should hold ourselves
+      superior to all other considerations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mistaken notions!&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile; &ldquo;and how long do you flatter
+      yourself this independent happiness would endure? How long could you live
+      contented by mere self-gratification, in defiance of the censure of
+      mankind, the renunciation of your family, and the curses of your father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The curses of my father!&rdquo; repeated he, starting and shuddering, &ldquo;O no, he
+      could never be so barbarous!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He could,&rdquo; said she, steadily, &ldquo;nor do I doubt but he would. If now,
+      however, you are affected by the prospect of his disclaiming you, think
+      but what you will feel when first forbid to appear before either of us!
+      and think of your remorse for involving Miss Beverley in such disgrace!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O speak not such words!&rdquo; cried he, with agonizing earnestness, &ldquo;to
+      disgrace her,&mdash;to be banished by you,&mdash;present not, I conjure
+      you, such scenes to my imagination!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet would they be unavoidable,&rdquo; continued she; &ldquo;nor have I said to you
+      all; blinded as you now are by passion, your nobler feelings are only
+      obscured, not extirpated; think, then, how they will all rise in revenge
+      of your insulted dignity, when your name becomes a stranger to your ears,
+      and you are first saluted by one so meanly adopted!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold, hold, madam,&rdquo; interrupted he, &ldquo;this is more than I can bear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; still continued she, disregarding his entreaty, &ldquo;what in the
+      universe can pay you for that first moment of indignity! Think of it well
+      ere you proceed, and anticipate your sensations, lest the shock should
+      wholly overcome you. How will the blood of your wronged ancestors rise
+      into your guilty cheeks, and how will your heart throb with secret shame
+      and reproach, when wished joy upon your marriage by the name of <i>Mr
+      Beverley</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, stung to the soul, attempted not any answer, but walked about the
+      room in the utmost disorder of mind. Cecilia would have retired, but
+      feared irritating him to some extravagance; and Mrs Delvile, looking after
+      him, added &ldquo;For myself, I would still see, for I should pity your wife,&mdash;but
+      NEVER would I behold my son when sunk into an object of compassion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shall not be!&rdquo; cried he, in a transport of rage; &ldquo;cease, cease to
+      distract me!&mdash;be content, madam,&mdash;you have conquered!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you are my son!&rdquo; cried she, rapturously embracing him; &ldquo;now I know
+      again my Mortimer! now I see the fair promise of his upright youth, and
+      the flattering completion of my maternal expectations!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, finding all thus concluded, desired nothing so much as to
+      congratulate them on their reconciliation; but having only said &ldquo;Let <i>me</i>,
+      too,&mdash;&rdquo; her voice failed her, she stopt short, and hoping she had
+      been unheard, would have glided out of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Delvile, penetrated and tortured, yet delighted at this sensibility,
+      broke from his mother, and seizing her hand, exclaimed, &ldquo;Oh Miss Beverley,
+      if <i>you</i> are not happy&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am! I am!&rdquo; cried she, with quickness; &ldquo;let me pass,&mdash;and think no
+      more of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That voice,&mdash;those looks,&mdash;&rdquo; cried he, still holding her, &ldquo;they
+      speak not serenity!&mdash;Oh if I have injured your peace,&mdash;if that
+      heart, which, pure as angels, deserves to be as sacred from sorrow,
+      through my means, or for my sake, suffers any diminution of tranquility&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, none!&rdquo; interrupted she, with precipitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know well,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;your greatness of soul; and if this dreadful
+      sacrifice gives lasting torture only to myself,&mdash;if of <i>your</i>
+      returning happiness I could be assured,&mdash;I would struggle to bear
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>may</i>, be assured of it,&rdquo; cried she, with reviving dignity, &ldquo;I
+      have no right to expect escaping all calamity, but while I share the
+      common lot, I will submit to it without repining.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heaven then bless, and hovering angels watch you!&rdquo; cried he, and letting
+      go her hand, he ran hastily out of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh Virtue, how bright is thy triumph!&rdquo; exclaimed Mrs Delvile, flying up
+      to Cecilia, and folding her in her arms; &ldquo;Noble, incomparable young
+      creature! I knew not that so much worth was compatible with human
+      frailty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the heroism of Cecilia, in losing its object, lost its force; she
+      sighed, she could not speak, tears gushed into her eyes, and kissing Mrs
+      Delvile's hand with a look that shewed her inability to converse with her,
+      she hastened, though scarce able to support herself, away, with intention
+      to shut herself up in her own apartment: and Mrs Delvile, who perceived
+      that her utmost fortitude was exhausted, opposed not her going, and wisely
+      forbore to encrease her emotion, by following her even with her blessings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when she came into the hall, she started, and could proceed no
+      further; for there she beheld Delvile, who in too great agony to be seen,
+      had stopt to recover some composure before he quitted the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the first sound of an opening door, he was hastily escaping; but
+      perceiving Cecilia, and discerning her situation, he more hastily turned
+      back, saying, &ldquo;Is it possible?&mdash;To <i>me</i> were you coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head, and made a motion with her hand to say no, and would
+      then have gone on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are weeping!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;you are pale!&mdash;Oh Miss Beverley! is
+      this your happiness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very well,&mdash;&rdquo; cried she, not knowing what she answered, &ldquo;I am
+      quite well,&mdash;pray go,&mdash;I am very&mdash;&rdquo; her words died away
+      inarticulated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O what a voice is that!&rdquo; exclaimed he, &ldquo;it pierces my very soul!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile now came to the parlour door, and looked aghast at the
+      situation in which she saw them: Cecilia again moved on, and reached the
+      stairs, but tottered, and was obliged to cling to the banisters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O suffer me to support you,&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;you are not able to stand,&mdash;whither
+      is it you would go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any where,&mdash;I don't know,&mdash;&rdquo; answered she, in faltering
+      accents, &ldquo;but if you would leave me, I should be well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And, turning from him, she walked again towards the parlour, finding by
+      her shaking frame, the impossibility of getting unaided up the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me your hand, my love,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, cruelly alarmed by this
+      return; and the moment they re-entered the parlour, she said impatiently
+      to her son, &ldquo;Mortimer, why are you not gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He heard her not, however; his whole attention was upon Cecilia, who,
+      sinking into a chair, hid her face against Mrs Delvile: but, reviving in a
+      few moments, and blushing at the weakness she had betrayed, she raised her
+      head, and, with an assumed serenity, said, &ldquo;I am better,&mdash;much
+      better,&mdash;I was rather sick,&mdash;but it is over; and now, if you
+      will excuse me, I will go to my own room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then arose, but her knees trembled, and her head was giddy, and again
+      seating herself, she forced a faint smile, and said, &ldquo;Perhaps I had better
+      keep quiet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can I bear this!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;no, it shakes all my resolution!&mdash;loveliest
+      and most beloved Cecilia! forgive my rash declaration, which I hear
+      retract and forswear, and which no false pride, no worthless vanity shall
+      again surprise from me!&mdash;raise, then, your eyes&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hot-headed young man!&rdquo; interrupted Mrs Delvile, with an air of haughty
+      displeasure, &ldquo;if you cannot be rational, at least be silent. Miss
+      Beverley, we will both leave him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shame, and her own earnestness, how restored some strength to Cecilia, who
+      read with terror in the looks of Mrs Delvile the passions with which she
+      was agitated, and instantly obeyed her by rising; but her son, who
+      inherited a portion of her own spirit, rushed between them both and the
+      door, and exclaimed, &ldquo;Stay, madam, stay! I cannot let you go: I see your
+      intention, I see your dreadful purpose; you will work upon the feelings of
+      Miss Beverley, you will extort from her a promise to see me no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oppose not my passing!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, whose voice, face and manner
+      spoke the encreasing disturbance of her soul; &ldquo;I have but too long talked
+      to you in vain; I must now take some better method for the security of the
+      honour of my family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This moment appeared to Delvile decisive; and casting off in desperation
+      all timidity and restraint, he suddenly sprang forward, and snatching the
+      hand of Cecilia from his mother, he exclaimed, &ldquo;I cannot, I will not give
+      her up!&mdash;nor now, madam, nor ever!&mdash;I protest it most solemnly!
+      I affirm it by my best hopes! I swear it by all that I hold sacred!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Grief and horror next to frenzy at a disappointment thus unexpected, and
+      thus peremptory, rose in the face of Mrs Delvile, who, striking her hand
+      upon her forehead, cried, &ldquo;My brain is on fire!&rdquo; and rushed out of the
+      room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had now no difficulty to disengage herself from Delvile, who,
+      shocked at the exclamation, and confounded by the sudden departure of his
+      mother, hastened eagerly to pursue her: she had only flown into the next
+      parlour; but, upon following her thither, what was his dread and his
+      alarm, when he saw her extended, upon the floor, her face, hands and neck
+      all covered with blood! &ldquo;Great Heaven!&rdquo; he exclaimed, prostrating himself
+      by her side, &ldquo;what is it you have done!&mdash;where are you wounded?&mdash;what
+      direful curse have you denounced against your son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not able to speak, she angrily shook her head, and indignantly made a
+      motion with her hand, that commanded him from her sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had followed, though half dead with terror, had yet the
+      presence of mind to ring the bell. A servant came immediately; and
+      Delvile, starting up from his mother, ordered him to fetch the first
+      surgeon or physician he could find.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alarm now brought the rest of the servants into the room, and Mrs
+      Delvile suffered herself to be raised from the ground, and seated in a
+      chair; she was still silent, but shewed a disgust to any assistance from
+      her son, that made him deliver her into the hands of the servants, while,
+      in speechless agony, he only looked on and watched her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither did Cecilia, though forgetting her own sorrow, and no longer
+      sensible of personal weakness, venture to approach her: uncertain what had
+      happened, she yet considered herself as the ultimate cause of this
+      dreadful scene, and feared to risk the effect of the smallest additional
+      emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The servant returned with a surgeon in a few minutes: Cecilia, unable to
+      wait and hear what he would say, glided hastily out of the room; and
+      Delvile, in still greater agitation, followed her quick into the next
+      parlour; but having eagerly advanced to speak to her, he turned
+      precipitately about, and hurrying into the hall, walked in hasty steps up
+      and down it, without courage to enquire what was passing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length the surgeon came out: Delvile flew to him, and stopt him, but
+      could ask no question. His countenance, however, rendered words
+      unnecessary; the surgeon understood him, and said, &ldquo;The lady will do very
+      well; she has burst a blood vessel, but I think it will be of no
+      consequence. She must be kept quiet and easy, and upon no account suffered
+      to talk, or to use any exertion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile now let him go, and flew himself into a corner to return thanks to
+      heaven that the evil, however great, was less than he had at first
+      apprehended. He then went into the parlour to Cecilia, eagerly calling
+      out, &ldquo;Heaven be praised, my mother has not voluntarily cursed me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O now then,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;once more make her bless you! the violence
+      of her agitation has already almost destroyed her, and her frame is too
+      weak for this struggle of contending passions;&mdash;go to her, then, and
+      calm the tumult of her spirits, by acquiescing wholly in her will, and
+      being to her again the son she thinks she has lost!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said he, in a tone of the deepest dejection; &ldquo;I have been
+      preparing myself for that purpose, and waited but your commands to finally
+      determine me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us both go to her instantly,&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;the least delay may be
+      fatal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She now led the way, and approaching Mrs Delvile, who, faint and weak, was
+      seated upon an arm chair, and resting her head upon the shoulder of a maid
+      servant, said, &ldquo;Lean, dearest madam, upon <i>me</i>, and speak not, but
+      hear us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then took the place of the maid, and desired her and the other
+      servants to go out of the room. Delvile advanced, but his mother's eye,
+      recovering, at his sight, its wonted fire, darted upon him a glance of
+      such displeasure, that, shuddering with the apprehension of inflaming
+      again those passions which threatened her destruction, he hastily sank on
+      one knee, and abruptly exclaimed, &ldquo;Look at me with less abhorrence, for I
+      come but to resign myself to your will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mine, also,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;that will shall be; you need not speak it,
+      we know it, and here solemnly we promise that we will separate for ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Revive, then, my mother,&rdquo; said Delvile, &ldquo;rely upon our plighted honours,
+      and think only of your health, for your son will never more offend you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Delvile, much surprised, and strongly affected, held out her hand to
+      him, with a look of mingled compassion and obligation, and dropping her
+      head upon the bosom of Cecilia, who with her other arm she pressed towards
+      her, she burst into an agony of tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, go, Sir!&rdquo; said Cecilia, cruelly alarmed, &ldquo;you have said all that is
+      necessary; leave Mrs Delvile now, and she will be more composed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile instantly obeyed, and then his mother, whose mouth still continued
+      to fill with blood, though it gushed not from her with the violence it had
+      begun, was prevailed upon by the prayers of Cecilia to consent to be
+      conveyed into her room; and, as her immediate removal to another house
+      might be dangerous, she complied also, though very reluctantly, with her
+      urgent entreaties, that she would take entire possession of it till the
+      next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This point gained, Cecilia left her, to communicate what had passed to Mrs
+      Charlton; but was told by one of the servants that Mr Delvile begged first
+      to speak with her in the next room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated for a moment whether to grant this request; but recollecting
+      it was right to acquaint him with his mother's intention of staying all
+      night, she went to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How indulgent you are,&rdquo; cried he, in a melancholy voice, as she opened
+      the door; &ldquo;I am now going post to Dr Lyster, whom I shall entreat to come
+      hither instantly; but I am fearful of again disturbing my mother, and must
+      therefore rely upon you to acquaint her what is become of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most certainly; I have begged her to remain here to-night, and I hope I
+      shall prevail with her to continue with me till Dr Lyster's arrival; after
+      which she will, doubtless, be guided either in staying longer, or removing
+      elsewhere, by his advice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are all goodness,&rdquo; said he, with a deep sigh; &ldquo;and how I shall
+      support&mdash;but I mean not to return hither, at least not to this house,&mdash;unless,
+      indeed, Dr Lyster's account should be alarming. I leave my mother,
+      therefore, to your kindness, and only hope, only entreat, that your own
+      health,&mdash;your own peace of mind&mdash;neither by attendance upon her&mdash;by
+      anxiety&mdash;by pity for her son&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt, and seemed gasping for breath; Cecilia turned from him to hide
+      her emotion, and he proceeded with a rapidity of speech that shewed his
+      terror of continuing with her any longer, and his struggle with himself to
+      be gone: &ldquo;The promise you have made in both our names to my mother, I
+      shall hold myself bound to observe. I see, indeed, that her reason or her
+      life would fall the sacrifice of further opposition: of myself, therefore,
+      it is no longer time to think.&mdash;I take of you no leave&mdash;I
+      cannot! yet I would fain tell you the high reverence&mdash;but it is
+      better to say nothing&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much better,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, with a forced and faint smile; &ldquo;lose not,
+      therefore, an instant, but hasten to this good Dr Lyster.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; answered he, going to the door; but there, stopping and turning
+      round, &ldquo;one thing I should yet,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;wish to say,&mdash;I have been
+      impetuous, violent, unreasonable,&mdash;with shame and with regret I
+      recollect how impetuous, and how unreasonable: I have persecuted, where I
+      ought in silence to have submitted; I have reproached, where I ought in
+      candour to have approved; and in the vehemence with which I have pursued
+      you, I have censured that very dignity of conduct which has been the basis
+      of my admiration, my esteem, my devotion! but never can I forget, and
+      never without fresh wonder remember, the sweetness with which you have
+      borne with me, even when most I offended you. For this impatience, this
+      violence, this inconsistency, I now most sincerely beg your pardon; and
+      if, before I go, you could so far condescend as to pronounce my
+      forgiveness, with a lighter heart, I think, I should quit you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not talk of forgiveness,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;you have never offended me; I
+      always knew&mdash;always was sure&mdash;always imputed&mdash;&rdquo; she stopt,
+      unable to proceed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Deeply penetrated by her apparent distress, he with difficulty restrained
+      himself from falling at her feet; but after a moment's pause and
+      recollection, he said, &ldquo;I understand the generous indulgence you have
+      shewn me, an indulgence I shall ever revere, and ever grieve to have
+      abused. I ask you not to remember me,&mdash;far, far happier do I wish you
+      than such a remembrance could make you; but I will pain the humanity of
+      your disposition no longer. You will tell my mother&mdash;but no matter!&mdash;Heaven
+      preserve you, my angelic Cecilia!&mdash;Miss Beverley, I mean, Heaven
+      guide, protect, and bless you! And should I see you no more, should this
+      be the last sad moment&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, but presently recovering himself, added, &ldquo;May I hear, at least,
+      of your tranquillity, for that alone can have any chance to quiet or
+      repress the anguish I feel here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then abruptly retreated, and ran out of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia for a while remained almost stupified with sorrow; she forgot Mrs
+      Delvile, she forgot Mrs Charlton, she forgot her own design of apologizing
+      to one, or assisting the other: she continued in the posture in which he
+      had left her, quite without motion, and almost without sensibility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A MESSAGE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      From this lethargy of sadness Cecilia was soon, however, awakened by the
+      return of the surgeon, who had brought with him a physician to consult
+      upon Mrs Delvile's situation. Terror for the mother once more drove the
+      son from her thoughts, and she waited with the most apprehensive
+      impatience to hear the result of the consultation. The physician declined
+      giving any positive opinion, but, having written a prescription, only
+      repeated the injunction of the surgeon, that she should be kept extremely
+      quiet, and on no account be suffered to talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though shocked and frightened at the occasion, was yet by no
+      means sorry at an order which thus precluded all conversation; unfitted
+      for it by her own misery, she was glad to be relieved from all necessity
+      of imposing upon herself the irksome task of finding subjects for
+      discourse to which she was wholly indifferent, while obliged with sedulity
+      to avoid those by which alone her mind was occupied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Mrs Charlton heard the events of the morning with the utmost
+      concern, but charged her grand-daughters to assist her young friend in
+      doing the honours of her house to Mrs Delvile, while she ordered another
+      apartment to be prepared for Cecilia, to whom she administered all the
+      consolation her friendly zeal could suggest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however unhappy, had too just a way of thinking to indulge in
+      selfish grief, where occasion called her to action for the benefit of
+      others: scarce a moment, therefore now did she allow to sorrow and
+      herself, but assiduously bestowed the whole of her time upon her two sick
+      friends, dividing her attention according to their own desire or
+      convenience, without consulting or regarding any choice of her own.
+      Choice, indeed, she had none; she loved Mrs Charlton, she revered Mrs
+      Delvile; the warmest wish with which her heart glowed, was the recovery of
+      both, but too deep was her affliction to receive pleasure from either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days passed thus, during which the constancy of her attendance, which
+      at another time would have fatigued her, proved the only relief she was
+      capable of receiving. Mrs Delvile was evidently affected by her vigilant
+      tenderness, but seemed equally desirous with herself to make use of the
+      prohibition to speech as an excuse for uninterrupted silence. She enquired
+      not even after her son, though the eagerness of her look towards the door
+      whenever it was opened, shewed either a hope, or an apprehension that he
+      might enter. Cecilia wished to tell her whither he was gone, but dreaded
+      trusting her voice with his name; and their silence, after a while, seemed
+      so much by mutual consent, that she had soon as little courage as she had
+      inclination to break it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arrival of Dr Lyster gave her much satisfaction, for upon him rested
+      her hopes of Mrs Delvile's re-establishment. He sent for her down stairs,
+      to enquire whether he was expected; and hearing that he was not, desired
+      her to announce him, as the smallest emotion might do mischief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She returned up stairs, and after a short preparation, said, &ldquo;Your
+      favourite Dr Lyster, madam, is come, and I shall be much the happier for
+      having you under his care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dr Lyster?&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;who sent for him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe&mdash;I fancy&mdash;Mr Delvile fetched him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son?&mdash;is he here, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&mdash;he went, the moment he left you, for Dr Lyster,&mdash;and Dr
+      Lyster is come by himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does he write to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed!&mdash;he writes not&mdash;he comes not&mdash;dearest madam be
+      satisfied, he will do neither to me ever more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exemplary young man!&rdquo; cried she, in a voice hardly audible, &ldquo;how great is
+      his loss!&mdash;unhappy Mortimer!&mdash;ill-fated, and ill-rewarded!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She sighed, and said no more; but this short conversation, the only one
+      which had passed between them since her illness, agitated her so much,
+      that Dr Lyster, who now came up stairs, found her in a state of trembling
+      and weakness that both alarmed and surprised him. Cecilia, glad of an
+      opportunity to be gone, left the room, and sent, by Dr Lyster's desire,
+      for the physician and surgeon who had already attended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After they had been some time with their patient, they retired to a
+      consultation, and when it was over, Dr Lyster waited upon Cecilia in the
+      parlour, and assured her he had no apprehension of danger for Mrs Delvile,
+      &ldquo;Though, for another week,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;I would have her continue your <i>patient</i>,
+      as she is not yet fit to be removed. But pray mind that she is kept quiet;
+      let nobody go near her, not even her own son. By the way he is waiting for
+      me at the inn, so I'll just speak again to his mother, and be gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was well pleased by this accidental information, to learn both the
+      anxiety of Delvile for his mother, and the steadiness of his forbearance
+      for himself. When Dr Lyster came down stairs again, &ldquo;I shall stay,&rdquo; he
+      said, &ldquo;till to-morrow, but I hope she will be able in another week to get
+      to Bristol. In the mean time I shall leave her, I see, with an excellent
+      nurse. But, my good young lady, in your care of her, don't neglect
+      yourself; I am not quite pleased with your looks, though it is but an old
+      fashioned speech to tell you so.&mdash;What have you been doing to
+      yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing;&rdquo; said she, a little embarrassed; &ldquo;but had you not better have
+      some tea?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why yes, I think I had;&mdash;but what shall I do with my young man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia understood the hint, but coloured, and made no answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is waiting for me,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;at the inn; however, I never yet
+      knew the young man I would prefer to a young woman, so if you will give me
+      some tea here, I shall certainly jilt him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia instantly rang the bell, and ordered tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;remember the sin of this breach of appointment lies
+      wholly at your door. I shall tell him you laid violent hands on me; and if
+      that is not, enough to excuse me, I shall desire he will try whether he
+      could be more of a stoic with you himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I must unorder the tea,&rdquo; said she, with what gaiety she could
+      assume, &ldquo;if I am to be responsible for any mischief from your drinking
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, you shan't be off now; but pray would it be quite out of rule for
+      you to send and ask him to come to us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I believe&mdash;I think&mdash;&rdquo; said she, stammering, &ldquo;it's very
+      likely he may be engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, I don't mean to propose any violent incongruity. You must
+      excuse my blundering; I understand but little of the etiquette of young
+      ladies. 'Tis a science too intricate to be learned without more study than
+      we plodding men of business can well spare time for. However, when I have
+      done <i>writing</i> prescriptions, I will set about <i>reading</i> them,
+      provided you will be my instructress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though ashamed of a charge in which prudery and affectation were
+      implied, was compelled to submit to it, as either to send for Delvile, or
+      explain her objections, was equally impossible. The Miss Charltons,
+      therefore, joined them, and they went to tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as they had done, a note was delivered to Dr Lyster; &ldquo;see here,&rdquo;
+       cried he, when he had read it, &ldquo;what a fine thing it is to be a <i>young</i>
+      man! Why now, Mr Mortimer understands as much of all this <i>etiquette</i>
+      as you ladies do yourselves; for he only writes a note even to ask how his
+      mother does.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then put it into Cecilia's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Dr Lyster</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tell me, my dear Sir, how you have found my mother? I am uneasy at your
+      long stay, and engaged with my friend Biddulph, or I should have followed
+      you in person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M.D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you see,&rdquo; continued the doctor, &ldquo;I need not do penance for engaging
+      myself to you, when this young gentleman can find such good entertainment
+      for himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia who well knew the honourable motive of Delvile's engagement, with
+      difficulty forbore speaking in his vindication. Dr Lyster immediately
+      began an answer, but before he had finished it, called out, &ldquo;Now as I am
+      told you are a very good young woman, I think you can do no less than
+      assist me to punish this gay spark, for playing the macaroni, when he
+      ought to visit his sick mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, much hurt for Delvile, and much confused for herself, looked
+      abashed, but knew not what to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My scheme,&rdquo; continued the doctor, &ldquo;is to tell him, that as he has found
+      one engagement for tea, he may find another for supper; but that as to me,
+      I am better disposed of, for you insist upon keeping me to yourself. Come,
+      what says <i>etiquette</i>? may I treat myself with this puff?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said Cecilia, endeavouring to look pleased, &ldquo;if you will
+      favour us with your company, Miss Charltons and myself will think the <i>puffing</i>
+      should rather be ours than yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, then,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;will not answer my purpose, for I mean the
+      puff to be my own, or how do I punish him? So, suppose I tell him I shall
+      not only sup with three young ladies, but be invited to a <i>tete-a-tete</i>
+      with one of them into the bargain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young ladies only laughed, and the doctor finished his note, and sent
+      it away; and then, turning gaily to Cecilia, &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;why don't
+      you give me this invitation? surely you don't mean to make me guilty of
+      perjury?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, but little disposed for pleasantry, would gladly now have dropt
+      the subject; but Dr Lyster, turning to the Miss Charltons, said, &ldquo;Young
+      ladies, I call you both to witness if this is not very bad usage: this
+      young woman has connived at my writing a downright falsehood, and all the
+      time took me in to believe it was a truth. The only way I can think of to
+      cure her of such frolics, is for both of you to leave us together, and so
+      make her keep her word whether she will or no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Miss Charltons took the hint, and went away; while Cecilia, who had
+      not at all suspected he meant seriously to speak with her, remained
+      extremely perplexed to think what he had to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs Delvile,&rdquo; cried he, continuing the same air of easy good humour,
+      &ldquo;though I allowed her not to speak to me above twenty words, took up near
+      ten of them to tell me that you had behaved to her like an angel. Why so
+      she ought, cried I; what else was she sent for here to look so like one? I
+      charged her, therefore, to take all that as a thing of course; and to
+      prove that I really think what I say, I am now going to make a trial of
+      you, that, if you are any thing less, will induce you to order some of
+      your men to drive me into the street. The truth is, I have had a little
+      commission given me, which in the first place I know not how to introduce,
+      and which, in the second, as far as I can judge, appears to be absolutely
+      superfluous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now felt uneasy and alarmed, and begged him to explain himself. He
+      then dropt the levity with which he had begun the discourse, and after a
+      grave, yet gentle preparation, expressive of his unwillingness to distress
+      her, and his firm persuasion of her uncommon worthiness, he acquainted her
+      that he was no stranger to her situation with respect to the Delvile
+      family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; cried she, blushing and much amazed; &ldquo;and who&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew it,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;from the moment I attended Mr Mortimer in his
+      illness at Delvile Castle. He could not conceal from me that the seat of
+      his disorder was his mind; and I could not know that, without readily
+      conjecturing the cause, when I saw who was his father's guest, and when I
+      knew what was his father's character. He found he was betrayed to me, and
+      upon my advising a journey, he understood me properly. His openness to
+      counsel, and the manly firmness with which he behaved in quitting you,
+      made me hope the danger was blown over. But last week, when I was at the
+      Castle, where I have for some time attended Mr Delvile, who has had a
+      severe fit of the gout, I found him in an agitation of spirits that made
+      me apprehend it would be thrown into his stomach. I desired Mrs Delvile to
+      use her influence to calm him; but she was herself in still greater
+      emotion, and acquainting me she was obliged to leave him, desired I would
+      spend with him every moment in my power. I have therefore almost lived at
+      the Castle during her absence, and, in the course of our many
+      conversations, he has acknowledged to me the uneasiness under which he has
+      laboured, from the intelligence concerning his son, which he had just
+      received.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wished here to enquire <i>how</i> received, and from whom, but had
+      not the courage, and therefore he proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was still with the father when Mr Mortimer arrived post at my house to
+      fetch me hither. I was sent for home; he informed me of his errand without
+      disguise, for he knew I was well acquainted with the original secret
+      whence all the evil arose. I told him my distress in what manner to leave
+      his father; and he was extremely shocked himself when acquainted with his
+      situation. We agreed that it would be vain to conceal from him the
+      indisposition of Mrs Delvile, which the delay of her return, and a
+      thousand other accidents, might in some unfortunate way make known to him.
+      He commissioned me, therefore, to break it to him, that he might consent
+      to my journey, and at the same time to quiet his own mind, by assuring him
+      all he had apprehended was wholly at an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt, and looked to see how Cecilia bore these words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all at an end, Sir;&rdquo; said she, with firmness; &ldquo;but I have not yet
+      heard your commission; what, and from whom is that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am thoroughly satisfied it is unnecessary;&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;since the
+      young man can but submit, and you can but give him up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But still, if there is a message, it is fit I should hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you chase it, so it is. I told Mr Delvile whither I was coming, and I
+      repeated to him his son's assurances. He was relieved, but not satisfied;
+      he would not see him, and gave me for him a prohibition of extreme
+      severity, and to <i>you</i> he bid me say&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From <i>him</i>, then, is my message?&rdquo; cried Cecilia, half frightened,
+      and much disappointed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, understanding her immediately, &ldquo;for the son, after giving
+      me his first account, had the wisdom and forbearance not once to mention
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad,&rdquo; said she, with a mixture of admiration and regret, &ldquo;to
+      hear it. But, what, Sir, said Mr Delvile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He bid me tell you that either <i>he</i>, or <i>you</i> must see his son
+      never more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was indeed unnecessary,&rdquo; cried she, colouring with resentment, &ldquo;to
+      send me such a message. I meant not to see him again, he meant not to
+      desire it. I return him, however, no answer, and I will make him no
+      promise; to Mrs Delvile alone I hold myself bound; to him, send what
+      messages he may, I shall always hold myself free. But believe me, Dr
+      Lyster, if with his name, his son had inherited his character, his desire
+      of our separation would be feeble, and trifling, compared with my own!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, my good young lady,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to have given you this
+      disturbance; yet I admire your spirit, and doubt not but it will enable
+      you to forget any little disappointment you may have suffered. And what,
+      after all, have you to regret? Mortimer Delvile is, indeed, a young man
+      that any woman might wish to attach; but every woman cannot have him, and
+      you, of all women, have least reason to repine in missing him, for
+      scarcely is there another man you may not chuse or reject at your
+      pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Little as was the consolation Cecilia could draw from this speech, she was
+      sensible it became not her situation to make complaints, and therefore, to
+      end the conversation she proposed calling in the Miss Charltons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I must step up again to Mrs Delvile, and then be-gone.
+      To-morrow morning I shall but call to see how she is, and leave some
+      directions, and set off. Mr Mortimer Delvile accompanies me back: but he
+      means to return hither in a week, in order to travel with his mother to
+      Bristol. Mean time, I purpose to bring about a reconciliation between him
+      and his father, whose prejudices are more intractable than any man's I
+      ever met with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be strange indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;should a reconciliation <i>now</i>
+      be difficult!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True; but it is long since he was young himself, and the softer
+      affections he never was acquainted with, and only regards them in his son
+      as derogatory to his whole race. However, if there were not some few such
+      men, there would hardly be a family in the kingdom that could count a
+      great grand-father. I am not, I must own, of his humour myself, but I
+      think it rather peculiarly stranger, than peculiarly worse than most other
+      peoples; and how, for example, was that of <i>your</i> uncle a whit the
+      better? He was just as fond of <i>his</i> name, as if, like Mr Delvile, he
+      could trace it from the time of the Saxons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia strongly felt the truth of this observation, but not chusing to
+      discuss it, made not any answer, and Dr Lyster, after a few good-natured
+      apologies, both for his friends the Delviles and himself, went up stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What continual disturbance,&rdquo; cried she, when left alone, &ldquo;keeps me thus
+      for-ever from rest! no sooner is one wound closed, but another is opened;
+      mortification constantly succeeds distress, and when my heart is spared;
+      my pride is attacked, that not a moment of tranquility may ever be allowed
+      me! Had the lowest of women won the affections of Mr Delvile, could his
+      father with less delicacy or less decency have acquainted her with his
+      inflexible disapprobation? To send with so little ceremony a message so
+      contemptuous and so peremptory!&mdash;but perhaps it is better, for had
+      he, too, like Mrs Delvile, joined kindness with rejection, I might still
+      more keenly have felt the perverseness of my destiny.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PARTING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The next morning Dr Lyster called early, and having visited Mrs Delvile,
+      and again met the two gentlemen of the faculty in whose care she was to
+      remain, he took his leave. But not without contriving first to speak a few
+      words to Cecilia in private, in which he charged her to be careful of her
+      health, and re-animate her spirits. &ldquo;Don't suppose,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that
+      because I am a friend of the Delvile family, I am either blind to your
+      merits, or to their foibles, far from it; but then why should they
+      interfere with one another? Let them keep their prejudices, which, though
+      different, are not worse than their neighbours, and do you retain your
+      excellencies, and draw from them the happiness they ought to give you.
+      People reason and refine themselves into a thousand miseries, by chusing
+      to settle that they can only be contented one way; whereas, there are
+      fifty ways, if they would but look about them, that would commonly do as
+      well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe, indeed, you are right,&rdquo; answered Cecilia, &ldquo;and I thank you for
+      the admonition; I will do what I can towards studying your scheme of
+      philosophy, and it is always one step to amendment, to be convinced that
+      we want it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a sensible and charming girl,&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;and Mr Delvile,
+      should he find a daughter-in-law descended in a right line from Egbert,
+      first king of all England, won't be so well off as if he had satisfied
+      himself with you. However, the old gentleman has a fair right, after all,
+      to be pleased his own way, and let us blame him how we will, we shall
+      find, upon sifting, it is for no other reason but because his humour
+      happens to clash with our own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, smiling, &ldquo;is a truth incontrovertible! and a
+      truth to which, for the future, I will endeavour to give more weight. But
+      will you permit me now to ask one question?&mdash;Can you tell me from
+      whom, how, or when the intelligence which has caused all this disturbance&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated, but, comprehending her readily, he answered &ldquo;How they got
+      at it, I never heard, for I never thought it worth while to enquire, as it
+      is so generally known, that nobody I meet with seems ignorant of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was another, and a cruel shock to Cecilia, and Dr Lyster, perceiving
+      it, again attempted to comfort her. &ldquo;That the affair is somewhat spread,&rdquo;
+       said he, &ldquo;is now not to be helped, and therefore little worth thinking of;
+      every body will agree that the choice of both does honour to both, and
+      nobody need be ashamed to be successor to either, whenever the course of
+      things leads Mr Mortimer and yourself to make another election. He wisely
+      intends to go abroad, and will not return till he is his own man again.
+      And as to you, my good young lady, what, after a short time given to
+      vexation, need interrupt your happiness? You have the whole world before
+      you, with youth, fortune, talents, beauty and independence; drive,
+      therefore, from your head this unlucky affair, and remember there can
+      hardly be a family in the kingdom, this one excepted, that will not
+      rejoice in a connection with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then good-humouredly shook hands with her, and went into his chaise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though not slow in remarking the ease and philosophy with which
+      every one can argue upon the calamities, and moralize upon the misconduct
+      of others, had still the candour and good sense to see that there was
+      reason in what he urged, and to resolve upon making the best use in her
+      power of the hints for consolation she might draw from his discourse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the following week, she devoted herself almost wholly to Mrs
+      Delvile, sharing with the maid, whom she had brought with her from the
+      Castle, the fatigue of nursing her, and leaving to the Miss Charltons the
+      chief care of their grandmother. For Mrs Delvile appeared every hour more
+      sensible of her attention, and more desirous of her presence, and though
+      neither of them spoke, each was endeared to the other by the tender
+      offices of friendship which were paid and received.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this week was expired, Dr Lyster was prevailed upon to return again
+      to Bury, in order to travel himself with Mrs Delvile to Bristol. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo;
+       cried he, taking Cecilia by the first opportunity aside, &ldquo;how are you?
+      Have you studied my scheme of philosophy, as you promised me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and made, I flatter myself, no little proficiency.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a good girl,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;a very extraordinary girl! I am sure you
+      are; and upon my honour I pity poor Mortimer with all my soul! But he is a
+      noble young fellow, and behaves with a courage and spirit that does me
+      good to behold. To have obtained you, he would have moved heaven and
+      earth, but finding you out of his reach, he submits to his fate like a
+      man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's eyes glistened at this speech; &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;he long since
+      said 'tis suspence, 'tis hope, that make the misery of life,&mdash;for
+      there the Passions have all power, and Reason has none. But when evils are
+      irremediable, and we have neither resources to plan, nor castle-building
+      to delude us, we find time for the cultivation of philosophy, and flatter
+      ourselves, perhaps, that we have found inclination!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why you have considered this matter very deeply,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but I must
+      not have you give way to these serious reflections. Thought, after all,
+      has a cruel spite against happiness; I would have you, therefore, keep as
+      much as you conveniently can, out of its company. Run about and divert
+      yourself, 'tis all you have for it. The true art of happiness in this most
+      whimsical world, seems nothing more nor less than this&mdash;Let those who
+      have leisure, find employment, and those who have business, find leisure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that Mr Delvile senior was much better, and no longer
+      confined to his room: and that he had had the pleasure of seeing an entire
+      reconciliation take place between him and his son, of whom he was more
+      fond and more proud than any other father in the universe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think of him, however, my dear young lady,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;no more, for
+      the matter I see is desperate: you must pardon my being a little
+      officious, when I confess to you I could not help proposing to the old
+      gentleman an expedient of my own; for as I could not drive you out of my
+      head, I employed myself in thinking what might be done by way of
+      accommodation. Now my scheme was really a very good one, only when people
+      are prejudiced, all reasoning is thrown away upon them. I proposed sinking
+      <i>both</i> your names, since they are so at variance with one another,
+      and so adopting a third, by means of a title. But Mr Delvile angrily
+      declared, that though such a scheme might do very well for the needy Lord
+      Ernolf, a Peer of twenty years, his own noble ancestors should never, by
+      his consent, forfeit a name which so many centuries had rendered
+      honourable. His son Mortimer, he added, must inevitably inherit the title
+      of his grandfather, his uncle being old and unmarried; but yet he would
+      rather see him a beggar, than lose his dearest hope that <i>Delvile</i>,
+      Lord <i>Delvile</i>, would descend, both name and title, from generation
+      to generation unsullied and uninterrupted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;that such a proposal was made, and I
+      earnestly entreat that none of any sort may be repeated.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I would not for the world do any mischief, but who
+      would not have supposed such a proposal would have done good?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Mortimer,&rdquo; he then added, &ldquo;is to meet us at&mdash;for he would not, he
+      said, come again to this place, upon such terms as he was here last week,
+      for the whole worth of the king's dominions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The carriage was now ready, and Mrs Delvile was prepared to depart.
+      Cecilia approached to take leave of her, but Dr Lyster following, said &ldquo;No
+      talking! no thanking! no compliments of any sort! I shall carry off my
+      patient without permitting one civil speech, and for all the rudeness I
+      make her guilty of, I am willing to be responsible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia would then have retreated, but Mrs Delvile, holding out both her
+      hands, said &ldquo;To every thing else, Dr Lyster, I am content to submit; but
+      were I to die while uttering the words, I cannot leave this inestimable
+      creature without first saying how much I love her, how I honour, and how I
+      thank her! without entreating her to be careful of her health, and
+      conjuring her to compleat the greatness of her conduct, by not suffering
+      her spirits to sink from the exertion of her virtue. And now my love, God
+      bless you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then embraced her, and went on; Cecilia, at a motion of Dr Lyster's,
+      forbearing to follow her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thus,&rdquo; cried she, when they were gone, &ldquo;thus ends all my connection
+      with this family! which it seems as if I was only to have known for the
+      purpose of affording a new proof of the insufficiency of situation to
+      constitute happiness. Who looks not upon mine as the perfection of human
+      felicity?&mdash;And so, perhaps, it is, for it may be that Felicity and
+      Humanity are never permitted to come nearer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And thus, in philosophic sadness, by reasoning upon the universality of
+      misery, she restrained, at least, all violence of sorrow, though her
+      spirits were dejected, and her heart was heavy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the next day brought with it some comfort that a little lightened her
+      sadness; Mrs Charlton, almost wholly recovered, was able to go down
+      stairs, and Cecilia had at least the satisfaction of seeing an happy
+      conclusion to an illness of which, with the utmost concern and regret, she
+      considered herself as the cause. She attended her with the most
+      unremitting assiduity, and being really very thankful, endeavoured to
+      appear happy, and flattered herself that, by continual effort, the
+      appearance in a short time would become reality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Charlton retired early, and Cecilia accompanied her up stairs: and
+      while she was with her, was informed that Mr Monckton was in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The various, afflicting, and uncommon scenes in which she had been engaged
+      since she last saw him, had almost wholly driven him from her remembrance,
+      or when at any time he recurred to it, it was only to attribute the
+      discontinuance of his visits to the offence she had given him, in refusing
+      to follow his advice by relinquishing her London expedition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Full, therefore, of the mortifying transactions which had passed since
+      their parting, and fearful of his enquiries into disgraces he had nearly
+      foretold, she heard him announced with chagrin, and waited upon him in the
+      most painful confusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Far different were the feelings of Mr Monckton; he read in her countenance
+      the dejection of disappointment, which impressed upon his heart the
+      vivacity of hope: her evident shame was to him secret triumph, her
+      ill-concealed sorrow revived all his expectations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hastily began a conversation by mentioning her debt to him, and
+      apologising for not paying it the moment she was of age. He knew but too
+      well how her time had been occupied, and assured her the delay was wholly
+      immaterial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then led to an enquiry into the present situation of her affairs; but
+      unable to endure a disquisition, which could only be productive of censure
+      and mortification, she hastily stopt it, exclaiming, &ldquo;Ask me not, I
+      entreat you, Sir, any detail of what has passed,&mdash;the event has
+      brought me sufferings that may well make blame be dispensed with;&mdash;I
+      acknowledge all your wisdom, I am sensible of my own error, but the affair
+      is wholly dropt, and the unhappy connection I was forming is broken off
+      for-ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Little now was Mr Monckton's effort in repressing his further curiosity,
+      and he started other subjects with readiness, gaiety and address. He
+      mentioned Mrs Charlton, for whom he had not the smallest regard; he talked
+      to her of Mrs Harrel, whose very existence was indifferent to him; and he
+      spoke of their common acquaintance in the country, for not one of whom he
+      would have grieved, if assured of meeting no more. His powers of
+      conversation were enlivened by his hopes; and his exhilarated spirits made
+      all subjects seem happy to him. A weight was removed from his mind which
+      had nearly borne down even his remotest hopes; the object of his eager
+      pursuit seemed still within his reach, and the rival into whose power he
+      had so lately almost beheld her delivered, was totally renounced, and no
+      longer to be dreaded. A revolution such as this, raised expectations more
+      sanguine than ever; and in quitting the house, he exultingly considered
+      himself released from every obstacle to his views&mdash;till, just as he
+      arrived home, he recollected his wife!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER viii. &mdash; A TALE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A week passed, during which Cecilia, however sad, spent her time as usual
+      with the family, denying to herself all voluntary indulgence of grief, and
+      forbearing to seek consolation from solitude, or relief from tears. She
+      never named Delvile, she begged Mrs Charlton never to mention him; she
+      called to her aid the account she had received from Dr Lyster of his
+      firmness, and endeavoured, by an emulous ambition, to fortify her mind
+      from the weakness of depression and regret.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This week, a week of struggle with all her feelings, was just elapsed,
+      when she received by the post the following letter from Mrs Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      BRISTOL, <i>Oct</i>. 21.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My sweet young friend will not, I hope, be sorry to hear of my safe
+      arrival at this place: to me every account of her health and welfare, will
+      ever be the intelligence I shall most covet to receive. Yet I mean not to
+      ask for it in return; to chance I will trust for information, and I only
+      write now to say I shall write no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Too much for thanks is what I owe you, and what I think of you is beyond
+      all power of expression. Do not, then, wish me ill, ill as I have seemed
+      to merit of you, for my own heart is almost broken by the tyranny I have
+      been compelled to practise upon yours. And now let me bid a long adieu to
+      you, my admirable Cecilia; you shall not be tormented with a useless
+      correspondence, which can only awaken painful recollections, or give rise
+      to yet more painful new anxieties. Fervently will I pray for the
+      restoration of your happiness, to which nothing can so greatly contribute
+      as that wise, that uniform command, so feminine, yet so dignified, you
+      maintain over your passions; which often I have admired, though never so
+      feelingly as at this conscious moment! when my own health is the sacrifice
+      of emotions most fatally unrestrained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Send to me no answer, even if you have the sweetness to wish it; every new
+      proof of the generosity of your nature is to me but a new wound. Forget
+      us, therefore, wholly,&mdash;alas! you have only known us for sorrow!
+      forget us, dear and invaluable Cecilia! though, ever, as you have nobly
+      deserved, must you be fondly and gratefully remembered by AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attempted philosophy, and laboured resignation of Cecilia, this letter
+      destroyed: the struggle was over, the apathy was at an end, and she burst
+      into an agony of tears, which finding the vent they had long sought, now
+      flowed unchecked down her cheeks, sad monitors of the weakness of reason
+      opposed to the anguish of sorrow!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A letter at once so caressing, yet so absolute, forced its way to her
+      heart, in spite of the fortitude she had flattered herself was its guard.
+      In giving up Delvile she was satisfied of the propriety of seeing him no
+      more, and convinced that even to talk of him would be folly and
+      imprudence; but to be told that for the future they must remain strangers
+      to the existence of each other&mdash;there seemed in this a hardship, a
+      rigour, that was insupportable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh what,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;is human nature! in its best state how imperfect!
+      that a woman such as this, so noble in character, so elevated in
+      sentiment, with heroism to sacrifice to her sense of duty the happiness of
+      a son, whom with joy she would die to serve, can herself be thus governed
+      by prejudice, thus enslaved, thus subdued by opinion!&rdquo; Yet never, even
+      when miserable, unjust or irrational; her grief was unmixed with anger,
+      and her tears streamed not from resentment, but affliction. The situation
+      of Mrs Delvile, however different, she considered to be as wretched as her
+      own. She read, therefore, with sadness, but not bitterness, her farewell,
+      and received not with disdain, but with gratitude, her sympathy. Yet
+      though her indignation was not irritated, her sufferings were doubled, by
+      a farewell so kind, yet so despotic, a sympathy so affectionate, yet so
+      hopeless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this first indulgence of grief which she had granted to her
+      disappointment, she was soon interrupted by a summons down stairs to a
+      gentleman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unfit and unwilling to be seen, she begged that he might leave his name,
+      and appoint a time for calling again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her maid brought for answer, that he believed his name was unknown to her,
+      and desired to see her now, unless she was employed in some matter of
+      moment. She then put up her letter, and went into the parlour; and there,
+      to her infinite amazement, beheld Mr Albany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How little, Sir,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;did I expect this pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This pleasure,&rdquo; repeated he, &ldquo;do you call it?&mdash;what strange abuse of
+      words! what causeless trifling with honesty! is language of no purpose but
+      to wound the ear with untruths? is the gift of speech only granted us to
+      pervert the use of understanding? I can give you no pleasure, I have no
+      power to give it any one; you can give none to me-the whole world could
+      not invest you with the means!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, who had little spirit to defend herself, &ldquo;I
+      will not vindicate the expression, but of this I will unfeignedly assure
+      you, I am at least as glad to see you just now, as I should be to see
+      anybody.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your eyes,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;are red, your voice is inarticulate;&mdash;young,
+      rich, and attractive, the world at your feet; that world yet untried, and
+      its falsehood unknown, how have you thus found means to anticipate misery?
+      which way have you uncovered the cauldron of human woes? Fatal and early
+      anticipation! that cover once removed, can never be replaced; those woes,
+      those boiling woes, will pour out upon you continually, and only when your
+      heart ceases to beat, will their ebullition cease to torture you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, shuddering, &ldquo;how cruel, yet how true!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why went you,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;to the cauldron? it came not to you. Misery
+      seeks not man, but man misery. He walks out in the sun, but stops not for
+      a cloud; confident, he pursues his way, till the storm which, gathering,
+      he might have avoided, bursts over his devoted head. Scared and amazed, he
+      repents his temerity; he calls, but it is then too late; he runs, but it
+      is thunder which follows him! Such is the presumption of man, such at once
+      is the arrogance and shallowness of his nature! And thou, simple and
+      blind! hast thou, too, followed whither Fancy has led thee, unheeding that
+      thy career was too vehement for tranquility, nor missing that lovely
+      companion of youth's early innocence, till, adventurous and unthinking,
+      thou hast lost her for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the present weak state of Cecilia's spirits, this attack was too much
+      for her; and the tears she had just, and with difficulty restrained, again
+      forced their way down her cheeks, as she answered, &ldquo;It is but too true,&mdash;I
+      have lost her for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor thing,&rdquo; said he, while the rigour of his countenance was softened
+      into the gentlest commiseration, &ldquo;so young!&mdash;looking, too, so
+      innocent&mdash;'tis hard!&mdash;And is nothing left thee? no small
+      remaining hope, to cheat, humanely cheat thy yet not wholly extinguished
+      credulity?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wept without answering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me not,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;waste my compassion upon nothing; compassion is
+      with me no effusion of affectation; tell me, then, if thou deservest it,
+      or if thy misfortunes are imaginary, and thy grief is factitious?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Factitious,&rdquo; repeated she, &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Answer me, then, these questions, in which I shall comprise the only
+      calamities for which sorrow has no controul, or none from human motives.
+      Tell me, then, have you lost by death the friend of your bosom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your fortune dissipated by extravagance, and your power of relieving
+      the distressed at an end?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; the power and the will are I hope equally undiminished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O then, unhappy girl! have you been guilty of some vice, and hangs
+      remorse thus heavy on your conscience?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no; thank heaven, to that misery, at least, I am a stranger!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His countenance now again resumed its severity, and, in the sternest
+      manner, &ldquo;Whence then,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;these tears? and what is this caprice you
+      dignify with the name of sorrow?&mdash;strange wantonness of indolence and
+      luxury! perverse repining of ungrateful plenitude!&mdash;oh hadst thou
+      known what <i>I</i> have suffered!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I lessen what you have suffered,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I should sincerely
+      rejoice; but heavy indeed must be your affliction, if mine in its
+      comparison deserves to be styled caprice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Caprice!&rdquo; repeated he, &ldquo;'tis joy! 'tis extacy compared with mine!&mdash;Thou
+      hast not in licentiousness wasted thy inheritance! thou hast not by
+      remorse barred each avenue to enjoyment! nor yet has the cold grave seized
+      the beloved of thy soul!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I hope, are the evils you have yourself
+      sustained so irremediable?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have borne them all!&mdash;<i>have</i> borne? I bear them still; I
+      shall bear them while I breathe! I may rue them, perhaps, yet longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, shrinking, &ldquo;what a world is this! how full of
+      woe and wickedness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet thou, too, canst complain,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;though happy in life's only
+      blessing, Innocence! thou, too, canst murmur, though stranger to death's
+      only terror, Sin! Oh yet if thy sorrow is unpolluted with guilt, be
+      regardless of all else, and rejoice in thy destiny!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who,&rdquo; cried she, deeply sighing, &ldquo;shall teach me such a lesson of
+      joy, when all within rises to oppose it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;will teach it thee, for I will tell thee my own sad story.
+      Then wilt thou find how much happier is thy lot, then wilt thou raise thy
+      head in thankful triumph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no! triumph comes not so lightly! yet if you will venture to trust me
+      with some account of yourself, I shall be glad to hear it, and much
+      obliged by the communication.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;whatever I may suffer: to awaken thee from this
+      dream of fancied sorrow, I will open all my wounds, and thou shalt probe
+      them with fresh shame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed,&rdquo; cried Cecilia with quickness, &ldquo;I will not hear you, if the
+      relation will be so painful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon <i>me</i> this humanity is lost,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;since punishment and
+      penitence alone give me comfort. I will tell thee, therefore, my crimes,
+      that thou mayst know thy own felicity, lest, ignorant it means nothing but
+      innocence, thou shouldst lose it, unconscious of its value. Listen then to
+      me, and learn what Misery is! Guilt is alone the basis of lasting
+      unhappiness;&mdash;Guilt is the basis of mine, and therefore I am a wretch
+      for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia would again have declined hearing him, but he refused to be
+      spared: and as her curiosity had long been excited to know something of
+      his history, and the motives of his extraordinary conduct, she was glad to
+      have it satisfied, and gave him the utmost attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not speak to you of my family,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;historical accuracy
+      would little answer to either of us. I am a native of the West Indies, and
+      I was early sent hither to be educated. While I was yet at the University,
+      I saw, I adored, and I pursued the fairest flower that ever put forth its
+      sweet buds, the softest heart that ever was broken by ill-usage! She was
+      poor and unprotected, the daughter of a villager; she was untaught and
+      unpretending, the child of simplicity! But fifteen summers had she
+      bloomed, and her heart was an easy conquest; yet, once made mine, it
+      resisted all allurement to infidelity. My fellow students attacked her;
+      she was assaulted by all the arts of seduction; flattery, bribery,
+      supplication, all were employed, yet all failed; she was wholly my own;
+      and with sincerity so attractive, I determined to marry her in defiance of
+      all worldly objections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The sudden death of my father called me hastily to Jamaica; I feared
+      leaving this treasure unguarded, yet in decency could neither marry nor
+      take her directly; I pledged my faith, therefore, to return to her, as
+      soon as I had settled my affairs, and I left to a bosom friend the
+      inspection of her conduct in my absence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To leave her was madness,&mdash;to trust in man was madness,&mdash;Oh
+      hateful race! how has the world been abhorrent to me since that time! I
+      have loathed the light of the sun, I have shrunk from the commerce of my
+      fellow creatures; the voice of man I have detested, his sight I have
+      abominated!&mdash;but oh, more than all should I be abominated myself!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I came to my fortune, intoxicated with sudden power, I forgot this
+      fair blossom, I revelled in licentiousness and vice, and left it exposed
+      and forlorn. Riot succeeded riot, till a fever, incurred by my own
+      intemperance, first gave me time to think. Then was she revenged, for then
+      first remorse was my portion: her image was brought back to my mind with
+      frantic fondness, and bitterest contrition. The moment I recovered, I
+      returned to England; I flew to claim her,&mdash;but she was lost! no one
+      knew whither she was gone; the wretch I had trusted pretended to know
+      least of all; yet, after a furious search, I traced her to a cottage,
+      where he had concealed her himself!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When she saw me, she screamed and would have flown; I stopt her, and told
+      her I came faithfully and honourably to make her my wife:&mdash;her own
+      faith and honour, though sullied, were not extinguished, for she instantly
+      acknowledged the fatal tale of her undoing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I recompense this ingenuousness? this unexampled, this beautiful
+      sacrifice to intuitive integrity? Yes! with my curses!&mdash;I loaded her
+      with execrations, I reviled her in language the most opprobrious, I
+      insulted her even for her confession! I invoked all evil upon her from the
+      bottom of my heart&mdash;She knelt at my feet, she implored my forgiveness
+      and compassion, she wept with the bitterness of despair,&mdash;and yet I
+      spurned her from me!&mdash;Spurned?&mdash;let me not hide my shame! I
+      barbarously struck her!&mdash;nor single was the blow!&mdash;it was
+      doubled, it was reiterated!&mdash;Oh wretch, unyielding and unpitying!
+      where shall hereafter be clemency for thee!&mdash;So fair a form! so young
+      a culprit! so infamously seduced! so humbly penitent!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In this miserable condition, helpless and deplorable, mangled by these
+      savage hands, and reviled by this inhuman tongue, I left her, in search of
+      the villain who had destroyed her: but, cowardly as treacherous, he had
+      absconded. Repenting my fury, I hastened to her again; the fierceness of
+      my cruelty shamed me when I grew calmer, the softness of her sorrow melted
+      me upon recollection: I returned, therefore, to soothe her,&mdash;but
+      again she was gone! terrified with expectation of insult, she hid herself
+      from all my enquiries. I wandered in search of her two long years to no
+      purpose, regardless of my affairs, and of all things but that pursuit. At
+      length, I thought I saw her&mdash;in London, alone, and walking in the
+      streets at midnight,&mdash;I fearfully followed her,&mdash;and followed
+      her into an house of infamy!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wretches by whom she was surrounded were noisy and drinking, they
+      heeded me little,&mdash;but she saw and knew me at once! She did not
+      speak, nor did I,&mdash;but in two moments she fainted and fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet did I not help her; the people took their own measures to recover
+      her, and when she was again able to stand, would have removed her to
+      another apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I then went forward, and forcing them away from her with all the strength
+      of desperation, I turned to the unhappy sinner, who to chance only seemed
+      to leave what became of her, and cried, From this scene of vice and horror
+      let me yet rescue you! you look still unfit for such society, trust
+      yourself, therefore, to me. I seized her hand, I drew, I almost dragged
+      her away. She trembled, she could scarce totter, but neither consented nor
+      refused, neither shed a tear, nor spoke a word, and her countenance
+      presented a picture of affright, amazement, and horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I took her to a house in the country, each of us silent the whole way. I
+      gave her an apartment and a female attendant, and ordered for her every
+      convenience I could suggest. I stayed myself in the same house, but
+      distracted with remorse for the guilt and ruin into which I had terrified
+      her, I could not bear her sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a few days her maid assured me the life she led must destroy her; that
+      she would taste nothing but bread and water, never spoke, and never slept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alarmed by this account, I flew into her apartment; pride and resentment
+      gave way to pity and fondness, and I besought her to take comfort. I
+      spoke, however, to a statue, she replied not, nor seemed to hear me. I
+      then humbled myself to her as in the days of her innocence and first
+      power, supplicating her notice, entreating even her commiseration! all was
+      to no purpose; she neither received nor repulsed me, and was alike
+      inattentive to exhortation and to prayer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whole hours did I spend at her feet, vowing never to arise till she spoke
+      to me,&mdash;all, all, in vain! she seemed deaf, mute, insensible; her
+      face unmoved, a settled despair fixed in her eyes,&mdash;those eyes that
+      had never looked at me but with dove-like softness and compliance!&mdash;She
+      sat constantly in one chair, she never changed her dress, no persuasions
+      could prevail with her to lie down, and at meals she just swallowed so
+      much dry bread as might save her from dying for want of food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was the distraction of my soul, to find her bent upon this course to
+      her last hour!&mdash;quick came that hour, but never will it be forgotten!
+      rapidly it was gone, but eternally it will be remembered!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When she felt herself expiring, she acknowledged she had made a vow, upon
+      entering the house, to live speechless and motionless, as a pennance for
+      her offences!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I kept her loved corpse till my own senses failed me,&mdash;it was then
+      only torn from me,&mdash;and I have lost all recollection of three years
+      of my existence!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia shuddered at this hint, yet was not surprised by it; Mr Gosport
+      had acquainted her he had been formerly confined; and his flightiness,
+      wildness, florid language, and extraordinary way of life, bad long led her
+      to suspect his reason had been impaired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The scene to which my memory first leads me back,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;is
+      visiting her grave; solemnly upon it I returned her vow, though not by one
+      of equal severity. To her poor remains did I pledge myself, that the day
+      should never pass in which I would receive nourishment, nor the night come
+      in which I would take rest, till I had done, or zealously attempted to do,
+      some service to a fellow-creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For this purpose have I wandered from city to city, from the town to the
+      country, and from the rich to the poor. I go into every house where I can
+      gain admittance, I admonish all who will hear me, I shame even those who
+      will not. I seek the distressed where ever they are hid, I follow the
+      prosperous to beg a mite to serve them. I look for the Dissipated in
+      public, where, amidst their licentiousness, I check them; I pursue the
+      Unhappy in private, where I counsel and endeavour to assist them. My own
+      power is small; my relations, during my sufferings, limiting me to an
+      annuity; but there is no one I scruple to solicit, and by zeal I supply
+      ability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh life of hardship and pennance! laborious, toilsome, and restless! but
+      I have merited no better, and I will not repine at it; I have vowed that I
+      will endure it, and I will not be forsworn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One indulgence alone from time to time I allow myself,&mdash;'tis Music!
+      which has power to delight me even to rapture! it quiets all anxiety, it
+      carries me out of myself, I forget through it every calamity, even the
+      bitterest anguish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now then, that thou hast heard me, tell me, hast <i>thou</i> cause of
+      sorrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;this indeed is a Picture of Misery to make <i>my</i>
+      lot seem all happiness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Art thou thus open to conviction?&rdquo; cried he, mildly; &ldquo;and dost thou not
+      fly the voice of truth! for truth and reproof are one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I would rather seek it; I feel myself wretched, however inadequate
+      may be the cause; I wish to be more resigned, and if you can instruct me
+      how, I shall thankfully attend to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet uncorrupted creature!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;with joy will I be thy monitor,&mdash;joy
+      long untasted! Many have I wished to serve, all, hitherto, have rejected
+      my offices; too honest to flatter them, they had not the fortitude to
+      listen to me; too low to advance them, they had not the virtue to bear
+      with me. You alone have I yet found pure enough not to fear inspection,
+      and good enough to wish to be better. Yet words alone will not content me;
+      I must also have deeds. Nor will your purse, however readily opened,
+      suffice, you must give to me also your time and your thoughts; for money
+      sent by others, to others only will afford relief; to enlighten your own
+      cares, you must distribute it yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall find me,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;a docile pupil, and most glad to be
+      instructed how my existence may be useful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Happy then,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;was the hour that brought me to this country; yet
+      not in search of you did I come, but of the mutable and ill-fated
+      Belfield. Erring, yet ingenious young man! what a lesson to the vanity of
+      talents, to the gaiety, the brilliancy of wit, is the sight of that green
+      fallen plant! not sapless by age, nor withered by disease, but destroyed
+      by want of pruning, and bending, breaking by its own luxuriance!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where, Sir, is he now?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Labouring wilfully in the field, with those who labour compulsatorily;
+      such are we all by nature, discontented, perverse, and changeable; though
+      all have not courage to appear so, and few, like Belfield, are worth
+      watching when they do. He told me he was happy; I knew it could not be:
+      but his employment was inoffensive, and I left him without reproach. In
+      this neighbourhood I heard of you, and found your name was coupled with
+      praise. I came to see if you deserved it; I have seen, and am satisfied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not, then, very difficult, for I have yet done nothing. How are
+      we to begin these operations you propose? You have awakened me by them to
+      an expectation of pleasure, which nothing else, I believe, could just now
+      have given me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will work,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;together, till not a woe shall remain upon your
+      mind. The blessings of the fatherless, the prayers of little children,
+      shall heal all your wounds with balm of sweetest fragrance. When sad, they
+      shall cheer, when complaining, they shall soothe you. We will go to their
+      roofless houses, and see them repaired; we will exclude from their
+      dwellings the inclemency of the weather; we will clothe them from cold, we
+      will rescue them from hunger. The cries of distress shall be changed to
+      notes of joy: your heart shall be enraptured, mine, too, shall revive&mdash;oh
+      whither am I wandering? I am painting an Elysium! and while I idly speak,
+      some fainting object dies for want of succour! Farewell; I will fly to the
+      abodes of wretchedness, and come to you to-morrow to render them the
+      abodes of happiness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This singular visit was for Cecilia most fortunately timed: it almost
+      surprised her out of her peculiar grief, by the view which it opened to
+      her of general calamity; wild, flighty, and imaginative as were his
+      language and his counsels, their morality was striking, and their
+      benevolence was affecting. Taught by him to compare her state with that of
+      at least half her species, she began more candidly to weigh what was left
+      with what was withdrawn, and found the balance in her favour. The plan he
+      had presented to her of good works was consonant to her character and
+      inclinations; and the active charity in which he proposed to engage her,
+      re-animated her fallen hopes, though to far different subjects from those
+      which had depressed them. Any scheme of worldly happiness would have
+      sickened and disgusted her; but her mind was just in the situation to be
+      impressed with elevated piety, and to adopt any design in which virtue
+      humoured melancholy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SHOCK.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecelia passed the rest of the day in fanciful projects of beneficence;
+      she determined to wander with her romantic new ally whither-so-ever he
+      would lead her, and to spare neither fortune, time, nor trouble, in
+      seeking and relieving the distressed. Not all her attempted philosophy had
+      calmed her mind like this plan; in merely refusing indulgence to grief,
+      she had only locked it up in her heart, where eternally struggling for
+      vent, she was almost overpowered by restraining it; but now her affliction
+      had no longer her whole faculties to itself; the hope of doing good, the
+      pleasure of easing pain, the intention of devoting her time to the service
+      of the unhappy, once more delighted her imagination,&mdash;that source of
+      promissory enjoyment, which though often obstructed, is never, in youth,
+      exhausted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She would not give Mrs Charlton the unnecessary pain of hearing the letter
+      with which she had been so, much affected, but she told her of the visit
+      of Albany, and pleased her with the account of their scheme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At night, with less sadness than usual, she retired to rest. In her sleep
+      she bestowed riches, and poured plenty upon the land; she humbled the
+      oppressor, she exalted the oppressed; slaves were raised to dignities,
+      captives restored to liberty; beggars saw smiling abundance, and
+      wretchedness was banished the world. From a cloud in which she was
+      supported by angels, Cecilia beheld these wonders, and while enjoying the
+      glorious illusion, she was awakened by her maid, with news that Mrs
+      Charlton was dying!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She started up, and, undressed, was running to her apartment,&mdash;when
+      the maid, calling to stop her, confessed she was already dead!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had made her exit in the night, but the time was not exactly known;
+      her own maid, who slept in the room with her, going early to her bedside
+      to enquire how she did, found her cold and motionless, and could only
+      conclude that a paralytic stroke had taken her off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Happily and in good time had Cecilia been somewhat recruited by one night
+      of refreshing slumbers and flattering dreams, for the shock she now
+      received promised her not soon another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She lost in Mrs Charlton a friend, whom nearly from her infancy she had
+      considered as a mother, and by whom she had been cherished with tenderness
+      almost unequalled. She was not a woman of bright parts, or much
+      cultivation, but her heart was excellent, and her disposition was amiable.
+      Cecilia had known her longer than her memory could look back, though the
+      earliest circumstances she could trace were kindnesses received from her.
+      Since she had entered into life, and found the difficulty of the part she
+      had to act, to this worthy old lady alone had she unbosomed her secret
+      cares. Though little assisted by her counsel, she was always certain of
+      her sympathy; and while her own superior judgment directed her conduct,
+      she had the relief of communicating her schemes, and weighing her
+      perplexities, with a friend to whom nothing that concerned her was
+      indifferent, and whose greatest wish and chief pleasure was the enjoyment
+      of her conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If left to herself, in the present period of her life, Mrs Charlton had
+      certainly not been the friend of her choice. The delicacy of her mind, and
+      the refinement of her ideas, had now rendered her fastidious, and she
+      would have looked out for elegancies and talents to which Mrs Charlton had
+      no pretensions: but those who live in the country have little power of
+      selection; confined to a small circle, they must be content with what it
+      offers; and however they may idolize extraordinary merit when they meet
+      with it, they must not regard it as essential to friendship, for in their
+      circumscribed rotation, whatever may be their discontent, they can make
+      but little change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such had been the situation to which Mrs Charlton and Mrs Harrel owed the
+      friendship of Cecilia. Greatly their superior in understanding and
+      intelligence, had the candidates for her favour been more numerous, the
+      election had not fallen upon either of them. But she became known to both
+      before discrimination made her difficult, and when her enlightened mind
+      discerned their deficiencies, they had already an interest in her
+      affections, which made her see them with lenity: and though sometimes,
+      perhaps, conscious she should not have chosen them from many, she adhered
+      to them with sincerity, and would have changed them for none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel, however, too weak for similar sentiments, forgot her when out
+      of sight, and by the time they met again, was insensible to everything but
+      shew and dissipation. Cecilia, shocked and surprised, first grieved from
+      disappointed affection, and then lost that affection in angry contempt.
+      But her fondness for Mrs Charlton had never known abatement, as the
+      kindness which had excited it had never known allay. She had loved her
+      first from childish gratitude; but that love, strengthened and confirmed
+      by confidential intercourse, was now as sincere and affectionate as if it
+      had originated from sympathetic admiration. Her loss, therefore, was felt
+      with the utmost severity, and neither seeing nor knowing any means of
+      replacing it, she considered it as irreparable, and mourned it with
+      bitterness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the first surprize of this cruel stroke was somewhat lessened, she
+      sent an express to Mr Monckton with the news, and entreated to see him
+      immediately. He came without delay, and she begged his counsel what step
+      she ought herself to take in consequence of this event. Her own house was
+      still unprepared for her; she had of late neglected to hasten the workmen,
+      and almost forgotten her intention of entering it. It was necessary,
+      however, to change her abode immediately; she was no longer in the house
+      of Mrs Charlton, but of her grand-daughters and co-heiresses, each of whom
+      she disliked, and upon neither of whom she had any claim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton then, with the quickness of a man who utters a thought at the
+      very moment of its projection, mentioned a scheme upon which during his
+      whole ride he had been ruminating; which was that she would instantly
+      remove to his house, and remain there till settled to her satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia objected her little right of surprising Lady Margaret; but,
+      without waiting to discuss it, lest new objections should arise, he
+      quitted her, to fetch himself from her ladyship an invitation he meant to
+      insist upon her sending.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though heartily disliking this plan, knew not at present what
+      better to adopt, and thought anything preferable to going again to Mrs
+      Harrel, since that only could be done by feeding the anxiety of Mr Arnott.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton soon returned with a message of his own fabrication; for his
+      lady, though obliged to receive whom he pleased, took care to guard
+      inviolate the independence of speech, sullenly persevering in refusing to
+      say anything, or perversely saying only what he least wished to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then took a hasty leave of Miss Charltons, who, little affected by
+      what they had lost, and eager to examine what they had gained, parted from
+      her gladly, and, with a heavy heart and weeping eyes, borrowed for the
+      last time the carriage of her late worthy old friend, and for-ever
+      quitting her hospitable house, sorrowfully set out for the Grove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK IX.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER i. &mdash; A COGITATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret Monckton received Cecilia with the most gloomy coldness: she
+      apologised for the liberty she had taken in making use of her ladyship's
+      house, but, meeting no return of civility, she withdrew to the room which
+      had been prepared for her, and resolved as much as possible to keep out of
+      her sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It now became necessary without further delay to settle her plan of life,
+      and fix her place of residence. The forbidding looks of Lady Margaret made
+      her hasten her resolves, which otherwise would for a while have given way
+      to grief for her recent misfortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent for the surveyor who had the superintendance of her estates, to
+      enquire how soon her own house would be fit for her reception; and heard
+      there was yet work for near two months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This answer made her very uncomfortable. To continue two months under the
+      roof with Lady Margaret was a penance she could not enjoin herself, nor
+      was she at all sure Lady Margaret would submit to it any better: she
+      determined, therefore, to release herself from the conscious burthen of
+      being an unwelcome visitor, by boarding with some creditable family at
+      Bury, and devoting the two months in which she was to be kept from her
+      house, to a general arrangement of her affairs, and a final settling with
+      her guardians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For these purposes it would be necessary she should go to London: but with
+      whom, or in what manner, she could not decide. She desired, therefore,
+      another conference with Mr Monckton, who met her in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then communicated to him her schemes; and begged his counsel in her
+      perplexities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was delighted at the application, and extremely well pleased with her
+      design of boarding at Bury, well knowing, he could then watch and visit
+      her at his pleasure, and have far more comfort in her society than even in
+      his own house, where all the vigilance with which he observed her, was
+      short of that with which he was himself observed by Lady Margaret. He
+      endeavoured, however, to dissuade her from going to town, but her
+      eagerness to pay the large sum she owed him, was now too great to be
+      conquered. Of age, her fortune wholly in her power, and all attendance
+      upon Mrs Charlton at an end, she had no longer any excuse for having a
+      debt in the world, and would suffer no persuasion to make her begin her
+      career in life, with a negligence in settling her accounts which she had
+      so often censured in others. To go to London therefore she was fixed, and
+      all that she desired was his advice concerning the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that in order to settle with her guardians, she must
+      write to them in form, to demand an account of the sums that had been
+      expended during her minority, and announce her intention for the future to
+      take the management of her fortune into her own hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She immediately followed his directions, and consented to remain at the
+      Grove till their answers arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Being now, therefore, unavoidably fixed for some time at the house, she
+      thought it proper and decent to attempt softening Lady Margaret in her
+      favour. She exerted all her powers to please and to oblige her; but the
+      exertion was necessarily vain, not only from the disposition, but the
+      situation of her ladyship, since every effort made for this conciliatory
+      purpose, rendered her doubly amiable in the eyes of her husband, and
+      consequently to herself more odious than ever. Her jealousy, already but
+      too well founded, received every hour the poisonous nourishment of fresh
+      conviction, which so much soured and exasperated a temper naturally harsh,
+      that her malignity and ill-humour grew daily more acrimonious. Nor would
+      she have contented herself with displaying this irascibility by general
+      moroseness, had not the same suspicious watchfulness which discovered to
+      her the passion of her husband, served equally to make manifest the
+      indifference and innocence of Cecilia; to reproach her therefore, she had
+      not any pretence, though her knowledge how much she had to dread her, past
+      current in her mind for sufficient reason to hate her. The Angry and the
+      Violent use little discrimination; whom they like, they enquire not if
+      they approve; but whoever, no matter how unwittingly, stands in their way,
+      they scruple not to ill use, and conclude they may laudably detest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though much disgusted, gave not over her attempt, which she
+      considered but as her due while she continued in her house. Her general
+      character, also, for peevishness and haughty ill-breeding, skilfully, from
+      time to time, displayed, and artfully repined at by Mr Monckton, still
+      kept her from suspecting any peculiar animosity to herself, and made her
+      impute all that passed to the mere rancour of ill-humour. She confined
+      herself, however, as much as possible to her own apartment, where her
+      sorrow for Mrs Charlton almost hourly increased, by the comparison she was
+      forced upon making of her house with the Grove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That worthy old lady left her grand-daughters her co-heiresses and sole
+      executrixes. She bequeathed from them nothing considerable, though she
+      left some donations for the poor, and several of her friends were
+      remembered by small legacies. Among them Cecilia had her picture, and
+      favourite trinkets, with a paragraph in her will, that as there was no one
+      she so much loved, had her fortune been less splendid, she should have
+      shared with her grand-daughters whatever she had to bestow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was much affected by this last and solemn remembrance. She more
+      than ever coveted to be alone, that she might grieve undisturbed, and she
+      lamented without ceasing the fatigue and the illness which, in so late a
+      period, as it proved, of her life, she had herself been the means of
+      occasioning to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton had too much prudence to interrupt this desire of solitude,
+      which indeed cost him little pain, as he considered her least in danger
+      when alone. She received in about a week answers from both her guardians.
+      Mr Delvile's letter was closely to the purpose, without a word but of
+      business, and couched in the haughtiest terms. As he had never, he said,
+      acted, he had no accounts to send in; but as he was going to town in a few
+      days, he would see her for a moment in the presence of Mr Briggs, that a
+      joint release might be signed, to prevent any future application to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia much lamented there was any necessity for her seeing him at all,
+      and looked forward to the interview as the greatest mortification she
+      could suffer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs, though still more concise, was far kinder in his language: but
+      he advised her to defer her scheme of taking the money into her own hands,
+      assuring her she would be cheated, and had better leave it to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she communicated these epistles to Mr Monckton, he failed not to
+      read, with an emphasis, by which his arrogant meaning was still more
+      arrogantly enforced, the letter of Mr Delvile aloud. Nor was he sparing in
+      comments that might render it yet more offensive. Cecilia neither
+      concurred in what he said, nor opposed it, but contented herself, when he
+      was silent, with producing the other letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton read not this with more favour. He openly attacked the
+      character of Briggs, as covetous, rapacious, and over-reaching, and warned
+      her by no means to abide by his counsel, without first taking the opinion
+      of some disinterested person. He then stated the various arts which might
+      be practised upon her inexperience, enumerated the dangers to which her
+      ignorance of business exposed her, and annotated upon the cheats, double
+      dealings, and tricks of stock jobbing, to which he assured her Mr Briggs
+      owed all he was worth, till, perplexed and confounded, she declared
+      herself at a loss how to proceed, and earnestly regretted that she could
+      not have his counsel upon the spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was his aim: to draw the wish from her, drew all suspicion of selfish
+      views from himself: and he told her that he considered her present
+      situation as so critical, the future confusion or regularity of her money
+      transactions seeming to depend upon it, that he would endeavour to arrange
+      his affairs for meeting her in London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia gave him many thanks for the kind intention, and determined to be
+      totally guided by him in the disposal and direction of her fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean time he had now another part to act; he saw that with Cecilia nothing
+      more remained to be done, and that, harbouring not a doubt of his motives,
+      she thought his design in her favour did her nothing but honour; but he
+      had too much knowledge of the world to believe it would judge him in the
+      same manner, and too much consciousness of duplicity to set its judgment
+      at defiance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To parry, therefore, the conjectures which might follow his attending her,
+      he had already prepared Lady Margaret to wish herself of the party: for
+      however disagreeable to him was her presence and her company, he had no
+      other means to be under the same roof with Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Bennet, the wretched tool of his various schemes, and the mean
+      sycophant of his lady, had been employed by him to work upon her jealousy,
+      by secretly informing her of his intention to go to town, at the same time
+      that Cecilia went thither to meet her guardians. She pretended to have
+      learned this intelligence by accident, and to communicate it from
+      respectful regard; and advised her to go to London herself at the same
+      time, that she might see into his designs, and be some check upon his
+      pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The encreasing infirmities of Lady Margaret made this counsel by no means
+      palatable: but Miss Bennet, following the artful instructions which she
+      received, put in her way so strong a motive, by assuring her how little
+      her company was wished, that in the madness of her spite she determined
+      upon the journey. And little heeding how she tormented herself while she
+      had any view of tormenting Mr Monckton, she was led on by her false
+      confident to invite Cecilia to her own house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, in whom by long practice, artifice was almost nature, well
+      knowing his wife's perverseness, affected to look much disconcerted at the
+      proposal; while Cecilia, by no means thinking it necessary to extend her
+      compliance to such a punishment, instantly made an apology, and declined
+      the invitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret, little versed in civility, and unused to the arts of
+      persuasion, could not, even for a favourite project, prevail upon herself
+      to use entreaty, and therefore, thinking her scheme defeated, looked
+      gloomily disappointed, and said nothing more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton saw with delight how much this difficulty inflamed her, though
+      the moment he could speak alone with Cecilia he made it his care to remove
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He represented to her that, however privately she might live, she was too
+      young to be in London lodgings by herself, and gave an hint which she
+      could not but understand, that in going or in staying with only servants,
+      suspicions might soon be raised, that the plan and motive of her journey
+      were different to those given out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She knew he meant to insinuate that it would be conjectured she designed
+      to meet Delvile, and though colouring, vext and provoked at the
+      suggestion, the idea was sufficient to frighten her into his plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few days, therefore, the matter was wholly arranged, Mr Monckton, by
+      his skill and address, leading every one whither he pleased, while, by the
+      artful coolness of his manner, he appeared but to follow himself. He [set]
+      out the day before, though earnestly wishing to accompany them, but having
+      as yet in no single instance gone to town in the same carriage with Lady
+      Margaret, he dared trust neither the neighbourhood nor the servants with
+      so dangerous a subject for their comments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, compelled thus to travel with only her Ladyship and Miss Bennet,
+      had a journey the most disagreeable, and determined, if possible, to stay
+      in London but two days. She had already fixed upon a house in which she
+      could board at Bury when she returned, and there she meant quietly to
+      reside till she could enter her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret herself, exhilarated by a notion of having outwitted her
+      husband, was in unusual good spirits, and almost in good humour. The idea
+      of thwarting his designs, and being in the way of his entertainment, gave
+      to her a delight she had seldom received from any thing; and the belief
+      that this was effected by the superiority of her cunning, doubled her
+      contentment, and raised it to exultation. She owed him, indeed, much
+      provocation and uneasiness, and was happy in this opportunity of paying
+      her arrears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while that consummate master in every species of hypocrisy, indulged
+      her in this notion, by the air of dissatisfaction with which he left the
+      house. It was not that she meant by her presence to obviate any
+      impropriety: early and long acquainted with the character of Cecilia, she
+      well knew, that during her life the passion of her husband must be
+      confined to his own breast: but conscious of his aversion to herself,
+      which she resented with the bitterest ill-will, and knowing how little, at
+      any time, he desired her company, she consoled herself for her inability
+      to give pleasure by the power she possessed of giving pain, and bore with
+      the fatigue of a journey disagreeable and inconvenient to her, with no
+      other view than the hope of breaking into his plan of avoiding her. Little
+      imagining that the whole time she was forwarding his favourite pursuit,
+      and only acting the part which he had appointed her to perform.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ii. &mdash; A SURPRIZE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lady Margaret's town house was in Soho Square; and scarcely had Cecilia
+      entered it, before her desire to speed her departure, made her send a note
+      to each of her guardians, acquainting them of her arrival, and begging, if
+      possible, to see them the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had soon the two following answers:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Cecilia Beverley,&mdash;&mdash;These November</i> 8, 1779.
+      Miss,&mdash;Received yours of the same date; can't come tomorrow. Will,
+      Wednesday the 10th.&mdash;Am, &amp;c., Jno. Briggs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Cecilia Beverley
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile has too many affairs of importance upon his hands, to make any
+      appointment till he has deliberated how to arrange them. Mr Delvile will
+      acquaint Miss Beverley when it shall be in his power to see her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St James's-square, <i>Nov</i> 8.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These characteristic letters, which at another time might have diverted
+      Cecilia, now merely served to torment her. She was eager to quit town, she
+      was more eager to have her meeting with Mr Delvile over, who, oppressive
+      to her even when he meant to be kind, she foresaw, now he was in wrath,
+      would be imperious even to rudeness. Desirous, however, to make one
+      interview suffice for both, and to settle whatever business might remain
+      unfinished by letters, she again wrote to Mr Briggs, whom she had not
+      spirits to encounter without absolute necessity, and informing him of Mr
+      Delvile's delay, begged he would not trouble himself to call till he heard
+      from her again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days passed without any message from them; they were spent chiefly
+      alone, and very uncomfortably, Mr Monckton being content to see little of
+      her, while he knew she saw nothing of any body else. On the third morning,
+      weary of her own thoughts, weary of Lady Margaret's ill-humoured looks,
+      and still more weary of Miss Bennet's parasitical conversation, she
+      determined, for a little relief to the heaviness of her mind, to go to her
+      bookseller, and look over and order into the country such new publications
+      as seemed to promise her any pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent therefore, for a chair, and glad to have devised for herself any
+      amusement, set out in it immediately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon entering the shop, she saw the Bookseller engaged in close conference
+      with a man meanly dressed, and much muffled up, who seemed talking to him
+      with uncommon earnestness, and just as she was approaching, said, &ldquo;To
+      terms I am indifferent, for writing is no labour to me; on the contrary,
+      it is the first delight of my life, and therefore, and not for dirty pelf,
+      I wish to make it my profession.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The speech struck Cecilia, but the voice struck her more, it was
+      Belfield's! and her amazement was so great, that she stopt short to look
+      at him, without heeding a man who attended her, and desired to know her
+      commands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bookseller now perceiving her, came forward, and Belfield, turning to
+      see who interrupted them, started as if a spectre had crossed his eyes,
+      slapped his hat over his face, and hastily went out of the shop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia checking her inclination to speak to him, from observing his
+      eagerness to escape her, soon recollected her own errand, and employed
+      herself in looking over new books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her surprize, however, at a change so sudden in the condition of this
+      young man, and at a declaration of a passion for writing, so opposite to
+      all the sentiments which he had professed at their late meeting in the
+      cottage, awakened in her a strong curiosity to be informed of his
+      situation; and after putting aside some books which she desired to have
+      packed up for her, she asked if the gentleman who had just left the shop,
+      and who, she found by what he had said, was an Author, had written
+      anything that was published with his name?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am,&rdquo; answered the Bookseller, &ldquo;nothing of any consequence; he is
+      known, however, to have written several things that have appeared as
+      anonymous; and I fancy, now, soon, we shall see something considerable
+      from him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is about some great work, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why no, not exactly that, perhaps, at present; we must feel our way, with
+      some little smart <i>jeu d'esprit</i> before we undertake a great work.
+      But he is a very great genius, and I doubt not will produce something
+      extraordinary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever he produces,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;as I have now chanced to see him, I
+      shall be glad you will, at any time, send to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, ma'am; but it must be among other things, for he does not
+      chuse, just now to be known; and it is a rule in our business never to
+      tell people's names when they desire to be secret. He is a little out of
+      cash, just now, as you may suppose by his appearance, so instead of buying
+      books, he comes to sell them. However, he has taken a very good road to
+      bring himself home again, for we pay very handsomely for things of any
+      merit, especially if they deal smartly in a few touches of the times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia chose not to risk any further questions, lest her knowledge of him
+      should be suspected, but got into her chair, and returned to Lady
+      Margaret's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sight of Belfield reminded her not only of himself; the gentle
+      Henrietta again took her place in her memory, whence her various
+      distresses and suspences had of late driven from it everybody but Delvile,
+      and those whom Delvile brought into it. But her regard for that amiable
+      girl, though sunk in the busy scenes of her calamitous uncertainties, was
+      only sunk in her own bosom, and ready, upon their removal, to revive with
+      fresh vigour. She was now indeed more unhappy than even in the period of
+      her forgetfulness, yet her mind, was no longer filled with the restless
+      turbulence of hope, which still more than despondency unfitted it for
+      thinking of others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This remembrance thus awakened, awakened also a desire of renewing the
+      connection so long neglected. All scruples concerning Delvile had now lost
+      their foundation, since the doubts from which they arose were both
+      explained and removed: she was certain alike of his indifference to
+      Henrietta, and his separation from herself; she knew that nothing was to
+      be feared from painful or offensive rivalry, and she resolved, therefore,
+      to lose no time in seeking the first pleasure to which since her
+      disappointment she had voluntarily looked forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the evening, she told Lady Margaret she was going out for an hour
+      or two, and sending again for a chair, was carried to Portland-street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She enquired for Miss Belfield, and was shewn into a parlour, where she
+      found her drinking tea with her mother, and Mr Hobson, their landlord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta almost screamed at her sight, from a sudden impulse of joy and
+      surprize, and, running up to her, flung her arms round her neck, and
+      embraced her with the most rapturous emotion: but then, drawing back with
+      a look of timidity and shame, she bashfully apologized for her freedom,
+      saying, &ldquo;Indeed, dearest Miss Beverley, it is no want of respect, but I am
+      so very glad to see you it makes me quite forget myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, charmed at a reception so ingenuously affectionate, soon
+      satisfied her doubting diffidence by the warmest thanks that she had
+      preserved so much regard for her, and by doubling the kindness with which
+      she returned her caresses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mercy on me, madam,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, who during this time had been
+      busily employed in sweeping the hearth, wiping some slops upon the table,
+      and smoothing her handkerchief and apron, &ldquo;why the girl's enough to
+      smother you. Henny, how can you be so troublesome? I never saw you behave
+      in this way before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Beverley, madam,&rdquo; said Henrietta, again retreating, &ldquo;is so kind as
+      to pardon me, and I was so much surprised at seeing her, that I hardly
+      knew what I was about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The young ladies, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;have a mighty way of saluting
+      one another till such time as they get husbands: and then I'll warrant you
+      they can meet without any salutation at all. That's my remark, at least,
+      and what I've seen of the world has set me upon making it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This speech led Cecilia to check, however artless, the tenderness of her
+      fervent young friend, whom she was much teized by meeting in such company,
+      but who seemed not to dare understand the frequent looks which she gave
+      her expressive of a wish to be alone with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, ladies,&rdquo; continued the facetious Mr Hobson, &ldquo;what if we were all to
+      sit down, and have a good dish of tea? and suppose, Mrs Belfield, you was
+      to order us a fresh round of toast and butter? do you think the young
+      ladies here would have any objection? and what if we were to have a little
+      more water in the tea-kettle? not forgetting a little more tea in the
+      teapot. What I say is this, let us all be comfortable; that's my notion of
+      things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a very good notion too,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;for you who have nothing
+      to vex you. Ah, ma'am, you have heard, I suppose, about my son? gone off!
+      nobody knows where! left that lord's house, where he might have lived like
+      a king, and gone out into the wide world nobody knows for what!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; said Cecilia, who, from seeing him in London concluded he was
+      again with his family, &ldquo;and has he not acquainted you where he is?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, no,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;he's never once told me where he is
+      gone, nor let me know the least about the matter, for if I did I would not
+      taste a dish of tea again for a twelvemonth till I saw him get back again
+      to that lord's! and I believe in my heart there's never such another in
+      the three kingdoms, for he has sent here after him I dare say a score of
+      times. And no wonder, for I will take upon me to say he won't find his
+      fellow in a hurry, Lord as he is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to his being a Lord,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;I am one of them that lay no
+      great stress upon that, unless he has got a good long purse of his own,
+      and then, to be sure, a Lord's no bad thing. But as to the matter of
+      saying Lord such a one, how d'ye do? and Lord such a one, what do you
+      want? and such sort of compliments, why in my mind, it's a mere nothing,
+      in comparison of a good income. As to your son, ma'am, he did not go the
+      right way to work. He should have begun with business, and gone into
+      pleasure afterwards and if he had but done that, I'll be bold to say we
+      might have had him at this very minute drinking tea with us over this
+      fireside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, Sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, &ldquo;was another sort of a
+      person than a person of business: he always despised it from a child, and
+      come of it what may, I am sure he was born to be a gentleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to his despising business,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, very contemptuously, &ldquo;why
+      so much the worse, for business is no such despiseable thing. And if he
+      had been brought up behind a counter, instead of dangling after these same
+      Lords, why he might have had a house of his own over his head, and been as
+      good a man as myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A house over his head?&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;why he might have had what he
+      would, and have done what he would, if he had but followed my advice, and
+      put himself a little forward. I have told him a hundred times to ask some
+      of those great people he lived amongst for a place at court, for I know
+      they've so many they hardly know what to do with them, and it was always
+      my design from the beginning that he should be something of a great man;
+      but I never could persuade him, though, for anything I know, as I have
+      often told him, if he had but had a little courage he might have been an
+      Ambassador by this time. And now, all of a sudden, to be gone nobody knows
+      where!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, who knew not whether most to pity or
+      wonder at her blind folly; &ldquo;but I doubt not you will hear of him soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to being an Ambassador, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;it's talking quite
+      out of character. Those sort of great people keep things of that kind for
+      their own poor relations and cousins. What I say is this; a man's best way
+      is to take care of himself. The more those great people see you want them,
+      the less they like your company. Let every man be brought up to business,
+      and then when he's made his fortune, he may walk with his hat on. Why now
+      there was your friend, ma'am,&rdquo; turning to Cecilia, &ldquo;that shot out his
+      brains without paying any body a souse; pray how was that being more
+      genteel than standing behind a counter, and not owing a shilling?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think a young lady,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield warmly, &ldquo;can bear to hear
+      of such a thing as standing behind a counter? I am sure if my son had ever
+      done it, I should not expect any lady would so much as look at him, And
+      yet, though I say it, she might look a good while, and not see many such
+      persons, let her look where she pleased. And then he has such a winning
+      manner into the bargain, that I believe in my heart there's never a lady
+      in the land could say no to him. And yet he has such a prodigious shyness,
+      I never could make him own he had so much as asked the question. And what
+      lady can begin first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why no,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;that would be out of character another way. Now
+      my notion is this; let every man be agreeable! and then he may ask what
+      lady he pleases. And when he's a mind of a lady, he should look upon a
+      frown or two as nothing; for the ladies frown in courtship as a thing of
+      course; it's just like a man swearing at a coachman; why he's not a bit
+      more in a passion, only he thinks he sha'n't be minded without it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, for my part,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;I am sure if I was a young lady,
+      and most especially if I was a young lady of fortune, and all that, I
+      should like a modest young gentleman, such as my son, for example, better
+      by half than a bold swearing young fellow, that would make a point to have
+      me whether I would or no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! Ha! Ha!&rdquo; cried Mr Hobson; &ldquo;but the young ladies are not of that way
+      of thinking; they are all for a little life and spirit. Don't I say right,
+      young ladies?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who could not but perceive that these speeches was levelled at
+      herself, felt offended and tired; and finding she had no chance of any
+      private conversation with Henrietta, arose to take leave: but while she
+      stopped in the passage to enquire when she could see her alone, a footman
+      knocked at the door, who, having asked if Mr Belfield lodged there, and
+      been answered in the affirmative; begged to know whether Miss Beverley was
+      then in the house?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, much surprised, went forward, and told him who she was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been, madam,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;with a message to you at Mr Monckton's, in
+      Soho-Square: but nobody knew where you was; and Mr Monckton came out and
+      spoke to me himself, and said that all he could suppose was that you might
+      be at this house. So he directed me to come here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And from whom, Sir, is your message?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the honourable Mr Delvile, madam, in St James's-Square. He desires
+      to know if you shall be at home on Saturday morning, the day after
+      to-morrow, and whether you can appoint Mr Briggs to meet him by twelve
+      o'clock exactly, as he sha'n't be able to stay above three minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia gave an answer as cold as the message; that she would be in
+      Soho-Square at the time he mentioned, and acquaint Mr Briggs of his
+      intention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The footman then went away; and Henrietta told her, that if she could call
+      some morning she might perhaps contrive to be alone with her, and added,
+      &ldquo;indeed I wish much to see you, if you could possibly do me so great an
+      honour; for I am very miserable, and have nobody to tell so! Ah, Miss
+      Beverley! you that have so many friends, and that deserve as many again,
+      you little know what a hard thing it is to have none!&mdash;but my
+      brother's strange disappearing has half broke our hearts!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was beginning a consolatory speech, in which she meant to give her
+      private assurances of his health and safety, when she was interrupted by
+      Mr Albany, who came suddenly into the passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta received him with a look of pleasure, and enquired why he had so
+      long been absent; but, surprised by the sight of Cecilia, he exclaimed,
+      without answering her, &ldquo;why didst thou fail me? why appoint me to a place
+      thou wert quitting thyself?&mdash;thou thing of fair professions! thou
+      inveigler of esteem! thou vain, delusive promiser of pleasure!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You condemn me too hastily,&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;if I failed in my promise, it
+      was not owing to caprice or insincerity, but to a real and bitter
+      misfortune which incapacitated me from keeping it. I shall soon, however,&mdash;nay,
+      I am already at your disposal, if you have any commands for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have always,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;commands for the rich, for I have always
+      compassion for the poor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come to me, then, at Mr Monckton's in Soho-Square,&rdquo; cried she, and
+      hastened into her chair, impatient to end a conference which she saw
+      excited the wonder of the servants, and which also now drew out from the
+      parlour Mr Hobson and Mrs Belfield. She then kissed her hand to Henrietta,
+      and ordered the chairmen to carry her home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had not been without difficulty that she had restrained herself from
+      mentioning what she knew of Belfield, when she found his mother and sister
+      in a state of such painful uncertainty concerning him. But her utter
+      ignorance of his plans, joined to her undoubted knowledge of his wish of
+      concealment, made her fear doing mischief by officiousness, and think it
+      wiser not to betray what she had seen of him, till better informed of his
+      own views and intentions. Yet, willing to shorten a suspence so uneasy to
+      them, she determined to entreat Mr Monckton would endeavour to find him
+      out, and acquaint him with their anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That gentleman, when she returned to his house, was in a state of mind by
+      no means enviable. Missing her at tea, he had asked Miss Bennet where she
+      was, and hearing she had not left word, he could scarce conceal his
+      chagrin. Knowing, however, how few were her acquaintances in town, he soon
+      concluded she was with Miss Belfield, but, not satisfied with sending Mr
+      Delvile's messenger after her, he privately employed one in whom he
+      trusted for himself, to make enquiries at the house without saying whence
+      he came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though this man was returned, and he knew her safety, he still felt
+      alarmed; he had flattered himself, from the length of time in which she
+      had now done nothing without consulting him, she would scarce even think
+      of any action without his previous concurrence. And he had hoped, by a
+      little longer use, to make his counsel become necessary, which he knew to
+      be a very short step from rendering it absolute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was he well pleased to perceive, by this voluntary excursion, a
+      struggle to cast off her sadness, and a wish to procure herself
+      entertainment: it was not that he desired her misery, but he was earnest
+      that all relief from it should spring from himself: and though far from
+      displeased that Delvile should lose his sovereignty over her thoughts, he
+      was yet of opinion that, till his own liberty was restored, he had less to
+      apprehend from grief indulged, than grief allayed; one could but lead her
+      to repining retirement, the other might guide her to a consolatory rival.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He well knew, however, it was as essential to his cause to disguise his
+      disappointments as his expectations, and, certain that by pleasing alone
+      he had any chance of acquiring power, he cleared up when Cecilia returned,
+      who as unconscious of feeling, as of owing any subjection to him,
+      preserved uncontrolled the right of acting for herself, however desirous
+      and glad of occasional instruction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told him where she had been, and related her meeting Belfield, and the
+      unhappiness of his friends, and hinted her wish that he could be informed
+      what they suffered. Mr Monckton, eager to oblige her, went instantly in
+      search of him, and returning to supper, told her he had traced him through
+      the Bookseller, who had not the dexterity to parry his artful enquiries,
+      and had actually appointed him to breakfast in Soho-Square the next
+      morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had found him, he said, writing, but in high spirits and good humour.
+      He had resisted, for a while, his invitation on account of his dress, all
+      his clothes but the very coat which he had on being packed up and at his
+      mother's: but, when laughed at by Mr Monckton for still retaining some
+      foppery, he gaily protested what remained of it should be extinguished;
+      and acknowledging that his shame was no part of his philosophy, declared
+      he would throw it wholly aside, and, in spite of his degradation, renew
+      his visits at his house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would not tell him,&rdquo; Mr Monckton continued, &ldquo;of the anxiety of his
+      family; I thought it would come more powerfully from yourself, who, having
+      seen, can better enforce it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was very thankful for this compliance with her request, and
+      anticipated the pleasure she hoped soon to give Henrietta, by the
+      restoration of a brother so much loved and so regretted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent, mean time, to Mr Briggs the message she had received from Mr
+      Delvile, and had the satisfaction of an answer that he would observe the
+      appointment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A CONFABULATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, while the family was at breakfast, Belfield, according
+      to his promise, made his visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A high colour overspread his face as he entered the room, resulting from a
+      sensation of grief at his fallen fortune, and shame at his altered
+      appearance, which though he endeavoured to cover under an air of gaiety
+      and unconcern, gave an awkwardness to his manners, and a visible distress
+      to his countenance: Mr Monckton received him with pleasure, and Cecilia,
+      who saw the conflict of his philosophy with his pride, dressed her
+      features once more in smiles, which however faint and heartless, shewed
+      her desire to reassure him. Miss Bennet, as usual when not called upon by
+      the master or lady of the house, sat as a cypher; and Lady Margaret,
+      always disagreeable and repulsive to the friends of her husband, though
+      she was not now more than commonly ungracious, struck the quick-feeling
+      and irritable Belfield, to wear an air of rude superiority meant to
+      reproach him with his disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This notion, which strongly affected him, made him, for one instant,
+      hesitate whether he should remain another in the same room with her: but
+      the friendliness of Mr Monckton, and the gentleness and good breeding of
+      Cecilia, seemed so studious to make amends for her moroseness, that he
+      checked his too ready indignation, and took his seat at the table. Yet was
+      it some time before he could recover even the assumed vivacity which this
+      suspected insult had robbed him of, sufficiently to enter into
+      conversation with any appearance of ease or pleasure. But, after a while,
+      soothed by the attentions of Cecilia and Mr Monckton, his uneasiness wore
+      off, and the native spirit and liveliness of his character broke forth
+      with their accustomed energy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This good company, I hope,&rdquo; said he, addressing himself, however, only to
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;will not so much <i>mistake the thing</i> as to criticise my
+      dress of this morning; since it is perfectly according to rule, and to
+      rule established from time immemorial: but lest any of you should so much
+      err as to fancy shabby what is only characteristic, I must endeavour to be
+      beforehand with the malice of conjecture, and have the honour to inform
+      you, that I am enlisted in the Grub-street regiment, of the third story,
+      and under the tattered banner of scribbling volunteers! a race which, if
+      it boasts not the courage of heroes, at least equals them in enmity. This
+      coat, therefore, is merely the uniform of my corps, and you will all, I
+      hope, respect it as emblematical of wit and erudition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must at least respect you,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;who thus gaily can sport
+      with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, madam!&rdquo; said he, more seriously, &ldquo;it is not from you I ought to look
+      for respect! I must appear to you the most unsteady and coward-hearted of
+      beings. But lately I blushed to see you from poverty, though more worthily
+      employed than when I had been seen by you in affluence; that shame
+      vanquished, another equally narrow took its place, and yesterday I blushed
+      again that you detected me in a new pursuit, though I had only quitted my
+      former one from a conviction it was ill chosen. There seems in human
+      nature a worthlessness not to be conquered! yet I will struggle with it to
+      the last, and either die in the attempt, or dare seem that which I am,
+      without adding to the miseries of life, the sting, the envenomed sting of
+      dastardly false shame!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your language is wonderfully altered within this twelvemonth,&rdquo; said Mr
+      Monckton; &ldquo;<i>the worthlessness of human nature</i>! the <i>miseries of
+      life</i>! this from you! so lately the champion of human nature, and the
+      panegyrist of human life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Soured by personal disappointment,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;I may perhaps speak
+      with too much acrimony; yet, ultimately, my opinions have not much
+      changed. Happiness is given to us with more liberality than we are willing
+      to confess; it is judgment only that is dealt us sparingly, and of that we
+      have so little, that when felicity is before us, we turn to the right or
+      left, or when at the right or left, we proceed strait forward. It has been
+      so with me; I have sought it at a distance, amidst difficulty and danger,
+      when all that I could wish has been immediately within my grasp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be owned,&rdquo; said Mr Monckton, &ldquo;after what you have suffered from
+      this world you were wont to defend, there is little reason to wonder at
+      some change in your opinion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet whatever have been my sufferings,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I have generally
+      been involved in them by my own rashness or caprice. My last enterprise
+      especially, from which my expectations were highest, was the most
+      ill-judged of any. I considered not how little my way of life had fitted
+      me for the experiment I was making, how irreparably I was enervated by
+      long sedentary habits, and how insufficient for bodily strength was mental
+      resolution. We may fight against partial prejudices, and by spirit and
+      fortitude we may overcome them; but it will not do to war with the general
+      tenor of education. We may blame, despise, regret as we please, but
+      customs long established, and habits long indulged, assume an empire
+      despotic, though their power is but prescriptive. Opposing them is vain;
+      Nature herself, when forced aside, is not more elastic in her rebound.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you not then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;since your experiment has failed,
+      return again to your family, and to the plan of life you formerly
+      settled?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak of them together,&rdquo; said he, with a smile, &ldquo;as if you thought
+      them inseparable; and indeed my own apprehension they would be deemed so,
+      has made me thus fear to see my friends, since I love not resistance, yet
+      cannot again attempt the plan of life they would have me pursue. I have
+      given up my cottage, but my independence is as dear to me as ever; and all
+      that I have gathered from experience, is to maintain it by those
+      employments for which my education has fitted me, instead of seeking it
+      injudiciously by the very road for which it has unqualified me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what is this independence,&rdquo; cried Mr Monckton, &ldquo;which has thus
+      bewitched your imagination? a mere idle dream of romance and enthusiasm;
+      without existence in nature, without possibility in life. In uncivilised
+      countries, or in lawless times, independence, for a while, may perhaps
+      stalk abroad; but in a regular government, 'tis only the vision of a
+      heated brain; one part of a community must inevitably hang upon another,
+      and 'tis a farce to call either independent, when to break the chain by
+      which they are linked would prove destruction to both. The soldier wants
+      not the officer more than the officer the soldier, nor the tenant the
+      landlord, more than the landlord the tenant. The rich owe their
+      distinction, their luxuries, to the poor, as much as the poor owe their
+      rewards, their necessaries, to the rich.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Man treated as an Automaton,&rdquo; answered Belfield, &ldquo;and considered merely
+      with respect to his bodily operations, may indeed be called dependent,
+      since the food by which he lives, or, rather, without which he dies,
+      cannot wholly be cultivated and prepared by his own hands: but considered
+      in a nobler sense, he deserves not the degrading epithet; speak of him,
+      then, as a being of feeling and understanding, with pride to alarm, with
+      nerves to tremble, with honour to satisfy, and with a soul to be immortal!&mdash;as
+      such, may he not claim the freedom of his own thoughts? may not that claim
+      be extended to the liberty of speaking, and the power of being governed by
+      them? and when thoughts, words, and actions are exempt from controul, will
+      you brand him with dependency merely because the Grazier feeds his meat,
+      and the Baker kneads his bread?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who is there in the whole world,&rdquo; said Mr Monckton, &ldquo;extensive as it
+      is, and dissimilar as are its inhabitants, that can pretend to assert, his
+      thoughts, words, and actions, are exempt from controul? even where
+      interest, which you so much disdain, interferes not,&mdash;though where
+      that is I confess I cannot tell!&mdash;are we not kept silent where we
+      wish to reprove by the fear of offending? and made speak where we wish to
+      be silent by the desire of obliging? do we not bow to the scoundrel as low
+      as to the man of honour? are we not by mere forms kept standing when
+      tired? made give place to those we despise? and smiles to those we hate?
+      or if we refuse these attentions, are we not regarded as savages, and shut
+      out of society?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All these,&rdquo; answered Belfield, &ldquo;are so merely matters of ceremony, that
+      the concession can neither cost pain to the proud, nor give pleasure to
+      the vain. The bow is to the coat, the attention is to the rank, and the
+      fear of offending ought to extend to all mankind. Homage such as this
+      infringes not our sincerity, since it is as much a matter of course as the
+      dress that we wear, and has as little reason to flatter a man as the
+      shadow which follows him. I no more, therefore, hold him deceitful for not
+      opposing this pantomimical parade, than I hold him to be dependent for
+      eating corn he has not sown.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where, then, do you draw the line? and what is the boundary beyond which
+      your independence must not step?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hold that man,&rdquo; cried he, with energy, &ldquo;to be independent, who treats
+      the Great as the Little, and the Little as the Great, who neither exults
+      in riches nor blushes in poverty, who owes no man a groat, and who spends
+      not a shilling he has not earned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not, indeed, then, have a very numerous acquaintance, if this is
+      the description of those with whom you purpose to associate! but is it
+      possible you imagine you can live by such notions? why the Carthusian in
+      his monastery, who is at least removed from temptation, is not mortified
+      so severely as a man of spirit living in the world, who would prescribe
+      himself such rules.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not merely have I prescribed,&rdquo; returned Belfield, &ldquo;I have already put
+      them in practice; and far from finding any pennance, I never before found
+      happiness. I have now adopted, though poor, the very plan of life I should
+      have elected if rich; my pleasure, therefore, is become my business, and
+      my business my pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is this plan,&rdquo; cried Monckton, &ldquo;nothing more than turning
+      Knight-errant to the Booksellers?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis a Knight-errantry,&rdquo; answered Belfield, laughing, &ldquo;which, however
+      ludicrous it may seem to you, requires more soul and more brains than any
+      other. Our giants may, indeed, be only windmills, but they must be
+      attacked with as much spirit, and conquered with as much bravery, as any
+      fort or any town, in time of war [to] be demolished; and though the siege,
+      I must confess, may be of less national utility, the assailants of the
+      quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the sword.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose then,&rdquo; said Monckton, archly, &ldquo;if a man wants a biting lampoon,
+      or an handsome panegyric, some newspaper scandal, or a sonnet for a lady&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; interrupted Belfield eagerly, &ldquo;if you imagine me a hireling
+      scribbler for the purposes of defamation or of flattery, you as little
+      know my situation as my character. My subjects shall be my own, and my
+      satire shall be general. I would as much disdain to be personal with an
+      anonymous pen, as to attack an unarmed man in the dark with a dagger I had
+      kept concealed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A reply of rallying incredulity was rising to the lips of Mr Monckton,
+      when reading in the looks of Cecilia an entire approbation of this
+      sentiment, he checked his desire of ridicule, and exclaimed, &ldquo;spoken like
+      a man of honour, and one whose works may profit the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From my earliest youth to the present hour,&rdquo; continued Belfield,
+      &ldquo;literature has been the favourite object of my pursuit, my recreation in
+      leisure, and my hope in employment. My propensity to it, indeed, has been
+      so ungovernable, that I may properly call it the source of my several
+      miscarriages throughout life. It was the bar to my preferment, for it gave
+      me a distaste to other studies; it was the cause of my unsteadiness in all
+      my undertakings, because to all I preferred it. It has sunk me to
+      distress, it has involved me in difficulties; it has brought me to the
+      brink of ruin by making me neglect the means of living, yet never, till
+      now, did I discern it might itself be my support.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am heartily glad, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;your various enterprizes and
+      struggles have at length ended in a project which promises you so much
+      satisfaction. But you will surely suffer your sister and your mother to
+      partake of it? for who is there that your prosperity will make so happy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do them infinite honour, madam, by taking any interest in their
+      affairs; but to own to you the truth, what to me appears prosperity, will
+      to them wear another aspect. They have looked forward to my elevation with
+      expectations the most improbable, and thought everything within my grasp,
+      with a simplicity incredible. But though their hopes were absurd, I am
+      pained by their disappointment, and I have not courage to meet their
+      tears, which I am sure will not be spared when they see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis from tenderness, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, half smiling, &ldquo;that you are
+      cruel, and from affection to your friends that you make them believe you
+      have forgotten them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a delicacy in this reproach exactly suited to work upon
+      Belfield, who feeling it with quickness, started up, and cried, &ldquo;I believe
+      I am wrong!&mdash;I will go to them this moment!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia felt eager to second the generous impulse; but Mr Monckton,
+      laughing at his impetuosity, insisted he should first finish his
+      breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your friends,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;can have no mortification so hard to bear
+      as your voluntary absence; and if they see but that you are happy, they
+      will soon be reconciled to whatever situation you may chuse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Happy!&rdquo; repeated he, with animation, &ldquo;Oh I am in Paradise! I am come from
+      a region in the first rude state of nature, to civilization and
+      refinement! the life I led at the cottage was the life of a savage; no
+      intercourse with society, no consolation from books; my mind locked up,
+      every source dried of intellectual delight, and no enjoyment in my power
+      but from sleep and from food. Weary of an existence which thus levelled me
+      with a brute, I grew ashamed of the approximation, and listening to the
+      remonstrance of my understanding, I gave up the precipitate plan, to
+      pursue one more consonant to reason. I came to town, hired a room, and
+      sent for pen, ink and paper: what I have written are trifles, but the
+      Bookseller has not rejected them. I was settled, therefore, in a moment,
+      and comparing my new occupation with that I had just quitted, I seemed
+      exalted on the sudden from a mere creature of instinct, to a rational and
+      intelligent being. But when first I opened a book, after so long an
+      abstinence from all mental nourishment,&mdash;Oh it was rapture! no
+      half-famished beggar regaled suddenly with food, ever seized on his repast
+      with more hungry avidity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let fortune turn which way it will,&rdquo; cried Monckton, &ldquo;you may defy all
+      its malice, while possessed of a spirit of enjoyment which nothing can
+      subdue!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But were you not, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;as great an enthusiast the other
+      day for your cottage, and for labour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was, madam; but there my philosophy was erroneous: in my ardour to fly
+      from meanness and from dependence, I thought in labour and retirement I
+      should find freedom and happiness; but I forgot that my body was not
+      seasoned for such work, and considered not that a mind which had once been
+      opened by knowledge, could ill endure the contraction of dark and
+      perpetual ignorance. The approach, however, of winter, brought me
+      acquainted with my mistake. It grew cold, it grew bleak; little guarded
+      against the inclemency of the &mdash;&mdash;, I felt its severity in every
+      limb, and missed a thousand indulgencies which in possession I had never
+      valued. To rise at break of day, chill, freezing, and comfortless! no sun
+      abroad, no fire at home! to go out in all weather to work, that work
+      rough, coarse, and laborious!&mdash;unused to such hardships, I found I
+      could not bear them, and, however unwillingly, was compelled to relinquish
+      the attempt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Breakfast now being over, he again arose to take leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are going, then, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;immediately to your friends?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; answered he hesitating, &ldquo;not just this moment; to-morrow
+      morning perhaps,&mdash;but it is now late, and I have business for the
+      rest of the day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Mr Monckton!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;what mischief have you done by
+      occasioning this delay!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This goodness, madam,&rdquo; said Belfield, &ldquo;my sister can never sufficiently
+      acknowledge. But I will own, that though, just now, in a warm moment, I
+      felt eager to present myself to her and my mother, I rather wish, now I am
+      cooler, to be saved the pain of telling them in person my situation. I
+      mean, therefore, first to write to them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not fail, then, to see them to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly&mdash;I think not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, but certainly you <i>must</i> not, for I shall call upon them
+      to-day, and assure them they may expect you. Can I soften your task of
+      writing by giving them any message from you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, madam, have a care!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;this condescension to a poor author
+      may be more dangerous than you have any suspicion! and before you have
+      power to help yourself, you may see your name prefixed to the Dedication
+      of some trumpery pamphlet!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will run,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;all risks; remember, therefore, you will be
+      responsible for the performance of my promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will be sure,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;not to forget what reflects so much honour
+      upon myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was satisfied by this assent, and he then went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A strange flighty character!&rdquo; cried Mr Monckton, &ldquo;yet of uncommon
+      capacity, and full of genius. Were he less imaginative, wild and
+      eccentric, he has abilities for any station, and might fix and distinguish
+      himself almost where-ever he pleased.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew not,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;the full worth of steadiness and prudence
+      till I knew this young man; for he has every thing else; talents the most
+      striking, a love of virtue the most elevated, and manners the most
+      pleasing; yet wanting steadiness and prudence, he can neither act with
+      consistency nor prosper with continuance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is well enough,&rdquo; said Lady Margaret, who had heard the whole argument
+      in sullen taciturnity, &ldquo;he is well enough, I say; and there comes no good
+      from young women's being so difficult.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, offended by a speech which implied a rude desire to dispose of
+      her, went up stairs to her own room; and Mr Monckton, always enraged when
+      young men and Cecilia were alluded to in the same sentence, retired to his
+      library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then ordered a chair, and went to Portland-street, to fulfil what she
+      had offered to Belfield, and to revive his mother and sister by the
+      pleasure of the promised interview.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She found them together: and her intelligence being of equal consequence
+      to both, she did not now repine at the presence of Mrs Belfield. She made
+      her communication with the most cautious attention to their characters,
+      softening the ill she had to relate with respect to Belfield's present way
+      of living, by endeavouring to awaken affection and joy from the prospect
+      of the approaching meeting. She counselled them as much as possible to
+      restrain their chagrin at his misfortunes, which he would but construe
+      into reproach of his ill management; and she represented that when once he
+      was restored to his family, he might almost imperceptibly be led into some
+      less wild and more profitable scheme of business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she had told all she thought proper to relate, kindly interspersing
+      her account with the best advice and best comfort she could suggest, she
+      made an end of her visit; for the affliction of Mrs Belfield upon hearing
+      the actual situation of her son, was so clamorous and unappeaseable, that,
+      little wondering at Belfield's want of courage to encounter it, and having
+      no opportunity in such a storm to console the soft Henrietta, whose tears
+      flowed abundantly that her brother should thus be fallen, she only
+      promised before she left town to see her again, and beseeching Mrs
+      Belfield to moderate her concern, was glad to leave the house, where her
+      presence had no power to quiet their distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She passed the rest of the day in sad reflections upon the meeting she was
+      herself to have the next morning with Mr Delvile. She wished ardently to
+      know whether his son was gone abroad, and whether Mrs Delvile was
+      recovered, whose health, in her own letter, was mentioned in terms the
+      most melancholy: yet neither of these enquiries could she even think of
+      making, since reasonably, without them, apprehensive of some reproach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A WRANGLING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, the next day, as soon as breakfast was over, went out, to
+      avoid showing, even to Cecilia, the anxiety he felt concerning the
+      regulation of her fortune, and arrangement of her affairs. He strongly,
+      however, advised her not to mention her large debt, which, though
+      contracted in the innocence of the purest benevolence, would incur nothing
+      but reproof and disapprobation, from all who only heard of it, when they
+      heard of its inutility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At eleven o'clock, though an hour before the time appointed, while Cecilia
+      was sitting in Lady Margaret's dressing room, &ldquo;with sad civility and an
+      aching head,&rdquo; she was summoned to Mr Briggs in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He immediately began reproaching her with having eloped from him, in the
+      summer, and with the various expences she had caused him from useless
+      purchases and spoilt provisions. He then complained of Mr Delvile, whom he
+      charged with defrauding him of his dues; but observing in the midst of his
+      railing her dejection of countenance, he suddenly broke off, and looking
+      at her with some concern, said, &ldquo;what's the matter, Ducky? a'n't well?
+      look as if you could not help it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;I thank you, Sir, I am very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you look so blank for, then?&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;bay? what are fretting
+      for?&mdash;crossed in love?&mdash;lost your sweetheart?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, no,&rdquo; cried she, with quickness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind, my chick, never mind,&rdquo; said he, pinching her cheek, with
+      resumed good humour, &ldquo;more to be had; if one won't snap, another will; put
+      me in a passion by going off from me with that old grandee, or would have
+      got one long ago. Hate that old Don; used me very ill; wish I could
+      trounce him. Thinks more of a fusty old parchment than the price of
+      stocks. Fit for nothing but to be stuck upon an old monument for a Death's
+      head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that her accounts were all made out, and he was ready at
+      any time to produce them; he approved much of her finishing wholly with
+      the <i>old Don</i>, who had been a mere cypher in the executorship; but he
+      advised her not to think of taking her money into her own hands, as he was
+      willing to keep the charge of it himself till she was married.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, thanking him for the offer, said she meant now to make her
+      acknowledgments for all the trouble he had already taken, but by no means
+      purposed to give him any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He debated the matter with her warmly, told her she had no chance to save
+      herself from knaves and cheats, but by trusting to nobody but himself, and
+      informing her what interest he had already made of her money, enquired how
+      she would set about getting more?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though prejudiced against him by Mr Monckton, knew not how to
+      combat his arguments; yet conscious that scarce any part of the money to
+      which he alluded was in fact her own, she could not yield to them. He was,
+      however, so stubborn and so difficult to deal with, that she at length let
+      him talk without troubling herself to answer, and privately determined to
+      beg Mr Monckton would fight her battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was not, therefore, displeased by his interruption, though very much
+      surprised by the sight of his person, when, in the midst of Mr Briggs's
+      oratory, Mr Hobson entered the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon, ma'am,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;if I intrude; but I made free to call
+      upon the account of two ladies that are acquaintances of yours, that are
+      quite, as one may say, at their wit's ends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with them, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, ma'am, no great matter, but mothers are soon frightened, and when
+      once they are upon the fret, one may as well talk to the boards! they know
+      no more of reasoning and arguing, than they do of a shop ledger! however,
+      my maxim is this; every body in their way; one has no more right to expect
+      courageousness from a lady in them cases, than one has from a child in
+      arms; for what I say is, they have not the proper use of their heads,
+      which makes it very excusable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what has occasioned any alarm? nothing, I hope, is the matter with
+      Miss Belfield?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am; thank God, the young lady enjoys her health very well: but she
+      is taking on just in the same way as her mamma, as what can be more
+      natural? Example, ma'am, is apt to be catching, and one lady's crying
+      makes another think she must do the same, for a little thing serves for a
+      lady's tears, being they can cry at any time: but a man is quite of
+      another nature, let him but have a good conscience, and be clear of the
+      world, and I'll engage he'll not wash his face without soap! that's what I
+      say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will, will!&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs, &ldquo;do it myself! never use soap; nothing but
+      waste; take a little sand; does as well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let every man have his own proposal;&rdquo; answered Hobson; &ldquo;for my part, I
+      take every morning a large bowl of water, and souse my whole head in it;
+      and then when I've rubbed it dry, on goes my wig, and I am quite fresh and
+      agreeable: and then I take a walk in Tottenham Court Road as far as the
+      Tabernacle, or thereabouts, and snuff in a little fresh country air, and
+      then I come back, with a good wholesome appetite, and in a fine breathing
+      heat, asking the young lady's pardon; and I enjoy my pot of fresh tea, and
+      my round of hot toast and butter, with as good a relish as if I was a
+      Prince.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pot of fresh tea,&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;bring a man to ruin; toast and butter!
+      never suffer it in my house. Breakfast on water-gruel, sooner done; fills
+      one up in a second. Give it my servants; can't eat much of it. Bob 'em
+      there!&rdquo; nodding significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Water-gruel!&rdquo; exclaimed Mr Hobson, &ldquo;why I could not get it down if I
+      might have the world for it! it would make me quite sick, asking the young
+      lady's pardon, by reason I should always think I was preparing for the
+      small-pox. My notion is quite of another nature; the first thing I do is
+      to have a good fire; for what I say is this, if a man is cold in his
+      fingers, it's odds if ever he gets warm in his purse! ha! ha! warm, you
+      take me, Sir? I mean a pun. Though I ought to ask pardon, for I suppose
+      the young lady don't know what I am a saying.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should indeed be better pleased, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to hear what you
+      have to say about Miss Belfield.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, ma'am, the thing is this; we have been expecting the young 'Squire,
+      as I call him, all the morning, and he has never come; so Mrs Belfield,
+      not knowing where to send after him, was of opinion he might be here,
+      knowing your kindness to him, and that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make the enquiry at the wrong place, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, much
+      provoked by the implication it conveyed; &ldquo;if Mr Belfield is in this house,
+      you must seek him with Mr Monckton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You take no offence, I hope, ma'am, at my just asking of the question?
+      for Mrs Belfield crying, and being in that dilemma, I thought I could do
+      no less than oblige her by coming to see if the young gentleman was here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's this? what's this?&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs eagerly; &ldquo;who are talking of?
+      hay?&mdash;who do mean? is this the sweet heart? eh, Duck?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Sir,&rdquo; cried Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No tricks! won't be bit! who is it? will know; tell me, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I'll</i> tell Sir,&rdquo; cried Mr Hobson; &ldquo;it's a very handsome young
+      gentleman, with as fine a person, and as genteel a way of behaviour, and
+      withal, as pretty a manner of dressing himself, and that, as any lady need
+      desire. He has no great head for business, as I am told, but the ladies
+      don't stand much upon that topic, being they know nothing of it
+      themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has got the ready?&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs, impatiently; &ldquo;can cast an account?
+      that's the point; can come down handsomely? eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why as to that, Sir, I'm not bound to speak to a gentleman's private
+      affairs. What's my own, is my own, and what is another person's, is
+      another person's; that's my way of arguing, and that's what I call talking
+      to the purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dare say he's a rogue! don't have him, chick. Bet a wager i'n't worth two
+      shillings; and that will go for powder and pomatum; hate a plaistered
+      pate; commonly a numscull: love a good bob-jerom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why this is talking quite wide of the mark,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;to suppose
+      a young lady of fortunes would marry a man with a bob-jerom. What I say
+      is, let every body follow their nature; that's the way to be comfortable;
+      and then if they pay every one his own, who's a right to call 'em to
+      account, whether they wear a bob-jerom, or a pig-tail down to the calves
+      of their legs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, ay,&rdquo; cried Briggs, sneeringly, &ldquo;or whether they stuff their gullets
+      with hot rounds of toast and butter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what if they do, Sir?&rdquo; returned Hobson, a little angrily; &ldquo;when a
+      man's got above the world, where's the harm of living a little genteel? as
+      to a round of toast and butter, and a few oysters, fresh opened, by way of
+      a damper before dinner, no man need be ashamed of them, provided he pays
+      as he goes: and as to living upon water-gruel, and scrubbing one's flesh
+      with sand, one might as well be a galley-slave at once. You don't
+      understand life, Sir, I see that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do! do!&rdquo; cried Briggs, speaking through his shut teeth; &ldquo;you're out
+      there! oysters!&mdash;come to ruin, tell you! bring you to jail!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To jail, Sir?&rdquo; exclaimed Hobson, &ldquo;this is talking quite ungenteel! let
+      every man be civil; that's what I say, for that's the way to make every
+      thing agreeable but as to telling a man he'll go to jail, and that, it's
+      tantamount to affronting him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A rap at the street-door gave now a new relief to Cecilia, who began to
+      grow very apprehensive lest the delight of spending money, thus warmly
+      contested with that of hoarding it, should give rise to a quarrel, which,
+      between two such sturdy champions for their own opinions, might lead to a
+      conclusion rather more rough and violent than she desired to witness: but
+      when the parlour-door opened, instead of Mr Delvile, whom she now fully
+      expected, Mr Albany made his entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was rather distressing, as her real business with her guardians made
+      it proper her conference with them should be undisturbed: and Albany was
+      not a man with whom a hint that she was engaged could be risked: but she
+      had made no preparation to guard against interruption, as her little
+      acquaintance in London had prevented her expecting any visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced with a solemn air to Cecilia, and, looking as if hardly
+      determined whether to speak with severity or gentleness, said, &ldquo;once more
+      I come to prove thy sincerity; now wilt thou go with me where sorrow calls
+      thee? sorrow thy charity can mitigate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much concerned,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;but indeed at present it is
+      utterly impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Again,&rdquo; cried he, with a look at once stern and disappointed, &ldquo;again thou
+      failest me? what wanton trifling! why shouldst thou thus elate a worn-out
+      mind, only to make it feel its lingering credulity? or why, teaching me to
+      think I had found an angel, so unkindly undeceive me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, much affected by this reproof, &ldquo;if you knew how
+      heavy a loss I had personally suffered&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do know it,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;and I grieved for thee when I heard it. Thou
+      hast lost a faithful old friend, a loss which with every setting sun thou
+      mayst mourn, for the rising sun will never repair it! but was that a
+      reason for shunning the duties of humanity? was the sight of death a
+      motive for neglecting the claims of benevolence? ought it not rather to
+      have hastened your fulfilling them? and should not your own suffering
+      experience of the brevity of life, have taught you the vanity of all
+      things but preparing for its end?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps so, but my grief at that time made me think only of myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And of what else dost thou think now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most probably of the same person still!&rdquo; said she, half smiling, &ldquo;but yet
+      believe me, I have real business to transact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frivolous, unmeaning, ever-ready excuses! what business is so important
+      as the relief of a fellow-creature?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not, I hope, there,&rdquo; answered she, with alacrity, &ldquo;be backward;
+      but at least for this morning I must beg to make you my Almoner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then took out her purse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs and Mr Hobson, whose quarrel had been suspended by the
+      appearance of a third person, and who had stood during this short dialogue
+      in silent amazement, having first lost their anger in their mutual
+      consternation, now lost their consternation in their mutual displeasure
+      Mr. Hobson felt offended to hear business spoken of slightly, and Mr
+      Briggs felt enraged at the sight of Cecilia's ready purse. Neither of
+      them, however, knew which way to interfere, the stem gravity of Albany,
+      joined to a language too lofty for their comprehension, intimidating them
+      both. They took, however, the relief of communing with one another, and Mr
+      Hobson said in a whisper &ldquo;This, you must know, is, I am told, a very
+      particular old gentleman; quite what I call a genius. He comes often to my
+      house, to see my lodger Miss Henny Belfield, though I never happen to
+      light upon him myself, except once in the passage: but what I hear of him
+      is this; he makes a practice, as one may say, of going about into people's
+      houses, to do nothing but find fault.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shan't get into mine!&rdquo; returned Briggs, &ldquo;promise him that! don't half
+      like him; be bound he's an old sharper.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, mean time, enquired what he desired to have.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half a guinea,&rdquo; he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will that do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For those who have nothing,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is much. Hereafter, you may
+      assist them again. Go but and see their distresses, and you will wish to
+      give them every thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs now, when actually between her fingers he saw the half guinea,
+      could contain no longer; he twitched the sleeve of her gown, and pinching
+      her arm, with a look of painful eagerness, said in a whisper &ldquo;Don't give
+      it! don't let him have it! chouse him, chouse him! nothing but an old
+      bite!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a low voice, &ldquo;his character is very
+      well known to me.&rdquo; And then, disengaging her arm from him, she presented
+      her little offering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this sight, Mr Briggs was almost outrageous, and losing in his wrath,
+      all fear of the stranger, he burst forth with fury into the following
+      outcries, &ldquo;Be ruined! see it plainly; be fleeced! be stript! be robbed!
+      won't have a gown to your back! won't have a shoe to your foot! won't have
+      a rag in the world! be a beggar in the street! come to the parish! rot in
+      a jail!&mdash;half a guinea at a time!&mdash;enough to break the Great
+      Mogul!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inhuman spirit of selfish parsimony!&rdquo; exclaimed Albany, &ldquo;repinest thou at
+      this loan, given from thousands to those who have worse than nothing? who
+      pay to-day in hunger for bread they borrowed yesterday from pity? who to
+      save themselves from the deadly pangs of famine, solicit but what the rich
+      know not when they possess, and miss not when they give?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anan!&rdquo; cried Briggs, recovering his temper from the perplexity of his
+      understanding, at a discourse to which his ears were wholly unaccustomed,
+      &ldquo;what d'ye say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If to thyself distress may cry in vain,&rdquo; continued Albany, &ldquo;if thy own
+      heart resists the suppliant's prayer, callous to entreaty, and hardened in
+      the world, suffer, at least, a creature yet untainted, who melts at
+      sorrow, and who glows with charity, to pay from her vast wealth a generous
+      tax of thankfulness, that fate has not reversed her doom, and those whom
+      she relieves, relieve not her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anan!&rdquo; was again all the wondering Mr Briggs could say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, to Cecilia, &ldquo;if it's no offence, was the
+      Gentleman ever a player?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fancy not, indeed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon, then, ma'am; I mean no harm; but my notion was the
+      gentleman might be speaking something by heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it but on the stage, humanity exists?&rdquo; cried Albany, indignantly; &ldquo;Oh
+      thither hasten, then, ye monopolizers of plenty! ye selfish, unfeeling
+      engrossers of wealth, which ye dissipate without enjoying, and of
+      abundance, which ye waste while ye refuse to distribute! thither, thither
+      haste, if there humanity exists!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to engrossing,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, happy to hear at last a word with
+      which he was familiar, &ldquo;it's what I never approved myself. My maxim is
+      this; if a man makes a fair penny, without any underhand dealings, why he
+      has as much a title to enjoy his pleasure as the Chief Justice, or the
+      Lord Chancellor: and it's odds but he's as happy as a greater man. Though
+      what I hold to be best of all, is a clear conscience, with a neat income
+      of 2 or 3000 a year. That's my notion; and I don't think it's a bad one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Weak policy of short-sighted ignorance!&rdquo; cried Albany, &ldquo;to wish for what,
+      if used, brings care, and if neglected, remorse! have you not now beyond
+      what nature craves? why then still sigh for more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; cried Mr Briggs, who by dint of deep attention began now better to
+      comprehend him, &ldquo;why to buy in, to be sure! ever hear of stocks, eh? know
+      any thing of money?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still to make more and more,&rdquo; cried Albany, &ldquo;and wherefore? to spend in
+      vice and idleness, or hoard in chearless misery! not to give succour to
+      the wretched, not to support the falling; all is for self, however little
+      wanted, all goes to added stores, or added luxury; no fellow-creature
+      served, nor even one beggar relieved!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad of it!&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;glad of it; would not have 'em relieved;
+      don't like 'em; hate a beggar; ought to be all whipt; live upon spunging.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why as to a beggar, I must needs say,&rdquo; cried Mr Hobson, &ldquo;I am by no means
+      an approver of that mode of proceeding; being I take 'em all for cheats:
+      for what I say is this, what a man earns, he earns, and it's no man's
+      business to enquire what he spends, for a free-born Englishman is his own
+      master by the nature of the law, and as to his being a subject, why a duke
+      is no more, nor a judge, nor the Lord High Chancellor, and the like of
+      those; which makes it tantamount to nothing, being he is answerable to
+      nobody by the right of Magna Charta: except in cases of treason, felony,
+      and that. But as to a beggar, it's quite another thing; he comes and asks
+      me for money; but what has he to shew for it? what does he bring me in
+      exchange? why a long story that he i'n't worth a penny! what's that to me?
+      nothing at all. Let every man have his own; that's my way of arguing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ungentle mortals!&rdquo; cried Albany, &ldquo;in wealth exulting; even in inhumanity!
+      think you these wretched outcasts have less sensibility than yourselves?
+      think you, in cold and hunger, they lose those feelings which even in
+      voluptuous prosperity from time to time disturb you? you say they are all
+      cheats? 'tis but the niggard cant of avarice, to lure away remorse from
+      obduracy. Think you the naked wanderer begs from choice? give him your
+      wealth and try.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give him a whip!&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;sha'n't have a souse! send him to
+      Bridewell! nothing but a pauper; hate 'em; hate 'em all! full of tricks;
+      break their own legs, put out their arms, cut off their fingers, snap
+      their own ancles,&mdash;all for what? to get at the chink! to chouse us of
+      cash! ought to be well flogged; have 'em all sent to the Thames; worse
+      than the Convicts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor subterfuge of callous cruelty! you cheat yourselves, to shun the
+      fraud of others! and yet, how better do you use the wealth so guarded?
+      what nobler purpose can it answer to you, than even a chance to snatch
+      some wretch from sinking? think less how <i>much</i> ye save, and more for
+      <i>what</i>; and then consider how thy full coffers may hereafter make
+      reparation, for the empty catalogue of thy virtues.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anan!&rdquo; said Mr Briggs, again lost in perplexity and wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet,&rdquo; continued Albany, turning towards Cecilia, &ldquo;preach not here the
+      hardness which ye practice; rather amend yourselves than corrupt her; and
+      give with liberality what ye ought to receive with gratitude!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is not my doctrine,&rdquo; cried Hobson; &ldquo;I am not a near man, neither,
+      but as to giving at that rate, it's quite out of character. I have as good
+      a right to my own savings, as to my own gettings; and what I say is this,
+      who'll give to <i>me</i>? let me see that, and it's quite another thing:
+      and begin who will, I'll be bound to go on with him, pound for pound, or
+      pence for pence. But as to giving to them beggars, it's what I don't
+      approve; I pay the poor's rate, and that's what I call charity enough for
+      any man. But for the matter of living well, and spending one's money
+      handsomely, and having one's comforts about one, why it's a thing of
+      another nature, and I can say this for myself, and that is, I never
+      grudged myself any thing in my life. I always made myself agreeable, and
+      lived on the best. That's my way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad way too,&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;never get on with it, never see beyond your
+      nose; won't be worth a plum while your head wags!&rdquo; then, taking Cecilia
+      apart, &ldquo;hark'ee, my duck,&rdquo; he added, pointing to Albany, &ldquo;who is that Mr
+      Bounce, eh? what is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have known him but a short time, Sir; but I think of him very highly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is he a <i>good</i> man? that's the point, is he a <i>good</i> man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed he appears to me uncommonly benevolent and charitable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that i'n't the thing; is he <i>warm</i>? that's the point, is he <i>warm</i>?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean <i>passionate</i>,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;I believe the energy of
+      his manner is merely to enforce what he says.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't take me, don't take me,&rdquo; cried he, impatiently; &ldquo;can come down with
+      the ready, that's the matter; can chink the little gold boys? eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I rather fear not by his appearance; but I know nothing of his
+      affairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does come for? eh? come a courting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mercy on me, no!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What for then? only a spunging?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed. He seems to have no wish but to assist and plead for others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All fudge! think he i'n't touched? ay, ay; nothing but a trick! only to
+      get at the chink: see he's as poor as a rat, talks of nothing but giving
+      money; a bad sign! if he'd got any, would not do it. Wanted to make us
+      come down; warrant thought to bam us all! out there! a'n't so soon
+      gulled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A knock at the street door gave now a new interruption, and Mr Delvile at
+      length appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, whom his sight could not fail to disconcert, felt doubly
+      distressed by the unnecessary presence of Albany and Hobson; she regretted
+      the absence of Mr Monckton, who could easily have taken them away; for
+      though without scruple she could herself have acquainted Mr Hobson she had
+      business, she dreaded offending Albany, whose esteem she was ambitious of
+      obtaining.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile entered the room with an air stately and erect; he took off his
+      hat, but deigned not to make the smallest inclination of his head, nor
+      offered any excuse to Mr Briggs for being past the hour of his
+      appointment: but having advanced a few paces, without looking either to
+      the right or left, said, &ldquo;as I have never acted, my coming may not,
+      perhaps, be essential; but as my name is in the Dean's Will, and I have
+      once or twice met the other executors mentioned in it, I think it a duty I
+      owe to my own heirs to prevent any possible future enquiry or trouble to
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This speech was directly addressed to no one, though meant to be attended
+      to by every one, and seemed proudly uttered as a mere apology to himself
+      for not having declined the meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though she recovered from her confusion by the help of her
+      aversion to this self-sufficiency, made not any answer. Albany retired to
+      a corner of the room; Mr Hobson began to believe it was time for him to
+      depart; and Mr Briggs thinking only of the quarrel in which he had
+      separated with Mr Delvile in the summer, stood swelling with venom, which
+      he longed for an opportunity to spit out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, who regarded this silence as the effect of his awe-inspiring
+      presence, became rather more complacent; but casting his eyes round the
+      room, and perceiving the two strangers, he was visibly surprised, and
+      looking at Cecilia for some explanation, seemed to stand suspended from
+      the purpose of his visit till he heard one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, earnest to have the business concluded, turned to Mr Briggs, and
+      said, &ldquo;Sir, here is pen and ink: are you to write, or am I? or what is to
+      be done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; said he, with a sneer, &ldquo;give it t'other; all in our turn; don't
+      come before his Grace the Right Honourable Mr Vampus.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before whom, Sir?&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, reddening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before my Lord Don Pedigree,&rdquo; answered Briggs, with a spiteful grin,
+      &ldquo;know him? eh? ever hear of such a person?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile coloured still deeper, but turning contemptuously from him,
+      disdained making any reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs, who now regarded him as a defeated man, said exultingly to Mr
+      Hobson, &ldquo;what do stand here for?&mdash;hay?&mdash;fall o' your
+      marrowbones; don't see 'Squire High and Mighty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to falling on my marrowbones,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;it's what I shall
+      do to no man, except he was the King himself, or the like of that, and
+      going to make me Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Commissioner of Excise.
+      Not that I mean the gentleman any offence; but a man's a man, and for one
+      man to worship another is quite out of law.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must, must!&rdquo; cried Briggs, &ldquo;tell all his old grand-dads else: keeps 'em
+      in a roll; locks 'em in a closet; says his prayers to 'em; can't live
+      without 'em: likes 'em better than cash!&mdash;wish had 'em here! pop 'em
+      all in the sink!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If your intention, Sir,&rdquo; cried Mr Delvile, fiercely, &ldquo;is only to insult
+      me, I am prepared for what measures I shall take. I declined seeing you in
+      my own house, that I might not be under the same restraint as when it was
+      my unfortunate lot to meet you last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who cares?&rdquo; cried Briggs, with an air of defiance, &ldquo;what can do, eh? poke
+      me into a family vault? bind me o' top of an old monument? tie me to a
+      stinking carcase? make a corpse of me, and call it one of your famous
+      cousins?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For heaven's sake, Mr Briggs,&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, who saw that Mr
+      Delvile, trembling with passion, scarce refrained lifting up his stick,
+      &ldquo;be appeased, and let us finish our business!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Albany now, hearing in Cecilia's voice the alarm with which she was
+      seized, came forward and exclaimed, &ldquo;Whence this unmeaning dissension? to
+      what purpose this irritating abuse? Oh vain and foolish! live ye so
+      happily, last ye so long, that time and peace may thus be trifled with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, there!&rdquo; cried Briggs, holding up his finger at Mr Delvile, &ldquo;have
+      it now! got old Mr Bounce upon you! give you enough of it; promise you
+      that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Restrain,&rdquo; continued Albany, &ldquo;this idle wrath; and if ye have ardent
+      passions, employ them to nobler uses; let them stimulate acts of virtue,
+      let them animate deeds of beneficence! Oh waste not spirits that may urge
+      you to good, lead you to honour, warm you to charity, in poor and angry
+      words, in unfriendly, unmanly debate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, who from the approach of Albany, had given him his whole
+      attention, was struck with astonishment at this address, and almost
+      petrified with wonder at his language and exhortations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I must own,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;as to this matter I am much of the same
+      mind myself; for quarreling's a thing I don't uphold; being it advances
+      one no way; for what I say is this, if a man gets the better, he's only
+      where he was before, and if he gets worsted, why it's odds but the laugh's
+      against him: so, if I may make bold to give my verdict, I would have one
+      of these gentlemen take the other by the hand, and so put an end to bad
+      words. That's my maxim, and that's what I call being agreeable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, at the words <i>one of these gentlemen take the other by the
+      hand</i>, looked scornfully upon Mr Hobson, with a frown that expressed
+      his highest indignation, at being thus familiarly coupled with Mr Briggs.
+      And then, turning from him to Cecilia, haughtily said, &ldquo;Are these two
+      persons,&rdquo; pointing towards Albany and Hobson, &ldquo;waiting here to be
+      witnesses to any transaction?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir, no,&rdquo; cried Hobson, &ldquo;I don't mean to intrude, I am going
+      directly. So you can give me no insight, ma'am,&rdquo; addressing Cecilia, &ldquo;as
+      to where I might light upon Mr Belfield?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me? no!&rdquo; cried she, much provoked by observing that Mr Delvile suddenly
+      looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, ma'am, well, I mean no harm: only I hold it that the right way to
+      hear of a young gentleman, is to ask for him of a young lady: that's my
+      maxim. Come, Sir,&rdquo; to Mr Briggs, &ldquo;you and I had like to have fallen out,
+      but what I say is this; let no man bear malice; that's my way: so I hope
+      we part without ill blood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, ay;&rdquo; said Mr Briggs, giving him a nod.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; added Hobson, &ldquo;I hope the good-will may go round, and that
+      not only you and I, but these two good old gentlemen will also lend a
+      hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile now was at a loss which way to turn for very rage; but after
+      looking at every one with a face flaming with ire, he said to Cecilia, &ldquo;If
+      you have collected together these persons for the purpose of affronting
+      me, I must beg you to remember I am not one to be affronted with
+      impunity!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, half frightened, was beginning an answer that disclaimed any such
+      intention, when Albany, with the most indignant energy, called out, &ldquo;Oh
+      pride of heart, with littleness of soul! check this vile arrogance, too
+      vain for man, and spare to others some part of that lenity thou nourishest
+      for thyself, or justly bestow on thyself that contempt thou nourishest for
+      others!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And with these words he sternly left the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The thunderstruck Mr Delvile began now to fancy that all the demons of
+      torment were designedly let loose upon him, and his surprise and
+      resentment operated so powerfully that it was only in broken sentences he
+      could express either. &ldquo;Very extraordinary!&mdash;a new method of conduct!&mdash;liberties
+      to which I am not much used!&mdash;impertinences I shall not hastily
+      forget,&mdash;treatment that would scarce be pardonable to a person wholly
+      unknown!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why indeed, Sir,&rdquo; said Hobson, &ldquo;I can't but say it was rather a cut up;
+      but the old gentleman is what one may call a genius, which makes it a
+      little excusable; for he does things all his own way, and I am told it's
+      the same thing who he speaks to, so he can but find fault, and that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; interrupted the still more highly offended Mr Delvile, &ldquo;what <i>you</i>
+      may be told is extremely immaterial to <i>me</i>; and I must take the
+      liberty to hint to you, a conversation of this easy kind is not what I am
+      much in practice in hearing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, I ask pardon,&rdquo; said Hobson, &ldquo;I meant nothing but what was agreeable;
+      however, I have done, and I wish you good day. Your humble servant, ma'am,
+      and I hope, Sir,&rdquo; to Mr Briggs, &ldquo;you won't begin bad words again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; said Briggs, &ldquo;ready to make up; all at end; only don't much like
+      <i>Spain</i>, that's all!&rdquo; winking significantly, &ldquo;nor a'n't over fond of
+      a <i>skeleton</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Hobson now retired; and Mr Delvile and Mr Briggs, being both wearied
+      and both in haste to have done, settled in about five minutes all for
+      which they met, after passing more than an hour in agreeing what that was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Briggs then, saying he had an engagement upon business, declined
+      settling his own accounts till another time, but promised to see Cecilia
+      again soon, and added, &ldquo;be sure take care of that old Mr Bounce! cracked
+      in the noddle; see that with half an eye! better not trust him! break out
+      some day: do you a mischief!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away: but while the parlour-door was still open, to the no
+      little surprise of Cecilia, the servant announced Mr Belfield. He hardly
+      entered the room, and his countenance spoke haste and eagerness. &ldquo;I have
+      this moment, madam,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;been informed a complaint has been lodged
+      against me here, and I could not rest till I had the honour of assuring
+      you, that though I have been rather dilatory, I have not neglected my
+      appointment, nor has the condescension of your interference been thrown
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then bowed, shut the door, and ran off Cecilia, though happy to
+      understand by this speech that he was actually restored to his family, was
+      sorry at these repeated intrusions in the presence of Mr Delvile, who was
+      now the only one that remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She expected every instant that he would ring for his chair, which he kept
+      in waiting; but, after a pause of some continuance, to her equal surprise
+      and disturbance, he made the following speech. &ldquo;As it is probable I am now
+      for the last time alone with you, ma'am, and as it is certain we shall
+      meet no more upon business, I cannot, in justice to my own character, and
+      to the respect I retain for the memory of the Dean, your uncle, take a
+      final leave of the office with which he was pleased to invest me, without
+      first fulfilling my own ideas of the duty it requires from me, by giving
+      you some counsel relating to your future establishment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was not a preface much to enliven Cecilia; it prepared her for such
+      speeches as she was least willing to hear, and gave to her the mixt and
+      painful sensation of spirits depressed, with ride alarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My numerous engagements,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and the appropriation of my
+      time, already settled, to their various claims, must make me brief in what
+      I have to represent, and somewhat, perhaps, abrupt in coming to the
+      purpose. But that you will excuse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia disdained to humour this arrogance by any compliments or
+      concessions: she was silent, therefore; and when they were both seated, he
+      went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are now at a time of life when it is natural for young women to wish
+      for some connection: and the largeness of your fortune will remove from
+      you such difficulties as prove bars to the pretensions, in this expensive
+      age, of those who possess not such advantages. It would have been some
+      pleasure to me, while I yet considered you as my Ward, to have seen you
+      properly disposed of: but as that time is past, I can only give you some
+      general advice, which you may follow or neglect as you think fit. By
+      giving it, I shall satisfy myself; for the rest, I am not responsible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused; but Cecilia felt less and less inclination to make use of the
+      opportunity by speaking in her turn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet though, as I just now hinted, young women of large fortunes may have
+      little trouble in finding themselves establishments, they ought not,
+      therefore, to trifle when proper ones are in their power, nor to suppose
+      themselves equal to any they may chance to desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia coloured high at this pointed reprehension; but feeling her
+      disgust every moment encrease, determined to sustain herself with dignity,
+      and at least not suffer him to perceive the triumph of his ostentation and
+      rudeness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The proposals,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;of the Earl of Ernolf had always my
+      approbation; it was certainly an ill-judged thing to neglect such an
+      opportunity of being honourably settled. The clause of the name was, to <i>him</i>,
+      immaterial; since his own name half a century ago was unheard of, and
+      since he is himself only known by his title. He is still, however, I have
+      authority to acquaint you, perfectly well disposed to renew his
+      application to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia coldly, &ldquo;to hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have, perhaps, some other better offer in view?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; cried she, with spirit, &ldquo;nor even in desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I, then, to infer that some inferior offer has more chance of your
+      approbation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no reason, Sir, to infer any thing; I am content with my actual
+      situation, and have, at present, neither prospect nor intention of
+      changing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I perceive, but without surprise, your unwillingness to discuss the
+      subject; nor do I mean to press it: I shall merely offer to your
+      consideration one caution, and then relieve you from my presence. Young
+      women of ample fortunes, who are early independent, are sometimes apt to
+      presume they may do every thing with impunity; but they are mistaken; they
+      are as liable to censure as those who are wholly unprovided for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, staring, &ldquo;this at least is a caution rather
+      drawn from my situation than my behaviour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean not, ma'am, narrowly to go into, or investigate the subject; what
+      I have said you may make your own use of; I have only to observe further,
+      that when young women, at your time of life, are at all negligent of so
+      nice a thing as reputation, they commonly live to repent it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then arose to go, but Cecilia, not more offended than amazed, said, &ldquo;I
+      must beg, Sir, you will explain yourself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly this matter,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;must be immaterial to <i>me</i>:
+      yet, as I have once been your guardian by the nomination of the Dean your
+      uncle, I cannot forbear making an effort towards preventing any
+      indiscretion: and frequent visits to a young man&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God! Sir,&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, &ldquo;what is it you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It can certainly, as I said before, be nothing to <i>me</i>, though I
+      should be glad to see you in better hands: but I cannot suppose you have
+      been led to take such steps without some serious plan; and I would advise
+      you, without loss of time, to think better of what you are about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Should I think, Sir, to eternity,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;I could never
+      conjecture what you mean!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may not chuse,&rdquo; said he, proudly, &ldquo;to understand me; but I have done.
+      If it had been in my power to have interfered in your service with my Lord
+      Derford, notwithstanding my reluctance to being involved in any fresh
+      employment, I should have made a point of not refusing it: but this young
+      man is nobody,&mdash;a very imprudent connection&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What young man, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, <i>I</i> know nothing of him! it is by no means likely I should: but
+      as I had already been informed of your attention to him, the corroborating
+      incidents of my servant's following you to his house, his friend's seeking
+      him at yours, and his own waiting upon you this morning; were not well
+      calculated to make me withdraw my credence to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it, then, Mr Belfield, Sir, concerning whom you draw these inferences,
+      from circumstances the most accidental and unmeaning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is by no means my practice,&rdquo; cried he, haughtily, and with evident
+      marks of high displeasure at this speech, &ldquo;to believe any thing lightly,
+      or without even unquestionable authority; what once, therefore, I have
+      credited, I do not often find erroneous. Mistake not, however, what I have
+      said into supposing I have any objection to your marrying; on the
+      contrary, it had been for the honour of my family had you been married a
+      year ago I should not then have suffered the degradation of seeing a son
+      of the first expectations in the kingdom upon the point of renouncing his
+      birth, nor a woman of the first distinction ruined in her health, and
+      broken for ever in her constitution.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The emotions of Cecilia at this speech were too powerful for concealment;
+      her colour varied, now reddening with indignation, now turning pale with
+      apprehension; she arose, she trembled and sat down, she arose again, but
+      not knowing what to say or what to do, again sat down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile then, making a stiff bow, wished her good morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go not so, Sir!&rdquo; cried she, in faltering accents; &ldquo;let me at least
+      convince you of the mistake with regard to Mr Belfield&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My mistakes, ma'am,&rdquo; said he, with a contemptuous smile, &ldquo;are perhaps not
+      easily convicted: and I may possibly labour under others that would give
+      you no less trouble: it may therefore be better to avoid any further
+      disquisition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not better,&rdquo; answered she, again recovering her courage from this
+      fresh provocation; &ldquo;I fear no disquisition; on the contrary, it is my
+      interest to solicit one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This intrepidity in a young woman,&rdquo; said he, ironically, &ldquo;is certainly
+      very commendable; and doubtless, as you are your own mistress, your having
+      run out great part of your fortune, is nothing beyond what you have a
+      right to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, astonished, &ldquo;run out great part of my fortune!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps that is another <i>mistake</i>! I have not often been so
+      unfortunate; and you are not, then, in debt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In debt, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, I have no intention to inquire into your affairs. Good morning to
+      you, ma'am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg, I entreat, Sir, that you will stop!&mdash;make me, at least,
+      understand what you mean, whether you deign to hear my justification or
+      not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, I am mistaken, it seems! misinformed, deceived; and you have neither
+      spent more than you have received, nor taken up money of Jews? your
+      minority has been clear of debts? and your fortune, now you are of age,
+      will be free from incumbrances?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who now began to understand him, eagerly answered, &ldquo;do you mean,
+      Sir, the money which I took up last spring?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no; by no means, I conceive the whole to be a <i>mistake</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And he went to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me but a moment, Sir!&rdquo; cried she hastily, following him; &ldquo;since you
+      know of that transaction, do not refuse to listen to its occasion; I took
+      up the money for Mr Harrel; it was all, and solely for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Mr Harrel, was it?&rdquo; said he, with an air of supercilious incredulity;
+      &ldquo;that was rather an unlucky step. Your servant, ma'am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And he opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not hear me, then? you will not credit me?&rdquo; cried she in the
+      cruellest agitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some other time, ma'am; at present my avocations are too numerous to
+      permit me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And again, stiffly bowing, he called to his servants, who were waiting in
+      the hall, and put himself into his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER v. &mdash; A SUSPICION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was now left in a state of perturbation that was hardly to be
+      endured. The contempt with which she had been treated during the whole
+      visit was nothing short of insult, but the accusations with which it was
+      concluded did not more irritate than astonish her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That some strange prejudice had been taken against her, even more than
+      belonged to her connection with young Delvile, the message brought her by
+      Dr Lyster had given her reason to suppose: what that prejudice was she now
+      knew, though how excited she was still ignorant; but she found Mr Delvile
+      had been informed she had taken up money of a Jew, without having heard it
+      was for Mr Harrel, and that he had been acquainted with her visits in
+      Portland-street, without seeming to know Mr Belfield had a sister. Two
+      charges such as these, so serious in their nature, and so destructive of
+      her character, filled her with horror and consternation, and even somewhat
+      served to palliate his illiberal and injurious behaviour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But how reports thus false and thus disgraceful should be raised, and by
+      what dark work of slander and malignity they had been spread, remained a
+      doubt inexplicable. They could not, she was certain, be the mere rumour of
+      chance, since in both the assertions there was some foundation of truth,
+      however cruelly perverted, or basely over-charged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This led her to consider how few people there were not only who had
+      interest, but who had power to propagate such calumnies; even her
+      acquaintance with the Belfields she remembered not ever mentioning, for
+      she knew none of their friends, and none of her own knew them. How, then,
+      should it be circulated, that she &ldquo;visited often at the house?&rdquo; however be
+      invented that it was from her &ldquo;attention to the young man?&rdquo; Henrietta, she
+      was sure, was too good and too innocent to be guilty of such perfidy; and
+      the young man himself had always shewn a modesty and propriety that
+      manifested his total freedom from the vanity of such a suspicion, and an
+      elevation of sentiment that would have taught him to scorn the boast, even
+      if he believed the partiality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mother, however, had neither been so modest nor so rational; she had
+      openly avowed her opinion that Cecilia was in love with her son; and as
+      that son, by never offering himself, had never been refused, her opinion
+      had received no check of sufficient force, for a mind so gross and
+      literal, to change it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This part, therefore, of the charge she gave to Mrs Belfield, whose
+      officious and loquacious forwardness she concluded had induced her to
+      narrate her suspicions, till, step by step, they had reached Mr Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though able, by the probability of this conjecture, to account for the
+      report concerning Belfield, the whole affair of the debt remained a
+      difficulty not to be solved. Mr Harrel, his wife, Mr Arnott, the Jew and
+      Mr Monckton, were the only persons to whom the transaction was known; and
+      though from five, a secret, in the course of so many months, might easily
+      be supposed likely to transpire, those five were so particularly bound to
+      silence, not only for her interest but their own, that it was not
+      unreasonable to believe it as safe among them all, as if solely consigned
+      to one. For herself, she had revealed it to no creature but Mr Monckton;
+      not even to Delvile; though, upon her consenting to marry him, he had an
+      undoubted right to be acquainted with the true state of her affairs; but
+      such had been the hurry, distress, confusion and irresolution of her mind
+      at that period, that this whole circumstance had been driven from it
+      entirely, and she had, since, frequently blamed herself for such want of
+      recollection. Mr Harrel, for a thousand reasons, she was certain had never
+      named it; and had the communication come from his widow or from Mr Arnott,
+      the motives would have been related as well as the debt, and she had been
+      spared the reproach of contracting it for purposes of her own
+      extravagance. The Jew, indeed, was, to her, under no obligation of
+      secrecy, but he had an obligation far more binding,&mdash;he was tied to
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A suspicion now arose in her mind which made it thrill with horror; &ldquo;good
+      God! she exclaimed, can Mr Monckton&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt, even to herself;&mdash;she checked the idea;&mdash;she drove it
+      hastily from her;&mdash;she was certain it was false and cruel,&mdash;she
+      hated herself for having started it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;he is my friend, the confirmed friend of many years, my
+      well-wisher from childhood, my zealous counsellor and assistant almost
+      from my birth to this hour:&mdash;such perfidy from him would not even be
+      human!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet still her perplexity was undiminished; the affair was undoubtedly
+      known, and it only could be known by the treachery of some one entrusted
+      with it: and however earnestly her generosity combated her rising
+      suspicions, she could not wholly quell them; and Mr Monckton's strange
+      aversion to the Delviles, his earnestness to break off her connexion with
+      them, occurred to her remembrance, and haunted her perforce with surmises
+      to his disadvantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That gentleman, when he came home, found her in this comfortless and
+      fluctuating state, endeavouring to form conjectures upon what had
+      happened, yet unable to succeed, but by suggestions which one moment
+      excited her abhorrence of him, and the next of herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He enquired, with his usual appearance of easy friendliness, into what had
+      passed with her two guardians, and how she had settled her affairs. She
+      answered without hesitation all his questions, but her manner was cold and
+      reserved, though her communication was frank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was not unheeded by Mr Monckton, who, after a short time, begged to
+      know if any thing had disturbed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, ashamed of her doubts, though unable to get rid of them, then
+      endeavoured to brighten up, and changed the subject to the difficulties
+      she had had to encounter from the obstinacy of Mr Briggs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton for a while humoured this evasion; but when, by her own
+      exertion, her solemnity began to wear off, he repeated his interrogatory,
+      and would not be satisfied without an answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, earnest that surmises so injurious should be removed, then
+      honestly, but without comments, related the scene which had just past
+      between Mr Delvile and herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No comments were, however, wanting to explain to Mr Monckton the change of
+      her behaviour. &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; he cried hastily, &ldquo;what you cannot but suspect;
+      and I will go myself to Mr Delvile, and insist upon his clearing me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, shocked to have thus betrayed what was passing within her,
+      assured him his vindication required not such a step, and begged he would
+      counsel her how to discover this treachery, without drawing from her
+      concern at it a conclusion so offensive to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was evidently, however, and greatly disturbed; he declared his own
+      wonder equal to hers how the affair had been betrayed, expressed the
+      warmest indignation at the malevolent insinuations against her conduct,
+      and lamented with mingled acrimony and grief, that there should exist even
+      the possibility of casting the odium of such villainy upon himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, distressed, perplexed, and ashamed at once, again endeavoured to
+      appease him, and though a lurking doubt obstinately clung to her
+      understanding, the purity of her own principles, and the softness of her
+      heart, pleaded strongly for his innocence, and urged her to detest her
+      suspicion, though to conquer it they were unequal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; said he, with an air ingenuous though mortified, &ldquo;I dislike
+      the Delviles, and have always disliked them; they appear to me a jealous,
+      vindictive, and insolent race, and I should have thought I betrayed the
+      faithful regard I professed for you, had I concealed my opinion when I saw
+      you in danger of forming an alliance with them; I spoke to you, therefore,
+      with honest zeal, thoughtless of any enmity I might draw upon myself; but
+      though it was an interference from which I hoped, by preventing the
+      connection, to contribute to your happiness, it was not with a design to
+      stop it at the expence of your character,&mdash;a design black, horrible,
+      and diabolic! a design which must be formed by a Daemon, but which even a
+      Daemon could never, I think, execute!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The candour of this speech, in which his aversion to the Delviles was
+      openly acknowledged, and rationally justified, somewhat quieted the
+      suspicions of Cecilia, which far more anxiously sought to be confuted than
+      confirmed: she began, therefore, to conclude that some accident,
+      inexplicable as unfortunate, had occasioned the partial discovery to Mr
+      Delvile, by which her own goodness proved the source of her defamation:
+      and though something still hung upon her mind that destroyed that firm
+      confidence she had hitherto felt in the friendship of Mr Monckton, she
+      held it utterly unjust to condemn him without proof, which she was not
+      more unable to procure, than to satisfy herself with any reason why so
+      perfidiously he should calumniate her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Comfortless, however, and tormented with conjectures equally vague and
+      afflicting, she could only clear him to be lost in perplexity, she could
+      only accuse him to be penetrated with horror. She endeavoured to suspend
+      her judgment till time should develop the mystery, and only for the
+      present sought to finish her business and leave London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She renewed, therefore, again, the subject of Mr Briggs, and told him how
+      vain had been her effort to settle with him. Mr Monckton instantly offered
+      his services in assisting her, and the next morning they went together to
+      his house, where, after an obstinate battle, they gained a complete
+      victory: Mr Briggs gave up all his accounts, and, in a few days, by the
+      active interference of Mr Monckton, her affairs were wholly taken out of
+      his hands. He stormed, and prophesied all ill to Cecilia, but it was not
+      to any purpose; he was so disagreeable to her, by his manners, and so
+      unintelligible to her in matters of business, that she was happy to have
+      done with him; even though, upon inspecting his accounts, they were all
+      found clear and exact, and his desire to retain his power over her
+      fortune, proved to have no other motive than a love of money so potent,
+      that to manage it, even for another, gave him a satisfaction he knew not
+      how to relinquish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, who, though a man of pleasure, understood business perfectly
+      well, now instructed and directed her in making a general arrangement of
+      her affairs. The estate which devolved to her from her uncle, and which
+      was all in landed property, she continued to commit to the management of
+      the steward who was employed in his life-time; and her own fortune from
+      her father, which was all in the stocks, she now diminished to nothing by
+      selling out to pay Mr Monckton the principal and interest which she owed
+      him, and by settling with her Bookseller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these matters were transacting, which, notwithstanding her eagerness
+      to leave town, could not be brought into such a train as to permit her
+      absence in less than a week, she passed her time chiefly alone. Her wishes
+      all inclined her to bestow it upon Henrietta, but the late attack of Mr
+      Delvile had frightened her from keeping up that connection, since however
+      carefully she might confine it to the daughter, Mrs Belfield, she was
+      certain, would impute it all to the son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That attack rested upon her mind, in defiance of all her endeavours to
+      banish it; the contempt with which it was made seemed intentionally
+      offensive, as if he had been happy to derive from her supposed ill
+      conduct, a right to triumph over as well as reject her. She concluded,
+      also, that Delvile would be informed of these calumnies, yet she judged
+      his generosity by her own, and was therefore convinced he would not credit
+      them: but what chiefly at this time encreased her sadness and uneasiness,
+      was the mention of Mrs Delvile's broken constitution and ruined health.
+      She had always preserved for that lady the most affectionate respect, and
+      could not consider herself as the cause of her sufferings, without feeling
+      the utmost concern, however conscious she had not wilfully occasioned
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was this scene the only one by which her efforts to forget this family
+      were defeated; her watchful monitor, Albany, failed not again to claim her
+      promise; and though Mr Monckton earnestly exhorted her not to trust
+      herself out with him, she preferred a little risk to the keenness of his
+      reproaches, and the weather being good on the morning that he called, she
+      consented to accompany him in his rambles: only charging her footman to
+      follow where-ever they went, and not to fail enquiring for her if she
+      stayed long out of his sight. These precautions were rather taken to
+      satisfy Mr Monckton than herself, who, having now procured intelligence of
+      the former disorder of his intellects, was fearful of some extravagance,
+      and apprehensive for her safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took her to a miserable house in a court leading into Piccadilly,
+      where, up three pair of stairs, was a wretched woman ill in bed, while a
+      large family of children were playing in the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See here,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;what human nature can endure! look at that poor
+      wretch, distracted with torture, yet lying in all this noise! unable to
+      stir in her bed, yet without any assistant! suffering the pangs of acute
+      disease, yet wanting the necessaries of life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia went up to the bed-side, and enquired more particularly into the
+      situation of the invalid; but finding she could hardly speak from pain,
+      she sent for the woman of the house, who kept a Green Grocer's shop on the
+      ground floor, and desired her to hire a nurse for her sick lodger, to call
+      all the children down stairs, and to send for an apothecary, whose bill
+      she promised to pay. She then gave her some money to get what necessaries
+      might be wanted, and said she would come again in two days to see how they
+      went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Albany, who listened to these directions with silent, yet eager attention,
+      now clasped both his hands with a look of rapture, and exclaimed &ldquo;Virtue
+      yet lives,&mdash;and I have found her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, proud of such praise, and ambitious to deserve it, chearfully
+      said, &ldquo;where, Sir, shall we go now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Home;&rdquo; answered he with an aspect the most benign; &ldquo;I will not wear out
+      thy pity by rendering woe familiar to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though at this moment more disposed for acts of charity than for
+      business or for pleasure, remembered that her fortune however large was
+      not unlimited, and would not press any further bounty for objects she knew
+      not, certain that occasions and claimants, far beyond her ability of
+      answering, would but too frequently arise among those with whom she was
+      more connected, she therefore yielded herself to his direction, and
+      returned to Soho-Square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, however, he failed not to call the time she had appointed for
+      re-visiting the invalid, to whom, with much gladness, he conducted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The poor woman, whose disease was a rheumatic fever, was already much
+      better; she had been attended by an apothecary who had given her some
+      alleviating medicine; she had a nurse at her bedside, and the room being
+      cleared of the children, she had had the refreshment of some sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now able to raise her head, and make her acknowledgments to her
+      benefactress; but not a little was the surprise of Cecilia, when, upon
+      looking in her face, she said, &ldquo;Ah, madam, I have seen you before!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had not the smallest recollection of her, in return desired
+      to know when, or where?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you were going to be married, madam, I was the Pew-Opener at &mdash;&mdash;
+      Church.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia started with secret horror, and involuntarily retreated from the
+      bed; while Albany with a look of astonishment exclaimed, &ldquo;Married!&mdash;why,
+      then, is it unknown?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ask me not!&rdquo; cried she, hastily; &ldquo;it is all a mistake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor thing!&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;this, then, is the string thy nerves endure not
+      to have touched! sooner will I expire than a breath of mine shall make it
+      vibrate! Oh sacred be thy sorrow, for thou canst melt at that of the
+      indigent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then made a few general enquiries, and heard that the poor woman,
+      who was a widow, had been obliged to give up her office, from the frequent
+      attacks which she suffered of the rheumatism; that she had received much
+      assistance both from the Rector and the Curate of &mdash;&mdash; Church,
+      but her continual illness, with the largeness of her family, kept her
+      distressed in spite of all help.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia promised to consider what she could do for her, and then giving
+      her more money, returned to Lady Margaret's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Albany, who found that the unfortunate recollection of the Pew-Opener had
+      awakened in his young pupil a melancholy train of reflections, seemed now
+      to compassionate the sadness which hitherto he had reproved, and walking
+      silently by her side till she came to Soho-Square, said in accents of
+      kindness, &ldquo;Peace light upon thy head, and dissipate thy woes!&rdquo; and left
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah when!&rdquo; cried she to herself, &ldquo;if thus they are to be revived
+      for-ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, who observed that something had greatly affected her, now
+      expostulated warmly against Albany and his wild schemes; &ldquo;You trifle with
+      your own happiness,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;by witnessing these scenes of distress,
+      and you will trifle away your fortune upon projects you can never fulfil:
+      the very air in those miserable houses is unwholesome for you to breathe;
+      you will soon be affected with some of the diseases to which you so
+      uncautiously expose yourself, and while not half you give in charity will
+      answer the purpose you wish, you will be plundered by cheats and sharpers
+      till you have nothing left to bestow. You must be more considerate for
+      yourself, and not thus governed by Albany, whose insanity is but partially
+      cured, and whose projects are so boundless, that the whole capital of the
+      East India Company would not suffice to fulfil them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, though she liked not the severity of this remonstrance,
+      acknowledged there was some truth in it, and promised to be discreet, and
+      take the reins into her own hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There remained for her, however, no other satisfaction; and the path which
+      had thus been pointed out to her, grew more and more alluring every step.
+      Her old friends, the poor Hills, now occurred to her memory, and she
+      determined to see herself in what manner they went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scene which this enquiry presented to her, was by no means calculated
+      to strengthen Mr Monckton's doctrine, for the prosperity in which she
+      found this little family, amply rewarded the liberality she had shewn to
+      it, and proved an irresistible encouragement to similar actions. Mrs Hill
+      wept for joy in recounting how well she succeeded, and Cecilia, delighted
+      by the power of giving such pleasure, forgot all cautions and promises in
+      the generosity which she displayed. She paid Mrs Roberts the arrears that
+      were due to her, she discharged all that was owing for the children who
+      had been put to school, desired they might still be sent to it solely at
+      her expense, and gave the mother a sum of money to be laid out in presents
+      for them all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To perform her promise with the Pew Opener was however more difficult; her
+      ill health, and the extreme youth of her children making her utterly
+      helpless: but these were not considerations for Cecilia to desert her, but
+      rather motives for regarding her as more peculiarly an object of charity.
+      She found she had once been a clear starcher, and was a tolerable plain
+      work-woman; she resolved, therefore, to send her into the country, where
+      she hoped to be able to get her some business, and knew that at least, she
+      could help her, if unsuccessful, and see that her children were brought up
+      to useful employments. The woman herself was enchanted at the plan, and
+      firmly persuaded the country air would restore her health. Cecilia told
+      her only to wait till she was well enough to travel, and promised, in the
+      mean time, to look out some little habitation for her. She then gave her
+      money to pay her bills, and for her journey, and writing a full direction
+      where she would hear of her at Bury, took leave of her till that time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These magnificent donations and designs, being communicated to Albany,
+      seemed a renovation to him of youth, spirit, and joy! while their effect
+      upon Mr Monckton resembled an annihilation of all three! to see money thus
+      sported away, which he had long considered as his own, to behold those
+      sums which he had destined for his pleasures, thus lavishly bestowed upon
+      beggars, excited a rage he could with difficulty conceal, and an
+      uneasiness he could hardly endure; and he languished, he sickened for the
+      time, when he might put a period to such romantic proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were the only occupations which interrupted the solitude of Cecilia,
+      except those which were given to her by actual business; and the moment
+      her affairs were in so much forwardness that they could be managed by
+      letters, she prepared for returning into the country. She acquainted Lady
+      Margaret and Mr Monckton with her design, and gave orders to her servants
+      to be ready to set off the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton made not any opposition, and refused himself the satisfaction
+      of accompanying her: and Lady Margaret, whose purpose was now answered,
+      and who wished to be in the country herself, determined to follow her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A DISTURBANCE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This matter being settled at breakfast, Cecilia, having but one day more
+      to spend in London, knew not how to let it pass without taking leave of
+      Henrietta, though she chose not again to expose herself to the forward
+      insinuations of her mother; she sent her, therefore, a short note, begging
+      to see her at Lady Margaret's, and acquainting her that the next day she
+      was going out of town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta returned the following answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madam,&mdash;My mother is gone to market, and I must not go out without
+      her leave; I have run to the door at every knock this whole week in hopes
+      you were coming, and my heart has jumpt at every coach that has gone
+      through the street. Dearest lady, why did you tell me you would come? I
+      should not have thought of such a great honour if you had not put it in my
+      head. And now I have got the use of a room where I can often be alone for
+      two or three hours together. And so I shall this morning, if it was
+      possible my dear Miss Beverley could come. But I don't mean to be teasing,
+      and I would not be impertinent or encroaching for the world; but only the
+      thing is I have a great deal to say to you, and if you was not so rich a
+      lady, and so much above me, I am sure I should love you better than any
+      body in the whole world, almost; and now I dare say I shan't see you at
+      all; for it rains very hard, and my mother, I know, will be sadly angry if
+      I ask to go in a coach. O dear! I don't know what I can do! for it will
+      half break my heart, if my dear Miss Beverley should go out of town, and I
+      not see her!&mdash;I am, Madam, with the greatest respectfulness, your
+      most humble servant,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      HENRIETTA BELFIELD.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This artless remonstrance, joined to the intelligence that she could see
+      her alone, made Cecilia instantly order a chair, and go herself to
+      Portland-street: for she found by this letter there was much doubt if she
+      could otherwise see her, and the earnestness of Henrietta made her now not
+      endure to disappoint her. &ldquo;She has much,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;to say to me, and I
+      will no longer refuse to hear her; she shall unbosom to me her gentle
+      heart, for we have now nothing to fear from each other. She promises
+      herself pleasure from the communication, and doubtless it must be some
+      relief to her. Oh were there any friendly bosom, in which I might myself
+      confide!&mdash;happier Henrietta! less fearful of thy pride, less
+      tenacious of thy dignity! thy sorrows at least seek the consolation of
+      sympathy,&mdash;mine, alas! fettered by prudence, must fly it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was shewn into the parlour, which she had the pleasure to find empty;
+      and, in an instant, the warm-hearted Henrietta was in her arms. &ldquo;This is
+      sweet of you indeed,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;for I did not know how to ask it, though
+      it rains so hard I could not have walked to you, and I don't know what I
+      should have done, if you had gone away and quite forgot me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then took her into the back parlour, which she said they had lately
+      hired, and, as it was made but little use of, she had it almost entirely
+      to herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had passed a sad scene, she told her, at the meeting with her
+      brother, though now they were a little more comfortable; yet, her mother,
+      she was sure, would never be at rest till he got into some higher way of
+      life; &ldquo;And, indeed, I have some hopes,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;that we shall be
+      able by and bye to do something better for him; for he has got one friend
+      in the world, yet; thank God, and such a noble friend!&mdash;indeed I
+      believe he can do whatever he pleases for him,&mdash;that is I mean I
+      believe if he was to ask any thing for him, there's nobody would deny him.
+      And this is what I wanted to talk to you about.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who doubted not but she meant Delvile, scarce knew how to press
+      the subject, though she came with no other view: Henrietta, however, too
+      eager to want solicitation, went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the question is whether we shall be able to prevail upon my brother
+      to accept any thing, for he grows more and more unwilling to be obliged,
+      and the reason is, that being poor, he is afraid, I believe, people should
+      think he wants to beg of them: though if they knew him as well as I do,
+      they would not long think that, for I am sure he would a great deal rather
+      be starved to death. But indeed, to say the truth, I am afraid he has been
+      sadly to blame in this affair, and quarrelled when there was no need to be
+      affronted; for I have seen a gentleman who knows a great deal better than
+      my brother what people should do, and he says he took every thing wrong
+      that was done, all the time he was at Lord Vannelt's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how does this gentleman know it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O because he went himself to enquire about it; for he knows Lord Vannelt
+      very well, and it was by his means my brother came acquainted with him.
+      And this gentleman would not have wished my brother to be used ill any
+      more than I should myself, so I am sure I may believe what he says. But my
+      poor brother, not being a lord himself, thought every body meant to be
+      rude to him, and because he knew he was poor, he suspected they all
+      behaved disrespectfully to him. But this gentleman gave me his word that
+      every body liked him and esteemed him, and if he would not have been so
+      suspicious, they would all have done any thing for him in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know this gentleman very well, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, madam!&rdquo; she answered hastily, &ldquo;I don't know him at all! he only
+      comes here to see my brother; it would be very impertinent for me to call
+      him an acquaintance of mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it before your brother, then, he held this conversation with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, my brother would have been affronted with him, too, if he had! but
+      he called here to enquire for him at the time when he was lost to us, and
+      my mother quite went down upon her knees to him to beg him to go to Lord
+      Vannelt's, and make excuses for him, if he had not behaved properly: but
+      if my brother was to know this, he would hardly speak to her again! so
+      when this gentleman came next, I begged him not to mention it, for my
+      mother happened to be out, and so I saw him alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And did he stay with you long?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, a very short time indeed; but I asked him questions all the
+      while, and kept him as long as I could, that I might hear all he had to
+      say about my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you never seen him since?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, not once! I suppose he does not know my brother is come back
+      to us. Perhaps when he does, he will call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you wish him to call?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; cried she, blushing, &ldquo;a little;&mdash;sometimes I do;&mdash;for my
+      brother's sake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For your brother's sake! Ah my dear Henrietta! but tell me,&mdash;or <i>don't</i>
+      tell me if you had rather not,&mdash;did I not once see you kissing a
+      letter? perhaps it was from this same noble friend?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not a letter, madam,&rdquo; said she, looking down, &ldquo;it was only the
+      cover of one to my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The cover of a letter only!&mdash;and that to your brother!&mdash;is it
+      possible you could so much value it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam! <i>You</i>, who are always used to the good and the wise, who
+      see no other sort of people but those in high life, <i>you</i> can have no
+      notion how they strike those that they are new to!&mdash;but I who see
+      them seldom, and who live with people so very unlike them&mdash;Oh you
+      cannot guess how sweet to <i>me</i> is every thing that belongs to them!
+      whatever has but once been touched by their hands, I should like to lock
+      up, and keep for ever! though if I was used to them, as you are, perhaps I
+      might think less of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Alas! thought Cecilia, who by <i>them</i> knew she only meant <i>him</i>,
+      little indeed would further intimacy protect you!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are all over-ready,&rdquo; continued Henrietta, &ldquo;to blame others, and that
+      is the way I have been doing all this time myself; but I don't blame my
+      poor brother now for living so with the great as I used to do, for now I
+      have seen a little more of the world, I don't wonder any longer at his
+      behaviour: for I know how it is, and I see that those who have had good
+      educations, and kept great company, and mixed with the world,&mdash;O it
+      is another thing!&mdash;they seem quite a different species!&mdash;they
+      are so gentle, so soft-mannered! nothing comes from them but what is meant
+      to oblige! they seem as if they only lived to give pleasure to other
+      people, and as if they never thought at all of themselves!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Henrietta!&rdquo; said Cecilia, shaking her head, &ldquo;you have caught the
+      enthusiasm of your brother, though you so long condemned it! Oh have a
+      care lest, like him also, you find it as pernicious as it is alluring!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, is no danger for <i>me</i>, madam,&rdquo; answered she, &ldquo;for the people
+      I so much admire are quite out of my reach. I hardly ever even see them;
+      and perhaps it may so happen I may see them no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The people?&rdquo; said Cecilia, smiling, &ldquo;are there, then, many you so much
+      distinguish?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no indeed!&rdquo; cried she, eagerly, &ldquo;there is only one! there <i>can</i>
+      be&mdash;I mean there are only a few&mdash;&rdquo; she checked herself, and
+      stopt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whoever you admire,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;your admiration cannot but honour:
+      yet indulge it not too far, lest it should wander from your heart to your
+      peace, and make you wretched for life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&mdash;I see you know who is the particular person I was
+      thinking of! but indeed you are quite mistaken if you suppose any thing
+      bad of me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad of you!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, embracing her, &ldquo;I scarce think so well of any
+      one!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I mean, madam, if you think I forget he is so much above me. But
+      indeed I never do; for I only admire him for his goodness to my brother,
+      and never think of him at all, but just by way of comparing him,
+      sometimes, to the other people that I see, because he makes me hate them
+      so, that I wish I was never to see them again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His acquaintance, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;has done you but an ill office,
+      and happy it would be for you could you forget you had ever made it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, I shall never do that! for the more I think of him, the more I am out
+      of humour with every body else! O Miss Beverley! we have a sad
+      acquaintance indeed! I'm sure I don't wonder my brother was so ashamed of
+      them. They are all so rude, and so free, and put one so out of
+      countenance,&mdash;O how different is this person you are thinking of! he
+      would not distress anybody, or make one ashamed for all the world! <i>You</i>
+      only are like him! always gentle, always obliging!&mdash;sometimes I think
+      you must be his sister&mdash;once, too, I heard&mdash;but that was
+      contradicted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep sigh escaped Cecilia at this speech; she guessed too well what she
+      might have heard, and she knew too well how it might be contradicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely, <i>you</i> cannot be unhappy, Miss Beverley!&rdquo; said Henrietta,
+      with a look of mingled surprise and concern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have much, I own,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, assuming more chearfulness, &ldquo;to be
+      thankful for, and I endeavour not to forget it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O how often do I think,&rdquo; cried Henrietta, &ldquo;that you, madam, are the
+      happiest person in the world! with every thing at your own disposal,&mdash;with
+      every body in love with you, with all the money that you can wish for, and
+      so much sweetness that nobody can envy you it! with power to keep just
+      what company you please, and every body proud to be one of the number!&mdash;Oh
+      if I could chuse who I would be, I should sooner say Miss Beverley than
+      any princess in the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, thought Cecilia, if such is my situation,&mdash;how cruel that by one
+      dreadful blow all its happiness should be thrown away!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Were I a rich lady, like you,&rdquo; continued Henrietta, &ldquo;and quite in my own
+      power, then, indeed, I might soon think of nothing but those people that I
+      admire! and that makes me often wonder that <i>you</i>, madam, who are
+      just such another as himself&mdash;but then, indeed, you may see so many
+      of the same sort, that just this one may not so much strike you: and for
+      that reason I hope with all my heart that he will never be married as long
+      as he lives, for as he must take some lady in just such high life as his
+      own, I should always be afraid that she would never love him as she ought
+      to do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He need not now be single, thought Cecilia, were that all he had cause to
+      apprehend!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I often think,&rdquo; added Henrietta, &ldquo;that the rich would be as much happier
+      for marrying the poor, as the poor for marrying the rich, for then they
+      would take somebody that would try to deserve their kindness, and now they
+      only take those that know they have a right to it. Often and often have I
+      thought so about this very gentleman! and sometimes when I have been in
+      his company, and seen his civility and his sweetness, I have fancied I was
+      rich and grand myself, and it has quite gone out of my head that I was
+      nothing but poor Henrietta Belfield!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he, then,&rdquo; cried Cecilia a little alarmed, &ldquo;ever seek to ingratiate
+      himself into your favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, never! but when treated with so much softness, 'tis hard always to
+      remember one's meanness! You, madam, have no notion of that task: no more
+      had I myself till lately, for I cared not who was high, nor who was low:
+      but now, indeed, I must own I have some times wished myself richer! yet he
+      assumes so little, that at other times, I have almost forgot all distance
+      between us, and even thought&mdash;Oh foolish thought!&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell it, sweet Henrietta, however!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, madam, every thing! for my heart has been bursting to
+      open itself, and nobody have I dared trust. I have thought, then, I have
+      sometimes thought,&mdash;my true affection, my faithful fondness, my glad
+      obedience,&mdash;might make him, if he did but know them, happier in me
+      than in a greater lady!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, extremely affected by this plaintive tenderness,
+      &ldquo;I believe it&mdash;and were I him, I could not, I think, hesitate a
+      moment in my choice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta now, hearing her mother coming in, made a sign to her to be
+      silent; but Mrs Belfield had not been an instant in the passage, before a
+      thundering knocking at the street-door occasioned it to be instantly
+      re-opened. A servant then enquired if Mrs Belfield was at home, and being
+      answered by herself in the affirmative, a chair was brought into the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But what was the astonishment of Cecilia, when, in another moment, she
+      heard from the next parlour the voice of Mr Delvile senior, saying, &ldquo;Your
+      servant, ma'am; Mrs Belfield, I presume?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no occasion, now, to make a sign to her of silence, for her own
+      amazement was sufficient to deprive her of speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sir,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield; &ldquo;but I suppose, Sir, you are some
+      gentleman to my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;my business is with yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now recovering from her surprise, determined to hasten unnoticed
+      out of the house, well knowing that to be seen in it would be regarded as
+      a confirmation of all that he had asserted. She whispered, therefore, to
+      Henrietta, that she must instantly run away, but, upon softly opening the
+      door leading to the passage, she found Mr Delvile's chairmen, and a
+      footman there in waiting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She closed it again, irresolute what to do: but after a little
+      deliberation, she concluded to out-stay him, as she was known to all his
+      servants, who would not fail to mention seeing her; and a retreat so
+      private was worse than any other risk. A chair was also in waiting for
+      herself, but it was a hackney one, and she could not be known by it; and
+      her footman she had fortunately dismissed, as he had business to transact
+      for her journey next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean-while the thinness of the partition between the two parlours made her
+      hearing every word that was said unavoidable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure, Sir, I shall be very willing to oblige you,&rdquo; Mrs Belfield
+      answered; &ldquo;but pray, Sir, what's your name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name, ma'am,&rdquo; he replied, in a rather elevated voice, &ldquo;I am seldom
+      obliged to announce myself; nor is there any present necessity I should
+      make it known. It is sufficient I assure you, you are speaking to no very
+      common person, and probably to one you will have little chance to meet
+      with again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how can I tell your business, Sir, if I don't so much as know your
+      name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My business, madam, I mean to tell myself; your affair is only to hear
+      it. I have some questions, indeed, to ask, which I must trouble you to
+      answer, but they will sufficiently explain themselves to prevent any
+      difficulty upon your part. There is no need, therefore, of any
+      introductory ceremonial.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, wholly insensible of this ambiguous
+      greatness, &ldquo;if you mean to make your name a secret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Few names, I believe, ma'am,&rdquo; cried he, haughtily, &ldquo;have less the
+      advantage of secrecy than mine! on the contrary, this is but one among a
+      very few houses in this town to which my person would not immediately
+      announce it. That, however, is immaterial; and you will be so good as to
+      rest satisfied with my assurances, that the person with whom you are now
+      conversing, will prove no disgrace to your character.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Belfield, overpowered, though hardly knowing, with what, only said <i>he
+      was very welcome</i>, and begged him to sit down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, ma'am,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;My business is but of a moment, and my
+      avocations are too many to suffer my infringing that time. You say you
+      have a son; I have heard of him, also, somewhere before; pray will you
+      give me leave to enquire&mdash;I don't mean to go deep into the matter,&mdash;but
+      particular family occurrences make it essential for me to know,&mdash;whether
+      there is not a young person of rather a capital fortune, to whom he is
+      supposed to make proposals?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lack-a-day, no, Sir!&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, to the infinite relief of
+      Cecilia, who instantly concluded this question referred to herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, then; good morning to you, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, in
+      a tone that spoke his disappointment; but added &ldquo;And there is no such
+      young person, you say, who favours his pretensions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear Sir,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;why there's nobody he'll so much as put the
+      question to! there's a young lady at this very time, a great fortune, that
+      has as much a mind to him, I tell him, as any man need desire to see; but
+      there's no making him think it! though he has been brought up at the
+      university, and knows more about all the things, or as much, as any body
+      in the king's dominions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, then,&rdquo; cried Mr Delvile, in a voice of far more complacency, &ldquo;it is
+      not on the side of the young woman that the difficulty seems to rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, no, Sir! he might have had her again and again only for asking! She
+      came after him ever so often; but being brought up, as I said, at the
+      university, he thought he knew better than me, and so my preaching was all
+      as good as lost upon him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The consternation of Cecilia at these speeches could by nothing be
+      equalled but by the shame of Henrietta, who, though she knew not to whom
+      her mother made them, felt all the disgrace and the shock of them herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose, Sir,&rdquo; continued Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;you know my son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am, my acquaintance is&mdash;not very universal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Sir, you are no judge how well he might make his own terms. And as
+      to this young lady, she found him out, Sir, when not one of his own
+      natural friends could tell where in the world he was gone! She was the
+      first, Sir, to come and tell me news of him though I was his own mother!
+      Love, Sir, is prodigious for quickness! it can see, I sometimes think,
+      through bricks and mortar. Yet all this would not do, he was so obstinate
+      not to take the hint!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now felt so extremely provoked, she was upon the point of bursting
+      in upon them to make her own vindication; but as her passions, though they
+      tried her reason never conquered it, she restrained herself by considering
+      that to issue forth from a room in that house, would do more towards
+      strengthening what was thus boldly asserted, than all her protestations
+      could have chance to destroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And as to young ladies themselves,&rdquo; continued Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;they know no
+      more how to make their minds known than a baby does: so I suppose he'll
+      shilly shally till somebody else will cry snap, and take her. It is but a
+      little while ago that it was all the report she was to have young Mr
+      Delvile, one of her guardian's sons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry report was so impertinent,&rdquo; cried Mr Delvile, with much
+      displeasure; &ldquo;young Mr Delvile is not to be disposed of with so little
+      ceremony; he knows better what is due to his family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia here blushed from indignation, and Henrietta sighed from
+      despondency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, Sir,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;what should his family do better? I
+      never heard they were any so rich, and I dare say the old gentleman, being
+      her guardian, took care to put his son enough in her way, however it came
+      about that they did not make a match of it: for as to old Mr Delvile, all
+      the world says&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the world takes a very great liberty,&rdquo; angrily interrupted Mr
+      Delvile, &ldquo;in saying any thing about him: and you will excuse my informing
+      you that a person of his rank and consideration, is not lightly to be
+      mentioned upon every little occasion that occurs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, Sir,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, somewhat surprised at this unexpected
+      prohibition, &ldquo;I don't care for my part if I never mention the old
+      gentleman's name again! I never heard any good of him in my life, for they
+      say he's as proud as Lucifer, and nobody knows what it's of, for they say&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>They</i> say?&rdquo; cried he, firing with rage, &ldquo;and who are <i>they</i>?
+      be so good as inform me that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, every body, Sir! it's his common character.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then every body is extremely indecent,&rdquo; speaking very loud, &ldquo;to pay no
+      more respect to one of the first families in England. It is a
+      licentiousness that ought by no means to be suffered with impunity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, the street-door being kept open by the servants in waiting, a new
+      step was heard in the passage, which Henrietta immediately knowing,
+      turned, with uplifted hands to Cecilia, and whispered, &ldquo;How unlucky! it's
+      my brother! I thought he would not have returned till night!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely he will not come in here?&rdquo; re-whispered Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, at the same moment, he opened the door, and entered the room. He was
+      immediately beginning an apology, and starting back, but Henrietta
+      catching him by the arm, told him in a low voice, that she had made use of
+      his room because she had thought him engaged for the day, but begged him
+      to keep still and quiet, as the least noise would discover them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Belfield then stopt; but the embarrassment of Cecilia was extreme; to find
+      herself in his room after the speeches she had heard from his mother, and
+      to continue with him in it by connivance, when she knew she had been
+      represented as quite at his service, distressed and provoked her
+      immeasurably; and she felt very angry with Henrietta for not sooner
+      informing her whose apartment she had borrowed. Yet now to remove, and to
+      be seen, was not to be thought of; she kept, therefore, fixed to her seat,
+      though changing colour every moment from the variety of her emotions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this painful interruption she lost Mrs Belfield's next answer, and
+      another speech or two from Mr Delvile, to whose own passion and loudness
+      was owing Belfield's entering his room unheard: but the next voice that
+      called their attention was that of Mr Hobson, who just then walked into
+      the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why what's to do here?&rdquo; cried he, facetiously, &ldquo;nothing but chairs and
+      livery servants! Why, ma'am, what is this your rout day? Sir your most
+      humble servant. I ask pardon, but I did not know you at first. But come,
+      suppose we were all to sit down? Sitting's as cheap as standing, and what
+      I say is this; when a man's tired, it's more agreeable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any thing further, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, with great
+      solemnity, &ldquo;to communicate to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, rather angrily, &ldquo;it's no business of mine to
+      be communicating myself to a gentleman that I don't know the name of. Why,
+      Mr Hobson, how come you to know the gentleman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To know <i>me</i>!&rdquo; repeated Mr Delvile, scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I can't say much, ma'am,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;as to my knowing the
+      gentleman, being I have been in his company but once; and what I say is,
+      to know a person if one leaves but a quart in a hogshead, it's two pints
+      too much. That's my notion. But, Sir, that was but an ungain business at
+      'Squire Monckton's t'other morning. Every body was no-how, as one may say.
+      But, Sir, if I may be so free, pray what is your private opinion of that
+      old gentleman that talked so much out of the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My private opinion, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sir; I mean if it's no secret, for as to a secret, I hold it's what
+      no man has a right to enquire into, being of its own nature it's a thing
+      not to be told. Now as to what I think myself, my doctrine is this; I am
+      quite of the old gentleman's mind about some things, and about others I
+      hold him to be quite wide of the mark. But as to talking in such a whisky
+      frisky manner that nobody can understand him, why its tantamount to not
+      talking at all, being he might as well hold his tongue. That's what <i>I</i>
+      say. And then as to that other article, of abusing a person for not giving
+      away all his lawful gains to every cripple in the streets, just because he
+      happens to have but one leg, or one eye, or some such matter, why it's
+      knowing nothing of business! it's what <i>I</i> call talking at random.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you have finished, Sir,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, &ldquo;you will be so good to
+      let me know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mean to intrude, Sir; that's not my way, so if you are upon
+      business&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What else, Sir, could you suppose brought me hither? However, I by no
+      means purpose any discussion. I have only a few words more to say to this
+      gentlewoman, and as my time is not wholly inconsequential, I should not be
+      sorry to have an early opportunity of being heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall leave you with the lady directly, Sir; for I know business better
+      than to interrupt it: but seeing chairs in the entry, my notion was I
+      should see ladies in the parlour, not much thinking of gentlemen's going
+      about in that manner, being I never did it myself. But I have nothing to
+      offer against that; let every man have his own way; that's what <i>I</i>
+      say. Only just let me ask the lady before I go, what's the meaning of my
+      seeing two chairs in the entry, and only a person for one in the parlour?
+      The gentleman, I suppose, did not come in <i>both</i>; ha! ha! ha!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why now you put me in mind,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;I saw a chair as soon as
+      I come in; and I was just going to say who's here, when this gentleman's
+      coming put it out of my head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why this is what I call Hocus Pocus work!&rdquo; said Mr Hobson; &ldquo;but I shall
+      make free to ask the chairmen who they are waiting for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Belfield, however, anticipated him; for running into the passage, she
+      angrily called out, &ldquo;What do you do here, Misters? do you only come to be
+      out of the rain? I'll have no stand made of my entry, I can tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why we are waiting for the lady,&rdquo; cried one of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Waiting for a fiddlestick!&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield; &ldquo;here's no lady here, nor
+      no company; so if you think I'll have my entry filled up by two hulking
+      fellows for nothing, I shall shew you the difference. One's dirt enough of
+      one's own, without taking people out of the streets to help one. Who do
+      you think's to clean after you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's no business of ours; the lady bid us wait,&rdquo; answered the man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia at this dispute could with pleasure have cast herself out of the
+      window to avoid being discovered; but all plan of escape was too late; Mrs
+      Belfield called aloud for her daughter, and then, returning to the front
+      parlour, said, &ldquo;I'll soon know if there's company come to my house without
+      my knowing it!&rdquo; and opened a door leading to the next room!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had hitherto sat fixed to her chair, now hastily arose, but
+      in a confusion too cruel for speech: Belfield, wondering even at his own
+      situation, and equally concerned and surprised at her evident distress,
+      had himself the feeling of a culprit, though without the least knowledge
+      of any cause: and Henrietta, terrified at the prospect of her mother's
+      anger, retreated as much as possible out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the situation of the discovered, abashed, perplexed, and
+      embarrassed! while that of the discoverers, far different, was bold,
+      delighted, and triumphant!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So!&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;why here's Miss Beverley!&mdash;in my son's
+      back room!&rdquo; winking at Mr Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why here's a lady, sure enough!&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;and just where she
+      should be, and that is with a gentleman. Ha! ha! that's the right way,
+      according to my notion! that's the true maxim for living agreeable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I came to see Miss Belfield,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, endeavouring, but vainly, to
+      speak with composure, &ldquo;and she brought me into this room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am but this moment,&rdquo; cried Belfield, with eagerness, &ldquo;returned home;
+      and unfortunately broke into the room, from total ignorance of the honour
+      which Miss Beverley did my sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      These speeches, though both literally true, sounded, in the circumstances
+      which brought them out, so much as mere excuses, that while Mr Delvile
+      haughtily marked his incredulity by a motion of his chin, Mrs Belfield
+      continued winking at him most significantly, and Mr Hobson, with still
+      less ceremony, laughed aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing more, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile to Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;to
+      enquire, for the few doubts with which I came to this house are now
+      entirely satisfied. Good morning to you, ma'am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me leave, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, advancing with more spirit, &ldquo;to
+      explain, in presence of those who can best testify my veracity, the real
+      circumstances&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would by no means occasion you such unnecessary trouble, ma'am,&rdquo;
+       answered he, with an air at once exulting and pompous, &ldquo;the situation in
+      which I see you abundantly satisfies my curiosity, and saves me from the
+      apprehension I was under of being again convicted of a <i>mistake</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then made her a stiff bow, and went to his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, colouring deeply at this contemptuous treatment, coldly took
+      leave of Henrietta, and courtsying to Mrs Belfield, hastened into the
+      passage, to get into her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta was too much intimidated to speak, and Belfield was too delicate
+      to follow her; Mr Hobson only said &ldquo;The young lady seems quite dashed;&rdquo;
+       but Mrs Belfield pursued her with entreaties she would stay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was too angry, however, to make any answer but by a distant bow of the
+      head, and left the house with a resolution little short of a vow never
+      again to enter it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her reflections upon this unfortunate visit were bitter beyond measure;
+      the situation in which she had been surprised,&mdash;clandestinely
+      concealed with only Belfield and his sister&mdash;joined to the positive
+      assertions of her partiality for him made by his mother, could not, to Mr
+      Delvile, but appear marks irrefragable that his charge in his former
+      conversation was rather mild than over-strained, and that the connection
+      he had mentioned, for whatever motives denied, was incontestably formed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The apparent conviction of this part of the accusation, might also
+      authorise, to one but too happy in believing ill of her, an implicit faith
+      in that which regarded her having run out her fortune. His determination
+      not to hear her shewed the inflexibility of his character; and it was
+      evident, notwithstanding his parading pretensions of wishing her welfare,
+      that his inordinate pride was inflamed, at the very supposition he could
+      be mistaken or deceived for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even Delvile himself, if gone abroad, might now hear this account with
+      exaggerations that would baffle all his confidence: his mother, too,
+      greatly as she esteemed and loved her, might have the matter so
+      represented as to stagger her good opinion;&mdash;these were thoughts the
+      most afflicting she could harbour, though their probability was such that
+      to banish them was impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To apply again to Mr Delvile to hear her vindication, was to subject
+      herself to insolence, and almost to court indignity. She disdained even to
+      write to him, since his behaviour called for resentment, not concession;
+      and such an eagerness to be heard, in opposition to all discouragement,
+      would be practising a meanness that would almost merit repulsion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her first inclination was to write to Mrs Delvile, but what now, to her,
+      was either her defence or accusation? She had solemnly renounced all
+      further intercourse with her, she had declared against writing again, and
+      prohibited her letters: and, therefore, after much fluctuation of opinion,
+      her delicacy concurred with her judgment, to conclude it would be most
+      proper, in a situation so intricate, to leave the matter to chance, and
+      commit her character to time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the evening, while she was at tea with Lady Margaret and Miss Bennet,
+      she was suddenly called out to speak to a young woman; and found, to her
+      great surprise, she was no other than Henrietta.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;how angrily did you go away this morning! it has
+      made me miserable ever since, and if you go out of town without forgiving
+      me, I shall fret myself quite ill! my mother is gone out to tea, and I
+      have run here all alone, and in the dark, and in the wet, to beg and pray
+      you will forgive me, for else I don't know what I shall do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sweet, gentle girl!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, affectionately embracing her, &ldquo;if you
+      had excited all the anger I am capable of feeling, such softness as this
+      would banish it, and make me love you more than ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta then said, in her excuse, that she had thought herself quite
+      sure of her brother's absence, who almost always spent the whole day at
+      the bookseller's, as in writing himself he perpetually wanted to consult
+      other authors, and had very few books at their lodgings: but she would not
+      mention that the room was his, lest Cecilia should object to making use of
+      it, and she knew she had no other chance of having the conversation with
+      her she had so very long wished for. She then again begged her pardon, and
+      hoped the behaviour of her mother would not induce her to give her up, as
+      she was shocked at it beyond measure, and as her brother, she assured her,
+      was as innocent of it as herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia heard her with pleasure, and felt for her an encreasing regard.
+      The openness of her confidence in the morning had merited all her
+      affection, and she gave her the warmest protestations of a friendship
+      which she was certain would be lasting as her life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta then, with a countenance that spoke the lightness of her heart,
+      hastily took her leave, saying she did not dare be out longer, lest her
+      mother should discover her excursion. Cecilia insisted, however, upon her
+      going in a chair, which she ordered her servant to attend, and take care
+      himself to discharge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This visit, joined to the tender and unreserved conversation of the
+      morning, gave Cecilia the strongest desire to invite her to her house in
+      the country; but the terror of Mrs Belfield's insinuations, added to the
+      cruel interpretations she had to expect from Mr Delvile, forbid her
+      indulging this wish, though it was the only one that just now she could
+      form.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A CALM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia took leave over night of the family, as she would not stay their
+      rising in the morning: Mr Monckton, though certain not to sleep when she
+      was going, forbearing to mark his solicitude by quitting his apartment at
+      any unusual hour. Lady Margaret parted from her with her accustomed
+      ungraciousness, and Miss Bennet, because in her presence, in a manner
+      scarcely less displeasing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, with only her servants, the moment it was light, she set
+      out. Her journey was without incident or interruption, and she went
+      immediately to the house of Mrs Bayley, where she had settled to board
+      till her own was finished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Bayley was a mere good sort of woman, who lived decently well with her
+      servants, and tolerably well with her neighbours, upon a small annuity,
+      which made her easy and comfortable, though by no means superior to such
+      an addition to her little income as an occasional boarder might produce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Cecilia continued a full month: which time had no other employment
+      than what she voluntarily gave to herself by active deeds of benevolence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Christmas, to the no little joy of the neighbourhood, she took
+      possession of her own house, which was situated about three miles from
+      Bury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The better sort of people were happy to see her thus settled amongst them,
+      and the poorer, who by what they already had received, knew well what they
+      still might expect, regarded the day in which she fixed herself in her
+      mansion, as a day to themselves of prosperity and triumph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she was no longer, as hitherto, repairing to a temporary habitation,
+      which at pleasure she might quit, and to which, at a certain period, she
+      could have no possible claim, but to a house which was her own for ever,
+      or, at least, could solely by her own choice be transferred, she
+      determined, as much as was in her power, in quitting her desultory
+      dwellings, to empty her mind of the transactions which had passed in them,
+      and upon entering a house where she was permanently to reside, to make the
+      expulsion of her past sorrows, the basis upon which to establish her
+      future serenity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And this, though a work of pain and difficulty, was not impracticable; her
+      sensibility, indeed, was keen, and she had suffered from it the utmost
+      torture; but her feelings were not more powerful than her understanding
+      was strong, and her fortitude was equal to her trials. Her calamities had
+      saddened, but not weakened her mind, and the words of Delvile in speaking
+      of his mother occurred to her now with all the conviction of experience,
+      that &ldquo;evils inevitable are always best supported, because known to be past
+      amendment, and felt to give defiance to struggling.&rdquo; [Footnote: See Vol.
+      ii. p. 317.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A plan by which so great a revolution was to be wrought in her mind, was
+      not to be effected by any sudden effort of magnanimity, but by a regular
+      and even tenour of courage mingled with prudence. Nothing, therefore,
+      appeared to her so indispensable as constant employment, by which a
+      variety of new images might force their way in her mind to supplant the
+      old ones, and by which no time might be allowed for brooding over
+      melancholy retrospections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her first effort, in this work of mental reformation, was to part with
+      Fidel, whom hitherto she had almost involuntarily guarded, but whom she
+      only could see to revive the most dangerous recollections. She sent him,
+      therefore, to the castle, but without any message; Mrs Delvile, she was
+      sure, would require none to make her rejoice in his restoration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her next step was writing to Albany, who had given her his direction, to
+      acquaint him she was now ready to put in practice their long concerted
+      scheme. Albany instantly hastened to her, and joyfully accepted the office
+      of becoming at once her Almoner and her Monitor. He made it his business
+      to seek objects of distress, and always but too certain to find them, of
+      conducting her himself to their habitations, and then leaving to her own
+      liberality the assistance their several cases demanded: and, in the
+      overflowing of his zeal upon these occasions, and the rapture of his heart
+      in thus disposing, almost at his pleasure, of her noble fortune, he
+      seemed, at times, to feel an extasy that, from its novelty and its excess,
+      was almost too exquisite to be borne. He joined with the beggars in
+      pouring blessings upon her head, he prayed for her with the poor, and he
+      thanked her with the succoured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pew-opener and her children failed not to keep their appointment, and
+      Cecilia presently contrived to settle them in her neighbourhood: where the
+      poor woman, as she recovered her strength, soon got a little work, and all
+      deficiencies in her power of maintaining herself were supplied by her
+      generous patroness. The children, however, she ordered to be coarsely
+      brought up, having no intention to provide for them but by helping them to
+      common employments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The promise, also, so long made to Mrs Harrel of an apartment in her
+      house, was now performed. That lady accepted it with the utmost alacrity,
+      glad to make any change in her situation, which constant solitude had
+      rendered wholly insupportable. Mr Arnott accompanied her to the house, and
+      spent one day there; but receiving from Cecilia, though extremely civil
+      and sweet to him, no hint of any invitation for repeating his visit, he
+      left it in sadness, and returned to his own in deep dejection. Cecilia saw
+      with concern how he nourished his hopeless passion, but knew that to
+      suffer his visits would almost authorise his feeding it; and while she
+      pitied unaffectedly the unhappiness she occasioned, she resolved to double
+      her own efforts towards avoiding similar wretchedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This action, however, was a point of honour, not of friendship, the time
+      being long since past that the society of Mrs Harrel could afford her any
+      pleasure; but the promises she had so often made to Mr Harrel in his
+      distresses, though extorted from her merely by the terrors of the moment,
+      still were promises, and, therefore, she held herself bound to fulfil
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet far from finding comfort in this addition to her family, Mrs Harrel
+      proved to her nothing more than a trouble and an incumbrance; with no
+      inherent resources, she was continually in search of occasional supplies;
+      she fatigued Cecilia with wonder at the privacy of her life, and tormented
+      her with proposals of parties and entertainments. She was eternally in
+      amazement that with powers so large, she had wishes so confined, and was
+      evidently disappointed that upon coming to so ample an estate, she lived,
+      with respect to herself and her family, with no more magnificence or shew
+      than if Heiress to only ú500 a year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Cecilia was determined to think and to live for herself, without
+      regard to unmeaning wonder or selfish remonstrances; she had neither
+      ambition for splendour, nor spirits for dissipation; the recent sorrow of
+      her heart had deadened it for the present to all personal taste of
+      happiness, and her only chance for regaining it, seemed through the medium
+      of bestowing it upon others. She had seen, too, by Mr Harrel, how
+      wretchedly external brilliancy could cover inward woe, and she had learned
+      at Delvile Castle to grow sick of parade and grandeur. Her equipage,
+      therefore, was without glare, though not without elegance, her table was
+      plain, though hospitably plentiful, her servants were for use, though too
+      numerous to be for labour. The system of her oeconomy, like that of her
+      liberality, was formed by rules of reason, and her own ideas of right, and
+      not by compliance with example, nor by emulation with the gentry in her
+      neighbourhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though thus deviating in her actions from the usual customs of the
+      young and rich, she was peculiarly careful not to offend them by
+      singularity of manners. When she mixed with them, she was easy,
+      unaffected, and well bred, and though she saw them but seldom, her good
+      humour and desire of obliging kept them always her friends. The plan she
+      had early formed at Mrs Harrel's she now studied daily to put in practice;
+      but that part by which the useless or frivolous were to be excluded her
+      house, she found could only be supported by driving from her half her
+      acquaintance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another part, also, of that project she found still less easy of adoption,
+      which was solacing herself with the society of the wise, good, and
+      intelligent. Few answered this description, and those few were with
+      difficulty attainable. Many might with joy have sought out her liberal
+      dwelling, but no one had idly waited till the moment it was at her
+      disposal. All who possessed at once both talents and wealth, were so
+      generally courted they were rarely to be procured; and all who to talents
+      alone owed their consequence, demanded, if worth acquiring, time and
+      delicacy to be obtained. Fortune she knew, however, was so often at war
+      with Nature, that she doubted not shortly meeting those who would gladly
+      avail themselves of her offered protection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet, tired of the murmurs of Mrs Harrel, she longed for some relief from
+      her society, and her desire daily grew stronger to owe that relief to
+      Henrietta Belfield. The more she meditated upon this wish, the less
+      unattainable it appeared to her, till by frequently combating its
+      difficulties, she began to consider them imaginary: Mrs Belfield, while
+      her son was actually with herself, might see she took not Henrietta as his
+      appendage; and Mr Delvile, should he make further enquiries, might hear
+      that her real connection was with the sister, since she received her in
+      the country, where the brother made no pretence to follow her. She
+      considered, too, how ill she should be rewarded in giving up Henrietta for
+      Mr Delvile, who was already determined to think ill of her, and whose
+      prejudices no sacrifice would remove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having hesitated, therefore, some time between the desire of present
+      alleviation, and the fear of future mischief, the consciousness of her own
+      innocence at length vanquished all dread of unjust censure, and she wrote
+      an invitation to Henrietta enclosed in a letter to her mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer of Henrietta expressed her rapture at the proposal; and that of
+      Mrs Belfield made no objection but to the expence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, therefore, sent her own maid to travel with her into Suffolk,
+      with proper directions to pay for the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gratitude of the delighted Henrietta at the meeting was boundless; and
+      her joy at so unexpected a mark of favour made her half wild. Cecilia
+      suffered it not to languish for want of kindness to support it; she took
+      her to her bosom, became the soother of all her cares, and reposed in her,
+      in return, every thought that led not to Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There, however, she was uniformly silent; solemnly and eternally parted
+      from him, far from trusting the secret of her former connexion to
+      Henrietta, the whole study of her life was to drive the remembrance of it
+      from herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta now tasted a happiness to which as yet her whole life had been a
+      stranger; she was suddenly removed from turbulent vulgarity to the
+      enjoyment of calm elegance; and the gentleness of her disposition, instead
+      of being tyrannically imposed upon, not only made her loved with
+      affection, but treated with the most scrupulous delicacy. Cecilia had her
+      share in all the comfort she bestowed; she had now a friend to oblige, and
+      a companion to converse with. She communicated to her all her schemes, and
+      made her the partner of her benevolent excursions; she found her
+      disposition as amiable upon trial, as her looks and her manners had been
+      engaging at first sight; and her constant presence and constant sweetness,
+      imperceptibly revived her spirits, and gave a new interest to her
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime Mr Monckton, who returned in about a fortnight to the Grove,
+      observed the encreasing influence of Albany with the most serious concern.
+      The bounties of Cecilia, extensive, magnificent, unlimited, were the theme
+      of every tongue, and though sometimes censured and sometimes admired, they
+      were wondered at universally. He suffered her for a while to go on without
+      remonstrance, hoping her enthusiasm would abate, as its novelty wore out:
+      but finding that week following week was still distinguished by some fresh
+      act of beneficence, he grew so alarmed and uneasy, he could restrain
+      himself no longer. He spoke to her with warmth, he represented her conduct
+      as highly dangerous in its consequence; he said she would but court
+      impostors from every corner of the kingdom, called Albany a lunatic, whom
+      she should rather avoid than obey; and insinuated that if a report was
+      spread of her proceedings, a charity so prodigal, would excite such alarm,
+      that no man would think even her large and splendid fortune, would ensure
+      him from ruin in seeking her alliance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia heard this exhortation without either terror or impatience, and
+      answered it with the utmost steadiness. His influence over her mind was no
+      longer uncontrolled, for though her suspicions were not strengthened, they
+      had never been removed, and friendship has no foe so dangerous as
+      distrust! She thanked him, however, for his zeal, but assured him his
+      apprehensions were groundless, since though she acted from inclination,
+      she acted not without thought. Her income was very large, and she was
+      wholly without family or connection; to spend it merely upon herself would
+      be something still worse than extravagance, it must result from wilfulness
+      the most inexcusable, as her disposition was naturally averse to luxury
+      and expence. She might save indeed, but for whom? not a creature had such
+      a claim upon her; and with regard to herself, she was so provided for it
+      would be unnecessary. She would never, she declared, run in debt even for
+      a week, but while her estate was wholly clear, she would spend it without
+      restriction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To his hint of any future alliance, she only said that those who
+      disapproved her conduct, would probably be those she should disapprove in
+      her turn; should such an event however take place, the retrenching from
+      that time all her present peculiar expences, would surely, in a clear
+      ú3000 a-year, leave her rich enough for any man, without making it
+      incumbent upon her at present, to deny herself the only pleasure she could
+      taste, in bestowing that money which to her was superfluous, upon those
+      who received it as the prolongation of their existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A firmness so deliberate in a system he so much dreaded, greatly shocked
+      Mr Monckton, though it intimidated him from opposing it; he saw she was
+      too earnest, and too well satisfied she was right, to venture giving her
+      disgust by controverting her arguments; the conversation, therefore, ended
+      with new discontent to himself, and with an impression upon the mind of
+      Cecilia, that though he was zealous and friendly, he was somewhat too
+      worldly and suspicious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She went on, therefore, as before, distributing with a lavish hand all she
+      could spare from her own household; careful of nothing but of guarding
+      against imposition, which, though she sometimes unavoidably endured, her
+      discernment, and the activity of her investigating diligence, saved her
+      from suffering frequently. And the steadiness with which she repulsed
+      those whom she detected in deceit, was a check upon tricks and fraud,
+      though it could not wholly put a stop to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Money, to her, had long appeared worthless and valueless; it had failed to
+      procure her the establishment for which she once flattered herself it
+      seemed purposely designed; it had been disdained by the Delviles, for the
+      sake of whose connection she had alone ever truly rejoiced in possessing
+      it; and after such a conviction of its inefficacy to secure her happiness,
+      she regarded it as of little importance to herself, and therefore thought
+      it almost the due of those whose distresses gave it a consequence to which
+      with her it was a stranger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this manner with Cecilia passed the first winter of her majority. She
+      had sedulously filled it with occupations, and her occupations had proved
+      fertile in keeping her mind from idleness, and in restoring it to
+      chearfulness. Calls upon her attention so soothing, and avocations so
+      various for her time, had answered the great purpose for which originally
+      she had planned them, in almost forcing from her thoughts those sorrows
+      which, if indulged, would have rested in them incessantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER viii. &mdash; AN ALARM.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The spring was now advancing, and the weather was remarkably fine; when
+      one morning, while Cecilia was walking with Mrs Harrel and Henrietta on
+      the lawn before her house, to which the last dinner bell was just
+      summoning them, to return, Mrs Harrel looked round and stopt at sight of a
+      gentleman galloping towards them, who in less than a minute approached,
+      and dismounting and leaving his horse to his servant, struck them all at
+      the same instant to be no other than young Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A sight so unexpected, so unaccountable, so wonderful, after an absence so
+      long, and to which they were mutually bound, almost wholly over-powered
+      Cecilia from surprise and a thousand other feelings, and she caught Mrs
+      Harrel by the arm, not knowing what she did, as if for succour; while
+      Henrietta with scarce less, though much more glad emotion, suddenly
+      exclaimed, &ldquo;'tis Mr Delvile!&rdquo; and sprang forward to meet him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had reached them, and in a voice that spoke hurry and perturbation,
+      respectfully made his compliments to them all, before Cecilia recovered
+      even the use of her feet: but no sooner were they restored to her, than
+      she employed them with the quickest motion in her power, still leaning
+      upon Mrs Harrel, to hasten into the house. Her solemn promise to Mrs
+      Delvile became uppermost in her thoughts, and her surprise was soon
+      succeeded by displeasure, that thus, without any preparation, he forced
+      her to break it by an interview she had no means to prevent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as they reached the entrance into the house, the Butler came to tell
+      Cecilia that dinner was upon the table. Delvile then went up to her, and
+      said, &ldquo;May I wait upon you for one instant before&mdash;or after you
+      dine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am engaged, Sir,&rdquo; answered she, though hardly able to speak, &ldquo;for the
+      whole day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not, I hope, refuse to hear me,&rdquo; cried he, eagerly, &ldquo;I cannot
+      write what I have to say,&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no occasion that you should, Sir,&rdquo; interrupted she, &ldquo;since I
+      should scarcely find time to read it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then courtsied, though without looking at him, and went into the
+      house; Delvile remaining in utter dismay, not daring, however wishing, to
+      follow her. But when Mrs Harrel, much surprised at behaviour so unusual
+      from Cecilia, approached him with some civil speeches, he started, and
+      wishing her good day, bowed, and remounted his horse: pursued by the soft
+      eyes of Henrietta till wholly out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then both followed Cecilia to the dining-parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had not Mrs Harrel been of this small party, the dinner would have been
+      served in vain; Cecilia, still trembling with emotion, bewildered with
+      conjecture, angry with Delvile for thus surprising her, angry with herself
+      for so severely receiving him, amazed what had tempted him to such a
+      violation of their joint agreement, and irresolute as much what to wish as
+      what to think, was little disposed for eating, and with difficulty
+      compelled herself to do the honours of her table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, whom the sight of Delvile had at once delighted and disturbed,
+      whom the behaviour of Cecilia had filled with wonder and consternation,
+      and whom the evident inquietude and disappointment which that behaviour
+      had given to Delvile, had struck with grief and terror, could not swallow
+      even a morsel, but having cut her meat about her plate, gave it,
+      untouched, to a servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel, however, though she had had her share in the surprise, had
+      wholly escaped all other emotion; and only concluded in her own mind, that
+      Cecilia could sometimes be out of humour and ill bred, as well as the rest
+      of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the dessert was serving, a note was brought to Henrietta, which a
+      servant was waiting in great haste to have answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, stranger to all forms of politeness, though by nature soft,
+      obliging and delicate, opened it immediately; she started as she cast her
+      eye over it, but blushed, sparkled, and looked enchanted, and hastily
+      rising, without even a thought of any apology, ran out of the room to
+      answer it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, whose quick eye, by a glance unavoidable, had seen the hand of
+      Delvile, was filled with new amazement at the sight. As soon as the
+      servants were gone, she begged Mrs Harrel to excuse her, and went to her
+      own apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, in a few minutes, she was followed by Henrietta, whose countenance
+      beamed with pleasure, and whose voice spoke tumultuous delight. &ldquo;My dear,
+      dear Miss Beverley!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I have such a thing to tell you!&mdash;you
+      would never guess it,&mdash;I don't know how to believe it myself,&mdash;but
+      Mr Delvile has written to me!&mdash;he has indeed! that note was from him.&mdash;I
+      have been locking it up, for fear of accidents, but I'll run and fetch it,
+      that you may see it yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then ran away; leaving Cecilia much perplexed, much uneasy for
+      herself, and both grieved and alarmed for the too tender, too susceptible
+      Henrietta, who was thus easily the sport of every airy and credulous hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I did not shew it you,&rdquo; cried Henrietta, running back in a moment,
+      &ldquo;you would never think it possible, for it is to make such a request&mdash;that
+      it has frightened me almost out of my wits!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then read the note.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Belfield</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile presents his compliments to Miss Belfield, and begs to be
+      permitted to wait upon her for a few minutes, at any time in the afternoon
+      she will be so good as to appoint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only think,&rdquo; cried the rapturous Henrietta, &ldquo;it was <i>me</i>, poor
+      simple <i>me</i>, of all people, that he wanted so to speak with!&mdash;I
+      am sure I thought a different thought when he went away! but do, dearest
+      Miss Beverley, tell me this one thing, what do you think he can have to
+      say to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; replied Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, &ldquo;it is impossible for me
+      to conjecture.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If <i>you</i> can't, I am sure, then, it is no wonder <i>I</i> can't! and
+      I have been thinking of a million of things in a minute. It can't be about
+      any business, because I know nothing in the world of any business; and it
+      can't be about my brother, because he would go to our house in town about
+      him, and there he would see him himself; and it can't be about my dear
+      Miss Beverley, because then he would have written the note to her and it
+      can't be about any body else, because I know nobody else of his
+      acquaintance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus went on the sanguine Henrietta, settling whom and what it could <i>not</i>
+      be about, till she left but the one thing to which her wishes pointed that
+      it <i>could</i> be about. Cecilia heard her with true compassion, certain
+      that she was deceiving herself with imaginations the most pernicious; yet
+      unable to know how to quell them, while in such doubt and darkness
+      herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This conversation was soon interrupted, by a message that a gentleman in
+      the parlour begged to speak with Miss Belfield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O dearest, dearest Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, with encreasing
+      agitation, &ldquo;what in the world shall I say to him, advise me, pray advise
+      me, for I can't think of a single word!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible, my dear Henrietta, unless I knew what he would say to you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O but I can guess, I can guess!&rdquo;&mdash;cried she, her cheeks glowing,
+      while her whole frame shook, &ldquo;and I sha'n't know what in the whole world
+      to answer him! I know I shall behave like a fool,&mdash;I know I shall
+      disgrace myself sadly!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, truly sorry Delvile should see her in such emotion, endeavoured
+      earnestly to compose her, though never less tranquil herself. But she
+      could not succeed, and she went down stairs with expectations of happiness
+      almost too potent for her reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not such were those of Cecilia; a dread of some new conflict took
+      possession of her mind, that mind so long tortured with struggles, so
+      lately restored to serenity!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta soon returned, but not the same Henrietta she went;&mdash;the
+      glow, the hope, the flutter were all over; she looked pale and wan, but
+      attempting, as she entered the room, to call up a smile, she failed, and
+      burst into tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia threw her arms round her neck, and tried to console her; but,
+      happy to hide her face in her bosom, she only gave the freer indulgence to
+      her grief, and rather melted than comforted by her tenderness, sobbed
+      aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia too easily conjectured the disappointment she had met, to pain her
+      by asking it; she forbore even to gratify her own curiosity by questions
+      that could not but lead to her mortification, and suffering her therefore
+      to take her own time for what she had to communicate, she hung over her in
+      silence with the most patient pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta was very sensible of this kindness, though she knew not half its
+      merit: but it was a long time before she could articulate, for sobbing,
+      that <i>all</i> Mr Delvile wanted, at last, was only to beg she would
+      acquaint Miss Beverley, that he had done himself the honour of waiting
+      upon her with a message from Mrs Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From Mrs Delvile?&rdquo; exclaimed Cecilia, all emotion in her turn, &ldquo;good
+      heaven! how much, then, have I been to blame? where is he now?&mdash;where
+      can I send to him?&mdash;tell me, my sweet Henrietta, this instant!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh madam!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, bursting into a fresh flood of tears, &ldquo;how
+      foolish have I been to open my silly heart to you!&mdash;he is come to pay
+      his addresses to you!&mdash;I am sure he is!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, no!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;indeed he is not!&mdash;but I must, I ought
+      to see him,&mdash;where, my love, is he?&rdquo;,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the parlour,&mdash;waiting for an answer.&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who at any other time would have been provoked at such a delay in
+      the delivery of a message so important, felt now nothing but concern for
+      Henrietta, whom she hastily kissed, but instantly, however, quitted, and
+      hurried to Delvile, with expectations almost equally sanguine as those her
+      poor friend but the moment before had crushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh now,&rdquo; thought she, &ldquo;if at last Mrs Delvile herself has relented, with
+      what joy will I give up all reserve, all disguise, and frankly avow the
+      faithful affection of my heart!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile received her not with the eagerness with which he had first
+      addressed her; he looked extremely disturbed, and, even after her
+      entrance, undetermined how to begin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited, however, his explanation in silence; and, after an irresolute
+      pause, he said, with a gravity not wholly free from resentment, &ldquo;I
+      presumed, madam, to wait upon you from the permission of my mother; but I
+      believe I have obtained it so late, that the influence I hoped from it is
+      past!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no means, Sir,&rdquo; answered she, chearfully, &ldquo;to know that you came
+      from her: I should else have received her commands without any
+      hesitation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would thank you for the honour you do her, were it less pointedly
+      exclusive. I have, however, no right of reproach! yet suffer me to ask,
+      could you, madam, after such a parting, after a renunciation so absolute
+      of all future claim upon you, which though extorted from me by duty, I was
+      bound, having promised, to fulfil by principle,-could you imagine me so
+      unsteady, so dishonourable, as to obtrude myself into your presence while
+      that promise was still in force?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I find,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, in whom a secret hope every moment grew stronger,
+      &ldquo;I have been too hasty; I did indeed believe Mrs Delvile would never
+      authorise such a visit; but as you have so much surprised me, I have a
+      right to your pardon for a little doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There spoke Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Delvile, reanimating at this little
+      apology, &ldquo;the same, the unaltered Miss Beverley I hoped to find!&mdash;yet
+      <i>is</i> she unaltered? am I not too precipitate? and is the tale I have
+      heard about Belfield a dream? an error? a falsehood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that so quick a succession of quarrels,&rdquo; said Cecilia, half smiling,
+      &ldquo;would be endless perplexity, I, now, would be affronted that you can ask
+      me such a question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had I, indeed, <i>thought</i> it a question,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I would not have
+      asked it: but never for a moment did I credit it, till the rigour of your
+      repulse alarmed me. You have condescended, now, to account for that, and I
+      am therefore encouraged to make known to you the purpose of my venturing
+      this visit. Yet not with confidence shall I speak if, scarce even with
+      hope!&mdash;it is a purpose that is the offspring of despair,&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One thing, Sir,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, who now became frightened again, &ldquo;let me
+      say before you proceed; if your purpose has not the sanction of Mrs
+      Delvile, as well as your visit, I would gladly be excused hearing it,
+      since I shall most certainly refuse it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would mention nothing,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;without her concurrence; she has
+      given it me: and my father himself has permitted my present application.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;is it possible!&rdquo; clasping her hands
+      together in the eagerness of her surprise and delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Is it possible</i>!&rdquo; repeated Delvile, with a look of rapture; &ldquo;ah
+      Miss Beverley!&mdash;once my own Cecilia!&mdash;do you, can you <i>wish</i>
+      it possible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, No!&rdquo; cried she, while pleasure and expectation sparkled in her eyes,
+      &ldquo;I wish nothing about it.&mdash;Yet tell me how it has happened,&mdash;I
+      am <i>curious</i>,&rdquo; added she, smiling, &ldquo;though not interested in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What hope would this sweetness give me,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;were my scheme almost
+      any other than it is!&mdash;but you cannot,&mdash;no, it would be
+      unreasonable, it would be madness to expect your compliance!&mdash;it is
+      next to madness even in me to wish it,&mdash;but how shall a man who is
+      desperate be prudent and circumspect?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Spare, spare yourself,&rdquo; cried the ingenuous Cecilia, &ldquo;this, unnecessary
+      pain!&mdash;you will find from me no unnecessary scruples.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know not what you say!&mdash;all noble as you are, the sacrifice I
+      have to propose&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak it,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;with confidence! speak it even with certainty of
+      success! I will be wholly undisguised, and openly, honestly own to you,
+      that no proposal, no sacrifice can be mentioned, to which I will not
+      instantly agree, if first it has had the approbation of Mrs Delvile.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile's gratitude and thanks for a concession never before so
+      voluntarily made to him, interrupted for a while, even his power of
+      explaining himself. And now, for the first time, Cecilia's sincerity was
+      chearful, since now, for the first time, it seemed opposed by no duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When still, therefore, he hesitated, she herself held out her hand to him,
+      saying, &ldquo;what must I do more? must I offer this pledge to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my life would I not resign it!&rdquo; cried he, delightedly receiving it;
+      &ldquo;but oh, how soon will you withdraw it, when the only terms upon which I
+      can hold it, are those of making it sign from itself its natural right and
+      inheritance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, not comprehending him, only looked amazed, and he proceeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you, for my sake, make such a sacrifice as this? can you for a man
+      who for yours is not permitted to give up his name, give up yourself the
+      fortune of your late uncle? consent to such settlements as I can make upon
+      you from my own? part with so splendid an income wholly and for-ever?&mdash;and
+      with only your paternal L10,000 condescend to become mine, as if your
+      uncle had never existed, and you had been Heiress to no other wealth?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This, indeed, was a stroke to Cecilia unequalled by any she had met, and
+      more cruel than any she could have in reserve. At the proposal of parting
+      with her uncle's fortune, which, desirable as it was, had as yet been only
+      productive to her of misery, her heart, disinterested, and wholly careless
+      of money, was prompt to accede to the condition; but at the mention of her
+      paternal fortune, that fortune, of which, now, not the smallest vestige
+      remained, horror seized all her faculties! she turned pale, she trembled,
+      she involuntarily drew back her hand, and betrayed, by speechless
+      agitation, the sudden agonies of her soul!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, struck by this evident dismay, instantly concluded his plan had
+      disgusted her. He waited some minutes in anxious expectation of an answer,
+      but finding her silence continued while her emotion encreased, the deepest
+      crimson dyed his face, and unable to check his chagrin, though not daring
+      to confess his disappointment, he suddenly quitted her, and walked, in
+      much disorder, about the room. But soon recovering some composure, from
+      the assistance of pride, &ldquo;Pardon, madam,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;a trial such as no man
+      can be vindicated in making. I have indulged a romantic whim, which your
+      better judgment disapproves, and I receive but the mortification my
+      presumption deserved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know not then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a faint voice, &ldquo;my inability to
+      comply?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ability or inability, I presume, are elective?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no!&mdash;my power is lost&mdash;my fortune itself is gone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible! utterly impossible!&rdquo; cried he with vehemence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh that it were!&mdash;your father knows it but too well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he, then, never hint it to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh distraction!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;what horrible confirmation is coming!&rdquo;
+       and again he walked away, as if wanting courage to hear her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was too much shocked to force upon him her explanation; but
+      presently returning to her, he said, &ldquo;<i>you</i>, only, could have made
+      this credible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had you, then, actually heard it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh I had heard it as the most infamous of falsehoods! my heart swelled
+      with indignation at so villainous a calumny, and had it not come from my
+      father, my resentment at it had been inveterate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;the fact is undeniable! yet the circumstances you
+      may have heard with it, are I doubt not exaggerated.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exaggerated indeed!&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;I was told you had been surprised
+      concealed with Belfield in a back room, I was told that your parental
+      fortune was totally exhausted, and that during your minority you had been
+      a dealer with Jews!&mdash;I was told all this by my father; you may
+      believe I had else not easily been made hear it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet thus far,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;he told you but what is true; though&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True!&rdquo; interrupted Delvile, with a start almost frantic. &ldquo;Oh never, then,
+      was truth so scandalously wronged!&mdash;I denied the whole charge!-I
+      disbelieved every syllable!&mdash;I pledged my own honour to prove every
+      assertion false!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Generous Delvile!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, melting into tears, &ldquo;this is what I
+      expected from you! and, believe me, in <i>your</i> integrity my reliance
+      had been similar!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why does Miss Beverley weep?&rdquo; cried he, softened, and approaching her,
+      &ldquo;and why has she given me this alarm? these things must at least have been
+      misrepresented, deign, then, to clear up a mystery in which suspense is
+      torture!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, then, with what precision and clearness her agitation allowed
+      her, related the whole history of her taking up the money of the Jew for
+      Mr Harrel, and told, without reserve, the reason of her trying to abscond
+      from his father at Mrs Belfield's. Delvile listened to her account with
+      almost an agony of attention, now admiring her conduct; now resenting her
+      ill usage; now compassionating her losses; but though variously moved by
+      different parts, receiving from the whole the delight he most coveted in
+      the establishment of her innocence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thanks and applause the warmest, both accompanied and followed her
+      narration; and then, at her request, he related in return the several
+      incidents and circumstances to which he had owed the permission of this
+      visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had meant immediately to have gone abroad; but the indisposition of his
+      mother made him unwilling to leave the kingdom till her health seemed in a
+      situation less precarious. That time, however, came not; the Winter
+      advanced, and she grew evidently worse. He gave over, therefore, his
+      design till the next Spring, when, if she were able, it was her desire to
+      try the South of France for her recovery, whither he meant to conduct her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, during his attendance upon her, the plan he had just mentioned
+      occurred to him, and he considered how much greater would be his chance of
+      happiness in marrying Cecilia with scarce any fortune at all, than in
+      marrying another with the largest. He was convinced she was far other than
+      expensive, or a lover of shew, and soon flattered himself she might be
+      prevailed upon to concur with him, that in living together, though
+      comparatively upon little, they should mutually be happier than in living
+      asunder upon much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he started this scheme to his mother, she heard it with mingled
+      admiration of his disinterestedness, and regret at its occasion: yet the
+      loftiness of her own mind, her high personal value for Cecilia, her
+      anxiety to see her son finally settled while she lived, lest his
+      disappointment should keep him single from a lasting disgust, joined to a
+      dejection of spirits from an apprehension that her interference had been
+      cruel, all favoured his scheme, and forbid her resistance. She had often
+      protested, in their former conflicts, that had Cecilia been portionless,
+      her objections had been less than to an estate so conditioned; and that to
+      give to her son a woman so exalted in herself, she would have conquered
+      the mere opposition of interest, though that of family honour she held
+      invincible. Delvile now called upon her to remember those words, and ever
+      strict in fidelity, she still promised to abide by them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah! thought Cecilia, is virtue, then, as inconsistent as vice? and can the
+      same character be thus high-souled, thus nobly disinterested with regard
+      to riches, whose pride is so narrow and so insurmountable, with respect to
+      family prejudice!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet such a sacrifice from Cecilia herself, whose income intitled her to
+      settlements the most splendid, Mrs Delvile thought scarcely to be
+      solicited; but as her son was conscious he gave up in expectation no less
+      than she would give up in possession, he resolved upon making the
+      experiment, and felt an internal assurance of success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This matter being finally settled with his mother, the harder task
+      remained of vanquishing the father, by whom, and before whom the name of
+      Cecilia was never mentioned, not even after his return from town, though
+      loaded with imaginary charges against her. Mr Delvile held it a diminution
+      of his own in the honour of his son, to suppose he wanted still fresh
+      motives for resigning her. He kept, therefore, to himself the ill opinion
+      he brought down, as a resource in case of danger, but a resource he
+      disdained to make use of, unless driven to it by absolute necessity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, at the new proposal of his son, the accusation held in reserve broke
+      out; he called Cecilia a dabler with Jews, and said she had been so from
+      the time of her uncle's death; he charged her with the grossest general
+      extravagance, to which he added a most insidious attack upon her
+      character, drawn from her visits at Belfield's of long standing, as well
+      as the particular time when he had himself surprised her concealed with
+      the young man in a back parlour: and he asserted, that most of the large
+      sums she was continually taking up from her fortune, were lavished without
+      scruple upon this dangerous and improper favourite.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile had heard this accusation with a rage scarce restrained from
+      violence; confident in her innocence, he boldly pronounced the whole a
+      forgery, and demanded the author of such cruel defamation. Mr Delvile,
+      much offended, refused to name any authority, but consented, with an air
+      of triumph, to abide by the effect of his own proposal, and gave him a
+      supercilious promise no longer to oppose the marriage, if the terms he
+      meant to offer to Miss Beverley, of renouncing her uncle's estate, and
+      producing her father's fortune, were accepted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O little did I credit,&rdquo; said Delvile in conclusion, &ldquo;that he knew indeed
+      so well this last condition was impracticable! his assertions were without
+      proof; I thought them prejudiced surmises; and I came in the full hope I
+      should convict him of his error. My mother, too, who warmly and even
+      angrily defended you, was as firmly satisfied as myself that the whole was
+      a mistake, and that enquiry would prove your fortune as undiminished as
+      your purity. How will she be shocked at the tale I have now to unfold! how
+      irritated at your injuries from Harrel! how grieved that your own too
+      great benevolence should be productive of such black aspersions upon your
+      character!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;too facile and too unguarded; yet always,
+      at the moment, I seemed but guided by common humanity. I have ever thought
+      myself secure of more wealth than I could require, and regarded the want
+      of money as an evil from which I was unavoidably exempted. My own fortune,
+      therefore, appeared to me of small consequence, while the revenue of my
+      uncle insured me perpetual prosperity.&mdash;Oh had I foreseen this moment&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you, then, have listened to my romantic proposal?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would I have listened?&mdash;do you not see too plainly I could not have
+      hesitated!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet, then, most generous of human beings, yet then be mine! By our own
+      oeconomy we will pay off our mortgages; by living a while abroad, we will
+      clear all our estates; I will still keep the name to which my family is
+      bigotted, and my gratitude for your compliance shall make you forget what
+      you lose by it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak not to me such words!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, hastily rising; &ldquo;your friends
+      will not listen to them, neither, therefore, must I.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friends,&rdquo; cried he with energy, &ldquo;are henceforth out of the question:
+      my father's concurrence with a proposal he <i>knew</i> you had not power
+      to grant, was in fact a mere permission to insult you; for if, instead of
+      dark charges, he had given any authority for your losses, I had myself
+      spared you the shock you have so undeservedly received from hearing it.&mdash;But
+      to consent to a plan which <i>could</i> not be accepted!&mdash;to make me
+      a tool to offer indignity to Miss Beverley!&mdash;He has released me from
+      his power by so erroneous an exertion of it, and my own honour has a claim
+      to which his commands must give place. That honour binds me to Miss
+      Beverley as forcibly as my admiration, and no voice but her own shall
+      determine my future destiny.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That voice, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;again refers you to your mother. Mr
+      Delvile, indeed, has not treated me kindly; and this last mock concession
+      was unnecessary cruelty; but Mrs Delvile merits my utmost respect, and I
+      will listen to nothing which has not her previous sanction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But will her sanction be sufficient? and may I hope, in obtaining it, the
+      security of yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I have said I will hear nothing without it, may you not almost infer&mdash;I
+      will refuse nothing with it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The acknowledgments he would now have poured forth, Cecilia would not
+      hear, telling him, with some gaiety, they were yet unauthorized by Mrs
+      Delvile. She insisted upon his leaving her immediately, and never again
+      returning, without his mother's express approbation. With regard to his
+      father, she left him totally to his own inclination; she had received from
+      him nothing but pride and incivility, and determined to skew publicly her
+      superior respect for Mrs Delvile, by whose discretion and decision she was
+      content to abide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you not, then, from time to time,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;suffer me to
+      consult with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; answered she, &ldquo;do not ask it! I have never been insincere with
+      you, never but from motives not to be overcome, reserved even for a
+      moment; I have told you I will put every thing into the power of Mrs
+      Delvile, but I will not a second time risk my peace by any action unknown
+      to her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile gratefully acknowledged her goodness, and promised to require
+      nothing more. He then obeyed her by taking leave, eager himself to put an
+      end to this new uncertainty, and supplicating only that her good wishes
+      might follow his enterprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And thus, again, was wholly broken the tranquility of Cecilia; new hopes,
+      however faint, awakened all her affections, and strong fears, but too
+      reasonable, interrupted her repose. Her destiny, once more, was as
+      undecided as ever, and the expectations she had crushed, retook possession
+      of her heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The suspicions she had conceived of Mr Monckton again occurred to her;
+      though unable to ascertain and unwilling to believe them, she tried to
+      drive them from her thoughts. She lamented, however, with bitterness, her
+      unfortunate connexion with Mr Harrel, whose unworthy impositions upon her
+      kindness of temper and generosity, now proved to her an evil far more
+      serious and extensive, than in the midst of her repugnance to them she had
+      ever apprehended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A SUSPENSE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Delvile had been gone but a short time, before Henrietta, her eyes still
+      red, though no longer streaming, opened the parlour door, and asked if she
+      might come in?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wished to be alone, yet could not refuse her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, madam,&rdquo; cried she, with a forced smile, and constrained air of
+      bravery, &ldquo;did not I guess right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what?&rdquo; said Cecilia, unwilling to understand her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what I said would happen?&mdash;I am sure you know what I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely embarrassed, made no answer; she much regretted the
+      circumstances which had prevented an earlier communication, and was
+      uncertain whether, now, it would prove most kind or most cruel to acquaint
+      her with what was in agitation, which, should it terminate in nothing, was
+      unnecessarily wounding her delicacy for the openness of her confidence,
+      and which, however serviceable it might prove to her in the end, was in
+      the means so rough and piercing she felt the utmost repugnance to the
+      experiment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think me, madam, too free,&rdquo; said Henrietta, &ldquo;in asking such a
+      question; and indeed your kindness has been so great, it may well make me
+      forget myself: but if it does, I am sure I deserve you should send me home
+      directly, and then there is not much fear I shall soon be brought to my
+      senses!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, my dear Henrietta, I can never think you too free; I have told you
+      already every thing I thought you would have pleasure in hearing; whatever
+      I have concealed, I have been fearful would only pain you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have <i>deserved</i>, madam,&rdquo; said she, with spirit, &ldquo;to be pained, for
+      I have behaved with the folly of a baby. I am very angry with myself
+      indeed! I was old enough to have known better,&mdash;and I ought to have
+      been wise enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must then be angry with yourself, next,&rdquo; said Cecilia, anxious to
+      re-encourage her, &ldquo;for all the love that I bear you; since to your
+      openness and frankness it was entirely owing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But there are some things that people should <i>not</i> be frank in;
+      however, I am only come now to beg you will tell me, madam, when it is to
+      be;&mdash;and don't think I ask out of nothing but curiosity, for I have a
+      very great reason for it indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What be, my dear Henrietta?&mdash;you are very rapid in your ideas!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you, madam, what my reason is; I shall go away to my own
+      home,&mdash;and so I would if it were ten times a worse home than it is!&mdash;just
+      exactly the day before. Because afterwards I shall never like to look that
+      gentleman in the face,&mdash;never, never!&mdash;for married ladies I know
+      are not to be trusted!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be not apprehensive; you have no occasion. Whatever may be my fate, I
+      will never be so treacherous as to betray my beloved Henrietta to <i>any</i>
+      body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask you, madam, one question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did all this never happen before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, much distressed, &ldquo;I know not that it will happen
+      now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why what, dear madam, can hinder it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A thousand, thousand things! nothing can be less secure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then I am still as much puzzled as ever. I heard, a good while ago,
+      and we all heard that it was to be; and I thought that it was no wonder, I
+      am sure, for I used often to think it was just what was most likely; but
+      afterwards we heard it was no such thing, and from that moment I always
+      believed there had been nothing at all in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must speak to you, I find, with sincerity; my affairs have long been in
+      strange perplexity: I have not known myself what to expect; one day has
+      perpetually reversed the prospect of another, and my mind has been in a
+      state of uncertainty and disorder, that has kept it&mdash;that still keeps
+      it from comfort and from rest!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This surprises me indeed, madam! I thought <i>you</i> were all happiness!
+      but I was sure you deserved it, and I thought you had it for that reward.
+      And this has been the thing that has made me behave so wrong; for I took
+      it into my head I might tell you every thing, because I concluded it could
+      be nothing to you; for if great people loved one another, I always
+      supposed they married directly; poor people, indeed, must stay till they
+      are able to settle; but what in the whole world, thought I, if they like
+      one another, should hinder such a rich lady as Miss Beverley from marrying
+      such a rich gentleman at once?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now, finding there was no longer any chance for concealment,
+      thought it better to give the poor Henrietta at least the gratification of
+      unreserved confidence, which might somewhat sooth her uneasiness by
+      proving her reliance in her faith. She frankly, therefore, confessed to
+      her the whole of her situation. Henrietta wept at the recital with
+      bitterness, thought Mr Delvile a monster, and Mrs Delvile herself scarce
+      human; pitied Cecilia with unaffected tenderness, and wondered that the
+      person could exist who had the heart to give grief to young Delvile! She
+      thanked her most gratefully for reposing such trust in her; and Cecilia
+      made use of this opportunity, to enforce the necessity of her struggling
+      more seriously to recover her indifferency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She promised she would not fail; and forbore steadily from that time to
+      name Delvile any more: but the depression of her spirits shewed she had
+      suffered a disappointment such as astonished even Cecilia. Though modest
+      and humble, she had conceived hopes the most romantic, and though she
+      denied, even to herself, any expectations from Delvile, she involuntarily
+      nourished them with the most sanguine simplicity. To compose and to
+      strengthen her became the whole business of Cecilia; who, during her
+      present suspense, could find no other employment in which she could take
+      any interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, to whom nothing was unknown that related to Cecilia, was soon
+      informed of Delvile's visit, and hastened in the utmost alarm, to learn
+      its event. She had now lost all the pleasure she had formerly derived from
+      confiding in him, but though averse and confused, could not withstand his
+      enquiries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unlike the tender Henrietta's was his disappointment at this relation, and
+      his rage at such repeated trials was almost more than he could curb. He
+      spared neither the Delviles for their insolence of mutability in rejecting
+      or seeking her at their pleasure, nor herself for her easiness of
+      submission in being thus the dupe of their caprices. The subject was
+      difficult for Cecilia to dilate upon; she wished to clear, as he deserved,
+      Delvile himself from any share in the censure, and she felt hurt and
+      offended at the charge of her own improper readiness; yet shame and pride
+      united in preventing much vindication of either, and she heard almost in
+      silence what with pain she bore to hear at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He now saw, with inexpressible disturbance, that whatever was his power to
+      make her uneasy, he had none to make her retract, and that the conditional
+      promise she had given Delvile to be wholly governed by his mother, she was
+      firm in regarding to be as sacred as one made at the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perceiving this, he dared trust his temper with no further debate; he
+      assumed a momentary calmness for the purpose of taking leave of her, and
+      with pretended good wishes for her happiness, whatever might be her
+      determination, he stifled the reproaches with which his whole heart was
+      swelling, and precipitately left her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, affected by his earnestness, yet perplexed in all her opinions,
+      was glad to be relieved from useless exhortations, and not sorry, in her
+      present uncertainty, that his visit was not repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She neither saw nor heard from Delvile for a week, and augured nothing but
+      evil from such delay. The following letter then came by the post.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley. April 2d</i>, 1780
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I must write without comments, for I dare not trust myself with making
+      any; I must write without any beginning address, for I know not how you
+      will permit me to address you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have lived a life of tumult since last compelled to leave you, and when
+      it may subside, I am still in utter ignorance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The affecting account of the losses you have suffered through your
+      beneficence to the Harrels, and the explanatory one of the calumnies you
+      have sustained from your kindness to the Belfields, I related with the
+      plainness which alone I thought necessary to make them felt. I then told
+      the high honour I had received, in meeting with no other repulse to my
+      proposal, than was owing to an inability to accede to it; and informed my
+      mother of the condescending powers with which you had invested her. In
+      conclusion I mentioned my new scheme, and firmly, before I would listen to
+      any opposition, I declared that though wholly to their decision I left the
+      relinquishing my own name or your fortune, I was not only by your
+      generosity more internally yours than ever, but that since again I had
+      ventured, and with permission to apply to you, I should hold myself hence
+      forward unalterably engaged to you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so I do, and so I shall! nor, after a renewal so public, will any
+      prohibition but yours have force to keep me from throwing myself at your
+      feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My father's answer I will not mention; I would I could forget it! his
+      prejudices are irremediable, his resolutions are inflexible. Who or what
+      has worked him into an animosity so irreclaimable, I cannot conjecture,
+      nor will he tell; but something darkly mysterious has part in his wrath
+      and his injustice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My mother was much affected by your reference to herself. Words of the
+      sweetest praise broke repeatedly from her; no other such woman, she said,
+      existed; no other such instance could be found of fidelity so exalted! her
+      son must have no heart but for low and mercenary selfishness, if, after a
+      proof of regard so unexampled, he could bear to live without her! Oh how
+      did such a sentence from lips so highly reverenced, animate, delight,
+      confirm, and oblige me at once!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The displeasure of my father at this declaration was dreadful; his
+      charges, always as improbable as injurious, now became too horrible for my
+      ears; he disbelieved you had taken up the money for Harrel, he discredited
+      that you visited the Belfields for Henrietta: passion not merely banished
+      his justice, but, clouded his reason, and I soon left the room, that at
+      least I might not hear the aspersions he forbid me to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I left not, however, your fame to a weak champion: my mother defended it
+      with all the spirit of truth, and all the confidence of similar virtue!
+      yet they parted without conviction, and so mutually irritated with each
+      other, that they agreed to meet no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was too terrible! and I instantly consolidated my resentment to my
+      father, and my gratitude to my mother, into concessions and supplications
+      to both; I could not, however, succeed; my mother was deeply offended, my
+      father was sternly inexorable: nor here rests the evil of their
+      dissention, for the violence of the conflict has occasioned a return more
+      alarming than ever of the illness of my mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All her faith in her recovery is now built upon going abroad; she is
+      earnest to set off immediately; but Dr Lyster has advised her to make
+      London in her way, and have a consultation of physicians before she
+      departs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this she has agreed; and we are now upon the road thither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such is, at present, the melancholy state of my affairs. My mother <i>advised</i>
+      me to write; forgive me, therefore, that I waited not something more
+      decisive to say. I could prevail upon neither party to meet before the
+      journey; nor could I draw from my father the base fabricator of the
+      calumnies by which he has been thus abused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unhappily, I have nothing more to add: and whether intelligence, such as
+      this, or total suspense, would be least irksome, I know not. If my mother
+      bears her journey tolerably well, I have yet one more effort to make; and
+      of that the success or the failure will be instantly communicated to Miss
+      Beverley, by her eternally devoted, but half distracted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mortimer Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely could Cecilia herself decide whether this comfortless letter or
+      none at all were preferable. The implacability of Mr Delvile was shocking,
+      but his slandering her character was still more intolerable; yet the
+      praises of the mother, and her generous vindication, joined to the
+      invariable reliance of Delvile upon her innocence, conferred upon her an
+      honour that offered some alleviation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mention of a fabricator again brought Mr Monckton to her mind, and not
+      all her unwillingness to think him capable of such treachery, could now
+      root out her suspicions. Delvile's temper, however, she knew was too
+      impetuous to be trusted with this conjecture, and her fear of committing
+      injustice being thus seconded by prudence, she determined to keep to
+      herself doubts that could not without danger be divulged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She communicated briefly to Henrietta, who looked her earnest curiosity,
+      the continuance of her suspense; and to her own fate Henrietta became
+      somewhat more reconciled, when she saw that no station in life rendered
+      happiness certain or permanent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER x. &mdash; A RELATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Another week past still without any further intelligence. Cecilia was then
+      summoned to the parlour, and to Delvile himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked hurried and anxious; yet the glow of his face, and the animation
+      of his eyes, immediately declared he at least came not to take leave of
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you forgive,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;the dismal and unsatisfactory letter I wrote
+      you? I would not disobey you twice in the same manner, and I could not
+      till now have written in any other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The consultation with the physicians, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;is over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, yes; and the result is most alarming; they all agree my mother is
+      in a dangerous way, and they rather forbear to oppose, than advise her
+      going abroad: but upon that she is earnestly bent, and intends to set out
+      without delay. I shall return to her, therefore, with all speed, and mean
+      not to take any rest till I have seen her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia expressed with tenderness her sorrow for Mrs Delvile: nor were her
+      looks illiberal in including her son in her concern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must hasten,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;to the credentials by which I am authorised
+      for coming, and I must hasten to prove if Miss Beverley has not flattered
+      my mother in her appeal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then informed her that Mrs Delvile, apprehensive for herself, and
+      softened for him by the confession of her danger, which she had extorted
+      from her physicians, had tenderly resolved upon making one final effort
+      for his happiness, and ill and impatient as she was, upon deferring her
+      journey to wait its effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Generously, therefore, giving up her own resentment, she wrote to Mr
+      Delvile in terms of peace and kindness, lamenting their late dissention,
+      and ardently expressing her desire to be reconciled to him before she left
+      England. She told him the uncertainty of her recovery which had been
+      acknowledged by her physicians, who had declared a calmer mind was more
+      essential to her than a purer air. She then added, that such serenity was
+      only to be given her, by the removal of her anxiety at the comfortless
+      state of her son. She begged him, therefore, to make known the author of
+      Miss Beverley's defamation, assuring him, that upon enquiry, he would find
+      her character and her fame as unsullied as his own; and strongly
+      representing, that after the sacrifice to which she had consented, their
+      son would be utterly dishonourable in thinking of any other connexion. She
+      then to this reasoning joined the most earnest supplication, protesting,
+      in her present disordered state, of health, her life might pay the
+      forfeiture of her continual uneasiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I held out,&rdquo; she concluded, &ldquo;while his personal dignity, and the honour
+      of his name and family were endangered; but where interest alone is
+      concerned, and that interest is combated by the peace of his mind, and the
+      delicacy of his word, my opposition is at an end. And though our extensive
+      and well founded views for a splendid alliance are abolished, you will
+      agree with me hereafter, upon a closer inspection, that the object for
+      whom he relinquishes them, offers in herself the noblest reparation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia felt gratified, humbled, animated and depressed at once by this
+      letter, of which Delvile brought her a copy. &ldquo;And what,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;was
+      the answer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot in decency,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;speak my opinion of it: read it
+      yourself,&mdash;and let me hear yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To the Honourable Mrs Delvile</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Your extraordinary letter, madam, has extremely surprised me. I had been
+      willing to hope the affair over from the time my disapprobation of it was
+      formally announced. I am sorry you are so much indisposed, but I cannot
+      conclude your health would be restored by my acceding to a plan so
+      derogatory to my house. I disapprove it upon every account, not only of
+      the name and the fortune, but the lady herself. I have reasons more
+      important than those I assign, but they are such as I am bound in honour
+      not to mention. After such a declaration, nobody, I presume, will affront
+      me by asking them. Her defence you have only from herself, her accusation
+      I have received from authority less partial. I command, therefore, that my
+      son, upon pain of my eternal displeasure, may never speak to me on the
+      subject again, and I hope, madam, from you the same complaisance to my
+      request. I cannot explain myself further, nor is it necessary; it is no
+      news, I flatter myself, to Mortimer Delvile or his mother, that I do
+      nothing without reason, and I believe nothing upon slight grounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few cold compliments concerning her journey, and the re-establishment of
+      her health, concluded the letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, having read, hastily returned it, and indignantly said, &ldquo;My
+      opinion, Sir, upon this letter, must surely be yours; that we had done
+      wiser, long since, to have spared your mother and ourselves, those vain
+      and fruitless conflicts which we ought better to have foreseen were liable
+      to such a conclusion. Now, at least, let them be ended, and let us not
+      pursue disgrace wilfully, after suffering from it with so much rigour
+      involuntarily.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;rather let us now spurn it for ever! those
+      conflicts must indeed be ended, but not by a separation still more bitter
+      than all of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her, that his mother, highly offended to observe by the
+      extreme coldness of this letter, the rancour he still nourished for the
+      contest preceding her leaving him, no longer now refused even her separate
+      consent, for a measure which she thought her son absolutely engaged to
+      take.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, much amazed, &ldquo;this from Mrs Delvile!&mdash;a
+      separate consent?&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has always maintained,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;an independent mind, always
+      judged for herself, and refused all other arbitration: when so impetuously
+      she parted us, my father's will happened to be her's, and thence their
+      concurrence: my father, of a temper immoveable and stern, retains
+      stubbornly the prejudices which once have taken possession of him; my
+      mother, generous as fiery, and noble as proud, is open to conviction, and
+      no sooner convinced, than ingenuous in acknowledging it: and thence their
+      dissention. From my father I may hope forgiveness, but must never expect
+      concession; from my mother I may hope all she ought to grant, for pardon
+      but her vehemence,&mdash;and she has every great quality that can dignify
+      human nature!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, whose affection and reverence for Mrs Delvile were unfeigned, and
+      who loved in her son this filial enthusiasm, readily concurred with him in
+      praising her, and sincerely esteemed her the first among women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, then,&rdquo; cried he, with earnestness, &ldquo;now is the time when your
+      generous admiration of her is put to the test; see what she writes to you;&mdash;she
+      has left to me all explanation: but I insisted upon some credential, lest
+      you should believe I only owed her concurrence to a happy dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia in much trepidation took the letter, and hastily run it over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Misery, my sweet young friend, has long been busy with us all; much have
+      we owed to the clash of different interests, much to that rapacity which
+      to enjoy any thing, demands every thing, and much to that general
+      perverseness which labours to place happiness in what is with-held. Thus
+      do we struggle on till we can struggle no longer; the felicity with which
+      we trifle, at best is but temporary; and before reason and reflection shew
+      its value, sickness and sorrow are commonly become stationary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Be it yours, my love, and my son's, to profit by the experience, while you
+      pity the errors, of the many who illustrate this truth. Your mutual
+      partiality has been mutually unfortunate, and must always continue so for
+      the interests of both: but how blind is it to wait, in our own peculiar
+      lots, for that perfection of enjoyment we can all see wanting in the lot
+      of others! My expectations for my son had &ldquo;outstepped the modesty of&rdquo;
+       probability. I looked for rank and high birth, with the fortune of
+      Cecilia, and Cecilia's rare character. Alas! a new constellation in the
+      heavens might as rationally have been looked for!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My extravagance, however, has been all for his felicity, dearer to me than
+      life,&mdash;dearer to me than all things but his own honour! Let us but
+      save that, and then let wealth, ambition, interest, grandeur and pride,
+      since they cannot constitute his happiness, be removed from destroying it.
+      I will no longer play the tyrant that, weighing good and evil by my own
+      feelings and opinions, insists upon his acting by the notions I have
+      formed, whatever misery they may bring him by opposing all his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I leave the kingdom with little reason to expect I shall return to it; I
+      leave it&mdash;Oh blindness of vanity and passion!&mdash;from the effect
+      of that violence with which so lately I opposed what now I am content to
+      advance! But the extraordinary resignation to which you have agreed, shews
+      your heart so wholly my son's, and so even more than worthy the whole
+      possession of his, that it reflects upon him an honour more bright and
+      more alluring, than any the most illustrious other alliance could now
+      confer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I would fain see you ere I go, lest I should see you no more; fain ratify
+      by word of mouth the consent that by word of mouth I so absolutely
+      refused! I know not how to come to Suffolk,&mdash;is it not possible you
+      can come to London? I am told you leave to me the arbitration of your
+      fate, in giving you to my son, I best shew my sense of such an honour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hasten then, my love, to town, that I may see you once more! wait no
+      longer a concurrence thus unjustly with-held, but hasten, that I may bless
+      the daughter I have so often wished to own! that I may entreat her
+      forgiveness for all the pain I have occasioned her, and committing to her
+      charge the future happiness of my son, fold to my maternal heart the two
+      objects most dear to it!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      AUGUSTA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia wept over this letter with tenderness, grief and alarm; but
+      declared, had it even summoned her to follow her abroad, she could not,
+      after reading it, have hesitated in complying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O now, then,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;let our long suspenses end! hear me with
+      the candour; my mother has already listened to me&mdash;be mine, my
+      Cecilia, at once,&mdash;and force me not, by eternal scruples, to risk
+      another separation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven, Sir!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, starting, &ldquo;in such a state as Mrs
+      Delvile thinks herself, would you have her journey delayed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not a moment! I would but ensure you mine, and go with her all over
+      the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wild and impossible!&mdash;and what is to be done with Mr Delvile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is on his account wholly I am thus earnestly precipitate. If I do not
+      by an immediate marriage prevent his further interference, all I have
+      already suffered may again be repeated, and some fresh contest with my
+      mother may occasion another relapse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who now understood him, ardently protested she would not listen
+      for a moment to any clandestine expedient.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He besought her to be patient; and then anxiously represented to her their
+      peculiar situations. All application to his father he was peremptorily
+      forbid making, all efforts to remove his prejudices their impenetrable
+      mystery prevented; a public marriage, therefore, with such obstacles,
+      would almost irritate him to phrenzy, by its daring defiance of his
+      prohibition and authority.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; exclaimed Cecilia, &ldquo;we can never do right but in parting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say it not,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I conjure you! we shall yet live, I hope, to
+      prove the contrary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And can you, then,&rdquo; cried she, reproachfully, &ldquo;Oh Mr Delvile! can you
+      again urge me to enter your family in secret?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I grieve, indeed,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;that your goodness should so severely be
+      tried; yet did you not condescend to commit the arbitration to my mother?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True; and I thought her approbation would secure my peace of mind; but
+      how could I have expected Mrs Delvile's consent to such a scheme!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has merely accorded it from a certainty there is no other resource.
+      Believe me, therefore, my whole hope rests upon your present compliance.
+      My father, I am certain, by his letter, will now hear neither petition nor
+      defence; on the contrary, he will only enrage at the temerity of offering
+      to confute him. But when he knows you are his daughter, his honour will
+      then be concerned in yours, and it will be as much his desire to have it
+      cleared, as it is now to have it censured.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait at least your return, and let us try what can be done with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh why,&rdquo; cried Delvile, with much earnestness, &ldquo;must I linger out month
+      after month in this wretched uncertainty! If I wait I am undone! my
+      father, by the orders I must unavoidably leave, will discover the
+      preparations making without his consent, and he will work upon you in my
+      absence, and compel you to give me up!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you sure,&rdquo; said she, half smiling, &ldquo;he would have so much power?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am but too sure, that the least intimation, in his present irritable
+      state of mind, reaching him of my intentions, would make him not scruple,
+      in his fury, pronouncing some malediction upon my disobedience that <i>neither</i>
+      of us, I must own, could tranquilly disregard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was an argument that came home to Cecilia, whose deliberation upon
+      it, though silent, was evidently not unfavourable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then told her that with respect to settlements, he would instantly have
+      a bond drawn up, similar to that prepared for their former intended union,
+      which should be properly signed and sealed, and by which he would engage
+      himself to make, upon coming to his estate, the same settlement upon her
+      that was made upon his mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And as, instead of keeping up three houses,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;in the manner
+      my father does at present, I mean to put my whole estate <i>out to nurse</i>,
+      while we reside for a while abroad, or in the country, I doubt not but in
+      a very few years we shall be as rich and as easy as we shall desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He told her, also, of his well-founded expectations from the Relations
+      already mentioned; which the concurrence of his mother with his marriage
+      would thence forward secure to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then, with more coherence, stated his plan at large. He purposed,
+      without losing a moment, to return to London; he conjured her, in the name
+      of his mother, to set out herself early the next day, that the following
+      evening might be dedicated wholly to Mrs Delvile: through her intercession
+      he might then hope Cecilia's compliance, and every thing on the morning
+      after should be prepared for their union. The long-desired ceremony over,
+      he would instantly ride post to his father, and pay him, at least, the
+      respect of being the first to communicate it. He would then attend his
+      mother to the Continent, and leave the arrangement of everything to his
+      return. &ldquo;Still, therefore, as a single man,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;I mean to make
+      the journey, and I shall take care, by the time I return, to have all
+      things in readiness for claiming my sweet Bride. Tell me, then, now, if
+      you can reasonably oppose this plan?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, after some hesitation, &ldquo;I cannot see the necessity
+      of such violent precipitancy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not try me too much,&rdquo; cried Delvile, impatiently, &ldquo;to talk now of
+      precipitancy! after such painful waiting, such wearisome expectation! I
+      ask you not to involve your own affairs in confusion by accompanying me
+      abroad; sweet to me as would be such an indulgence, I would not make a
+      run-away of you in the opinion of the world. All I wish is the secret
+      certainty I cannot be robbed of you, that no cruel machinations may again
+      work our separation, that you are mine, unalterably mine, beyond the power
+      of caprice or ill fortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia made no answer; tortured with irresolution, she knew not upon what
+      to determine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might then, according to the favour or displeasure of my father,
+      settle wholly abroad for the present, or occasionally visit him in
+      England; my mother would be always and openly our friend&mdash;Oh be firm,
+      then, I conjure you, to the promise you have given her, and deign to be
+      mine on the conditions she prescribes. She will be bound to you for ever
+      by so generous a concession, and even her health may be restored by the
+      cessation of her anxieties. With such a wife, such a mother, what will be
+      wanting for <i>me</i>! Could I lament not being richer, I must be
+      rapacious indeed!&mdash;Speak, then, my Cecilia! relieve me from the agony
+      of this eternal uncertainty, and tell me your word is invariable as your
+      honour, and tell me my mother gives not her sanction in vain!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sighed deeply, but, after some hesitation, said, &ldquo;I little knew
+      what I had promised, nor know I now what to perform!&mdash;there must
+      ever, I find, be some check to human happiness! yet, since upon these
+      terms, Mrs Delvile herself is content to wish me of her family&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt; but, urged earnestly by Delvile, added &ldquo;I must not, I think,
+      withdraw the powers with which I entrusted her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, grateful and enchanted, now forgot his haste and his business,
+      and lost every wish but to re-animate her spirits: she compelled him,
+      however, to leave her, that his visit might less be wondered at, and sent
+      by him a message to Mrs. Delvile, that, wholly relying upon her wisdom,
+      she implicitly submitted to her decree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER xi. &mdash; AN ENTERPRISE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now had no time for afterthoughts or anxious repentance, since
+      notwithstanding the hurry of her spirits, and the confusion of her mind,
+      she had too much real business, to yield to pensive indulgence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Averse to all falsehood, she invented none upon this occasion; she merely
+      told her guests she was summoned to London upon an affair of importance;
+      and though she saw their curiosity, not being at liberty to satisfy it
+      with the truth, she attempted not to appease it by fiction, but quietly
+      left it to its common fare, conjecture. She would gladly have made
+      Henrietta the companion of her journey, but Henrietta was the last to whom
+      that journey could give pleasure. She only, therefore, took her maid in
+      the chaise, and, attended by one servant on horseback, at six o'clock the
+      next morning, she quitted her mansion, to enter into an engagement by
+      which soon she was to resign it for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Disinterested as she was, she considered her situation as peculiarly
+      perverse, that from the time of her coming to a fortune which most others
+      regarded as enviable, she had been a stranger to peace, a fruitless seeker
+      of happiness, a dupe to the fraudulent, and a prey to the needy! the
+      little comfort she had received, had been merely from dispensing it, and
+      now only had she any chance of being happy herself, when upon the point of
+      relinquishing what all others built their happiness upon obtaining!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These reflections only gave way to others still more disagreeable; she was
+      now a second time engaged in a transaction she could not approve, and
+      suffering the whole peace of her future life to hang upon an action dark,
+      private and imprudent: an action by which the liberal kindness of her late
+      uncle would be annulled, by which the father of her intended husband would
+      be disobeyed, and which already, in a similar instance, had brought her to
+      affliction and disgrace. These melancholy thoughts haunted her during the
+      whole journey, and though the assurance of Mrs Delvile's approbation was
+      some relief to her uneasiness, she involuntarily prepared herself for
+      meeting new mortifications, and was tormented with an apprehension that
+      this second attempt made her merit them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She drove immediately, by the previous direction of Delvile, to a
+      lodging-house in Albemarle Street, which he had taken care to have
+      prepared for her reception. She then sent for a chair, and went to Mrs
+      Delvile's. Her being seen by the servants of that house was not very
+      important, as their master was soon to be acquainted with the real motive
+      of her journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was shewn into a parlour, while Mrs Delvile was informed of her
+      arrival, and there flown to by Delvile with the most grateful eagerness.
+      Yet she saw in his countenance that all was not well, and heard upon
+      enquiry that his mother was considerably worse. Extremely shocked by this
+      intelligence, she already began to lament her unfortunate enterprise.
+      Delvile struggled, by exerting his own spirits, to restore hers, but
+      forced gaiety is never exhilarating; and, full of care and anxiety, he was
+      ill able to appear sprightly and easy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were soon summoned upstairs into the apartment of Mrs Delvile, who
+      was lying upon a couch, pale, weak, and much altered. Delvile led the way,
+      saying, &ldquo;Here, madam, comes one whose sight will bring peace and pleasure
+      to you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This, indeed,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile, half rising and embracing her, &ldquo;is the
+      form in which they are most welcome to me! virtuous, noble Cecilia! what
+      honour you do my son! with what joy, should I ever recover, shall I assist
+      him in paying the gratitude he owes you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, grieved at her situation, and affected by her kindness, could
+      only answer with her tears; which, however, were not shed alone; for
+      Delvile's eyes were full, as he passionately exclaimed, &ldquo;This, this is the
+      sight my heart has thus long desired! the wife of my choice taken to the
+      bosom of the parent I revere! be yet but well, my beloved mother, and I
+      will be thankful for every calamity that has led to so sweet a
+      conclusion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Content yourself, however, my son, with one of us,&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile,
+      smiling; &ldquo;and content yourself, if you can, though your hard lot should
+      make that one this creature of full bloom, health, and youth! Ah, my
+      love,&rdquo; added she, more seriously, and addressing the still weeping
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;should now Mortimer, in losing me, lose those cares by which
+      alone, for some months past, my life has been rendered tolerable, how
+      peaceably shall I resign him to one so able to recompense his filial
+      patience and services!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was not a speech to stop the tears of Cecilia, though such warmth of
+      approbation quieted her conscientious scruples. Delvile now earnestly
+      interfered; he told her that his mother had been ordered not to talk or
+      exert herself, and entreated her to be composed, and his mother to be
+      silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be it <i>your</i> business, then,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, more gaily, &ldquo;to find
+      us entertainment. We will promise to be very still if you will take that
+      trouble upon yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;be rallied from my purpose; if I cannot
+      entertain, it will be something to weary you, for that may incline you to
+      take rest, which will he answering a better purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mortimer,&rdquo; returned she, &ldquo;is this the ingenuity of duty or of love? and
+      which are you just now thinking of, my health, or a conversation
+      uninterrupted with Miss Beverley?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps a little of both!&rdquo; said he, chearfully, though colouring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you rather meant it should pass,&rdquo; said Mrs Delvile, &ldquo;you were
+      thinking only of me? I have always observed, that where one scheme answers
+      two purposes, the ostensive is never the purpose most at heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why it is but common prudence,&rdquo; answered Delvile, &ldquo;to feel our way a
+      little before we mention what we most wish, and so cast the hazard of the
+      refusal upon something rather less important.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Admirably settled!&rdquo; cried Mrs Delvile: &ldquo;so my rest is but to prove Miss
+      Beverley's disturbance!&mdash;Well, it is only anticipating our future way
+      of life, when her disturbance, in taking the management of you to herself,
+      will of course prove my rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then quietly reposed herself, and Delvile discoursed with Cecilia upon
+      their future plans, hopes and actions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He meant to set off from the church-door to Delvile Castle, to acquaint
+      his father with his marriage, and then to return instantly to London:
+      there he entreated Cecilia to stay with his mother, that, finding them
+      both together, he might not exhaust her patience, by making his parting
+      visit occasion another journey to Suffolk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But here Cecilia resolutely opposed him; saying, her only chance to escape
+      discovery, was going instantly to her own house; and representing so
+      earnestly her desire that their marriage should be unknown till his return
+      to England, upon a thousand motives of delicacy, propriety, and
+      fearfulness, that the obligation he owed already to a compliance which he
+      saw grew more and more reluctant, restrained him both in gratitude and
+      pity from persecuting her further. Neither would she consent to seeing him
+      in Suffolk; which could but delay his mother's journey, and expose her to
+      unnecessary suspicions; she promised, however, to write to him often, and
+      as, from his mother's weakness, he must travel very slowly, she took a
+      plan of his route, and engaged that he should find a letter from her at
+      every great town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bond which he had already had altered, he insisted upon leaving in her
+      own custody, averse to applying to Mr Monckton, whose behaviour to him had
+      before given him disgust, and in whom Cecilia herself no longer wished to
+      confide. He had again applied to the same lawyer, Mr Singleton, to give
+      her away; for though to his secrecy he had no tie, he had still less to
+      any entire stranger. Mrs Delvile was too ill to attend them to church, nor
+      would Delvile have desired from her such absolute defiance of his father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now gave another sigh to her departed friend Mrs Charlton, whose
+      presence upon this awful occasion would else again have soothed and
+      supported her. She had no female friend in whom she could rely; but
+      feeling a repugnance invincible to being accompanied only by men, she
+      accepted the attendance of Mrs Delvile's own woman, who had lived many
+      years in the family, and was high in the favour and confidence of her
+      lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arrangement of these and other articles, with occasional interruptions
+      from Mrs Delvile, fully employed the evening. Delvile would not trust
+      again to meeting her at the church; but begged her to send out her
+      servants between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, at which time he
+      would himself call for her with a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She went away early, that Mrs Delvile might go to rest, and it was
+      mutually agreed they should risk no meeting the next day. Delvile conjured
+      them to part with firmness and chearfulness, and Cecilia, fearing her own
+      emotion, would have retired without bidding her adieu. But Mrs Delvile,
+      calling after her, said, &ldquo;Take with you my blessing!&rdquo; and tenderly
+      embracing her, added, &ldquo;My son, as my chief nurse, claims a prescriptive
+      right to govern me, but I will break from his control to tell my sweet
+      Cecilia what ease and what delight she has already given to my mind! my
+      best hope of recovery is founded on the pleasure I anticipate to
+      witnessing your mutual happiness: but should my illness prove fatal, and
+      that felicity be denied me, my greatest earthly care is already removed by
+      the security I feel of Mortimer's future peace. Take with you, then, my
+      blessing, for you are become one to me! long daughter of my affection, now
+      wife of my darling son! love her, Mortimer, as she merits, and cherish her
+      with tenderest gratitude!&mdash;banish, sweetest Cecilia, every
+      apprehension that oppresses you, and receive in Mortimer Delvile a husband
+      that will revere your virtues, and dignify your choice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then embraced her again, and seeing that her heart was too full for
+      speech, suffered her to go without making any answer. Delvile attended her
+      to her chair, scarce less moved than herself, and found only opportunity
+      to entreat her punctuality the next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had, indeed, no inclination to fail in her appointment, or risk the
+      repetition of scenes so affecting, or situations so alarming. Mrs
+      Delvile's full approbation somewhat restored to her her own, but nothing
+      could remove the fearful anxiety, which still privately tormented her with
+      expectations of another disappointment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning she arose with the light, and calling all her courage to
+      her aid, determined to consider this day as decisive of her destiny with
+      regard to Delvile, and, rejoicing that at least all suspense would be
+      over, to support herself with fortitude, be that destiny what it might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the appointed time she sent her maid to visit Mrs Hill, and gave some
+      errands to her man that carried him to a distant part of the town: but she
+      charged them both to return to the lodgings by nine o'clock, at which hour
+      she ordered a chaise for returning into the country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, who was impatiently watching for their quitting the house, only
+      waited till they were out of sight, to present himself at the door. He was
+      shewn into a parlour, where she instantly attended him; and being told
+      that the clergyman, Mr Singleton, and Mrs Delvile's woman, were already in
+      the church, she gave him her hand in silence, and he led her to the chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The calmness of stifled hope had now taken place in Cecilia of quick
+      sensations and alarm. Occupied with a firm belief she should never be the
+      wife of Delvile, she only waited, with a desperate sort of patience, to
+      see when and by whom she was next to be parted from him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they arrived near the church, Delvile stopt the chair. He handed
+      Cecilia out of it, and discharging the chairmen, conducted her into the
+      church. He was surprised himself at her composure, but earnestly wishing
+      it to last, took care not to say to her a word that should make any answer
+      from her necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave her, as before, to Mr Singleton, secretly praying that not, as
+      before, she might be given him in vain: Mrs Delvile's woman attended her;
+      the clergyman was ready, and they all proceeded to the altar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ceremony was begun; Cecilia, rather mechanically than with
+      consciousness, appearing to listen to it but at the words, <i>If any man
+      can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together</i>,
+      Delvile himself shook with terror, lest some concealed person should again
+      answer it, and Cecilia, with a sort of steady dismay in her countenance,
+      cast her eyes round the church, with no other view than that of seeing
+      from what corner the prohibiter would start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked, however, to no purpose; no prohibiter appeared, the ceremony
+      was performed without any interruption, and she received the thanks of
+      Delvile, and the congratulations of the little set, before the idea which
+      had so strongly pre-occupied her imagination, was sufficiently removed
+      from it to satisfy her she was really married.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then went to the vestry, where their business was not long; and
+      Delvile again put Cecilia into a chair, which again he accompanied on
+      foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her sensibility now soon returned, though still attended with strangeness
+      and a sensation of incredulity. But the sight of Delvile at her lodgings,
+      contrary to their agreement, wholly recovered her senses from the stupor
+      which had dulled them. He came, however, but to acknowledge how highly she
+      had obliged him, to see her himself restored to the animation natural to
+      her, character, and to give her a million of charges, resulting from
+      anxiety and tenderness. And then, fearing the return of her servants, he
+      quitted her, and set out for Delvile Castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The amazement of Cecilia was still unconquerable; to be actually united
+      with Delvile! to be his with the full consent of his mother,&mdash;to have
+      him her's, beyond the power of his father,&mdash;she could not reconcile
+      it with possibility; she fancied it a dream,&mdash;but a dream from which
+      she wished not to wake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK X.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER i
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A DISCOVERY.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's journey back to the country was as safe and free from
+      interruption as her journey had been to town, and all that distinguished
+      them was what passed in her own mind: the doubts, apprehensions, and
+      desponding suspense which had accompanied her setting out, were now all
+      removed, and certainty, ease, the expectation of happiness, and the
+      cessation of all perplexity, had taken their place. She had nothing left
+      to dread but the inflexibility of Mr Delvile, and hardly any thing even to
+      hope but the recovery of his lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her friends at her return expressed their wonder at her expedition, but
+      their wonder at what occasioned it, though still greater, met no
+      satisfaction. Henrietta rejoiced in her sight, though her absence had been
+      so short; and Cecilia, whose affection with her pity increased, intimated
+      to her the event for which she wished her to prepare herself, and frankly
+      acknowledged she had reason to expect it would soon take place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta endeavoured with composure to receive this intelligence, and to
+      return such a mark of confidence with chearful congratulations: but her
+      fortitude was unequal to an effort so heroic, and her character was too
+      simple to assume a greatness she felt not: she sighed and changed colour;
+      and hastily quitted the room that she might sob aloud in another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Warm-hearted, tender, and susceptible, her affections were all
+      undisguised: struck with the elegance of Delvile, and enchanted by his
+      services to her brother, she had lost to him her heart at first without
+      missing it, and, when missed, without seeking to reclaim it. The
+      hopelessness of such a passion she never considered, nor asked herself its
+      end, or scarce suspected its aim; it was pleasant to her at the time, and
+      she looked not to the future, but fed it with visionary schemes, and
+      soothed it with voluntary fancies. Now she knew all was over, she felt the
+      folly she had committed, but though sensibly and candidly angry at her own
+      error, its conviction offered nothing but sorrow to succeed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The felicity of Cecilia, whom she loved, admired and revered, she wished
+      with the genuine ardour of zealous sincerity; but that Delvile, the very
+      cause and sole subject of her own personal unhappiness, should himself
+      constitute that felicity, was too much for her spirits, and seemed to her
+      mortified mind too cruel in her destiny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who in the very vehemence of her sorrow saw its innocence, was
+      too just and too noble to be offended by it, or impute to the bad passions
+      of envy or jealousy, the artless regret of an untutored mind. To be
+      penetrated too deeply with the merit of Delvile, with her wanted no
+      excuse, and she grieved for her situation with but little mixture of
+      blame, and none of surprise. She redoubled her kindness and caresses with
+      the hope of consoling her, but ventured to trust her no further, till
+      reflection, and her natural good sense, should better enable her to bear
+      an explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was this friendly exertion any longer a hardship to her; the sudden
+      removal, in her own feelings and affairs, of distress and expectation, had
+      now so much lightened her heart, that she could spare without repining,
+      some portion of its spirit to her dejected young friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But an incident happened two mornings after which called back, and most
+      unpleasantly, her attention to herself. She was told that Mrs Matt, the
+      poor woman she had settled in Bury, begged an audience, and upon sending
+      for her up stairs, and desiring to know what she could do for her,
+      &ldquo;Nothing, madam, just now,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;for I don't come upon my own
+      business, but to tell some news to you, madam. You bid me never take
+      notice of the wedding, that was to be, and I'm sure I never opened my
+      mouth about it from that time to this; but I have found out who it was put
+      a stop to it, and so I come to tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely amazed, eagerly desired her to go on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, madam, I don't know the gentlewoman's name quite right yet, but I
+      can tell you where she lives, for I knew her as soon as I set eyes on her,
+      when I see her at church last Sunday, and I would have followed her home,
+      but she went into a coach, and I could not walk fast enough; but I asked
+      one of the footmen where she lived, and he said at the great house at the
+      Grove: and perhaps, madam, you may know where that is: and then he told me
+      her name, but that I can't just now think of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia,&mdash;&ldquo;it could not be Bennet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, ma'am, that's the very name; I know it again now I hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then hastily dismissed her, first desiring her not to mention the
+      circumstance to any body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shocked and dismayed, she now saw, but saw with horror, the removal of all
+      her doubts, and the explanation of all her difficulties, in the full and
+      irrefragable discovery of the perfidy of her oldest friend and confident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Bennet herself she regarded in the affair as a mere tool, which,
+      though in effect it did the work, was innocent of its mischief, because
+      powerless but in the hand of its employer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That employer,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;must be Mr Monckton! Mr Monckton whom so long
+      I have known, who so willingly has been my counsellor, so ably my
+      instructor! in whose integrity I have confided, upon whose friendship I
+      have relied! my succour in all emergencies, my guide in all perplexities!&mdash;Mr
+      <i>Monckton</i> thus dishonourably, thus barbarously to betray me! to turn
+      against me the very confidence I had reposed in his regard for me! and
+      make use of my own trust to furnish the means to injure me!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was now wholly confirmed that he had wronged her with Mr Delvile; she
+      could not have two enemies so malignant without provocation, and he who so
+      unfeelingly could dissolve a union at the very altar, could alone have the
+      baseness to calumniate her so cruelly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evil thoughts thus awakened, stopt not merely upon facts; conjecture
+      carried her further, and conjecture built upon probability. The
+      officiousness of Morrice in pursuing her to London, his visiting her when
+      there, and his following and watching Delvile, she now reasonably
+      concluded were actions directed by Mr Monckton, whose house he had but
+      just left, and whose orders, whatever they might be, she was almost
+      certain he would obey. Availing himself, therefore, of the forwardness and
+      suppleness which met in this young man, she doubted not but his
+      intelligence had contributed to acquaint him with her proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The motive of such deep concerted and accumulated treachery was next to be
+      sought: nor was the search long; one only could have tempted him to
+      schemes so hazardous and costly; and, unsuspicious as she was, she now saw
+      into his whole design.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long accustomed to regard him as a safe and disinterested old friend, the
+      respect with which, as a child, she had looked up to him, she had
+      insensibly preserved when a woman. That respect had taught her to consider
+      his notice as a favour, and far from suspiciously shunning, she had
+      innocently courted it: and his readiness in advising and tutoring her, his
+      frank and easy friendliness of behaviour, had kept his influence
+      unimpaired, by preventing its secret purpose from being detected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But now the whole mystery was revealed; his aversion to the Delviles, to
+      which hitherto she had attributed all she disapproved in his behaviour,
+      she was convinced must be inadequate to stimulate him to such lengths.
+      That aversion itself was by this late surmise accounted for, and no sooner
+      did it occur to her, than a thousand circumstances confirmed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first among these was the evident ill will of Lady Margaret, which
+      though she had constantly imputed to the general irascibility for which
+      her character was notorious, she had often wondered to find impenetrable
+      to all endeavours to please or soften her. His care of her fortune, his
+      exhortations against her expences, his wish to make her live with Mr
+      Briggs, all contributed to point out the selfishness of his attentions,
+      which in one instance rendered visible, became obvious in every other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet various as were the incidents that now poured upon her memory to his
+      disgrace, not one among them took its rise from his behaviour to herself,
+      which always had been scrupulously circumspect, or if for a moment
+      unguarded, only at a season when her own distress or confusion had
+      prevented her from perceiving it. This recollection almost staggered her
+      suspicions; yet so absolute seemed the confirmation they received from
+      every other, that her doubt was overpowered, and soon wholly extinguished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was yet ruminating on this subject, when, word was brought her that Mr
+      Monckton was in the parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mingled disgust and indignation made her shudder at his name, and without
+      pausing a moment, she sent him word she was engaged, and could not
+      possibly leave her room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Astonished by such a dismission, he left the house in the utmost
+      confusion. But Cecilia could not endure to see him, after a discovery of
+      such hypocrisy and villainy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She considered, however, that the matter could not rest here: he would
+      demand an explanation, and perhaps, by his unparalleled address, again
+      contrive to seem innocent, notwithstanding appearances were at present so
+      much against him. Expecting, therefore, some artifice, and determined not
+      to be duped by it, she sent again for the Pew-opener, to examine her more
+      strictly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman was out at work in a private family, and could not come till the
+      evening: but, when further questioned, the description she gave of Miss
+      Bennet was too exact to be disputed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then desired her to call again the next morning and sent a servant to
+      the Grove, with her compliments to Miss Bennet, and a request that she
+      might send her carriage for her the next day, at any time she pleased, as
+      she wished much to speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This message, she was aware, might create some suspicion, and put her upon
+      her guard; but she thought, nevertheless, a sudden meeting with the
+      Pew-opener, whom she meant abruptly to confront with her, would baffle the
+      security of any previously settled scheme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To a conviction such as this even Mr Monckton must submit, and since he
+      was lost to her as a friend, she might at least save herself the pain of
+      keeping up his acquaintance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ii. &mdash; AN INTERVIEW.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The servant did not return till it was dark; and then, with a look of much
+      dismay, said he had been able to meet with nobody who could either give or
+      take a message; that the Grove was all in confusion, and the whole country
+      in an uproar, for Mr Monckton, just as he arrived, had been brought home
+      dead!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia screamed with involuntary horror; a pang like remorse seized her
+      mind, with the apprehension she had some share in this catastrophe, and
+      innocent as she was either of his fall or his crimes, she no sooner heard
+      he was no more, than she forgot he had offended her, and reproached
+      herself with severity for the shame to which she meant to expose him the
+      next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dreadfully disturbed by this horrible incident, she entreated Mrs Harrel
+      and Henrietta to sup by themselves, and going into her own room,
+      determined to write the whole affair to Delvile, in a letter she should
+      direct to be left at the post-office for him at Margate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And here strongly she felt the happiness of being actually his wife; she
+      could now without reserve make him acquainted with all her affairs, and
+      tell to the master of her heart every emotion that entered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While engaged in this office, the very action of which quieted her, a
+      letter was brought her from Delvile himself. She received it with
+      gratitude and opened it with joy; he had promised to write soon, but so
+      soon she had thought impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reading took not much time; the letter contained but the following
+      words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MY CECILIA!&mdash;Be alone, I conjure you; dismiss every body, and admit
+      me this moment!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great was her astonishment at this note! no name to it, no conclusion, the
+      characters indistinct, the writing crooked, the words so few, and those
+      few scarce legible!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He desired to see her, and to see her alone; she could not hesitate in her
+      compliance,&mdash;but whom could she dismiss?&mdash;her servants, if
+      ordered away, would but be curiously upon the watch,&mdash;she could think
+      of no expedient, she was all hurry and amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She asked if any one waited for an answer? The footman said no; that the
+      note was given in by somebody who did not speak, and who ran out of sight
+      the moment he had delivered it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She could not doubt this was Delvile himself,&mdash;Delvile who should now
+      be just returned from the castle to his mother, and whom she had thought
+      not even a letter would reach if directed any where nearer than Margate!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All she could devise in obedience to him, was to go and wait for him alone
+      in her dressing-room, giving orders that if any one called they might be
+      immediately brought up to her, as she expected somebody upon business,
+      with whom she must not be interrupted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was extremely disagreeable to her; yet, contrary as it was to their
+      agreement, she felt no inclination to reproach Delvile; the abruptness of
+      his note, the evident hand-shaking with which it had been written, the
+      strangeness of the request in a situation such as theirs,&mdash;all
+      concurred to assure her he came not to her idly, and all led her to
+      apprehend he came to her with evil tidings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What they might be, she had no time to conjecture; a servant, in a few
+      minutes, opened the dressing-room door, and said, &ldquo;Ma'am, a gentleman;&rdquo;
+       and Delvile, abruptly entering, shut it himself, in his eagerness to get
+      rid of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At his sight, her prognostication of ill became stronger! she went forward
+      to meet him, and he advanced to her smiling and in haste; but that smile
+      did not well do its office; it concealed not a pallid countenance, in
+      which every feature spoke horror; it disguised not an aching heart, which
+      almost visibly throbbed with intolerable emotion! Yet he addressed her in
+      terms of tenderness and peace; but his tremulous voice counteracted his
+      words, and spoke that all within was tumult and war!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, amazed, affrighted, had no power to hasten an explanation, which,
+      on his own part, he seemed unable, or fearful to begin. He talked to her
+      of his happiness in again seeing her before he left the kingdom, entreated
+      her to write to him continually, said the same thing two and three times
+      in a breath, began with one subject, and seemed unconscious he wandered
+      presently into another, and asked her questions innumerable about her
+      health, journey, affairs, and ease of mind, without hearing from her any answer,
+      or seeming to miss that she had none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia grew dreadfully terrified; something strange and most alarming she
+      was sure must have happened, but <i>what</i>, she had no means to know,
+      nor courage, nor even words to enquire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, at length, the first hurry of his spirits abating, became more
+      coherent and considerate: and looking anxiously at her, said, &ldquo;Why this
+      silence, my Cecilia?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know not!&rdquo; said she, endeavouring to recover herself, &ldquo;but your coming
+      was unexpected: I was just writing to you at Margate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Write still, then; but direct to Ostend; I shall be quicker than the
+      post; and I would not lose a letter&mdash;a line&mdash;a word from you,
+      for all the world can offer me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quicker than the post?&rdquo; cried Cecilia; &ldquo;but how can Mrs Delvile&mdash;&rdquo;
+       she stopt; not knowing what she might venture to ask.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is now on the road to Margate; I hope to be there to receive her. I
+      mean but to bid you adieu, and be gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia made no answer; she was more and more astonished, more and more
+      confounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are thoughtful?&rdquo; said he, with tenderness; &ldquo;are you unhappy?&mdash;sweetest
+      Cecilia! most excellent of human creatures! if I have made you unhappy&mdash;and
+      I must!&mdash;it is inevitable!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh Delvile!&rdquo; cried she, now assuming more courage, &ldquo;why will you not
+      speak to me openly?&mdash;something, I see, is wrong; may I not hear it?
+      may I not tell you, at least, my concern that any thing has distressed
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are too good!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;to deserve you is not possible, but to
+      afflict you is inhuman!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why so?&rdquo; cried she, more chearfully; &ldquo;must I not share the common lot? or
+      expect the whole world to be new modelled, lest I should meet in it any
+      thing but happiness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is not, indeed, much danger! Have you pen and ink here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She brought them to him immediately, with paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been writing to me, you say?&mdash;I will begin a letter
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To me?&rdquo; cried she.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He made no answer, but took up the pen, and wrote a few words, and then,
+      flinging it down, said, &ldquo;Fool!&mdash;I could have done this without
+      coming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I look at it?&rdquo; said she; and, finding he made no opposition, advanced
+      and read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>I fear to alarm you by rash precipitation,&mdash;I fear to alarm you by
+      lingering suspense,&mdash;but all is not well&mdash;</i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fear nothing!&rdquo; cried she, turning to him with the kindest earnestness;
+      &ldquo;tell me, whatever it may be!&mdash;Am I not your wife? bound by every tie
+      divine and human to share in all your sorrows, if, unhappily, I cannot
+      mitigate them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since you allow me,&rdquo; cried he, gratefully, &ldquo;so sweet a claim, a claim to
+      which all others yield, and which if you repent not giving me, will make
+      all others nearly immaterial to me,&mdash;I will own to you that all,
+      indeed, is not well! I have been hasty,&mdash;you will blame me; I
+      deserve, indeed, to be blamed!&mdash;entrusted with your peace and
+      happiness, to suffer rage, resentment, violence, to make me forego what I
+      owed to such a deposite!&mdash;If your blame, however, stops short of
+      repentance&mdash;but it cannot!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then,&rdquo; cried she with warmth, &ldquo;must you have done? for there is not
+      an action of which I believe you capable, there is not an event which I
+      believe to be possible, that can ever make me repent belonging to you
+      wholly!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Generous, condescending Cecilia!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;Words such as these, hung
+      there not upon me an evil the most depressing, would be almost more than I
+      could bear&mdash;would make me too blest for mortality!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But words such as these,&rdquo; said she more gaily, &ldquo;I might long have
+      coquetted ere I had spoken, had you not drawn them from me by this alarm.
+      Take, therefore, the good with the ill, and remember, if all does not go
+      right, you have now a trusty friend, as willing to be the partner of your
+      serious as your happiest hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shew but as much firmness as you have shewn sweetness,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;and I
+      will fear to tell you nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She reiterated her assurances; they then both sat down, and he began his
+      account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Immediately from your lodgings I went where I had ordered a chaise, and
+      stopped only to change horses till I reached Delvile Castle. My father saw
+      me with surprise, and received me with coldness. I was compelled by my
+      situation to be abrupt, and told him I came, before I accompanied my
+      mother abroad, to make him acquainted with an affair which I thought
+      myself bound in duty and respect to suffer no one to communicate to him
+      but myself. He then sternly interrupted me, and declared in high terms,
+      that if this affair concerned <i>you</i>, he would not listen to it. I
+      attempted to remonstrate upon this injustice, when he passionately broke
+      forth into new and horrible charges against you, affirming that he had
+      them from authority as indisputable as ocular demonstration. I was then
+      certain of some foul play.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Foul play indeed!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, who now knew but too well by whom she
+      had been injured. &ldquo;Good heaven, how have I been deceived, where most I
+      have trusted!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told him,&rdquo; continued Delvile, &ldquo;some gross imposition had been practiced
+      upon him, and earnestly conjured him no longer to conceal from me by whom.
+      This, unfortunately, encreased his rage; imposition, he said, was not so
+      easily played upon him, he left that for <i>me</i> who so readily was
+      duped; while for himself, he had only given credit to a man of much
+      consideration in Suffolk, who had known you from a child, who had solemnly
+      assured him he had repeatedly endeavoured to reclaim you, who had rescued
+      you from the hands of Jews at his own hazard and loss, and who actually
+      shewed him bonds acknowledging immense debts, which were signed with your
+      own hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horrible!&rdquo; exclaimed Cecilia, &ldquo;I believed not such guilt and perfidy
+      possible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was scarce myself,&rdquo; resumed Delvile, &ldquo;while I heard him: I demanded
+      even with fierceness his author, whom I scrupled not to execrate as he
+      deserved; he coldly answered he was bound by an oath never to reveal him,
+      nor should he repay his honourable attention to his family by a breach of
+      his own word, were it even less formally engaged. I then lost all
+      patience; to mention honour, I cried, was a farce, where such infamous
+      calumnies were listened to;&mdash;but let me not shock you unnecessarily,
+      you may readily conjecture what passed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah me!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;you have then quarrelled with your father!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have!&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;nor does he yet know I am married: in so much wrath
+      there was no room for narration; I only pledged myself by all I held
+      sacred, never to rest till I had cleared your fame, by the detection of
+      this villainy, and then left him without further explanation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh return, then, to him directly!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;he is your father, you
+      are bound to bear with his displeasure;&mdash;alas! had you never known
+      me, you had never incurred it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I am ill at ease under it: if you wish it,
+      when you have heard me, I will go to him immediately; if not, I will
+      write, and you shall yourself dictate what.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia thanked him, and begged he would continue his account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My first step, when I left the Castle, was to send a letter to my mother,
+      in which I entreated her to set out as soon as possible for Margate, as I
+      was detained from her unavoidably, and was unwilling my delay should
+      either retard our journey, or oblige her to travel faster. At Margate I
+      hoped to be as soon as herself, if not before her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;did you not go to town as you had promised, and
+      accompany her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had business another way. I came hither.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Directly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; but soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you go first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My Cecilia, it is now you must summon your fortitude: I left my father
+      without an explanation on my part;&mdash;but not till, in his rage of
+      asserting his authority, he had unwarily named his informant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That informant&mdash;the most deceitful of men!&mdash;was your long
+      pretended friend, Mr Monckton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I feared!&rdquo; said Cecilia, whose blood now ran cold through her veins
+      with sudden and new apprehensions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rode to the Grove, on hack-horses, and on a full gallop the whole way.
+      I got to him early in the evening. I was shewn into his library. I told
+      him my errand.&mdash;You look pale, my love? You are not well?&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, too sick for speech, leant her head upon a table. Delvile was
+      going to call for help; but she put her hand upon his arm to stop him,
+      and, perceiving she was only mentally affected, he rested, and endeavoured
+      by every possible means to revive her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while, she again raised her head, faintly saying, &ldquo;I am sorry I
+      interrupted you; but the conclusion I already know,&mdash;Mr Monckton is
+      dead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not dead,&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;dangerously, indeed, wounded, but thank heaven, not
+      actually dead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not dead?&rdquo; cried Cecilia, with recruited strength and spirits, &ldquo;Oh then
+      all yet may be well!&mdash;if he is not dead; he may recover!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may; I hope he will!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, then,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;tell me all: I can bear any intelligence but of
+      death by human means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I meant not to have gone such lengths; far from it; I hold duels in
+      abhorrence, as unjustifiable acts of violence, and savage devices of
+      revenge. I have offended against my own conviction,&mdash;but, transported
+      with passion at his infamous charges, I was not master of my reason; I
+      accused hum of his perfidy; he denied it; I told him I had it from my
+      father,&mdash;he changed the subject to pour abuse upon him; I insisted on
+      a recantation to clear you; he asked by what right? I fiercely answered;
+      by a husband's! His countenance, then, explained at least the motives of
+      his treachery,&mdash;he loves you himself! he had probably schemed to keep
+      you free till his wife died, and then concluded his machinations would
+      secure you his own. For this purpose, finding he was in danger of losing
+      you, he was content even to blast your character, rather than suffer you
+      to escape him! But the moment I acknowledged my marriage he grew more
+      furious than myself; and, in short-for why relate the frenzies of rage? we
+      walked out together; my travelling pistols were already charged; I gave
+      him his choice of them, and, the challenge being mine, for insolence
+      joined with guilt had robbed me of all forbearance, he fired first, but
+      missed me: I then demanded whether he would clear your fame? he called out
+      'Fire! I will make no terms,'&mdash;I did fire,&mdash;and unfortunately
+      aimed better! We had neither of us any second, all was the result of
+      immediate passion; but I soon got people to him, and assisted in conveying
+      him home. He was at, first believed to be dead, and I was seized by his
+      servants; but he afterwards shewed signs of life, and by sending for my
+      friend Biddulph, I was released. Such is the melancholy transaction I came
+      to relate to you, flattering myself it would something less shock you from
+      me than from another: yet my own real concern for the affair, the
+      repentance with which from the moment the wretch fell, I was struck in
+      being his destroyer, and the sorrow, the remorse, rather, which I felt, in
+      coming to wound you with such black, such fearful intelligence,&mdash;you
+      to whom all I owe is peace and comfort!&mdash;these thoughts gave me so
+      much disturbance, that, in fact, I knew less than any other how to prepare
+      you for such a tale.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt; but Cecilia could say nothing: to censure him now would both be
+      cruel and vain; yet to pretend she was satisfied with his conduct, would
+      be doing violence to her judgment and veracity. She saw, too, that his
+      error had sprung wholly from a generous ardor in her defence, and that his
+      confidence in her character, had resisted, without wavering, every attack
+      that menaced it. For this she felt truly grateful; yet his quarrel with
+      his father,&mdash;the danger of his mother,&mdash;his necessary absence,&mdash;her
+      own clandestine situation,&mdash;and more than all, the threatened death
+      of Mr Monckton by his hands, were circumstances so full of dread and
+      sadness, she knew not upon which to speak,&mdash;how to offer him comfort,&mdash;how
+      to assume a countenance that looked able to receive any, or by what means
+      to repress the emotions which to many ways assailed her. Delvile, having
+      vainly waited some reply, then in a tone the most melancholy, said, &ldquo;If it
+      is yet possible you can be sufficiently interested in my fate to care what
+      becomes of me, aid me now with your counsel, or rather with your
+      instructions; I am scarce able to think for myself, and to be thought for
+      by you, would yet be a consolation that would give me spirit for any
+      thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, starting from her reverie, repeated, &ldquo;To care what becomes of
+      you-? Oh Delvile!&mdash;make not my heart bleed by words of such
+      unkindness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;I meant not a reproach; I meant but to state my
+      own consciousness how little I deserve from you. You talked to me of going
+      to my father? do you still wish it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so!&rdquo; cried she; too much disturbed to know what she said, yet
+      fearing again to hurt him by making him wait her answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go then,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;without doubt: too happy to be guided by you,
+      which-ever way I steer. I have now, indeed much to tell him; but whatever
+      may be his wrath, there is little fear, at this time, that my own temper
+      cannot bear it! what next shall I do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What next?&rdquo; repeated she; &ldquo;indeed I know not!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I go immediately to Margate? or shall I first ride hither?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please,&rdquo; said she, much perturbed, and deeply sighing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I please nothing but by your direction, to follow that is my only chance
+      of pleasure. Which, then, shall I do?-you will not, now, refuse to direct
+      me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, certainly, not for the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speak to me, then, my love, and tell me;&mdash;why are you thus silent?&mdash;is
+      it painful to you to counsel me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed!&rdquo; said she, putting her hand to her head, &ldquo;I will speak to you
+      in a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh my Cecilia!&rdquo; cried he, looking at her with much alarm, &ldquo;call back your
+      recollection! you know not what you say, you take no interest in what you
+      answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I do!&rdquo; said she, sighing deeply, and oppressed beyond the power of
+      thinking, beyond any power but an internal consciousness of wretchedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sigh not so bitterly,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;if you have any compassion! sigh not so
+      bitterly,&mdash;I cannot bear to hear you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very sorry indeed!&rdquo; said she, sighing again, and not seeming
+      sensible she spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; cried he, rising, &ldquo;distract me not with this horror!&mdash;speak
+      not to me in such broken sentences!&mdash;Do you hear me, Cecilia?&mdash;why
+      will you not answer me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She started and trembled, looked pale and affrighted, and putting both her
+      hands upon her heart, said, &ldquo;Oh yes!&mdash;but I have an oppression here,&mdash;a
+      tightness, a fulness,&mdash;I have not room for breath!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh beloved of my heart!&rdquo; cried he, wildly casting himself at her feet,
+      &ldquo;kill me not with this terror!&mdash;call back your faculties,&mdash;awake
+      from this dreadful insensibility! tell me at least you know me!&mdash;tell
+      me I have not tortured you quite to madness!&mdash;sole darling of my
+      affections! my own, my wedded Cecilia!&mdash;rescue me from this agony! it
+      is more than I can support!&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This energy of distress brought back her scattered senses, scarce more
+      stunned by the shock of all this misery, than by the restraint of her
+      feelings in struggling to conceal it. But these passionate exclamations
+      restoring her sensibility, she burst into tears, which happily relieved
+      her mind from the conflict with which it was labouring, and which, not
+      thus effected, might have ended more fatally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never had Delvile more rejoiced in her smiles than now in these seasonable
+      tears, which he regarded and blest as the preservers of her reason. They
+      flowed long without any intermission, his soothing and tenderness but
+      melting her to more sorrow: after a while, however, the return of her
+      faculties, which at first seemed all consigned over to grief, was
+      manifested by the returning strength of her mind: she blamed herself
+      severely for the little fortitude she had shewn, but having now given vent
+      to emotions too forcible to be wholly stiffed, she assured him he might
+      depend upon her' better courage for the future, and entreated him to
+      consider and settle his affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not speedily, however, could Delvile himself recover. The torture he had
+      suffered in believing, though only for a few moments, that the terror he
+      had given to Cecilia had affected her intellects, made even a deeper
+      impression upon his imagination, than the scene of fury and death, which
+      had occasioned that terror: and Cecilia, who now strained every nerve to
+      repair by her firmness, the pain which by her weakness she had given him,
+      was sooner in a condition for reasoning and deliberation than himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah Delvile!&rdquo; she cried, comprehending what passed within him, &ldquo;do you
+      allow nothing for surprize? and nothing for the hard conflict of
+      endeavouring to suppress it? do you think me still as unfit to advise
+      with, and as worthless, as feeble a counsellor, as during the first
+      confusion of my mind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hurry not your tender spirits, I beseech you,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;we have time
+      enough; we will talk about business by and by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What time?&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;what is it now o'clock?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; cried he, looking at his watch, &ldquo;already past ten! you must
+      turn me out, my Cecilia, or calumny will still be busy, even though poor
+      Monckton is quiet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I <i>will</i> turn you out,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;I am indeed most earnest to have
+      you gone. But tell me your plan, and which way you mean to go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That;&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;you shall decide for me yourself: whether to Delvile
+      Castle, to finish one tale, and wholly communicate another, or to Margate,
+      to hasten my mother abroad, before the news of this calamity reaches her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go to Margate,&rdquo; cried she, eagerly, &ldquo;set off this very moment! you can
+      write to your father from Ostend. But continue, I conjure you, on the
+      continent, till we see if this unhappy man lives, and enquire, of those
+      who can judge, what must follow if he should not!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A trial,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;must follow, and it will go, I fear, but hardly with
+      me! the challenge was mine; his servants can all witness I went to him,
+      not he to me,&mdash;Oh my Cecilia! the rashness of which I have been
+      guilty, is so opposite to my principles, and, all generous as is your
+      silence, I know it so opposite to yours, that never, should his blood be
+      on my hands, wretch as he was, never will my heart be quiet more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will live, he will live!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, repressing her horror, &ldquo;fear
+      nothing, for he will live;&mdash;and as to his wound and his sufferings,
+      his perfidy has deserved them. Go, then, to Margate; think only of Mrs
+      Delvile, and save her, if possible, from hearing what has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go,&mdash;stay,&mdash;do which and whatever you bid me: but,
+      should what I fear come to pass, should my mother continue ill, my father
+      inflexible, should this wretched man die, and should England no longer be
+      a country I shall love to dwell in,&mdash;could you, then, bear to own,&mdash;would
+      you, then, consent to follow me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I?&mdash;am I not yours? may you not command me? tell me, then, you
+      have only to say,&mdash;shall I accompany you at once?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, affected by her generosity, could scarce utter his thanks; yet he
+      did not hesitate in denying to avail himself of it; &ldquo;No, my Cecilia,&rdquo; he
+      cried, &ldquo;I am not so selfish. If we have not happier days, we will at least
+      wait for more desperate necessity. With the uncertainty if I have not this
+      man's life to answer for at the hazard of my own, to take my wife&mdash;my
+      bride,&mdash;from the kingdom I must fly!&mdash;to make her a fugitive and
+      an exile in the first publishing that she is mine! No, if I am not a
+      destined alien for life I can never permit it. Nothing less, believe me,
+      shall ever urge my consent to wound the chaste propriety of your
+      character, by making you an eloper with a duelist.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then again consulted upon their future plans; and concluded that in
+      the present disordered state of their affairs, it would be best not to
+      acknowledge even to Mr Delvile their marriage, to whom the news of the
+      duel, and Mr Monckton's danger, would be a blow so severe, that, to add to
+      it any other might half distract him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the few people already acquainted with it, Delvile therefore determined
+      to write from Ostend, re-urging his entreaties for their discretion and
+      secrecy. Cecilia promised every post to acquaint him how Mr Monckton went
+      on, and she then besought him to go instantly, that he might out-travel
+      the ill news to his mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He complied, and took leave of her in the tenderest manner, conjuring her
+      to support her spirits, and be careful of her health. &ldquo;Happiness,&rdquo; said
+      he, &ldquo;is much in arrears with us, and though my violence may have
+      frightened it away, your sweetness and gentleness will yet attract it
+      back: all that for me is in store must be received at your hands,&mdash;what
+      is offered in any other way, I shall only mistake for evil! droop not,
+      therefore, my generous Cecilia, but in yourself preserve me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not droop,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;you will find, I hope, you have not
+      intrusted yourself in ill hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Peace then be with you, my love!&mdash;my comforting, my soul-reviving
+      Cecilia! Peace, such as angels give, and such as may drive from your mind
+      the remembrance of this bitter hour!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then tore himself away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who to his blessings could almost, like the tender Belvidera,
+      have exclaimed,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+           &ldquo;O do not leave me!&mdash;stay with me and curse me!&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      listened to his steps till she could hear them no longer, as if the
+      remaining moments of her life were to be measured by them: but then,
+      remembering the danger both to herself and him of his stay, she
+      endeavoured to rejoice that he was gone, and, but that her mind was in no
+      state for joy, was too rational not to have succeeded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grief and horror for what was past, apprehension and suspense for what was
+      to come, so disordered her whole frame, so confused even her intellects,
+      that when not all the assistance of fancy could persuade her she still
+      heard the footsteps of Delvile, she went to the chair upon which he had
+      been seated, and taking possession of it, sat with her arms crossed,
+      silent, quiet, and erect, almost vacant of all thought, yet with a secret
+      idea she was doing something right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here she continued till Henrietta came to wish her good night; whose
+      surprise and concern at the strangeness of her look and attitude, once
+      more recovered her. But terrified herself at this threatened wandering of
+      her reason, and certain she must all night be a stranger to rest, she
+      accepted the affectionate offer of the kind-hearted girl to stay with her,
+      who was too much grieved for her grief to sleep any more than herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told her not what had passed; that, she knew, would be fruitless
+      affliction to her: but she was soothed by her gentleness, and her
+      conversation was some security from the dangerous rambling of her ideas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta herself found no little consolation in her own private sorrows,
+      that she was able to give comfort to her beloved Miss Beverley, from whom
+      she had received favours and kind offices innumerable. She quitted her not
+      night nor day, and in the honest pride of a little power to skew the
+      gratefulness of her heart, she felt a pleasure and self-consequence she
+      had never before experienced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iii. &mdash; A SUMMONS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's earliest care, almost at break of day, was to send to the Grove;
+      from thence she heard nothing but evil; Mr Monckton was still alive, but
+      with little or no hope of recovery, constantly delirious, and talking of
+      Miss Beverley, and of her being married to young Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who knew well this, at least, was no delirium, though shocked
+      that he talked of it, hoped his danger less than was apprehended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next day, however, more fatal news was brought her, though not from
+      the quarter she expected it: Mr Monckton, in one of his raving fits, had
+      sent for Lady Margaret to his bed side, and used her almost inhumanly: he
+      had railed at her age and her infirmities with incredible fury, called her
+      the cause of all his sufferings, and accused her as the immediate agent of
+      Lucifer in his present wound and danger. Lady Margaret, whom neither
+      jealousy nor malignity had cured of loving him, was dismayed and
+      affrighted; and in hurrying out of the room upon his attempting, in his
+      frenzy, to strike her, she dropt down dead in an apoplectic fit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven!&rdquo; thought Cecilia, &ldquo;what an exemplary punishment has this
+      man! he loses his hated wife at the very moment when her death could no
+      longer answer his purposes! Poor Lady Margaret! her life has been as
+      bitter as her temper! married from a view of interest, ill used as a bar
+      to happiness, and destroyed from the fruitless ravings of despair!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She wrote all this intelligence to Ostend, whence she received a letter
+      from Delvile, acquainting her he was detained from proceeding further by
+      the weakness and illness of his mother, whose sufferings from seasickness
+      had almost put an end to her existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus passed a miserable week; Monckton still merely alive, Delvile
+      detained at Ostend, and Cecilia tortured alike by what was recently
+      passed, actually present, and fearfully expected; when one morning she was
+      told a gentleman upon business desired immediately to speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hastily obeyed the summons; the constant image of her own mind,
+      Delvile, being already present to her, and a thousand wild conjectures
+      upon what had brought him back, rapidly occurring to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her expectations, however, were ill answered, for she found an entire
+      stranger; an elderly man, of no pleasant aspect or manners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She desired to know his business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I presume, madam, you are the lady of this house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She bowed an assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I take the liberty, madam, to ask your name?'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do me a favour, madam, by telling it me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible you are come hither without already knowing it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it only by common report, madam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Common report, sir, I believe is seldom wrong in a matter where to be
+      right is so easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any objection, madam, to telling me your name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir; but your business can hardly be very important, if you are yet
+      to learn whom you are to address. It will be time enough, therefore, for
+      us to meet when you are elsewhere satisfied in this point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She would then have left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg, madam,&rdquo; cried the stranger, &ldquo;you will have patience; it is
+      necessary, before I can open my business, that I should hear your name
+      from yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; cried she with some hesitation, &ldquo;you can scarce have come to
+      this house, without knowing that its owner is Cecilia Beverley.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, is your maiden name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My maiden name?&rdquo; cried she, starting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you not married, madam?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Married, sir?&rdquo; she repeated, while her cheeks were the colour of scarlet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is, properly, therefore, madam, the name of your husband that I mean
+      to ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And by what authority, sir,&rdquo; cried she, equally astonished and offended,
+      &ldquo;do you make these extraordinary enquiries?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am deputed, madam, to wait upon you by Mr Eggleston, the next heir to
+      this estate, by your uncle's will, if you die without children, or change
+      your name when you marry. His authority of enquiry, madam, I presume you
+      will allow, and he has vested it in me by a letter of attorney.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia's distress and confusion were now unspeakable; she knew not what
+      to own or deny, she could not conjecture how she had been betrayed, and
+      she had never made the smallest preparation against such an attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Eggleston, madam,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;has been pretty credibly informed
+      that you are actually married: he is very desirous, therefore, to know
+      what are your intentions, for your continuing to be called <i>Miss</i>
+      Beverley, as if still single, leaves him quite in the dark: but, as he is
+      so deeply concerned in the affair, he expects, as a lady of honour, you
+      will deal with him without prevarication.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This demand, sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, stammering, &ldquo;is so extremely&mdash;so&mdash;so
+      little expected&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The way, madam, in these cases, is to keep pretty closely to the point;
+      are you married or are you not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, quite confounded, made no answer: to disavow her marriage, when
+      thus formally called upon, was every way unjustifiable; to acknowledge it
+      in her present situation, would involve her in difficulties innumerable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is not, madam, a slight thing; Mr Eggleston has a large family and a
+      small fortune, and that, into the bargain, very much encumbered; it
+      cannot, therefore, be expected that he will knowingly connive at cheating
+      himself, by submitting to your being actually married, and still enjoying
+      your estate though your husband does not take your name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, now, summoning more presence of mind, answered, &ldquo;Mr Eggleston,
+      sir, has, at least, nothing to fear from imposition: those with whom he
+      has, or may have any transactions in this affair, are not accustomed to
+      practice it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am far from meaning any offence, madam; my commission from Mr Eggleston
+      is simply this, to beg you will satisfy him upon what grounds you now
+      evade the will of your late uncle, which, till cleared up, appears a point
+      manifestly to his prejudice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell him, then, sir, that whatever he wishes to know shall be explained
+      to him in about a week. At present I can give no other answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, madam; he will wait that time, I am sure, for he does not wish
+      to put you to any inconvenience. But when he heard the gentleman was gone
+      abroad without owning his marriage, he thought it high time to take some
+      notice of the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who by this speech found she was every way discovered, was again
+      in the utmost confusion, and with much trepidation, said, &ldquo;since you seem
+      so well, sir, acquainted with this affair, I should be glad you would
+      inform me by what means you came to the knowledge of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it, madam, from Mr Eggleston himself, who has long known it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Long, sir?&mdash;impossible! when it is not yet a fortnight&mdash;not ten
+      days, or no more, that&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stopt, recollecting she was making a confession better deferred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;may perhaps bear a little contention: for
+      when this business comes to be settled, it will be very essential to be
+      exact as to the time, even to the very hour; for a large income per annum,
+      divides into a small one per diem: and if your husband keeps his own name,
+      you must not only give up your uncle's inheritance from the time of
+      relinquishing yours, but refund from the very day of your marriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is not the least doubt of it,&rdquo; answered she; &ldquo;nor will the smallest
+      difficulty be made.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will please, then, to recollect, madam, that this sum is every hour
+      encreasing; and has been since last September, which made half a year
+      accountable for last March. Since then there is now added&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good Heaven, Sir,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;what calculation are you making out?
+      do you call last week last September?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, madam; but I call last September the month in which you were
+      married.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will find yourself, then, sir, extremely mistaken; and Mr Eggleston
+      is preparing himself for much disappointment, if he supposes me so long in
+      arrears with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Eggleston, madam, happens to be well informed of this transaction, as,
+      if there is any dispute in it, you will find. He was your immediate
+      successor in the house to which you went last September in Pall-Mall; the
+      woman who kept it acquainted his servants that the last lady who hired it
+      stayed with her but a day, and only came to town, she found, to be
+      married: and hearing, upon enquiry, this lady was Miss Beverley, the
+      servants, well knowing that their master was her conditional heir, told
+      him the circumstance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will find all this, sir, end in nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, as I said before, remains to be proved. If a young lady at
+      eight o'clock in the morning, is seen,&mdash;and she was seen, going into
+      a church with a young gentleman, and one female friend; and is afterwards
+      observed to come out of it, followed by a clergyman and another person,
+      supposed to have officiated as father, and is seen get into a coach with
+      same young gentleman, and same female friend, why the circumstances are
+      pretty strong!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may seem so, Sir; but all conclusions drawn from them will be
+      erroneous. I was not married then, upon my honour!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have little, madam, to do with professions; the circumstances are
+      strong enough to bear a trial, and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A trial!&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have traced, madam, many witnesses able to stand to divers
+      particulars; and eight months share of such an estate as this, is well
+      worth a little trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am amazed, sir! surely Mr Eggleston never desired you to make use of
+      this language to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Eggleston, madam, has behaved very honourably; though he knew the
+      whole affair so long ago, he was persuaded Mr Delvile had private reasons
+      for a short concealment; and expecting every day when they would be
+      cleared up by his taking your name, he never interfered: but being now
+      informed he set out last week for the continent, he has been advised by
+      his friends to claim his rights.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That claim, sir, he need not fear will be satisfied; and without any
+      occasion for threats of enquiries or law suits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The truth, madam, is this; Mr Eggleston is at present in a little
+      difficulty about some money matters, which makes it a point with him of
+      some consequence to have the affair settled speedily: unless you could
+      conveniently compromise the matter, by advancing a particular sum, till it
+      suits you to refund the whole that is due to him, and quit the premises.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, sir, is due to him! at least, nothing worth mentioning. I shall
+      enter into no terms, for I have no compromise to make. As to the premises,
+      I will quit them with all the expedition in my power.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do well, madam; for the truth is, it will not be convenient to
+      him to wait much longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When, next,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;shall I again be weak, vain, blind enough to
+      form any plan with a hope of secresy? or enter, with <i>any</i> hope, into
+      a clandestine scheme! betrayed by those I have trusted, discovered by
+      those I have not thought of, exposed to the cruellest alarms, and
+      defenceless from the most shocking attacks!&mdash;Such has been the life I
+      have led since the moment I first consented to a private engagement!&mdash;Ah
+      Delvile! your mother, in her tenderness, forgot her dignity, or she would
+      not have concurred in an action which to such disgrace made me liable!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER iv. &mdash; A DELIBERATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was necessary, however, not to moralize, but to act; Cecilia had
+      undertaken to give her answer in a week, and the artful attorney had drawn
+      from her an acknowledgment of her situation, by which he might claim it
+      yet sooner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The law-suit with which she was threatened for the arrears of eight
+      months, alarmed her not, though it shocked her, as she was certain she
+      could prove her marriage so much later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was easy to perceive that this man had been sent with a view of working
+      from her a confession, and terrifying from her some money; the confession,
+      indeed, in conscience and honesty she could not wholly elude, but she had
+      suffered too often by a facility in parting with money to be there easily
+      duped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing, however, was more true, than that she now lived upon an estate of
+      which she no longer was the owner, and that all she either spent or
+      received was to be accounted for and returned, since by the will of her
+      uncle, unless her husband took her name, her estate on the very day of her
+      marriage was to be forfeited, and entered upon by the Egglestons.
+      Delvile's plan and hope of secresy had made them little weigh this matter,
+      though this premature discovery so unexpectedly exposed her to their
+      power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first thought that occurred to her, was to send an express to Delvile,
+      and desire his instructions how to proceed; but she dreaded his
+      impetuosity of temper, and was almost certain that the instant he should
+      hear she was in any uneasiness or perplexity, he would return to her, at
+      all hazards, even though Mr Monckton were dead, and his mother herself
+      dying. This step, therefore, she did not dare risk, preferring any
+      personal hardship, to endangering the already precarious life of Mrs
+      Delvile, or to hastening her son home while Mr Monckton was in so
+      desperate a situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though what to avoid was easy to settle, what to seek was difficult to
+      devise. She bad now no Mrs Charlton to receive her, not a creature in whom
+      she could confide. To continue her present way of living was deeply
+      involving Delvile in debt, a circumstance she had never considered, in the
+      confusion and hurry attending all their plans and conversations, and a
+      circumstance which, though to him it might have occurred, he could not in
+      common delicacy mention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet to have quitted her house, and retrenched her expences, would have
+      raised suspicions that must have anticipated the discovery she so much
+      wished to have delayed. That wish, by the present danger of its failure,
+      was but more ardent; to have her affairs and situation become publicly
+      known at the present period, she felt would half distract her.&mdash;Privately
+      married, parted from her husband at the very moment of their union, a
+      husband by whose hand the apparent friend of her earliest youth was all
+      but killed, whose father had execrated the match, whose mother was now
+      falling a sacrifice to the vehemence with which she had opposed it, and
+      who himself, little short of an exile, knew not yet if, with personal
+      safety, he might return to his native land! To circumstances so dreadful,
+      she had now the additional shock of being uncertain whether her own house
+      might not be seized, before any other could be prepared for her reception!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet still whither to go, what to do, or what to resolve, she was wholly
+      unable to determine; and after meditating almost to madness in the search
+      of some plan or expedient, she was obliged to give over the attempt, and
+      be satisfied with remaining quietly where she was, till she had better
+      news from Delvile of his mother, or better news to send him of Mr
+      Monckton; carefully, mean time, in all her letters avoiding to alarm him
+      by any hint of her distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet was she not idle, either from despair or helplessness: she found her
+      difficulties encreased, and she called forth more resolution to combat
+      them: she animated herself by the promise she had made Delvile, and
+      recovering from the sadness to which she had at first given way, she now
+      exerted herself with vigour to perform it as she ought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She began by making an immediate inspection into her affairs, and
+      endeavouring, where expence seemed unnecessary, to lessen it. She gave
+      Henrietta to understand she feared they must soon part; and so afflicted
+      was the unhappy girl at the news, that she found it the most cruel office
+      she had to execute. The same intimation she gave to Mrs Harrel, who
+      repined at it more openly, but with a selfishness so evident that it
+      blunted the edge of pity. She then announced to Albany her inability to
+      pursue, at present, their extensive schemes of benevolence; and though he
+      instantly left her, to carry on his laborious plan elsewhere, the
+      reverence she had now excited in him of her character, made him leave her
+      with no sensation but of regret, and readily promise to return when her
+      affairs were settled, or her mind more composed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These little preparations, which were all she could make, with enquiries
+      after Mr Monckton, and writing to Delvile, sufficiently filled up her
+      time, though her thoughts were by no means confined to them. Day after day
+      passed, and Mr Monckton continued to linger rather than live; the letters
+      of Delvile, still only dated from Ostend, contained the most melancholy
+      complaints of the illness of his mother; and the time advanced when her
+      answer would be claimed by the attorney.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The thought of such another visit was almost intolerable; and within two
+      days of the time that she expected it, she resolved to endeavour herself
+      to prevail with Mr Eggleston to wait longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Eggleston was a gentleman whom she knew little more than by sight; he
+      was no relation to her family, nor had any connection with the Dean, but
+      by being a cousin to a lady he had married, and who had left him no
+      children. The dean had no particular regard for him, and had rather
+      mentioned him in his will as the successor of Cecilia, in case she died
+      unmarried or changed her name, as a mark that he approved of her doing
+      neither, than as a matter he thought probable, if even possible, to turn
+      out in his favour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a man of a large family, the sons of which, who were extravagant
+      and dissipated, had much impaired his fortune by prevailing with him to
+      pay their debts, and much distressed him in his affairs by successfully
+      teasing him for money.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, acquainted with these circumstances, knew but too well with what
+      avidity her estate would be seized by them, and how little the sons would
+      endure delay, even if the father consented to it. Yet since the sacrifice
+      to which she had agreed must soon make it indisputably their own, she
+      determined to deal with them openly; and acknowledged, therefore, in her
+      letter, her marriage without disguise, but begged their patience and
+      secresy, and promised, in a short time, the most honourable retribution
+      and satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sent this letter by a man and horse, Mr Eggleston's habitation being
+      within fifteen miles of her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer was from his eldest son, who acquainted her that his father was
+      very ill, and had put all his affairs into the hands of Mr Carn, his
+      attorney, who was a man of great credit, and would see justice done on all
+      sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If this answer, which she broke open the instant she took it into her
+      hand, was in itself a cruel disappointment to her, how was that
+      disappointment embittered by shame and terror, when, upon again folding it
+      up, she saw it was directed to Mrs Mortimer Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a decisive stroke; what they wrote to her, she was sure they
+      would mention to all others; she saw they were too impatient for her
+      estate to be moved by any representations to a delay, and that their
+      eagerness to publish their right, took from them all consideration of what
+      they might make her suffer. Mr Eggleston, she found, permitted himself to
+      be wholly governed by his son; his son was a needy and profligate
+      spendthrift, and by throwing the management of the affair into the hands
+      of an attorney, craftily meant to shield himself from the future
+      resentment of Delvile, to whom, hereafter, he might affect, at his
+      convenience, to disapprove Mr Carn's behaviour, while Mr Carn was always
+      secure, by averring he only exerted himself for the interest of his
+      client.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The discerning Cecilia, though but little experienced in business, and
+      wholly unsuspicious by nature, yet saw into this management, and doubted
+      not these excuses were already arranged. She had only, therefore, to save
+      herself an actual ejectment, by quitting a house in which she was exposed
+      to such a disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But still whither to go she knew not! One only attempt seemed in her power
+      for an honourable asylum, and that was more irksomely painful to her than
+      seeking shelter in the meanest retreat: it was applying to Mr Delvile
+      senior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The action of leaving her house, whether quietly or forcibly, could not
+      but instantly authenticate the reports spread by the Egglestons of her
+      marriage: to hope therefore for secresy any longer would be folly, and Mr
+      Delvile's rage at such intelligence might be still greater to hear it by
+      chance than from herself. She now lamented that Delvile had not at once
+      told the tale, but, little foreseeing such a discovery as the present,
+      they had mutually concluded to defer the communication till his return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her own anger at the contemptuous ill treatment she had repeatedly met
+      from him, she was now content not merely to suppress but to dismiss,
+      since, as the wife of his son without his consent, she considered herself
+      no longer as wholly innocent of incurring it. Yet, such was her dread of
+      his austerity and the arrogance of his reproaches, that, by choice, she
+      would have preferred an habitation with her own pensioner, the pew-opener,
+      to the grandest apartment in Delvile Castle while he continued its lord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In her present situation, however, her choice was little to be consulted:
+      the honour of Delvile was concerned in her escaping even temporary
+      disgrace, and nothing, she knew, would so much gratify him, as any
+      attention from her to his father. She wrote to him, therefore, the
+      following letter, which she sent by an express.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To the Hon. Compton Delvile. </i>
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      April 29th, 1780.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      SIR,&mdash;I should not, even by letter, presume thus to force myself upon
+      your remembrance, did I not think it a duty I now owe your son, both to
+      risk and to bear the displeasure it may unhappily occasion. After such an
+      acknowledgment, all other confession would be superfluous; and uncertain
+      as I am if you will ever deign to own me, more words than are necessary
+      would be merely impertinent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the intention of your son, Sir, when he left the kingdom, to submit
+      wholly to your arbitration, at his return, which should be resigned, his
+      own name or my fortune: but his request for your decision, and his
+      supplication for your forgiveness, are both, most unfortunately,
+      prevented, by a premature and unforeseen discovery of our situation, which
+      renders an immediate determination absolutely unavoidable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this distance from him, I cannot, in time, receive his directions upon
+      the measures I have to take; pardon me then, Sir, if well knowing my
+      reference to him will not be more implicit than his own to you, I venture,
+      in the present important crisis of my affairs, to entreat those commands
+      instantly, by which I am certain of being guided ultimately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I would commend myself to your favour but that I dread exciting your
+      resentment. I will detain you, therefore, only to add, that the father of
+      Mr Mortimer Delvile, will ever meet the most profound respect from her
+      who, without his permission, dare sign no name to the honour she now has
+      in declaring herself his most humble, and most obedient servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her mind was somewhat easier when this letter was written, because she
+      thought it a duty, yet felt reluctance in performing it. She wished to
+      have represented to him strongly the danger of Delvile's hearing her
+      distress, but she knew so well his inordinate self-sufficiency, she feared
+      a hint of that sort might be construed into an insult, and concluded her
+      only chance that he would do any thing, was by leaving wholly to his own
+      suggestions the weighing and settling what.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though nothing was more uncertain than whether she should be received
+      at Delvile Castle, nothing was more fixed than that she must quit her own
+      house, since the pride of Mr Delvile left not even a chance that his
+      interest would conquer it. She deferred not, therefore, any longer making
+      preparations for her removal, though wholly unsettled whither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her first, which was also her most painful task, was to acquaint Henrietta
+      with her situation: she sent, therefore, to desire to speak with her, but
+      the countenance of Henrietta shewed her communication would not surprise
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with my dear Henrietta?&rdquo; cried Cecilia; &ldquo;who is it has
+      already afflicted that kind heart which I am now compelled to afflict for
+      myself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, in whom anger appeared to be struggling with sorrow, answered,
+      &ldquo;No, madam, not afflicted for <i>you</i>! it would be strange if I were,
+      thinking as I think!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; said Cecilia, calmly, &ldquo;if you are not, for I would give to
+      you, were it possible, nothing but pleasure and joy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah madam!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, bursting into tears, &ldquo;why will you say so
+      when you don't care what becomes of me! when you are going to cast me off!&mdash;and
+      when you will soon be too happy ever to think of me more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I am never happy till then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;sad, indeed, will be my
+      life! no, my gentlest friend, you will always have your share in my heart;
+      and always, to me, would have been the welcomest guest in my house, but
+      for those unhappy circumstances which make our separating inevitable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet you suffered me, madam, to hear from any body that you was married
+      and going away; and all the common servants in the house knew it before
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am amazed!&rdquo; said Cecilia; &ldquo;how and which way can they have heard it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man that went to Mr Eggleston brought the first news of it, for he
+      said all the servants there talked of nothing else, and that their master
+      was to come and take possession here next Thursday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia started at this most unwelcome intelligence; &ldquo;Yet you envy me,&rdquo;
+       she cried, &ldquo;Henrietta, though I am forced from my house! though in
+      quitting it, I am unprovided with any other, and though him for whom I
+      relinquish it, is far off, without means of protecting, or power of
+      returning to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you are married to him, madam!&rdquo; cried she, expressively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True, my love; but, also, I am parted from him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh how differently,&rdquo; exclaimed Henrietta, &ldquo;do the great think from the
+      little! were <i>I</i> married,&mdash;and <i>so</i> married, I should want
+      neither house, nor fine cloaths, nor riches, nor any thing;&mdash;I should
+      not care where I lived,&mdash;every place would be paradise! I would walk
+      to him barefoot if he were a thousand miles off, and I should mind nobody
+      else in the world while I had him to take care of me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah Delvile! thought Cecilia, what powers of fascination are yours! should
+      I be tempted to repine at what I have to bear, I will think of this
+      heroick girl and blush!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel now broke in upon them, eager to be informed of the truth or
+      falsehood of the reports which were buzzed throughout the house. Cecilia
+      briefly related to them both the state of her affairs, earnestly
+      expressing her concern at the abrupt separation which must take place, and
+      for which she had been unable to prepare them, as the circumstances which
+      led to it had been wholly unforeseen by herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel listened to the account with much curiosity and surprize; but
+      Henrietta wept incessantly in hearing it: the object of a passion ardent
+      as it was romantic, lost to her past recovery; torn herself, probably for
+      ever, from the best friend she had in the world; and obliged to return
+      thus suddenly to an home she detested,&mdash;Henrietta possessed not the
+      fortitude to hear evils such as these, which, to her inexperienced heart,
+      appeared the severest that could be inflicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This conversation over, Cecilia sent for her Steward, and desired him,
+      with the utmost expedition, to call in all her bills, and instantly to go
+      round to her tenants within twenty miles, and gather in, from those who
+      were able to pay, the arrears now due to her; charging him, however, upon
+      no account, to be urgent with such as seemed distressed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bills she had to pay were collected without difficulty; she never owed
+      much, and creditors are seldom hard of access; but the money she hoped to
+      receive fell very short of her expectations, for the indulgence she had
+      shewn to her tenants had ill prepared them for so sudden a demand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER v. &mdash; A DECISION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This business effectually occupied the present and following day; the
+      third, Cecilia expected her answer from Delvile Castle, and the visit she
+      so much dreaded from the attorney.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer arrived first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Miss Beverley</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MADAM,&mdash;As my son has never apprized me of the extraordinary step
+      which your letter intimates, I am too unwilling to believe him capable of
+      so far forgetting what he owes his family, to ratify any such intimation
+      by interfering with my counsel or opinion.&mdash;I am, Madam, &amp;c.,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      COMPTON DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      DELVILE CASTLE, <i>May 1st, 1780</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had little right to be surprised by this letter, and she had not a
+      moment to comment upon it, before the attorney arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, madam,&rdquo; said the man, as he entered the parlour, &ldquo;Mr Eggleston has
+      stayed your own time very patiently: he commissions me now to enquire if
+      it is convenient to you to quit the premises.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir, it is by no means convenient to me; and if Mr Eggleston will
+      wait some time longer, I shall be greatly obliged to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt, madam, but he will, upon proper considerations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Sir, do you call proper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon your advancing to him, as I hinted before, an immediate particular
+      sum from what must, by and bye, be legally restituted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this is the condition of his courtesy, I will quit the house without
+      giving him further trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as it suits you, madam. He will be glad to take possession to-morrow
+      or next day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did well, Sir, to commend his patience! I shall, however, merely
+      discharge my servants, and settle my accounts, and be ready to make way
+      for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will not take it amiss, madam, if I remind you that the account with
+      Mr Eggleston must be the first that is settled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean the arrears of this last fortnight or three weeks, I believe
+      I must desire him to wait Mr Delvile's return, as I may otherwise myself
+      be distressed for ready money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, is not likely, as it is well known you have a fortune that
+      was independent of your late uncle; and as to distress for ready money, it
+      is a plea Mr Eggleston can urge much more strongly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is being strangely hasty, Sir!&mdash;so short a time as it is since
+      Mr Eggleston could expect <i>any</i> of this estate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That, madam, is nothing to the purpose; from the moment it is his, he has
+      as many wants for it as any other gentleman. He desired me, however, to
+      acquaint you, that if you still chose an apartment in this house, till Mr
+      Delvile returns, you shall have one at your service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be a <i>guest</i> in this house, Sir,&rdquo; said Cecilia, drily, &ldquo;might
+      perhaps seem strange to me; I will not, therefore, be so much in his way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Carn then informed her she might put her seal upon whatever she meant
+      hereafter to claim or dispute, and took his leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now shut herself up in her own room, to meditate without
+      interruption, before she would proceed to any action. She felt much
+      inclination to send instantly for some lawyer; but when she considered her
+      peculiar situation, the absence of her husband, the renunciation of his
+      father, the loss of her fortune, and her ignorance upon the subject, she
+      thought it better to rest quiet till Delvile's own fate, and own opinion
+      could be known, than to involve herself in a lawsuit she was so little
+      able to superintend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this cruel perplexity of her mind and her affairs, her first thought
+      was to board again with Mrs Bayley; but that was soon given up, for she
+      felt a repugnance unconquerable to continuing in her native county, when
+      deprived of her fortune, and cast out of her dwelling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her situation, indeed, was singularly unhappy, since, by this unforeseen
+      vicissitude of fortune, she was suddenly, from being an object of envy and
+      admiration, sunk into distress, and threatened with disgrace; from being
+      every where caressed, and by every voice praised, she blushed to be seen,
+      and expected to be censured; and, from being generally regarded as an
+      example of happiness, and a model of virtue, she was now in one moment to
+      appear to the world, an outcast from her own house, yet received into no
+      other! a bride, unclaimed by a husband! an HEIRESS, dispossessed of all
+      wealth!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To be first acknowledged as <i>Mrs Delvile</i> in a state so degrading,
+      she could not endure; and to escape from it, one way alone remained, which
+      was going instantly abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon this, therefore, she finally determined: her former objections to
+      such a step being now wholly, though unpleasantly removed, since she had
+      neither estate nor affairs to demand her stay, and since all hopes of
+      concealment were totally at an end. Her marriage, therefore, and its
+      disgraceful consequences being published to the world, she resolved
+      without delay to seek the only asylum which was proper for her, in the
+      protection of the husband for whom she had given up every other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She purposed, therefore, to go immediately and privately to London, whence
+      she could best settle her route for the continent: where she hoped to
+      arrive before the news of her distress reached Delvile, whom nothing, she
+      was certain, but her own presence, could keep there for a moment after
+      hearing it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus decided, at length, in her plan, she proceeded to put it in execution
+      with calmness and intrepidity; comforting herself that the conveniencies
+      and indulgencies with which she was now parting, would soon be restored to
+      her, and though not with equal power, with far more satisfaction. She told
+      her steward her design of going the next morning to London, bid him pay
+      instantly all her debts, and discharge all her servants, determining to
+      keep no account open but that with Mr Eggleston, which he had made so
+      intricate by double and undue demands, that she thought it most prudent
+      and safe to leave him wholly to Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then packed up all her papers and letters, and ordered her maid to
+      pack up her clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She next put her own seal upon her cabinets, draws, and many other things,
+      and employed almost all her servants at once, in making complete
+      inventories of what every room contained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She advised Mrs Harrel to send without delay for Mr Arnott, and return to
+      his house. She had first purposed to carry Henrietta home to her mother
+      herself; but another scheme for her now occurred, from which she hoped
+      much future advantage to the amiable and dejected girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She knew well, that deep as was at present her despondency, the removal of
+      all possibility of hope, by her knowledge of Delvile's marriage, must
+      awaken her before long from the delusive visions of her romantic fancy; Mr
+      Arnott himself was in a situation exactly similar, and the knowledge of
+      the same event would probably be productive of the same effect. When Mrs
+      Harrel, therefore, began to repine at the solitude to which she was
+      returning, Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad
+      to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened
+      to with pleasure, and seconded by an invitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, to whom all houses appeared preferable to her own home,
+      joyfully accepted the offer, committing to Cecilia the communication of
+      the change of her abode to Mrs Belfield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who in the known and tried honour of Mr Arnott would
+      unreluctantly have trusted a sister, was much pleased by this little
+      arrangement, from which should no good ensue, no evil, at least, was
+      probable. But she hoped, through the mutual pity their mutual melancholy
+      might inspire, that their minds, already not dissimilar, would be softened
+      in favour of each other, and that, in conclusion, each might be happy in
+      receiving the consolation each could give, and a union would take place,
+      in which their reciprocal disappointment might, in time, be nearly
+      forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was not, indeed, much promise of such an event in the countenance of
+      Mr Arnott, when, late at night, he came for his sister, nor in the
+      unbounded sorrow of Henrietta, when the moment of leave-taking arrived. Mr
+      Arnott looked half dead with the shock his sister's intelligence had given
+      him, and Henrietta's heart, torn asunder between friendship and love, was
+      scarce able to bear a parting, which from Cecilia, she regarded as
+      eternal, added to the consciousness it was occasioned by her going to join
+      Delvile for life!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who both read and pitied these conflicting emotions, was herself
+      extremely hurt by this necessary separation. She tenderly loved Henrietta,
+      she loved her even the more for the sympathy of their affections, which
+      called forth the most forcible commiseration,&mdash;that which springs
+      from fellow-feeling!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Farewell,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;my Henrietta, be but happy as you are innocent,
+      and be both as I love you, and nothing will your friends have to wish for
+      you, or yourself to regret.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must always regret,&rdquo; cried the sobbing Henrietta, &ldquo;that I cannot live
+      with you for ever! I should regret it if I were queen of all the world,
+      how much more then, when I am nothing and nobody! I do not wish <i>you</i>
+      happy, madam, for I think happiness was made on purpose for you, and
+      nobody else ever had it before; I only wish you health and long life, for
+      the sake of those who will be made as happy as you,&mdash;for you will
+      spoil them,&mdash;as you have spoilt me,&mdash;from being ever happy
+      without you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia re-iterated her assurances of a most faithful regard, embraced Mrs
+      Harrel, spoke words of kindness to the drooping Mr Arnott, and then parted
+      with them all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having still many small matters to settle, and neither company nor
+      appetite, she would eat no supper; but, in passing thro' the hall, in her
+      way to her own room, she was much surprised to see all her domestics
+      assembled in a body. She stopt to enquire their intention, when they
+      eagerly pressed forward, humbly and earnestly entreating to know why they
+      were discharged? &ldquo;For no reason in the world,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;but because
+      it is at present out of my power to keep you any longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't part with <i>me</i>, madam, for that,&rdquo; cried one of them, &ldquo;for I
+      will serve you for nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So will I!&rdquo; cried another, &ldquo;And I!&rdquo; &ldquo;And I!&rdquo; was echoed by them all;
+      while &ldquo;no other such mistress is to be found!&rdquo; &ldquo;We can never bear any
+      other place!&rdquo; and &ldquo;keep <i>me</i>, madam, at least!&rdquo; was even clamorously
+      urged by each of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, distressed and flattered at once by their unwillingness to quit
+      her, received this testimony of gratitude for the kind and liberal
+      treatment they had received, with the warmest thanks both for their
+      services and fidelity, and assured them that when again she was settled,
+      all those who should be yet unprovided with places, should be preferred in
+      her house before any other claimants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having, with difficulty, broken from them, she sent for her own man,
+      Ralph, who had lived with her many years before the death of the Dean, and
+      told him she meant still to continue him in her service. The man heard it
+      with great delight, and promised to re-double his diligence to deserve her
+      favour. She then communicated the same news to her maid, who had also
+      resided with her some years, and by whom with the same, or more pleasure
+      it was heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These and other regulations employed her almost all night; yet late and
+      fatigued as she went to bed, she could not close her eyes: fearful
+      something was left undone, she robbed herself of the short time she had
+      allowed to rest, by incessant meditation upon what yet remained to be
+      executed. She could recollect, however, one only thing that had escaped
+      her vigilance, which was acquainting the pew-opener, and two or three
+      other poor women who had weekly pensions from her, that they must, at
+      least for the present, depend no longer upon her assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing indeed could be more painful to her than giving them such
+      information, yet not to be speedy with it would double the barbarity of
+      their disappointment. She even felt for these poor women, whose loss in
+      her she knew would be irreparable, a compassion that drove from her mind
+      almost every other subject, and determined her, in order to soften to them
+      this misfortune, to communicate it herself, that she might prevent them
+      from sinking under it, by reviving them with hopes of her future
+      assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had ordered at seven o'clock in the morning an hired chaise at the
+      door, and she did not suffer it long to wait for her. She quitted her
+      house with a heart full of care and anxiety, grieving at the necessity of
+      making such a sacrifice, uncertain how it would turn out, and labouring
+      under a thousand perplexities with respect to the measures she ought
+      immediately to take. She passed, when she reached the hall, through a row
+      of weeping domestics, not one of whom with dry eyes could see the house
+      bereft of such a mistress. She spoke to them all with kindness, and as
+      much as was in her power with chearfulness: but the tone of her voice gave
+      them little reason to think the concern at this journey was all their own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She ordered her chaise to drive round to the pew-opener's and thence to
+      the rest of her immediate dependents. She soon, however, regretted that
+      she had given herself this task; the affliction of these poor pensioners
+      was clamorous, was almost heart-breaking; they could live, they said, no
+      longer, they were ruined for ever; they should soon be without bread to
+      eat, and they might cry for help in vain, when their generous, their only
+      benefactress was far away!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia made the kindest efforts, to comfort and encourage them, assuring
+      them the very moment her own affairs were arranged, she would remember
+      them all, visit them herself, and contribute to their relief, with all the
+      power she should have left. Nothing, however, could console them; they
+      clung about her, almost took the horses from the chaise, and conjured her
+      not to desert those who were solely cherished by her bounty!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor was this all she had to suffer; the news of her intention to quit the
+      county was now reported throughout the neighbourhood, and had spread the
+      utmost consternation among the poor in general, and the lower close of her
+      own tenants in particular, and the road was soon lined with women and
+      children, wringing their hands and crying. They followed her carriage with
+      supplications that she would return to them, mixing blessings with their
+      lamentations, and prayers for her happiness with the bitterest repinings
+      at their own loss!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was extremely affected; her liberal and ever-ready hand was every
+      other instant involuntarily seeking her purse, which her many immediate
+      expences, made her prudence as often check: and now first she felt the
+      capital error she had committed, in living constantly to the utmost extent
+      of her income, without ever preparing, though so able to have done it,
+      against any unfortunate contingency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she escaped, at last, from receiving any longer this painful tribute
+      to her benevolence, she gave orders to her man to ride forward and stop at
+      the Grove, that a precise and minute account of Mr Monckton, might be the
+      last, as it was now become the most important, news she should hear in
+      Suffolk. This he did, when to her equal surprise and delight, she heard
+      that he was suddenly so much better, there were hopes of his recovery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Intelligence so joyful made her amends for almost every thing; yet she
+      hesitated not in her plan of going abroad, as she knew not where to be in
+      England, and could not endure to hurry Delvile from his sick mother, by
+      acquainting him with her helpless and distressed situation. But so revived
+      were her spirits by these unexpected tidings, that a gleam of brightest
+      hope once more danced before her eyes, and she felt herself invigorated
+      with fresh courage and new strength, sufficient to support her through all
+      hardships and fatigues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Spirits and courage were indeed much wanted for the enterprize she had
+      formed; but little used to travelling, and having never been out of
+      England, she knew nothing of the route but by a general knowledge of
+      geography, which, though it could guide her east or west, could teach her
+      nothing of foreign customs, the preparations necessary for the journey,
+      the impositions she should guard against, nor the various dangers to which
+      she might be exposed, from total ignorance of the country through which
+      she had to pass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Conscious of these deficiencies for such an undertaking, she deliberated
+      without intermission how to obviate them. Yet sometimes, when to these
+      hazards, those arising from her youth and sex were added, she was upon the
+      point of relinquishing her scheme, as too perilous for execution, and
+      resolving to continue privately in London till some change happened in her
+      affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though to every thing she could suggest, doubts and difficulties
+      arose, she had no friend to consult, nor could devise any means by which
+      they might be terminated. Her maid was her only companion, and Ralph, who
+      had spent almost his whole life in Suffolk, her only guard and attendant.
+      To hire immediately some French servant, used to travelling in his own
+      country, seemed the first step she had to take, and so essential, that no
+      other appeared feasible till it was done. But where to hear of such a man
+      she could not tell, and to take one not well recommended, would be
+      exposing herself to frauds and dangers innumerable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet so slow as Delvile travelled, from whom her last letter was still
+      dated Ostend, she thought herself almost certain, could she once reach the
+      continent, of overtaking him in his route within a day or two of her
+      landing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earnest inclination with which this scheme was seconded, made her
+      every moment less willing to forego it. It seemed the only harbour for her
+      after the storm she had weathered, and the only refuge she could properly
+      seek while thus houseless and helpless. Even were Delvile in England, he
+      had no place at present to offer her, nor could any thing be proposed so
+      unexceptionable as her living with Mrs Delvile at Nice, till he knew his
+      father's pleasure, and, in a separate journey home, had arranged his
+      affairs either for her return, or her continuance abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With what regret did she now look back to the time when, in a distress
+      such as this, she should have applied for, and received the advice of Mr
+      Monckton as oracular! The loss of a counsellor so long, so implicitly
+      relied upon, lost to her also, only by his own interested worthlessness,
+      she felt almost daily, for almost daily some intricacy or embarrassment
+      made her miss his assistance: and though glad, since she found him so
+      undeserving, that she had escaped the snares he had spread for her, she
+      grieved much that she knew no man of honest character and equal abilities,
+      that would care for her sufficiently to supply his place in her
+      confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As she was situated at present, she could think only of Mr Belfield to
+      whom she could apply for any advice. Nor even to him was the application
+      unexceptionable, the calumnies of Mr Delvile senior making it disagreeable
+      to her even to see him. But he was at once a man of the world and a man of
+      honour; he was the friend of Mortimer, whose confidence in him was great,
+      and his own behaviour had uniformly shewn a respect far removed from
+      impertinence or vanity, and a mind superior to being led to them by the
+      influence of his gross mother. She had, indeed, when she last quitted his
+      house, determined never to re-enter it; but determinations hasty or
+      violent, are rarely observed, because rarely practicable; she had promised
+      Henrietta to inform Mrs Belfield whither she was gone, and reconcile her
+      to the absence she still hoped to make from home. She concluded,
+      therefore, to go to Portland-street without delay, and enquire openly and
+      at once whether, and when, she might speak with Mr Belfield; resolving, if
+      tormented again by any forward insinuations, to rectify all mistakes by
+      acknowledging her marriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She gave directions accordingly to the post-boy and Ralph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With respect to her own lodgings while in town, as money was no longer
+      unimportant to her, she meant from the Belfields to go to the Hills, by
+      whom she might be recommended to some reputable and cheap place. To the
+      Belfields, however, though very late when she arrived in town, she went
+      first, unwilling to lose a moment in promoting her scheme of going abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She left her maid in the chaise, and sent Ralph on to Mrs Hill, with
+      directions to endeavour immediately to procure her a lodging.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vi. &mdash; A PRATING.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was shewn into a parlour, where Mrs Belfield was very earnestly
+      discoursing with Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins; and Belfield himself, to her
+      great satisfaction, was already there, and reading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lack a-day!&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;if one does not always see the people
+      one's talking of! Why it was but this morning, madam, I was saying to Mr
+      Hobson, I wonder, says I, a young lady of such fortunes as Miss Beverley
+      should mope herself up so in the country! Don't you remember it, Mr
+      Hobson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;but I think, for my part, the young
+      lady's quite in the right to do as she's a mind; for that's what I call
+      living agreeable: and if I was a young lady to-morrow, with such fine
+      fortunes, and that, it's just what I should do myself: for what I say is
+      this: where's the joy of having a little money, and being a little matter
+      above the world, if one has not one's own will?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, who had scarce yet raised his head from the
+      profoundness of his bow upon Cecilia's entrance into the room, &ldquo;if I may
+      be so free, may I make bold just for to offer you this chair?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I called, madam,&rdquo; said Cecilia, seizing the first moment in her power to
+      speak, &ldquo;in order to acquaint you that your daughter, who is perfectly
+      well, has made a little change in her situation, which she was anxious you
+      should hear from myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! ha! stolen a match upon you, I warrant!&rdquo; cried the facetious Mr
+      Hobson; &ldquo;a good example for you, young lady; and if you take my advice,
+      you won't be long before you follow it; for as to a lady, let her be worth
+      never so much, she's a mere nobody, as one may say, till she can get
+      herself a husband, being she knows nothing of business, and is made to pay
+      for every thing through the nose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fie, Mr Hobson, fie!&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;to talk so slighting of the
+      ladies before their faces! what one says in a corner, is quite of another
+      nature; but for to talk so rude in their company,&mdash;I thought you
+      would scorn to do such a thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, I don't want to be rude no more than yourself,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;for
+      what I say is, rudeness is a thing that makes nobody agreeable; but I
+      don't see because of that, why a man is not to speak his mind to a lady as
+      well as to a gentleman, provided he does it in a complaisant fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Hobson,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, very impatiently, &ldquo;you might as well let
+      <i>me</i> speak, when the matter is all about my own daughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon, ma'am,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I did not mean to stop you; for as to not
+      letting a lady speak, one might as well tell a man in business not to look
+      at the Daily Advertiser; why, it's morally impossible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But sure, madam,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;it's no such thing? You can't have
+      got her off already?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would I had!&rdquo; thought Cecilia; who then explained her meaning; but in
+      talking of Mrs Harrel, avoided all mention of Mr Arnott, well foreseeing
+      that to hear such a man existed, and was in the same house with her
+      daughter, would be sufficient authority to her sanguine expectations, for
+      depending upon a union between them, and reporting it among her friends,
+      his circumstance being made clear, Cecilia added, &ldquo;I could by no means
+      have consented voluntarily to parting so soon with Miss Belfield, but that
+      my own affairs call me at present out of the kingdom.&rdquo; And then,
+      addressing herself to Belfield, she enquired if he could recommend to her
+      a trusty foreign servant, who would be hired only for the time she was to
+      spend abroad?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While Belfield was endeavouring to recollect some such person, Mr Hobson
+      eagerly called out &ldquo;As to going abroad, madam, to be sure you're to do as
+      you like, for that, as I say, is the soul of every thing; but else I can't
+      say it's a thing I much approve; for my notion is this: here's a fine
+      fortune, got as a man may say, out of the bowels of one's mother country,
+      and this fine fortune, in default of male issue, is obliged to come to a
+      female, the law making no proviso to the contrary. Well, this female,
+      going into a strange country, naturally takes with her this fortune, by
+      reason it's the main article she has to depend upon; what's the upshot?
+      why she gets pilfered by a set of sharpers that never saw England in their
+      lives, and that never lose sight of her till she has not a sous in the
+      world. But the hardship of the thing is this: when it's all gone, the lady
+      can come back, but will the money come back?&mdash;No, you'll never see it
+      again: now this is what I call being no true patriot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite ashamed for to hear you talk so, Mr Hobson!&rdquo; cried Mr Simkins,
+      affecting to whisper; &ldquo;to go for to take a person to task at this rate, is
+      behaving quite unbearable; it's enough to make the young lady afraid to
+      speak before you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr Simkins,&rdquo; answered Mr Hobson, &ldquo;truth is truth, whether one speaks
+      it or not; and that, ma'am, I dare say, a young lady of your good sense
+      knows as well as myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, madam,&rdquo; said Belfield, who waited their silence with great
+      impatience, &ldquo;that I know just such a man as you will require, and one upon
+      whose honesty I believe you may rely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's more,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;than I would take upon me to say for any
+      <i>Englishman</i>! where you may meet with such a <i>Frenchman</i>, I
+      won't be bold to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why indeed,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;if I might take the liberty for to put in,
+      though I don't mean in no shape to go to contradicting the young
+      gentleman, but if I was to make bold to speak my private opinion upon the
+      head, I should be inclinable for to say, that as to putting a dependance
+      upon the French, it's a thing quite dubious how it may turn out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I take it as a great favour, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;that you have
+      been so complaisant as to make me this visit to-night, for I was almost
+      afraid you would not have done me the favour any more; for, to be sure,
+      when you was here last, things went a little unlucky: but I had no notion,
+      for my part, who the old gentleman was till after he was gone, when Mr
+      Hobson told me it was old Mr Delvile: though, sure enough, I thought it
+      rather upon the extraordinary order, that he should come here into my
+      parlour, and make such a secret of his name, on purpose to ask me
+      questions about my own son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I think, indeed, if I may be so free,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;it was
+      rather petickeler of the gentleman; for, to be sure, if he was so over
+      curious to hear about your private concerns, the genteel thing, if I may
+      take the liberty for to differ, would have been for him to say, ma'am,
+      says he, I'm come to ask the favour of you just to let me a little into
+      your son's goings on; and any thing, ma'am, you should take a fancy for to
+      ask me upon the return, why I shall be very compliable, ma'am, says he, to
+      giving of you satisfaction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;he would not have said so much if
+      you'd have gone down on your knees to ask him. Why he was upon the very
+      point of being quite in a passion because I only asked him his name!
+      though what harm that could do him, I'm sure I never could guess. However,
+      as he was so mighty inquisitive about my son, if I had but known who he
+      was in time, I should have made no scruple in the world to ask him if he
+      could not have spoke a few words for him to some of those great people
+      that could have done him some good. But the thing that I believe put him
+      so out of humour, was my being so unlucky as to say, before ever I knew
+      who he was, that I had heard he was not over and above good-natured; for I
+      saw he did not seem much to like it at the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he had done the generous thing,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;it would have been
+      for him to have made the proffer of his services of his own free-will; and
+      it's rather surpriseable to me he should never have thought of it; for
+      what could be so natural as for him to say, I see, ma'am, says he, you've
+      got a very likely young gentleman here, that's a little out of cash, says
+      he, so I suppose, ma'am, says he, a place, or a pension, or something in
+      that shape of life, would be no bad compliment, says he.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But no such good luck as that will come to my share,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield,
+      &ldquo;I can tell you that, for every thing I want to do goes quite contrary.
+      Who would not have thought such a son as mine, though I say it before his
+      face, could not have made his fortune long ago, living as he did, among
+      all the great folks, and dining at their table just like one of
+      themselves? yet, for all that, you see they let him go on his own way, and
+      think of him no more than of nobody! I'm sure they might be ashamed to
+      shew their faces, and so I should tell them at once, if I could but get
+      sight of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mean, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;for to be finding fault with what
+      you say, for I would not be unpelite in no shape; but if I might be so
+      free as for to differ a little bit, I must needs say I am rather for going
+      to work in anotherguess sort of a manner; and if I was as you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Simkins,&rdquo; interrupted Belfield, &ldquo;we will settle this matter another
+      time.&rdquo; And then, turning to the wearied Cecilia, &ldquo;The man, madam,&rdquo; he
+      said, &ldquo;whom I have done myself the honour to recommend to you, I can see
+      to-morrow morning; may I then tell him to wait upon you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask pardon for just putting in,&rdquo; cried Mr Simkins, before Cecilia could
+      answer, and again bowing down to the ground, &ldquo;but I only mean to say I had
+      no thought for to be impertinent, for as to what I was agoing to remark,
+      is was not of no consequence in the least.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Its a great piece of luck, ma'am,&rdquo; said Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;that you should
+      happen to come here, of a holiday! If my son had not been at home, I
+      should have been ready to cry for a week: and you might come any day the
+      year through but a Sunday, and not meet with him any more than if he had
+      never a home to come to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Mr Belfield's home-visits are so periodical,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;it must
+      be rather less, than more, difficult to meet with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why you know, ma'am,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;to-day is a red-letter day,
+      so that's the reason of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A red-letter day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good lack, madam, why have not you heard that my son is turned
+      book-keeper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, much surprised, looked at Belfield, who, colouring very high, and
+      apparently much provoked by his mother's loquacity, said, &ldquo;Had Miss
+      Beverley not heard it even now, madam, I should probably have lost with
+      her no credit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can surely lose none, Sir,&rdquo; answered Cecilia, &ldquo;by an employment too
+      little pleasant to have been undertaken from any but the most laudable
+      motives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not, madam, the employment,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for which I so much blush as
+      for the person employed&mdash;for <i>myself</i>! In the beginning of the
+      winter you left me just engaged in another business, a business with which
+      I was madly delighted, and fully persuaded I should be enchanted for ever;&mdash;now,
+      again, in the beginning of the summer,&mdash;you find me, already, in a
+      new occupation!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;but far indeed from surprised, that you found
+      yourself deceived by such sanguine expectations.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Deceived!&rdquo; cried he, with energy, &ldquo;I was bewitched, I was infatuated!
+      common sense was estranged by the seduction of a chimera; my understanding
+      was in a ferment from the ebullition of my imagination! But when this new
+      way of life lost its novelty,&mdash;novelty! that short-liv'd, but
+      exquisite bliss! no sooner caught than it vanishes, no sooner tasted than
+      it is gone! which charms but to fly, and comes but to destroy what it
+      leaves behind!&mdash;when that was lost, reason, cool, heartless reason,
+      took its place, and teaching me to wonder at the frenzy of my folly,
+      brought me back to the tameness&mdash;the sadness of reality!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;whatever it has brought you back to, it
+      has brought you back to no good! it's a hard case, you must needs think,
+      madam, to a mother, to see a son that might do whatever he would, if he'd
+      only set about it, contenting himself with doing nothing but scribble and
+      scribe one day, and when he gets tired of that, thinking of nothing better
+      than casting up two and two!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, madam,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;what I have seen of the world is this;
+      there's nothing methodizes a man but business. If he's never so much upon
+      the stilts, that's always a sure way to bring him down, by reason he soon
+      finds there's nothing to be got by rhodomontading. Let every man be his
+      own carver; but what I say is, them gentlemen that are what one may call
+      geniuses, commonly think nothing of the main chance, till they get a tap
+      on the shoulder with a writ; and a solid lad, that knows three times five
+      is fifteen, will get the better of them in the long run. But as to arguing
+      with gentlemen of that sort, where's the good of it? You can never bring
+      them to the point, say what you will; all you can get from them, is a
+      farrago of fine words, that you can't understand without a dictionary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am inclinable to think,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;that the young gentleman is
+      rather of opinion to like pleasure better than business; and, to be sure,
+      it's very excusable of him, because it's more agreeabler. And I must needs
+      say, if I may be so free, I'm partly of the young gentleman's mind, for
+      business is a deal more trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope, however,&rdquo; said Cecilia to Belfield, &ldquo;your present situation is
+      less irksome to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any situation, madam, must be less irksome than that which I quitted: to
+      write by rule, to compose by necessity, to make the understanding,
+      nature's first gift, subservient to interest, that meanest offspring of
+      art!&mdash;when weary, listless, spiritless, to rack the head for
+      invention, the memory for images, and the fancy for ornament and illusion;
+      and when the mind is wholly occupied by its own affections and affairs, to
+      call forth all its faculties for foreign subjects, uninteresting
+      discussions, or fictitious incidents!&mdash;Heavens! what a life of
+      struggle between the head and the heart! how cruel, how unnatural a war
+      between the intellects and the feelings!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to these sort of things,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, &ldquo;I can't say I am much
+      versed in them, by reason they are things I never much studied; but if I
+      was to speak my notion, it is this; the best way to thrive in the world is
+      to get money; but how is it to be got? Why by business: for business is to
+      money, what fine words are to a lady, a sure road to success. Now I don't
+      mean by this to be censorious upon the ladies, being they have nothing
+      else to go by, for as to examining if a man knows any thing of the world,
+      and that, they have nothing whereby to judge, knowing nothing of it
+      themselves. So that when they are taken in by rogues and sharpers, the
+      fault is all in the law, for making no proviso against their having money
+      in their own hands. Let every one be trusted according to their headpiece
+      and what I say is this: a lady in them cases is much to be pitied, for she
+      is obligated to take a man upon his own credit, which is tantamount to no
+      credit at all, being what man will speak an ill word of himself? you may
+      as well expect a bad shilling to cry out don't take me! That's what I say,
+      and that's my way of giving my vote.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, quite tired of these interruptions, and impatient to be gone, now
+      said to Belfield, &ldquo;I should be much obliged to you, Sir, if you could send
+      to me the man you speak of tomorrow morning. I wished, also to consult you
+      with regard to the route I ought to take. My purpose is to go to Nice, and
+      as I am very desirous to travel expeditiously, you may perhaps be able to
+      instruct me what is the best method for me to pursue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, with a look of much
+      significance and delight, &ldquo;suppose you two and I was to walk into the next
+      room? There's no need for us to hear all the young lady may have a mind to
+      say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has nothing to say, madam,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;that the whole world may
+      not hear. Neither is it my purpose to talk, but to listen, if Mr Belfield
+      is at leisure to favour me with his advice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must always be at leisure, and always be proud, madam,&rdquo; Belfield began,
+      when Hobson, interrupting him, said, &ldquo;I ask pardon, Sir, for intruding,
+      but I only mean to wish the young lady good night. As to interfering with
+      business, that's not my way, for it's not the right method, by reason&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will listen to your reason, Sir,&rdquo; cried Belfield, &ldquo;some other time; at
+      present we will give you all credit for it unheard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let every man speak his own maxim, Sir,&rdquo; cried Hobson; &ldquo;for that's what I
+      call fair arguing: but as to one person's speaking, and then making an
+      answer for another into the bargain, why it's going to work no-how; you
+      may as well talk to a counter, and think because you make a noise upon it
+      with your own hand, it gives you the reply.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Mr Hobson,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;I am quite ashamed of you for being
+      so dull! don't you see my son has something to say to the lady that you
+      and I have no business to be meddling with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure, ma'am, for my part,&rdquo; said Mr Simkins, &ldquo;I'm very agreeable to
+      going away, for as to putting the young lady to the blush, it's what I
+      would not do in no shape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I only mean,&rdquo; said Mr Hobson, when he was interrupted by Mrs Belfield,
+      who, out of all patience, now turned him out of the room by the shoulders,
+      and, pulling Mr Simkins after, followed herself, and shut the door, though
+      Cecilia, much provoked, desired she would stay, and declared repeatedly
+      that all her business was public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Belfield, who had, looked ready to murder them all during this short
+      scene, now approached Cecilia, and with an air of mingled spirit and
+      respect, said, &ldquo;I am much grieved, much confounded, madam, that your ears
+      should be offended by speeches so improper to reach them; yet if it is
+      possible I can have the honour of being of any use to you, in me, still, I
+      hope, you feel you may confide. I am too distant from you in situation to
+      give you reason to apprehend I can form any sinister views in serving you;
+      and, permit me to add, I am too near you in mind, ever to give you the
+      pain of bidding me remember that distance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, extremely unwilling to shock a sensibility not more generous
+      than jealous, determined to continue her enquiries, and, at the same time,
+      to prevent any further misapprehension, by revealing her actual situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Sir,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;to have occasioned this disturbance; Mrs
+      Belfield, I find, is wholly unacquainted with the circumstance which now
+      carries me abroad, or it would not have happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here a little noise in the passage interrupting her, she heard Mrs
+      Belfield, though in a low voice, say, &ldquo;Hush, Sir, hush! you must not come
+      in just now; you've caught me, I confess, rather upon the listening order;
+      but to tell you the truth, I did not know what might be going forward.
+      However, there's no admittance now, I assure you, for my son's upon
+      particular business with a lady, and Mr Hobson and Mr Simkins and I, have
+      all been as good as turned out by them but just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia and Belfield, though they heard this speech with mutual
+      indignation, had no time to mark or express it, as it was answered without
+      in a voice at once loud and furious, &ldquo;<i>You</i>, madam, may be content to
+      listen here; pardon me if I am less humbly disposed!&rdquo; And the door was
+      abruptly opened by young Delvile!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who half screamed from excess of astonishment, would scarcely,
+      even by the presence of Belfield and his mother, have been restrained from
+      flying to meet him, had his own aspect invited such a mark of tenderness;
+      but far other was the case; when the door was open, he stopt short with a
+      look half petrified, his feet seeming rooted to the spot upon which they
+      stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I declare I ask pardon, ma'am,&rdquo; cried Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;but the interruption
+      was no fault of mine, for the gentleman would come in; and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is no interruption, madam;&rdquo; cried Belfield, &ldquo;Mr Delvile does me
+      nothing but honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you, Sir!&rdquo; said Delvile, trying to recover and come forward, but
+      trembling violently, and speaking with the most frigid coldness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were then, for a few instants, all silent; Cecilia, amazed by his
+      arrival, still more amazed by his behaviour, feared to speak lest he meant
+      not, as yet, to avow his marriage, and felt a thousand apprehensions that
+      some new calamity had hurried him home: while Belfield was both hurt by
+      his strangeness, and embarrassed for the sake of Cecilia; and his mother,
+      though wondering at them all, was kept quiet by her son's looks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile then, struggling for an appearance of more ease, said, &ldquo;I seem to
+      have made a general confusion here:&mdash;pray, I beg&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at all, Sir,&rdquo; said Belfield, and offered a chair to Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sir,&rdquo; she answered, in a voice scarce audible, &ldquo;I was just going.&rdquo;
+       And again rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear I hurry you, madam?&rdquo; cried Delvile, whose whole frame was now
+      shaking with uncontrollable emotion; &ldquo;you are upon business&mdash;I ought
+      to beg your pardon&mdash;my entrance, I believe, was unseasonable.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir!&rdquo; cried she, looking aghast at this speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have been rather surprised,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;to have met you here, so
+      late,&mdash;so unexpectedly,&mdash;so deeply engaged&mdash;had I not
+      happened to see your servant in the street, who told me the honour I
+      should be likely to have by coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&mdash;&rdquo; exclaimed she, involuntarily; but, checking herself as
+      well as she could, she courtsied to Mrs Belfield, unable to speak to her,
+      and avoiding even to look at Belfield, who respectfully hung back, she
+      hastened out of the room: accompanied by Mrs Belfield, who again began the
+      most voluble and vulgar apologies for the intrusion she had met with.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile also, after a moment's pause, followed, saying, &ldquo;Give me leave,
+      madam, to see you to your carriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, notwithstanding Mrs Belfield still kept talking, could no
+      longer refrain saying, &ldquo;Good heaven, what does all this mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather for <i>me</i> is that question,&rdquo; he answered, in such agitation he
+      could not, though he meant it, assist her into the chaise, &ldquo;for mine, I
+      believe, is the greater surprise!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What surprise?&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;explain, I conjure you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By and bye I will,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;go on postilion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where you came from, I suppose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Sir, back to Rumford?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rumford!&rdquo; exclaimed he, with encreasing disorder, &ldquo;you came then from
+      Suffolk hither?&mdash;from Suffolk to this very house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;come into the chaise, and let me speak and
+      hear to be understood!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that now in it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My Maid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your maid?&mdash;and she waits for you thus at the door?&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, what is it you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell the man, madam, whither to go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know myself&mdash;any where you please&mdash;do you order him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I order him!&mdash;you came not hither to receive orders from <i>me</i>!&mdash;where
+      was it you had purposed to rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know&mdash;I meant to go to Mrs Hill's&mdash;I have no place
+      taken.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No place taken!&rdquo; repeated he, in a voice faultering between passion and
+      grief; &ldquo;you purposed, then, to stay here?&mdash;I have perhaps driven you
+      away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, mingling, in her turn, indignation with surprise,
+      &ldquo;gracious heaven! what is it you mean to doubt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing!&rdquo; cried he, with emphasis, &ldquo;I never have had, I never <i>will</i>
+      have a doubt! I will know, I will have <i>conviction</i> for every thing!
+      Postilion, drive to St James's-square!&mdash;to Mr Delvile's. There,
+      madam, I will wait upon you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No! stay, postilion!&rdquo; called out Cecilia, seized with terror
+      inexpressible; &ldquo;let me get out, let me speak with you at once!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It cannot be; I will follow you in a few minutes&mdash;drive on,
+      postilion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no!&mdash;I will not go&mdash;I dare not leave you&mdash;unkind
+      Delvile!&mdash;what is it you suspect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cecilia,&rdquo; cried he, putting his hand upon the chaise-door, &ldquo;I have ever
+      believed you spotless as an angel! and, by heaven! I believe you so still,
+      in spite of appearances&mdash;in defiance of every thing!&mdash;Now then
+      be satisfied;&mdash;I will be with you very soon. Meanwhile, take this
+      letter, I was just going to send to you.&mdash;Postilion, drive on, or be
+      at your peril!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man waited no further orders, nor regarded the prohibition of Cecilia,
+      who called out to him without ceasing; but he would not listen to her till
+      he got to the end of the street; he then stopt, and she broke the seal of
+      her letter, and read, by the light of the lamps, enough to let her know
+      that Delvile had written it upon the road from Dover to London, to
+      acquaint her his mother was now better, and had taken pity of his suspense
+      and impatience, and insisted upon his coming privately to England, to
+      satisfy himself fully about Mr Monckton, communicate his marriage to his
+      father, and give those orders towards preparing for its being made public,
+      which his unhappy precipitation in leaving the kingdom had prevented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter, which, though written but a few hours before she received it,
+      was full of tenderness, gratitude and anxiety for her happiness, instantly
+      convinced her that his strange behaviour had been wholly the effect of a
+      sudden impulse of jealousy; excited by so unexpectedly finding her in
+      town, at the very house where his father had assured him she had an
+      improper connexion, and alone, so suspiciously, with the young man
+      affirmed to be her favourite. He knew nothing of the ejectment, nothing of
+      any reason for her leaving Suffolk, every thing had the semblance of no
+      motive but to indulge a private and criminal inclination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These thoughts, which confusedly, yet forcibly, rushed upon her mind,
+      brought with them at once an excuse for his conduct, and an alarm for his
+      danger; &ldquo;He must think,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I came to town only to meet Mr
+      Belfield!&rdquo; then, opening the chaise-door herself, she jumpt out, and ran
+      back into Portland-street, too impatient to argue with the postilion to
+      return with her, and stopt not till she came to Mrs Belfield's house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She knocked at the door with violence; Mrs Belfield came to it herself;
+      &ldquo;Where,&rdquo; cried she, hastily entering as she spoke, &ldquo;are the gentlemen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lack-a-day! ma'am,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;they are both gone out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone out?&mdash;where to?&mdash;which way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I can't tell, ma'am, no more than you can; but I am sadly
+      afraid they'll have a quarrel before they've done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh heaven!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, who now doubted not a second duel, &ldquo;tell me,
+      shew me, which way they went?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, ma'am, to let you into the secret,&rdquo; answered Mrs Belfield, &ldquo;only I
+      beg you'll take no notice of it to my son, but, seeing them so much out of
+      sorts, I begged the favour of Mr Simkins, as Mr Hobson was gone out to his
+      club, just to follow them, and see what they were after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was much rejoiced this caution had been taken, and determined to
+      wait his return. She would have sent for the chaise to follow her; but Mrs
+      Belfield kept no servant, and the maid of the house was employed in
+      preparing the supper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Mr Simkins came back, she learnt, after various interruptions from
+      Mrs Belfield, and much delay from his own slowness and circumlocution,
+      that he had pursued the two gentlemen to the * * coffee-house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated not a moment in resolving to follow them: she feared the
+      failure of any commission, nor did she know whom to entrust with one: and
+      the danger was too urgent for much deliberation. She begged, therefore,
+      that Mr. Simkins would walk with her to the chaise; but hearing that the
+      coffee-house was another way, she desired Mrs Belfield to let the servant
+      run and order it to Mrs Roberts, in Fetterlane, and then eagerly requested
+      Mr Simkins to accompany her on foot till they met with an hackney-coach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then set out, Mr Simkins feeling proud and happy in being allowed to
+      attend her, while Cecilia, glad of any protection, accepted his offer of
+      continuing with her, even after she met with an hackney-coach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she arrived at the coffee-house, she ordered the coachman to desire
+      the master of it to come and speak with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came, and she hastily called out, &ldquo;Pray, are two gentlemen here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here are several gentlemen here, madam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&mdash;but are two upon any business&mdash;any particular
+      business&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two gentlemen, madam, came about half an hour ago, and asked for a room
+      to themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where are they now?&mdash;are they up stairs?&mdash;down stairs?&mdash;where
+      are they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of them went away in about ten minutes, and the other soon after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bitterly chagrined and disappointed, she knew not what step to take next;
+      but, after some consideration, concluded upon obeying Delvile's own
+      directions, and proceeding to St James's-square, where alone, now, she
+      seemed to have any chance of meeting with him. Gladly, however, she still
+      consented to be accompanied by Mr Simkins, for her dread of being alone,
+      at so late an hour, in an hackney-coach, was invincible. Whether Delvile
+      himself had any authority for directing her to his father's, or whether,
+      in the perturbation of his new&mdash;excited and agonising sensations of
+      jealousy, he had forgotten that any authority was necessary, she knew not;
+      nor could she now interest herself in the doubt: a second scene, such as
+      had so lately passed with Mr Monckton, occupied all her thoughts: she knew
+      the too great probability that the high spirit of Belfield would disdain
+      making the explanation which Delvile in his present agitation might
+      require, and the consequence of such a refusal must almost inevitably be
+      fatal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; A PURSUIT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The moment the porter came to the door, Cecilia eagerly called out from
+      the coach, &ldquo;Is Mr Delvile here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but I believe he is engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no matter for any engagement!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;on the door,&mdash;I must
+      speak to him this moment!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will please to step into the parlour, madam, I will tell his
+      gentleman you are here; but he will be much displeased if he is disturbed
+      without notice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah heaven!&rdquo; exclaimed she, &ldquo;what Mr Delvile are you talking of?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My master, madam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who had got out of the coach, now hastily returned to it, and was
+      some time in too great agony to answer either the porter, who desired some
+      message, or the coachman, who asked whither he was to drive. To see Mr
+      Delvile, unprotected by his son, and contrary to his orders, appeared to
+      her insupportable; yet to what place could she go? where was she likely to
+      meet with Delvile? how could he find her if she went to Mrs Hill's? and in
+      what other house could she at present claim admittance?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a little recovering from this cruel shock, she ventured, though in a
+      faultering voice, to enquire whether young Mr Delvile had been there?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, madam,&rdquo; the porter answered; &ldquo;we thought he was abroad, but he
+      called just now, and asked if any lady had been at the house. He would not
+      even stay to go up to my master, and we have not dared tell him of his
+      arrival.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This a little revived her; to hear that he had actually been enquiring for
+      her, at least assured her of his safety from any immediate violence, and
+      she began to hope she might now possibly meet with him time enough to
+      explain all that had past in his absence, and occasioned her seemingly
+      strange and suspicious situation at Belfield's. She compelled herself,
+      therefore, to summon courage for seeing his father, since, as he had
+      directed her to the house, she concluded he would return there to seek
+      her, when he had wandered elsewhere to no purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then, though with much timidity and reluctance, sent a message to Mr
+      Delvile to entreat a moment's audience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An answer was brought her that he saw no company so late at night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Losing now all dread of his reproaches, in her superior dread of missing
+      Delvile, she called out earnestly to the man, &ldquo;Tell him, Sir, I beseech
+      him not to refuse me! tell him I have something to communicate that
+      requires his immediate attention!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The servant obeyed; but soon returning, said his master desired him to
+      acquaint her he was engaged every moment he stayed in town, and must
+      positively decline seeing her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go to him again,&rdquo; cried the harassed Cecilia, &ldquo;assure him I come not from
+      myself, but by the desire of one he most values: tell him I entreat but
+      permission to wait an hour in his house, and that I have no other place in
+      the world whither I can go!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile's own gentleman brought, with evident concern, the answer to
+      this petition; which was, that while the Honourable Mr Delvile was himself
+      alive, he thought the desire of any other person concerning his house, was
+      taking with him a very extraordinary liberty; and that he was now going to
+      bed, and had given orders to his servants to carry him no more messages
+      whatsoever, upon pain of instant dismission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now seemed totally destitute of all resource, and for a few
+      dreadful minutes, gave herself up to utter despondency: nor, when she
+      recovered her presence of mind, could she form any better plan than that
+      of waiting in the coach to watch the return of Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told the coachman, therefore, to drive to a corner of the square,
+      begging Mr Simkins to have patience, which he promised with much
+      readiness, and endeavoured to give her comfort, by talking without
+      cessation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited here near half an hour. She then feared the disappointment of
+      Delvile in not meeting her at first, had made him conclude she meant not
+      to obey his directions, and had perhaps urged him to call again upon
+      Belfield, whom he might fancy privy to her non-appearance. This was new
+      horror to her, and she resolved at all risks to drive to Portland-street,
+      and enquire if Belfield himself was returned home. Yet, lest they should
+      mutually be pursuing each other all night, she stopt again at Mr
+      Delvile's, and left word with the porter, that if young Mr Delvile should
+      come home, he would hear of the person he was enquiring for at Mrs
+      Roberts's in Fetter-lane. To Belfield's she did not dare to direct him;
+      and it was her intention, if there she procured no new intelligence, to
+      leave the same message, and then go to Mrs Roberts without further delay.
+      To make such an arrangement with a servant who knew not her connection
+      with his young master, was extremely repugnant to her; but the exigence
+      was too urgent for scruples, and there was nothing to which she would not
+      have consented, to prevent the fatal catastrophe she apprehended.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she came to Belfield's, not daring to enter the house, she sent in Mr
+      Simkins, to desire that Mrs Belfield would be so good as to step to the
+      coach door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your son, madam,&rdquo; she cried, eagerly, &ldquo;come home? and is any body with
+      him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, ma'am; he has never once been across the threshold since that
+      gentleman took him out; and I am half out of my wits to think&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has that gentleman,&rdquo; interrupted Cecilia, &ldquo;been here anymore?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, ma'am, that's what I was going to tell you; he came again just now,
+      and said&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just now?&mdash;good heaven!&mdash;and which way is he gone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why he is after no good, I am afraid, for he was in a great passion, and
+      would hardly hear any thing I said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray, pray answer me quick!&mdash;where, which way did he go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, he asked me if I knew whither my son was come from the * *
+      coffee-house; why, says I, I'm sure I can't tell, for if it had not been
+      for Mr Simkins, I should not so much as have known he ever went to the * *
+      coffee-house; however, I hope he a'n't come away, because if he is, poor
+      Miss Beverley will have had all that trouble for nothing; for she's gone
+      after him in a prodigious hurry; and upon my only saying that, he seemed
+      quite beside himself, and said, if I don't meet with your son at the * *
+      coffee-house myself, pray, when he comes in, tell him I shall be highly
+      obliged to him to call there; and then he went away, in as great a pet as
+      ever you saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia listened to this account with the utmost terror and misery; the
+      suspicions of Delvile would now be aggravated, and the message he had left
+      for Belfield, would by him be regarded as a defiance. Again, however, to
+      the * * coffee-house she instantly ordered the coach, an immediate
+      explanation from herself seeming the only possible chance for preventing
+      the most horrible conclusion to this unfortunate and eventful evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was still accompanied by Mr Simkins, and, but that she attended to
+      nothing he said, would not inconsiderably have been tormented by his
+      conversation. She sent him immediately into the coffee-room, to enquire if
+      either of the gentlemen were then in the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned to her with a waiter, who said, &ldquo;One of them, madam, called
+      again just now, but he only stopt to write a note, which he left to be
+      given to the gentleman who came with him at first. He is but this moment
+      gone, and I don't think he can be at the bottom of the street.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh drive then, gallop after him!&rdquo;&mdash;cried Cecilia; &ldquo;coachman! go this
+      moment!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My horses are tired,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;they have been out all day, and they
+      will gallop no further, if I don't stop and give them a drink.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, too full of hope and impatience for this delay, forced open the
+      door herself, and without saying another word, jumped out of the carriage,
+      with intention to run down the street; but the coachman immediately
+      seizing her, protested she should not stir till he was paid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the utmost agony of mind at an hindrance by which she imagined Delvile
+      would be lost to her perhaps for ever, she put her hand in her pocket, in
+      order to give up her purse for her liberty; but Mr Simkins, who was making
+      a tiresome expostulation with the coachman, took it himself, and declaring
+      he would not see the lady cheated, began a tedious calculation of his
+      fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O pay him any thing!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;and let us be gone! an instant's delay
+      may be fatal!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Simkins, too earnest to conquer the coachman to attend to her distress,
+      continued his prolix harangue concerning a disputed shilling, appealing to
+      some gathering spectators upon the justice of his cause; while his
+      adversary, who was far from sober, still held Cecilia, saying the coach
+      had been hired for the lady, and he would be paid by herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; cried the agitated Cecilia,&mdash;&ldquo;give him my purse at once!&mdash;give
+      him every thing he desires!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coachman, at this permission, encreased his demands, and Mr Simkins,
+      taking the number of his coach, protested he would summons him to the
+      Court of Conscience the next morning. A gentleman, who then came out of
+      the coffee-house, offered to assist the lady, but the coachman, who still
+      held her arm, swore he would have his right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me go! let me pass!&rdquo; cried she, with encreasing eagerness and
+      emotion; &ldquo;detain me at your peril!&mdash;release me this moment&mdash;only
+      let me run to the end of the street,&mdash;good God! good Heaven! detain
+      me not for mercy!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Simkins, humbly desiring her not to be in haste, began a formal apology
+      for his conduct; but the inebriety of the coachman became evident; a mob
+      was collecting; Cecilia, breathless with vehemence and terror, was
+      encircled, yet struggled in vain to break away; and the stranger
+      gentleman, protesting, with sundry compliments, he would himself take care
+      of her, very freely seized her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This moment, for the unhappy Cecilia, teemed with calamity; she was wholly
+      overpowered; terror for Delvile, horror for herself, hurry, confusion,
+      heat and fatigue, all assailing her at once, while all means of repelling
+      them were denied her, the attack was too strong for her fears, feelings,
+      and faculties, and her reason suddenly, yet totally failing her, she madly
+      called out, &ldquo;He will be gone! he will be gone! and I must follow him to
+      Nice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The gentleman now retreated; but Mr Simkins, who was talking to the mob,
+      did not hear her; and the coachman, too much intoxicated to perceive her
+      rising frenzy, persisted in detaining her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to France!&rdquo; cried she, still more wildly, &ldquo;why do you stop me?
+      he will die if I do not see him, he will bleed to death!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The coachman, still unmoved, began to grow very abusive; but the stranger,
+      touched by compassion, gave up his attempted gallantry, and Mr Simkins,
+      much astonished, entreated her not to be frightened: she was, however, in
+      no condition to listen to him; with a strength hitherto unknown to her,
+      she forcibly disengaged herself from her persecutors; yet her senses were
+      wholly disordered; she forgot her situation, her intention, and herself;
+      the single idea of Delvile's danger took sole possession of her brain,
+      though all connection with its occasion was lost, and the moment she was
+      released, she fervently clasped her hands, exclaiming, &ldquo;I will yet heal
+      his wound, even at the hazard of my life!&rdquo; and springing forward, was
+      almost instantly out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Simkins now, much alarmed, and earnestly calling after her, entered
+      into a compromise with the coachman, that he might attend her; but the
+      length of his negociation defeated its purpose, and before he was at
+      liberty to follow her, all trace was lost by which he might have overtaken
+      her. He stopt every passenger he met to make enquiries, but though they
+      led him on some way, they led him on in vain; and, after a useless and
+      ill-managed pursuit, he went quietly to his own home, determining to
+      acquaint Mrs Belfield with what had happened the next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while the frantic Cecilia escaped both pursuit and insult by the
+      velocity of her own motion. She called aloud upon Delvile as she flew to
+      the end of the street. No Delvile was there!&mdash;she turned the corner;
+      yet saw nothing of him; she still went on, though unknowing whither, the
+      distraction of her mind every instant growing greater, from the
+      inflammation of fatigue, heat, and disappointment. She was spoken to
+      repeatedly; she was even caught once or twice by her riding habit; but she
+      forced herself along by her own vehement rapidity, not hearing what was
+      said, nor heeding what was thought. Delvile, bleeding by the arm of
+      Belfield, was the image before her eyes, and took such full possession of
+      her senses, that still, as she ran on, she fancied it in view. She scarce
+      touched the ground; she scarce felt her own motion; she seemed as if
+      endued with supernatural speed, gliding from place to place, from street
+      to street; with no consciousness of any plan, and following no other
+      direction than that of darting forward where-ever there was most room, and
+      turning back when she met with any obstruction; till quite spent and
+      exhausted, she abruptly ran into a yet open shop, where, breathless and
+      panting, she sunk upon the floor, and, with a look disconsolate and
+      helpless, sat for some time without speaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people of the house, concluding at first she was a woman of the town,
+      were going roughly to turn her out; but soon seeing their mistake, by the
+      evident distraction of her air and manner, they enquired of some idle
+      people who, late as it was, had followed her, if any of them knew who she
+      was, or whence she came?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They could give no account of her, but supposed she was broke loose from
+      Bedlam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, wildly starting up, exclaimed, &ldquo;No, no,&mdash;I am not mad,&mdash;I
+      am going to Nice&mdash;to my husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's quite crazy,&rdquo; said the man of the house, who was a Pawn-Broker; &ldquo;we
+      had better get rid of her before she grows mischievous&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's somebody broke out from a private mad house, I dare say,&rdquo; said a
+      man who had followed her into the shop; &ldquo;and if you were to take care of
+      her a little while, ten to one but you'll get a reward for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's a gentlewoman, sure enough,&rdquo; said the mistress of the house,
+      &ldquo;because she's got such good things on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, under pretence of trying to find some direction to her upon a
+      letter, or paper, she insisted upon searching her pockets: here, however,
+      she was disappointed in her expectations: her purse was in the custody of
+      Mr Simkins, but neither her terror nor distress had saved her from the
+      daring dexterity of villainy, and her pockets, in the mob, had been rifled
+      of whatever else they contained. The woman therefore hesitated some time
+      whether to take charge of her or, not: but being urged by the man who made
+      the proposal, and who said they might depend upon seeing her soon
+      advertised, as having escaped from her keepers, they ventured to undertake
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mean while she endeavoured again to get out, calling aloud upon Delvile to
+      rescue her, but so wholly bereft of sense and recollection, she could give
+      no account who she was, whence she came, or whither she wished to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They then carried her up stairs, and attempted to make her lie down upon a
+      bed; but supposing she refused because it was not of straw, they desisted;
+      and, taking away the candle, locked the door, and all went to rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this miserable condition, alone and raving, she was left to pass the
+      night! in the early part of it, she called upon Delvile without
+      intermission, beseeching him to come to her defence in one moment, and
+      deploring his death the next; but afterwards, her strength being wholly
+      exhausted by these various exertions and fatigues, she threw herself upon
+      the floor, and lay for some minutes quite still. Her head then began to
+      grow cooler, as the fever into which terror and immoderate exercise had
+      thrown her abated, and her memory recovered its functions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was, however, only a circumstance of horror to her: she found herself
+      shut up in a place of confinement, without light, without knowledge where
+      she was, and not a human being near her!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet the same returning reason which enabled her to take this view of her
+      own situation, brought also to her mind that in which she had left
+      Delvile;&mdash;under all the perturbation of new-kindled jealousy, just
+      calling upon Belfield,&mdash;Belfield, tenacious of his honour even more
+      than himself,&mdash;to satisfy doubts of which the very mention would be
+      received as a challenge!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yet, oh yet,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;let me fly and overtake them!&mdash;I may
+      find them before morning, and to-night it must surely have been too late
+      for this work of death!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then arose to feel for the door, and succeeded; but it was locked, and
+      no effort she could make enabled her to open it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her agony was unspeakable; she called out with violence upon the people of
+      the house, conjured them to set her at liberty, offered any reward for
+      their assistance, and threatened them with a prosecution if detained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nobody, however, came near her: some slept on notwithstanding all the
+      disturbance she could make, and others; though awakened by her cries,
+      concluded them the ravings of a mad woman, and listened not to what she
+      said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her head was by no means in a condition to bear this violence of distress;
+      every pulse was throbbing, every vein seemed bursting, her reason, so
+      lately returned, could not bear the repetition of such a shock, and from
+      supplicating for help with all the energy of feeling and understanding,
+      she soon continued the cry from mere vehemence of distraction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus dreadfully passed the night; and in the morning, when the woman of
+      the house came to see after her, she found her raving with such frenzy,
+      and desperation, that her conscience was perfectly at ease in the
+      treatment she had given her, being now firmly satisfied she required the
+      strictest confinement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She still, however, tried to get away; talked of Delvile without
+      cessation, said she should be too late to serve him, told the woman she
+      desired but to prevent murder, and repeatedly called out, &ldquo;Oh beloved of
+      my heart! wait but a moment, and I will snatch thee from destruction!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Wyers, this woman, now sought no longer to draw from her whence she
+      came, or who she was, but heard her frantic exclamations without any
+      emotion, contentedly concluding that her madness was incurable: and though
+      she was in a high fever, refused all sustenance, and had every symptom of
+      an alarming and dangerous malady, she was fully persuaded that her case
+      was that of decided insanity, and had not any notion of temporary or
+      accidental alienation of reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All she could think of by way of indulgence to her, was to bring her a
+      quantity of straw, having heard that mad people were fond of it; and
+      putting it in a heap in one corner of the room, she expected to see her
+      eagerly fly at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however, distracted as she was, was eager for nothing but to
+      escape, which was constantly her aim, alike when violent or when quiet.
+      Mrs Wyers, finding this, kept her closely confined, and the door always
+      locked, whether absent or present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER vii. &mdash; AN ENCOUNTER.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Two whole days passed thus; no enquiries reached Mrs Wyers, and she found
+      in the news-papers no advertisement. Meanwhile Cecilia grew worse every
+      moment, tasted neither drink nor food, raved incessantly, called out
+      twenty times in a breath, &ldquo;Where is he? which way is he gone?&rdquo; and
+      implored the woman by the most pathetic remonstrances, to save her unhappy
+      Delvile, <i>dearer to her than life, more precious than peace or rest</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At other times she talked of her marriage, of the displeasure of his
+      family, and of her own remorse; entreated the woman not to betray her, and
+      promised to spend the remnant of her days in the heaviness of sorrow and
+      contrition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again her fancy roved, and Mr Monckton took sole possession of it. She
+      reproached him for his perfidy, she bewailed that he was massacred, she
+      would not a moment out-live him, and wildly declared <i>her last remains
+      should moulder in his hearse</i>! And thus, though naturally and commonly
+      of a silent and quiet disposition, she was now not a moment still, for the
+      irregular starts of a terrified and disordered imagination, were changed
+      into the constant ravings of morbid delirium.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman, growing uneasy from her uncertainty of pay for her trouble,
+      asked the advice of some of her friends what was proper for her to do; and
+      they counselled her to put an advertisement into the papers herself the
+      next morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following, therefore, was drawn up and sent to the printer of the
+      Daily Advertiser.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MADNESS.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whereas a crazy young lady, tall, fair complexioned, with blue eyes and
+      light hair, ran into the Three Blue Balls, in&mdash;&mdash;street, on
+      Thursday night, the 2nd instant, and has been kept there since out of
+      charity. She was dressed in a riding habit. Whoever she belongs to is
+      desired to send after her immediately. She has been treated with the
+      utmost care and tenderness. She talks much of some person by the name of
+      Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      N.B.&mdash;She had no money about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      May, 1780.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This had but just been sent off, when Mr Wyers, the man of the house,
+      coming up stairs, said, &ldquo;Now we shall have two of them, for here's the
+      crazy old gentleman below, that says he has just heard in the
+      neighbourhood of what has happened to us, and he desires to see the poor
+      lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's as well let him come up, then,&rdquo; answered Mrs Wyers, &ldquo;for he goes to
+      all sort of places and people, and ten to one but he'll bustle about till
+      he finds out who she is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Wyers then went down stairs to send him up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came instantly. It was Albany, who in his vagrant rambles, having heard
+      an unknown mad lady was at this pawn-broker's, came, with his customary
+      eagerness to visit and serve the unhappy, to see what could be done for
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he entered the room, she was sitting upon the bed, her eyes earnestly
+      fixed upon the window, from which she was privately indulging a wish to
+      make her escape. Her dress was in much disorder, her fine hair was
+      dishevelled, and the feathers of her riding hat were broken and half
+      falling down, some shading her face, others reaching to her shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor lady!&rdquo; cried Albany, approaching her, &ldquo;how long has she been in this
+      state?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She started at the sound of a new voice, she looked round,&mdash;but what
+      was the astonishment of Albany to see who it was!&mdash;He stept back,-he
+      came forward,&mdash;he doubted his own senses,&mdash;he looked at her
+      earnestly,&mdash;he turned from her to look at the woman of the house,&mdash;he
+      cast his eyes round the room itself, and then, lifting up his hands, &ldquo;O
+      sight of woe!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;the generous and good! the kind reliever of
+      distress! the benign sustainer of misery!&mdash;is <i>This</i> Cecilia!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, imperfectly recollecting, though not understanding him, sunk down
+      at his feet, tremblingly called out, &ldquo;Oh, if he is yet to be saved, if
+      already he is not murdered,&mdash;go to him! fly after him! you will
+      presently overtake him, he is only in the next street, I left him there
+      myself, his sword drawn, and covered with human blood!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sweet powers of kindness and compassion!&rdquo; cried the old man, &ldquo;look upon
+      this creature with pity! she who raised the depressed, she who cheared the
+      unhappy! she whose liberal hand turned lamentations into joy! who never
+      with a tearless eye could hear the voice of sorrow!&mdash;is <i>This</i>
+      she herself!&mdash;can <i>This</i> be Cecilia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O do not wait to talk!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;go to him now, or you will never see
+      him more! the hand of death is on him,&mdash;cold, clay-cold is its touch!
+      he is breathing his last&mdash;Oh murdered Delvile! massacred husband of
+      my heart! groan not so piteously! fly to him, and weep over him!&mdash;fly
+      to him and pluck the poniard from his wounded bosom!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh sounds of anguish and horror!&rdquo; cried the melted moralist, tears
+      running quick down his rugged cheeks; &ldquo;melancholy indeed is this sight,
+      humiliating to morality! such is human strength, such human felicity!&mdash;weak
+      as our virtues, frail as our guilty natures!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; cried she, more wildly, &ldquo;no one will save me now! I am married, and
+      no one will listen to me! ill were the auspices under which I gave my
+      hand! Oh it was a work of darkness, unacceptable and offensive! it has
+      been sealed, therefore, with blood, and to-morrow it will be signed with
+      murder!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor distracted creature!&rdquo; exclaimed he, &ldquo;thy pangs I have felt, but thy
+      innocence I have forfeited!&mdash;my own wounds bleed afresh,&mdash;my own
+      brain threatens new frenzy.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, starting up, &ldquo;Good woman,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;kindly attend her,&mdash;I
+      will seek out her friends, put her into bed, comfort, sooth, compose her.&mdash;I
+      will come to you again, and as soon as I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then hurried away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh hour of joy!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;he is gone to rescue him! oh blissful
+      moment! he will yet be snatched from slaughter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The woman lost not an instant in obeying the orders she had received; she
+      was put into bed, and nothing was neglected, as far as she had power and
+      thought, to give a look of decency and attention to her accommodations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had not left them an hour, when Mary, the maid who had attended her
+      from Suffolk, came to enquire for her lady. Albany, who was now wandering
+      over the town in search of some of her friends, and who entered every
+      house where he imagined she was known, had hastened to that of Mrs Hill
+      the first of any, as he was well acquainted with her obligations to
+      Cecilia; there, Mary herself, by the directions which her lady had given
+      Mrs Belfield, had gone; and there, in the utmost astonishment and
+      uneasiness, had continued till Albany brought news of her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was surprised and afflicted beyond measure, not only at the state of
+      her mind, and her health, but to find her in a bed and an apartment so
+      unsuitable to her rank of life, and so different to what she had ever been
+      accustomed. She wept bitterly while she enquired at the bed-side how her
+      lady did, but wept still more, when, without answering, or seeming to know
+      her, Cecilia started up, and called out, &ldquo;I must be removed this moment! I
+      must go to St James's-square,&mdash;if I stay an instant longer, the
+      passing-bell will toll, and then how shall I be in time for the funeral?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary, alarmed and amazed, turned hastily from her to the woman of the
+      house, who calmly said, the lady was only in a raving fit, and must not be
+      minded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Extremely frightened at this intelligence, she entreated her to be quiet
+      and lie still. But Cecilia grew suddenly so violent, that force only could
+      keep her from rising; and Mary, unused to dispute her commands, prepared
+      to obey them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Wyers now in her turn opposed in vain; Cecilia was peremptory, and
+      Mary became implicit, and, though not without much difficulty, she was
+      again dressed in her riding habit. This operation over, she moved towards
+      the door, the temporary strength of delirium giving, her a hardiness that
+      combated fever, illness, fatigue, and feebleness. Mary, however averse and
+      fearful, assisted her, and Mrs Wyers, compelled by the obedience of her
+      own servant, went before them to order a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however, felt her weakness when she attempted to move down
+      stairs; her feet tottered, and her head became dizzy; she leaned it
+      against Mary, who called aloud for more help, and made her sit down till
+      it came. Her resolution, however, was not to be altered; a stubbornness,
+      wholly foreign to her genuine character, now made her stern and positive;
+      and Mary, who thought her submission indispensable, cried, but did not
+      offer to oppose her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr and Mrs Wyers both came up to assist in supporting her, and Mr Wyers
+      offered to carry her in his arms; but she would not consent; when she came
+      to the bottom of the stairs, her head grew worse, she again lent it upon
+      Mary, but Mr Wyers was obliged to hold them both. She still, however, was
+      firm in her determination, and was making another effort to proceed, when
+      Delvile rushed hastily into the shop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had just encountered Albany; who, knowing his acquaintance, though
+      ignorant of his marriage, with Cecilia, had informed him where to seek
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was going to make enquiry if he was come to the right house, when he
+      perceived her,&mdash;feeble, shaking, leaning upon one person, and half
+      carried by another!&mdash;he started back, staggered, gasped for breath,&mdash;but
+      finding they were proceeding, advanced with trepidation, furiously calling
+      out, &ldquo;Hold! stop!&mdash;what is it you are doing? Monsters of savage
+      barbarity, are you murdering my wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The well-known voice no sooner struck the ears of Cecilia, than instantly
+      recollecting it, she screamed, and, is suddenly endeavouring to spring
+      forward, fell to the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile had vehemently advanced to catch her in his arms and save her
+      fall, which her unexpected quickness had prevented her attendants from
+      doing; but the sight of her changed complection, and the wildness of her
+      eyes and air, again made him start,&mdash;his blood froze through his
+      veins, and he stood looking at her, cold and almost petrified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her own recollection of him seemed lost already; and exhausted by the
+      fatigue she had gone through in dressing and coming down stairs, she
+      remained still and quiet, forgetting her design of proceeding, and forming
+      no new one for returning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary, to whom, as to all her fellow servants, the marriage of Cecilia had
+      been known, before she left the country, now desired from Delvile
+      directions what was to be done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, starting suddenly at this call from the deepest horror into the
+      most desperate rage, fiercely exclaimed, &ldquo;Inhuman wretches! unfeeling,
+      execrable wretches, what is it you have done to her? how came she hither?&mdash;who
+      brought her?&mdash;who dragged her?&mdash;by what infamous usage has she
+      been sunk into this state?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, sir, I don't know!&rdquo; cried Mary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I assure you, sir,&rdquo; said Mrs Wyers, &ldquo;the lady&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Peace!&rdquo; cried he, furiously, &ldquo;I will not hear your falsehoods!&mdash;peace,
+      and begone!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, casting himself upon the ground by her side, &ldquo;Oh my Cecilia,&rdquo; he
+      cried, &ldquo;where hast thou been thus long? how have I lost thee? what
+      dreadful calamity has befallen thee?&mdash;answer me, my love! raise your
+      sweet head and answer me!&mdash;oh speak!&mdash;say to me any thing; the
+      bitterest words will be mercy to this silence!&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia then, suddenly looking up, called out with great quickness, &ldquo;Who
+      are you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who am I!&rdquo; cried he, amazed and affrighted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be glad you would go away,&rdquo; cried she, in a hurrying manner,
+      &ldquo;for you are quite unknown to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, unconscious of her insanity, and attributing to resentment this
+      aversion and repulse, hastily moved from her, mournfully answering, &ldquo;Well
+      indeed may you disclaim me, refuse all forgiveness, load me with hatred
+      and reproach, and consign me to eternal anguish! I have merited severer
+      punishment still; I have behaved like a monster, and I am abhorrent to
+      myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia now, half rising, and regarding him with mingled terror and anger,
+      eagerly exclaimed, &ldquo;If you do not mean to mangle and destroy me, begone
+      this instant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To mangle you!&rdquo; repeated Delvile, shuddering, &ldquo;how horrible!&mdash;but I
+      deserve it!&mdash;look not, however, so terrified, and I will tear myself
+      away from you. Suffer me but to assist in removing you from this place,
+      and I will only watch you at a distance, and never see you more till you
+      permit me to approach you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, why,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, with a look of perplexity and impatience, &ldquo;will
+      you not tell me your name, and where you come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not know me?&rdquo; said he, struck with new horror; &ldquo;or do you only
+      mean to kill me by the question?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you bring me any message from Mr Monckton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From Mr Monckton?&mdash;no; but he lives and will recover.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought you had been Mr Monckton yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too cruel, yet justly cruel Cecilia!&mdash;is then Delvile utterly
+      renounced?&mdash;the guilty, the unhappy Delvile!&mdash;is he cast off for
+      ever? have you driven him wholly from your heart? do you deny him even a
+      place in your remembrance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your name, then, Delvile?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O what is it you mean? Is it me or my name you thus disown?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis a name,&rdquo; cried she, sitting up, &ldquo;I well remember to have heard, and
+      once I loved it, and three times I called upon it in the dead of night.
+      And when I was cold and wretched, I cherished it; and when I was abandoned
+      and left alone, I repeated it and sung to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All-gracious powers!&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;her reason is utterly gone!&rdquo; And,
+      hastily rising, he desperately added, &ldquo;what is death to this blow?&mdash;Cecilia,
+      I am content to part with thee!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary now, and Mrs Wyers, poured upon him eagerly an account of her
+      illness, and insanity, her desire of removal, and their inability to
+      control her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, however, made no answer; he scarce heard them: the deepest
+      despair took possession of his mind, and, rooted to the spot where he
+      stood, he contemplated iii dreadful stillness the fallen and altered
+      object of his best hopes and affections; already in her faded cheeks and
+      weakened frame, his agonising terror read the quick impending destruction
+      of all his earthly happiness! the sight was too much for his fortitude,
+      and almost for his understanding; and when his woe became utterable, he
+      wrung his hands, and groaning aloud, called out, &ldquo;Art thou gone so soon!
+      my wife! my Cecilia! have I lost thee already?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, with utter insensibility to what was passing, now suddenly, and
+      with a rapid yet continued motion, turned her head from side to side, her
+      eyes wildly glaring, and yet apparently regarding nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreadful! dreadful!&rdquo; exclaimed Delvile, &ldquo;what a sight is this!&rdquo; and
+      turning from her to the people of the house, he angrily said, &ldquo;why is she
+      here upon the floor? could you not even allow her a bed? Who attends her?
+      Who waits upon her? Why has nobody sent for help?&mdash;Don't answer me,&mdash;I
+      will not hear you, fly this moment for a physician,&mdash;bring two, bring
+      three&mdash;bring all you can find?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, still looking from Cecilia, whose sight he could no longer support,
+      he consulted with Mary whither she should be conveyed: and, as the night
+      was far advanced, and no place was prepared for her elsewhere, they soon
+      agreed that she could only be removed up stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile now attempted to carry her in his arms; but trembling and
+      unsteady, he had not strength to sustain her; yet not enduring to behold
+      the helplessness he could not assist, he conjured them to be careful and
+      gentle, and, committing her to their trust, ran out himself for a
+      physician.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia resisted them with her utmost power, imploring them not to bury
+      her alive, and averring she had received intelligence they meant to entomb
+      her with Mr Monckton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They put her, however, to bed, but her raving grew still more wild and
+      incessant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile soon returned with a physician, but had not courage to attend him
+      to her room. He waited for him at the foot of the stairs, where, hastily
+      stopping him,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;is it not all over? is it not impossible she can
+      live?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is very ill, indeed, sir,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but I have given directions
+      which perhaps&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Perhaps</i>!&rdquo; interrupted Delvile, shuddering, &ldquo;do not stab me with
+      such a word!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is very delirious,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;but as her fever is very high,
+      that is not so material. If the orders I have given take effect, and the
+      fever is got under, all the rest will be well of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then went away; leaving Delvile as much thunderstruck by answers so
+      alarming, as if he had consulted him in full hope, and without even
+      suspicion of her danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moment he recovered from this shock, he flew out of the house for more
+      advice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned and brought with him two physicians. They confirmed the
+      directions already given, but would pronounce nothing decisively of her
+      situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, half mad with the acuteness of his misery, charged them all with
+      want of skill, and wrote instantly into the country for Dr Lyster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He went out himself in search of a messenger to ride off express, though
+      it was midnight, with his letter; and then, returning, he was hastening to
+      her room, but, while yet at the door, hearing her still raving, his horror
+      conquered his eagerness, and, hurrying down stairs, he spent the remnant
+      of the long and seemingly endless night in the shop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER ix. &mdash; A TRIBUTE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mean while Cecilia went through very severe discipline, sometimes strongly
+      opposing it, at other times scarce sensible what was done to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole of the next day passed in much the same manner, neither did the
+      next night bring any visible alteration. She had now nurses and attendants
+      even more than sufficient, for Delvile had no relief but from calling in
+      more help. His terror of again seeing her encreased with his forbearance;
+      the interview which had already past had almost torn him asunder, and
+      losing all courage for attempting to enter her room, he now spent almost
+      all his time upon the stairs which led to it. Whenever she was still, he
+      seated himself at her chamber door, where, if he could hear her breathe or
+      move, a sudden hope of her recovery gave to him a momentary extasy that
+      recompensed all his sufferings. But the instant she spoke, unable to bear
+      the sound of so loved a voice uttering nothing but the incoherent ravings
+      of lightheadedness, he hastened down stairs, and flying out of the house,
+      walked in the neighbouring streets, till he could again gather courage to
+      enquire or to listen how she went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following morning, however, Dr Lyster came, and every hope revived. He
+      flew to embrace him, told him instantly his marriage with Cecilia, and
+      besought him by some superior effort of his extraordinary abilities to
+      save him the distraction of her loss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good friend,&rdquo; cried the worthy Doctor, &ldquo;what is this you ask of me?
+      and how can this poor young lady herself want advice more than you do? Do
+      you think these able physicians actually upon the spot, with all the
+      experience of full practice in London to assist their skill, want a petty
+      Doctor out of the country to come and teach them what is right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have more reliance upon you,&rdquo; cried Delvile, than upon the whole
+      faculty; come, therefore, and prescribe for her,&mdash;take some new
+      course &ldquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible, my good Sir, impossible! I must not lose my wits from vanity,
+      because you have lost yours from affliction. I could not refuse to come to
+      you when you wrote to me with such urgency, and I will now go and see the
+      young lady, as a <i>friend</i>, with all my heart. I am sorry for you at
+      my soul, Mr Mortimer! She is a lovely young creature, and has an
+      understanding, for her years and sex, unequalled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mention her to me!&rdquo; cried the impatient Delvile, &ldquo;I cannot bear it!
+      Go up to her, dear Doctor, and if you want a consultation, send, if you
+      please, for every physician in town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster desired only that those who had already attended might be
+      summoned; and then, giving up to his entreaties the accustomed ceremonial
+      of waiting for them, he went to Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile did not dare accompany him; and so well was he acquainted with his
+      plainness and sincerity, that though he expected his return with
+      eagerness, he no sooner heard him upon the stairs, than fearing to know
+      his opinion, he hastily snatched up his hat, and rushed vehemently out of
+      the house to avoid him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to walk about the streets, till even the dread of ill news
+      was less horrible to him than this voluntary suspense, and then he
+      returned to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found Dr Lyster in a small back parlour, which Mrs Wyers, finding she
+      should now be well paid, had appropriated for Delvile's use.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, putting his hand upon the Doctor's shoulder, said, &ldquo;Well, my dear
+      Dr Lyster, <i>you</i>, still, I hope&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would I could make you easy!&rdquo; interrupted the Doctor; &ldquo;yet, if you are
+      rational, one comfort, at all events, I can give you; the crisis seems
+      approaching, and either she will recover, or before to-morrow morning&rdquo;&mdash;-
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't go on, Sir!&rdquo; cried Delvile, with mingled rage and horror, &ldquo;I will
+      not have her days limited! I sent not for you to give me such an account!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And again he flew out of the house, leaving Dr Lyster unaffectedly
+      concerned for him, and too kind-hearted and too wise to be offended at the
+      injustice of immoderate sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few minutes, however, from the effect rather of despair than
+      philosophy, Delvile grew more composed, and waited upon Dr Lyster to
+      apologize for his behaviour. He received his hearty forgiveness, and
+      prevailed upon him to continue in town till the whole was decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About noon, Cecilia, from the wildest rambling and most perpetual
+      agitation, sunk suddenly into a state of such utter insensibility, that
+      she appeared unconscious even of her existence; and but that she breathed,
+      she might already have passed for being dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Delvile heard this, he could no longer endure even his post upon the
+      stairs; he spent his whole time in wandering about the streets, or
+      stopping in Dr Lyster's parlour to enquire if all was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That humane physician, not more alarmed at the danger of Cecilia, than
+      grieved at the situation of Delvile, thought the present fearful crisis at
+      least offered an opportunity of reconciling him with his father. He
+      waited, therefore, upon that gentleman in St James's-square, and openly
+      informed him of the dangerous state of Cecilia, and the misery of his son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, though he would gladly, to have annulled an alliance he held
+      disgraceful to his family, have received intelligence that Cecilia was no
+      more, was yet extremely disconcerted to hear of sufferings to which his
+      own refusal of an asylum he was conscious had largely contributed; and
+      after a haughty struggle between tenderness and wrath, he begged the
+      advice of Dr Lyster how his son might be drawn from such a scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster, who well knew Delvile was too desperate to be tractable,
+      proposed surprising him into an interview by their returning together: Mr
+      Delvile, however apprehensive and relenting, conceded most unwillingly to
+      a measure he held beneath him, and, when he came to the shop, could scarce
+      be persuaded to enter it. Mortimer, at that time, was taking a solitary
+      ramble; and Dr Lyster, to complete the work he had begun of subduing the
+      hard pride of his father, contrived, under pretence of waiting for him, to
+      conduct him to the room of the invalide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, who knew not whither he was going, at first sight of the bed
+      and the attendants, was hastily retreating; but the changed and livid face
+      of Cecilia caught his eye, and, struck with sudden consternation, he
+      involuntarily stopt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at the poor young lady!&rdquo; cried Dr Lyster; &ldquo;can you wonder a sight
+      such as this should make Mr Mortimer forget every thing else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was wholly insensible, but perfectly quiet; she seemed to distinguish
+      nothing, and neither spoke nor moved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile regarded her with the utmost horror: the refuge he so
+      implacably refused her on the night when her intellects were disordered,
+      he would now gladly have offered at the expence of almost similar
+      sufferings, to have relieved himself from those rising pangs which called
+      him author of this scene of woe. His pride, his pomp, his ancient name,
+      were now sunk in his estimation; and while he considered himself the
+      destroyer of this unhappy young creature, he would have sacrificed them
+      all to have called himself her protector. Little is the boast of insolence
+      when it is analysed by the conscience! bitter is the agony of
+      self-reproach, where misery follows hardness of heart! yet, when the first
+      painful astonishment from her situation abated, the remorse she excited
+      being far stronger than the pity, he gave an angry glance at Dr Lyster for
+      betraying him into such a sight, and hastily left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, who was now impatiently waiting to see Dr Lyster in the little
+      parlour, alarmed at the sound of a new step upon the stairs, came out to
+      enquire who had been admitted. When he saw his father, he shrunk back; but
+      Mr Delvile, no longer supported by pride, and unable to recover from the
+      shock he had just received, caught him in his arms, and said &ldquo;Oh come home
+      to me, my son! this is a place to destroy you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sir,&rdquo; cried Delvile, &ldquo;think not of me now!&mdash;you must shew me no
+      kindness; I am not in a state to bear it!&rdquo; And, forcibly breaking from
+      him, he hurried out of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, all the father awakened in his bosom, saw his departure with
+      more dread than anger; and returned himself to St James's-square, tortured
+      with parental fears, and stung by personal remorse, lamenting his own
+      inflexibility, and pursued by the pale image of Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was still in this unconscious state, and apparently as free from
+      suffering as from enjoyment, when a new voice was suddenly heard without,
+      exclaiming, &ldquo;Oh where is she? where is she? where is my dear Miss
+      Beverley?&rdquo; and Henrietta Belfield ran wildly into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The advertisement in the news-papers had at once brought her to town, and
+      directed her to the house: the mention that the lost lady <i>talked much
+      of a person by the name of Delvile</i>, struck her instantly to mean
+      Cecilia; the description corresponded with this idea, and the account of
+      the dress confirmed it: Mr Arnott, equally terrified with herself, had
+      therefore lent her his chaise to learn the truth of this conjecture, and
+      she had travelled all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Flying up to the bedside, &ldquo;Who is this?&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;this is not Miss
+      Beverley?&rdquo; and then screaming with unrestrained horror, &ldquo;Oh mercy! mercy!&rdquo;
+       she called out, &ldquo;yes, it is indeed! and nobody would know her!&mdash;her
+      own mother would not think her her child!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must come away, Miss Belfield,&rdquo; said Mary, &ldquo;you must indeed,&mdash;the
+      doctors all say my lady must not be disturbed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who shall take me away?&rdquo; cried she, angrily, &ldquo;nobody Mary! not all the
+      doctors in the world! Oh sweet Miss Beverley! I will lie down by your
+      side,&mdash;I will never quit you while you live,&mdash;and I wish, I wish
+      I could die to save your precious life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, leaning over her, and wringing her hands, &ldquo;Oh I shall break my
+      heart,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;to see her in this condition! Is this the so happy
+      Miss Beverley, that I thought every body born to give joy to? the Miss
+      Beverley that seemed queen of the whole world! yet so good and so gentle,
+      so kind to the meanest person! excusing every body's faults but her own,
+      and telling them how they might mend, and trying to make them as good as
+      herself!&mdash;Oh who would know her! who would know her! what have they
+      done to you, my beloved Miss Beverley? how have they altered and
+      disfigured you in this wicked and barbarous manner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of this simple yet pathetic testimony, to the worth and
+      various excellencies of Cecilia, Dr Lyster came into the room. The women
+      all flocked around him, except Mary, to vindicate themselves from any
+      share in permitting this new comer's entrance and behaviour; but Mary only
+      told him who she was, and said, that if her lady was well enough to know
+      her, there was nobody she was certain she would have been so glad to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Young lady,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;I would advise you to walk into another
+      room till you are a little more composed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every body, I find, is for hurrying me away,&rdquo; cried the sobbing
+      Henrietta, whose honest heart swelled with its own affectionate integrity;
+      &ldquo;but they might all save themselves the trouble, for go I will not!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is very wrong,&rdquo; said the doctor, &ldquo;and must not be suffered: do you
+      call it friendship to come about a sick person in this manner?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh my Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, &ldquo;do you hear how they all upbraid
+      me? how they all want to force me away from you, and to hinder me even
+      from looking at you! Speak for me, sweet lady! speak for me yourself! tell
+      them the poor Henrietta will not do you any harm; tell them she only
+      wishes just to sit by you, and to see you!&mdash;I will hold by this dear
+      hand,&mdash;I will cling to it till the last minute; and you will not, I
+      know you will not, give orders to have it taken away from me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster, though his own good nature was much affected by this fond
+      sorrow, now half angrily represented to her the impropriety of indulging
+      it: but Henrietta, unused to disguise or repress her feelings, grew only
+      the more violent, the more she was convinced of Cecilia's danger: &ldquo;Oh look
+      but at her,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;and take me from her if you can! see how her
+      sweet eyes are fixed! look but what a change in her complexion!&mdash;She
+      does not see me, she does not know me,&mdash;she does not hear me! her
+      hand seems quite lifeless already, her face is all fallen away!&mdash;Oh
+      that I had died twenty deaths before I had lived to see this sight!&mdash;poor
+      wretched Henrietta, thou bast now no friend left in the world! thou mayst
+      go and lie down in some corner, and no one will come and say to thee a
+      word of comfort!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This must not be!&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;you must take her away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall not!&rdquo; cried she, desperately, &ldquo;I will stay with her till she
+      has breathed her last, and I will stay with her still longer! and if she
+      was to speak to you this moment, she would tell you that she chose it. She
+      loved the poor Henrietta, and loved to have her near her; and when she was
+      ill, and in much distress, she never once bid me leave her room. Is it not
+      true, my sweet Miss Beverley? do you not know it to be true? Oh look not
+      so dreadfully! turn to your unhappy Henrietta; sweetest, best of ladies!
+      will you not speak to her once more? will you not say to her one single
+      word?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster now grew very angry, and telling her such violence might have
+      fatal consequences, frightened her into more order, and drew her away
+      himself. He had then the kindness to go with her into another room, where,
+      when her first vehemence was spent, his remonstrances and reasoning
+      brought her to a sense of the danger she might occasion, and made her
+      promise not to return to the room till she had gained strength to behave
+      better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Dr Lyster went again to Delvile, he found him greatly alarmed by his
+      long stay; he communicated to him briefly what had passed, and counselled
+      him to avoid encreasing his own grief by the sight of what was suffered by
+      this unguarded and ardent girl. Delvile readily assented, for the weight
+      of his own woe was too heavy to bear any addition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta now, kept in order by Dr Lyster, contented herself with only
+      sitting on the bed, without attempting to speak, and with no other
+      employment than alternately looking at her sick friend, and covering her
+      streaming eyes with her handkerchief; from time to time quitting the room
+      wholly, for the relief of sobbing at liberty and aloud in another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, in the evening, while Delvile and Dr Lyster were taking one of their
+      melancholy rambles, a new scene was acted in the apartment of the still
+      senseless Cecilia. Albany suddenly made his entrance into it, accompanied
+      by three children, two girls and one boy, from the ages of four to six,
+      neatly dressed, clean, and healthy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See here!&rdquo;' cried he, as he came in, &ldquo;see here what I've brought you!
+      raise, raise your languid head, and look this way! you think me rigid,&mdash;an
+      enemy to pleasure, austere, harsh, and a forbidder of joy: look at this
+      sight, and see the contrary! who shall bring you comfort, joy, pleasure,
+      like this? three innocent children, clothed and fed by your bounty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta and Mary, who both knew him well, were but little surprised at
+      anything he said or did, and the nurses presumed not to interfere but by
+      whispers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, however, observed nothing that passed; and Albany, somewhat
+      astonished, approached nearer to the bed; &ldquo;Wilt thou not speak?&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She can't, Sir,&rdquo; said one of the women; &ldquo;she has been speechless many
+      hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The air of triumph with which he had entered the room was now changed into
+      disappointment and consternation. For some minutes he thoughtfully and
+      sorrowfully contemplated her, and then, with a deep sigh, said, &ldquo;How will
+      the poor rue this day!&rdquo; Then, turning to the children, who, awed by this
+      scene, were quiet from terror. &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;ye helpless babes, ye
+      know not what you have lost: presumptuously we came; unheeded we must
+      return! I brought you to be seen by your benefactress, but she is going
+      where she will find many such.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then led them away; but, suddenly coming back, &ldquo;I may see her, perhaps,
+      no more! shall I not, then, pray for her? Great and aweful is the change
+      she is making; what are human revolutions, how pitiful, how insignificant,
+      compared with it!&mdash;Come, little babies, come; with gifts has she
+      often blessed <i>you</i>, with wishes bless <i>her</i>! Come, let us kneel
+      round her bed; let us all pray for her together; lift up your innocent
+      hands, and for all of you I will speak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then made the children obey his injunctions, and having knelt himself,
+      while Henrietta and Mary instantly did the same, &ldquo;Sweet flower!&rdquo; he cried,
+      &ldquo;untimely cropt in years, yet in excellence mature! early decayed in
+      misery, yet fragrant in innocence! Gentle be thy exit, for unsullied have
+      been thy days; brief be thy pains, for few have been thy offences! Look at
+      her sweet babes, and bear her in your remembrance; often will I visit you
+      and revive the solemn scene. Look at her ye, also, who are nearer to your
+      end&mdash;Ah! will you bear it like her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused; and the nurses and Mrs Wyers, struck by this call, and moved by
+      the general example, crept to the bed, and dropt on their knees, almost
+      involuntarily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She departs,&rdquo; resumed Albany, &ldquo;the envy of the world! while yet no guilt
+      had seized her soul, and no remorse had marred her peace. She was the
+      hand-maid of charity, and pity dwelt in her bosom! her mouth was never
+      open but to give comfort; her foot-steps were followed by blessings! Oh
+      happy in purity, be thine the song of triumph!&mdash;softly shalt thou
+      sink to temporary sleep,&mdash;sublimely shalt thou rise to life that
+      wakes for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then got up, took the children by their little hands, and went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER x. &mdash; A TERMINATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster and Delvile met them at the entrance into the house. Extremely
+      alarmed lest Cecilia had received any disturbance, they both hastened up
+      stairs, but Delvile proceeded only to the door. He stopt there and
+      listened; but all was silent; the prayers of Albany had struck an awe into
+      every one; and Dr Lyster soon returned to tell him there was no alteration
+      in his patient.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he has not disturbed her?&rdquo; cried Delvile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, then,&rdquo; said he, advancing, though trembling, &ldquo;I will yet see her
+      once more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Mr Mortimer,&rdquo; cried the doctor, &ldquo;why should you give yourself so
+      unnecessary a shock?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The shock,&rdquo; answered he, &ldquo;is over!&mdash;tell me, however, is there any
+      chance I may hurt <i>her</i>?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe not; I do not think, just now, she will perceive you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then,&mdash;I may grieve, perhaps, hereafter, that once more&mdash;that
+      one glance!&rdquo;&mdash;He stopt, irresolute the doctor would again have
+      dissuaded him, but, after a little hesitation, he assured him he was
+      prepared for the worst, and forced himself into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When again, however, he beheld Cecilia,&mdash;senseless, speechless,
+      motionless, her features void of all expression, her cheeks without
+      colour, her eyes without meaning,&mdash;he shrunk from the sight, he leant
+      upon Dr Lyster, and almost groaned aloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor would have conducted him out of the apartment; but, recovering
+      from this first agony, he turned again to view her, and casting up his
+      eyes, fervently ejaculated, &ldquo;Oh merciful powers! Take, or destroy her! let
+      her not linger thus, rather let me lose her for ever!&mdash;O far rather
+      would I see her dead, glad in this dreadful condition!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, advancing to the bed side, and yet more earnestly looking at her, &ldquo;I
+      pray not now,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;for thy life! inhumanly as I have treated thee,
+      I am not yet so hardened as to wish thy misery lengthened no; quick be thy
+      restoration, or short as pure thy passage to eternity!&mdash;Oh my
+      Cecilia! lovely, however altered! sweet even in the arms of death and
+      insanity! and dearer to my tortured heart in this calamitous state, than
+      in all thy pride of health and beauty!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopt, and turned from her, yet could not tear himself away; he came
+      back, he again looked at her, he hung over her in anguish unutterable; he
+      kissed each burning hand, he folded to his bosom her feeble form, and,
+      recovering his speech, though almost bursting with sorrow, faintly
+      articulated, &ldquo;Is all over? no ray of reason left? no knowledge of thy
+      wretched Delvile?&mdash;no, none! the hand of death is on her, and she is
+      utterly gone!&mdash;sweet suffering excellence! loved, lost, expiring
+      Cecilia!&mdash;but I will not repine! peace and kindred angels are
+      watching to receive thee, and if thou art parted from thyself, it were
+      impious to lament thou shouldst be parted from me.&mdash;Yet in thy tomb
+      will be deposited all that to me could render existence supportable, every
+      frail chance of happiness, every sustaining hope, and all alleviation of
+      sorrow!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster now again approaching, thought he perceived some change in his
+      patient, and peremptorily forced him away from her: then returning
+      himself, he found that her eyes were shut, and she was dropt asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was an omen the most favourable he could hope. He now seated himself
+      by the bedside, and determined not to quit her till the expected crisis
+      was past. He gave the strictest orders for the whole house to be kept
+      quiet, and suffered no one in the room either to speak or move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her sleep was long and heavy; yet, when she awoke, her sensibility was
+      evidently returned. She started, suddenly raised her head from the pillow,
+      looked round her, and called out, &ldquo;where am I now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank Heaven!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, and was rushing forward, when Dr Lyster,
+      by a stern and angry look, compelled her again to take her seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then spoke to her himself, enquired how she did, and found her quite
+      rational.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, who now doubted not her perfect recovery, wept as violently for
+      joy as she had before wept for grief; and Mary, in the same belief, ran
+      instantly to Delvile, eager to carry to him the first tidings that her
+      mistress had recovered her reason.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, in the utmost emotion, then returned to the chamber; but stood at
+      some distance from the bed, waiting Dr Lyster's permission to approach it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was quiet and composed, her recollection seemed restored, and her
+      intellects sound: hut she was faint and weak, and contentedly silent, to
+      avoid the effort of speaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster encouraged this stillness, and suffered not anyone, not even
+      Delvile, to advance to her. After a short time, however, she again, and
+      very calmly, began to talk to him. She now first knew him, and seemed much
+      surprised by his attendance. She could not tell, she said, what of late
+      had happened to her, nor could guess where she was, or by what means she
+      came into such a place. Dr Lyster desired her at present not to think upon
+      the subject, and promised her a full account of everything, when she was
+      stronger, and more fit for conversing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This for a while silenced her. But, after a short pause, &ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; she
+      said, &ldquo;Dr Lyster, have I no friend in this place but you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, you have several friends here,&rdquo; answered the Doctor, &ldquo;only I
+      keep them in order, lest they should hurry or disturb you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She seemed much pleased by this speech; but soon after said, &ldquo;You must
+      not, Doctor, keep them in order much longer, for the sight of them, I
+      think, would much revive me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Miss Beverley!&rdquo; cried Henrietta, who could not now restrain herself,
+      &ldquo;may not <i>I</i>, among the rest, come and speak to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that?&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a voice of pleasure, though very feeble;
+      &ldquo;is it my ever-dear Henrietta?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh this is joy indeed!&rdquo; cried she, fervently kissing her cheeks and
+      forehead, &ldquo;joy that I never, never expected to have more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come,&rdquo; cried Dr Lyster, &ldquo;here's enough of this; did I not do well
+      to keep such people off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe you did,&rdquo; said Cecilia, faintly smiling; &ldquo;my too kind
+      Henrietta, you must be more tranquil!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will, I will indeed, madam!&mdash;my dear, dear Miss Beverley, I will
+      indeed!&mdash;now once you have owned me, and once again I hear your sweet
+      voice, I will do any thing, and every thing, for I am made happy for my
+      whole life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, sweet Henrietta!&rdquo; cried Cecilia, giving her her hand, &ldquo;you must
+      suppress these feelings, or our Doctor here will soon part us. But tell
+      me, Doctor, is there no one else that you can let me see?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, who had listened to this scene in the unspeakable perturbation of
+      that hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair, was now
+      springing forward; but Dr Lyster, fearful of the consequences, hastily
+      arose, and with a look and air not to be disputed, took hold of his arm,
+      and led him out of the room. He then represented to him strongly the
+      danger of agitating or disturbing her, and charged him to keep from her
+      sight till better able to bear it; assuring him at the same time that he
+      might now reasonably hope her recovery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, lost in transport, could make no answer, but flew into his arms,
+      and almost madly embraced him; he then hastened out of sight to pour forth
+      fervent thanks, and hurrying back with equal speed, again embraced the
+      Doctor, and while his manly cheeks were burnt with tears of joy, he could
+      not yet articulate the glad tumult of his soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Dr Lyster, who heartily partook of his happiness, again urged
+      him to be discreet; and Delvile, no longer intractable and desperate,
+      gratefully concurred in whatever he commanded. Dr Lyster then returned to
+      Cecilia, and to relieve her mind from any uneasy suspense, talked to her
+      openly of Delvile, gave her to understand he was acquainted with her
+      marriage, and told her he had prohibited their meeting till each was
+      better able to support it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia by this delay seemed half gratified, and half disappointed; but
+      the rest of the physicians, who had been summoned upon this happy change,
+      now appearing, the orders were yet more strictly enforced for keeping her
+      quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She submitted, therefore, peaceably; and Delvile, whose gladdened heart
+      still throbbed with speechless rapture, contentedly watched at her chamber
+      door, and obeyed implicitly whatever was said to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She now visibly, and almost hourly grew better; and, in a short time, her
+      anxiety to know all that was passed, and by what means she became so ill,
+      and confined in a house of which she had not any knowledge, obliged Dr
+      Lyster to make himself master of these particulars, that he might
+      communicate them to her with a calmness that Delvile could not attain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile himself, happy to be spared the bitter task of such a relation,
+      informed him all he knew of the story, and then entreated him to narrate
+      to her also the motives of his own strange, and he feared unpardonable
+      conduct, and the scenes which had followed their parting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came, he said, to England, ignorant of all that had past in his
+      absence, intending merely to wait upon his father, and communicate his
+      marriage, before he gave directions to his lawyer for the settlements and
+      preparations which were to precede its further publication. He meant,
+      also, to satisfy himself, of the real situation of Mr Monckton, and then,
+      after an interview with Cecilia, to have returned to his mother, and
+      waited at Nice till he might publicly claim his wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this purpose he had written in his letter, which he meant to have put
+      in the Post-office in London himself; and he had but just alighted from
+      his chaise, when he met Ralph, Cecilia's servant, in the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hastily stopping him, he enquired if he had left his place? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered
+      Ralph, &ldquo;I am only come up to town with my lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With your lady?&rdquo; cried the astonished Delvile, is your lady then in
+      town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, she is at Mrs Belfield's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At Mrs Belfield's?&mdash;is her daughter returned home?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, sir, we left her in the country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was then going on with a further account, but, in too much confusion of
+      mind to hear him Delvile abruptly wished him good night, and marched on
+      himself towards Belfield's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pleasure with which he would have heard that Cecilia was so near to
+      him, was totally lost in his perplexity to account for her journey. Her
+      letters had never hinted at such a purpose,&mdash;the news reached him
+      only by accident,&mdash;it was ten o'clock at night,&mdash;yet she was at
+      Belfield's&mdash;though the sister was away,&mdash;though the mother was
+      professedly odious to her!&mdash;In an instant, all he had formerly heard,
+      all he had formerly disregarded, rushed suddenly upon his memory, and he
+      began to believe he had been deluded, that his father was right, and that
+      Belfield had some strange and improper influence over her heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The suspicion was death to him; he drove it from him, he concluded the
+      whole was some error: his reason as powerfully as his tenderness
+      vindicated her innocence; and though he arrived at the house in much
+      disorder, he yet arrived with a firm persuasion of an honourable
+      explanation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was open,&mdash;a chaise was at it in waiting,&mdash;Mrs Belfield
+      was listening in the passage; these appearances were strange, and
+      encreased his agitation. He asked for her son in a voice scarce audible,&mdash;she
+      told him he was engaged with a lady, and must not be disturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That fatal answer, at a moment so big with the most horrible surmises, was
+      decisive: furiously, therefore, he forced himself past her, and opened the
+      door:&mdash;but when he saw them together,&mdash;the rest of the family
+      confessedly excluded, his rage turned to horror, and he could hardly
+      support himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Dr Lyster!&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;ask of the sweet creature if these
+      circumstances offer any extenuation for the fatal jealousy which seized
+      me? never by myself while I live will it be forgiven, but she, perhaps,
+      who is all softness, all compassion, and all peace, may some time hence
+      think my sufferings almost equal to my offence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then proceeded in his narration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had so peremptorily ordered her chaise to St James's-square, he
+      went back to the house, and desired Belfield to walk out with him. He
+      complied, and they were both silent till they came to a Coffee-house,
+      where they asked for a private room. The whole way they went, his heart,
+      secretly satisfied of the purity of Cecilia, smote him for the situation
+      in which he had left her; yet, having unfortunately gone so far as to make
+      his suspicions apparent, he thought it necessary to his character that
+      their abolition should be equally public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they were alone, &ldquo;Belfield,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to obviate any imputation of
+      impertinence in my enquiries, I deny not, what I presume you have been
+      told by herself, that I have the nearest interest in whatever concerns the
+      lady from whom we are just now parted: I must beg, therefore, an explicit
+      account of the purpose of your private conversation with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr Delvile,&rdquo; answered Belfield, with mingled candour and spirit, &ldquo;I am
+      not commonly much disposed to answer enquiries thus cavalierly put to me;
+      yet here, as I find myself not the principal person concerned, I think I
+      am bound in justice to speak for the absent who is. I assure you,
+      therefore, most solemnly, that your interest in Miss Beverley I never
+      heard but by common report, that our being alone together was by both of
+      us undesigned and undesired, that the honour she did our house in calling
+      at it, was merely to acquaint my mother with my sister's removal to Mrs
+      Harrel's, and that the part which I had myself in her condescension, was
+      simply to be consulted upon a journey which she has in contemplation to
+      the South of France. And now, sir, having given you this peaceable
+      satisfaction, you will find me extremely at your service to offer any
+      other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile instantly held out his hand to him; &ldquo;What you assert,&rdquo; he said,
+      &ldquo;upon your honour, requires no other testimony. Your gallantry and your
+      probity are equally well known to me; with either, therefore, I am
+      content, and by no means require the intervention of both.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They then parted; and now, his doubts removed, and his punctilio
+      satisfied, he flew to St James's-square, to entreat the forgiveness of
+      Cecilia for the alarm he had occasioned her, and to hear the reason of her
+      sudden journey, and change of measures. But when he came there, to find
+      that his father, whom he had concluded was at Delvile Castle, was in the
+      house, while Cecilia had not even enquired for him at the door,&mdash;&ldquo;Oh
+      let me not,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;even to myself, let me not trace the agony of
+      that moment!&mdash;where to seek her I knew not, why she was in London I
+      could not divine, for what purpose she had given the postilion a new
+      direction I could form no idea. Yet it appeared that she wished to avoid
+      me, and once more, in the frenzy of my disappointment, I supposed Belfield
+      a party in her concealment. Again, therefore, I sought him,&mdash;at his
+      own house,&mdash;at the coffee-house where I had left him,&mdash;in vain,
+      wherever I came, I just missed him, for, hearing of my search, he went
+      with equal restlessness, from place to place to meet me. I rejoice we both
+      failed; a repetition of my enquiries in my then irritable state, must
+      inevitably have provoked the most fatal resentment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not dwell upon the scenes that followed,&mdash;my laborious
+      search, my fruitless wanderings, the distraction of my suspense, the
+      excess of my despair!&mdash;even Belfield, the fiery Belfield, when I met
+      with him the next day, was so much touched by my wretchedness, that he
+      bore with all my injustice; feeling, noble young man! never will I lose
+      the remembrance of his high-souled patience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, Dr Lyster, go to my Cecilia; tell her this tale, and try, for
+      you have skill sufficient, to soften, yet not wound her with my
+      sufferings. If then she can bear to see me, to bless me with the sound of
+      her sweet voice, no longer at war with her intellects, to hold out to me
+      her loved hand, in token of peace and forgiveness.&mdash;Oh, Dr Lyster!
+      preserver of <i>my</i> life in hers! give to me but that exquisite moment,
+      and every past evil will be for ever obliterated!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must be calmer, Sir,&rdquo; said the Doctor, &ldquo;before I make the attempt.
+      These heroicks are mighty well for sound health, and strong nerves, but
+      they will not do for an invalide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He went, however, to Cecilia, and gave her this narration, suppressing
+      whatever he feared would most affect her, and judiciously enlivening the
+      whole by his strictures. Cecilia was much easier for this removal of her
+      perplexities, and, as her anguish and her terror had been unmixed with
+      resentment, she had now no desire but to reconcile Delvile with himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster, however, by his friendly authority, obliged her for some time
+      to be content with this relation; but when she grew better, her impatience
+      became stronger, and he feared opposition would be as hurtful as
+      compliance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile, therefore, was now admitted; yet slowly and with trepidation he
+      advanced, terrified for her, and fearful of himself, filled with remorse
+      for the injuries she had sustained, and impressed with grief and horror to
+      behold her so ill and altered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Supported by pillows, she sat almost upright. The moment she saw him, she
+      attempted to bend forward and welcome him, calling out in a tone of
+      pleasure, though faintly, &ldquo;Ah! dearest Delvile! is it you?&rdquo; but too weak
+      for the effort she had made, she sunk back upon her pillow, pale,
+      trembling, and disordered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dr Lyster would then have interfered to postpone their further
+      conversation; but Delvile was no longer master of himself or his passions:
+      he darted forward, and kneeling at the bed side, &ldquo;Sweet injured
+      excellence!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;wife of my heart! sole object of my chosen
+      affection! dost thou yet live? do I hear thy loved voice?&mdash;do I see
+      thee again?&mdash;art thou my Cecilia? and have I indeed not lost thee?&rdquo;
+       then regarding her more fixedly, &ldquo;Alas,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;art thou indeed my
+      Cecilia! so pale, so emaciated!&mdash;Oh suffering angel! and couldst thou
+      then call upon Delvile, the guilty, but heart-broken Delvile, thy
+      destroyer, thy murderer, and yet not call to execrate him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, extremely affected, could not utter a word; she held out to him
+      her hand, she looked at him with gentleness and kindness, but tears
+      started into her eyes, and trickled in large drops down her colourless
+      cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Angelic creature!&rdquo; cried Delvile, his own tears overflowing, while he
+      pressed to his lips the kind token of her pardon, &ldquo;can you give to me
+      again a hand so ill deserved? can you look with such compassion on the
+      author of your woes? on the wretch, who for an instant could doubt the
+      purity of a mind so seraphic!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Delvile!&rdquo; cried she, a little reviving, &ldquo;think no more of what is
+      past!&mdash;to see you,&mdash;to be yours,&mdash;drives all evil from my
+      remembrance!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not worthy this joy!&rdquo; cried he, rising, kneeling, and rising again;
+      &ldquo;I know not how to sustain it! a forgiveness such as this,&mdash;when I
+      believed You must hate me for ever! when repulse and aversion were all I
+      dared expect,&mdash;when my own inhumanity had bereft thee of thy reason,&mdash;when
+      the grave, the pitiless grave, was already open to receive thee.&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too kind, too feeling Delvile!&rdquo; cried the penetrated Cecilia, &ldquo;relieve
+      your loaded heart from these bitter recollections; mine is lightened
+      already,&mdash;lightened, I think, of every thing but its affection for <i>you</i>!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh words of transport and extacy!&rdquo; cried the enraptured Delvile, &ldquo;oh
+      partner of my life! friend, solace, darling of my bosom! that so lately I
+      thought expiring! that I folded to my bleeding heart in the agony of
+      eternal separation!&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come away, Sir, come away,&rdquo; cried Dr Lyster, who now saw that Cecilia was
+      greatly agitated, &ldquo;I will not be answerable for the continuation of this
+      scene;&rdquo; and taking him by the arm, he awakened him from his frantic
+      rapture, by assuring him she would faint, and forced him away from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after he was gone, and Cecilia became more tranquil, Henrietta, who
+      had wept with bitterness in a corner of the room during this scene,
+      approached her, and, with an attempted smile, though in a voice hardly
+      audible, said, &ldquo;Ah, Miss Beverley, you will, at last, then be happy! happy
+      as all your goodness deserves. And I am sure I should rejoice in it if I
+      was to die to make you happier!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, who but too well knew her full meaning, tenderly embraced her,
+      but was prevented by Dr Lyster from entering into any discourse with her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first meeting, however, with Delvile being over, the second was far
+      more quiet, and in a very short time, he would scarcely quit her a moment,
+      Cecilia herself receiving from his sight a pleasure too great for denial,
+      yet too serene for danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Dr Lyster, finding her prospect of recovery thus fair, prepared
+      for leaving London: but, equally desirous to do good out of his profession
+      as in it, he first, at the request of Delvile, waited upon his father, to
+      acquaint him with his present situation, solicit his directions for his
+      future proceedings, and endeavour to negociate a general reconciliation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile, to whose proud heart social joy could find no avenue, was yet
+      touched most sensibly by the restoration of Cecilia. Neither his dignity
+      nor his displeasure had been able to repress remorse, a feeling to which,
+      with all his foibles, he had not been accustomed. The view of her
+      distraction had dwelt upon his imagination, the despondency of his son had
+      struck him with fear and horror. He had been haunted by self reproach, and
+      pursued by vain regret; and those concessions he had refused to tenderness
+      and entreaty, he now willingly accorded to change repentance for
+      tranquility. He sent instantly for his son, whom even with tears he
+      embraced, and felt his own peace restored as he pronounced his
+      forgiveness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      New, however, to kindness, he retained it not long, and a stranger to
+      generosity, he knew not how to make her welcome: the extinction of his
+      remorse abated his compassion for Cecilia, and when solicited to receive
+      her, he revived the charges of Mr Monckton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, informed of this, determined to write to that gentleman herself,
+      whose long and painful illness, joined to his irrecoverable loss of her,
+      she now hoped might prevail with him to make reparation for the injuries
+      he had done her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Mr Monckton</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I write not, Sir, to upbraid you; the woes which have followed your ill
+      offices, and which you may some time hear, will render my reproaches
+      superfluous. I write but to beseech that what is past may content you; and
+      that, however, while I was single, you chose to misrepresent me to the
+      Delvile family, you will have so much honour, since I am now become one of
+      it, as to acknowledge my innocence of the crimes laid to my charge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In remembrance of my former long friendship, I send you my good wishes;
+      and in consideration of my hopes from your recantation, I send you, Sir,
+      if you think it worth acceptance, my forgiveness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      CECILIA DELVILE.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Monckton, after many long and painful struggles between useless rage,
+      and involuntary remorse, at length sent the following answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>To Mrs Mortimer Delvile</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those who could ever believe you guilty, must have been eager to think you
+      so. I meant but your welfare at all times, and to have saved you from a
+      connection I never thought equal to your merit. I am grieved, but not
+      surprised, to hear of your injuries; from the alliance you have formed,
+      nothing else could be expected: if my testimony to your innocence can,
+      however, serve to mitigate them, I scruple not to declare I believe it
+      without taint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delvile sent by Dr Lyster this letter to his father, whose rage at the
+      detection of the perfidy which had deceived him, was yet inferior to what
+      he felt that his family was mentioned so injuriously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His conference with Dr Lyster was long and painful, but decisive: that
+      sagacious and friendly man knew well how to work upon, his passions, and
+      so effectually awakened them by representing the disgrace of his own
+      family from the present situation of Cecilia, that before he quitted his
+      house he was authorised to invite her to remove to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he returned from his embassy, he found Delvile in her room, and each
+      waiting with impatience the event of his negociation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor with much alacrity gave Cecilia the invitation with which he
+      had been charged; but Delvile, jealous for her dignity, was angry and
+      dissatisfied his father brought it not himself, and exclaimed with much
+      mortification, &ldquo;Is this all the grace accorded me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Patience, patience, Sir,&rdquo; answered the Doctor; &ldquo;when you have thwarted
+      any body in their first hope and ambition, do you expect they will send
+      you their compliments and many thanks for the disappointment? Pray let the
+      good gentleman have his way in some little matters, since you have taken
+      such effectual care to put out of his reach the power of having it in
+      greater.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O far from starting obstacles,&rdquo; cried Cecilia, &ldquo;let us solicit a
+      reconciliation with whatever concessions he may require. The misery of
+      DISOBEDIENCE we have but too fatally experienced; and thinking as we think
+      of filial ties and parental claims, how can we ever hope happiness till
+      forgiven and taken into favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;True, my Cecilia,&rdquo; answered Delvile, &ldquo;and generous and condescending as
+      true; and if <i>you</i> can thus sweetly comply, I will gratefully forbear
+      making any opposition. Too much already have you suffered from the
+      impetuosity of my temper, but I will try to curb it in future by the
+      remembrance of your injuries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole of this unfortunate business,&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;has been the
+      result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. Your uncle, the Dean, began it, by his
+      arbitrary will, as if an ordinance of his own could arrest the course of
+      nature! and as if <i>he</i> had power to keep alive, by the loan of a
+      name, a family in the male branch already extinct. Your father, Mr
+      Mortimer, continued it with the same self-partiality, preferring the
+      wretched gratification of tickling his ear with a favourite sound, to the
+      solid happiness of his son with a rich and deserving wife. Yet this,
+      however, remember; if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so
+      wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you
+      will also owe their termination: for all that I could say to Mr Delvile,
+      either of reasoning or entreaty,&mdash;and I said all I could suggest, and
+      I suggested all a man need wish to hear,&mdash;was totally thrown away,
+      till I pointed out to him his <i>own</i> disgrace, in having a <i>daughter-in-law</i>
+      immured in these mean lodgings!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thus, my dear young lady, the terror which drove you to this house, and
+      the sufferings which have confined you in it, will prove, in the event,
+      the source of your future peace: for when all my best rhetorick failed to
+      melt Mr Delvile, I instantly brought him to terms by coupling his name
+      with a pawnbroker's! And he could not with more disgust hear his son
+      called Mr Beverley, than think of his son's wife when he hears of the <i>Three
+      Blue Balls</i>! Thus the same passions, taking but different directions,
+      <i>do</i> mischief and <i>cure</i> it alternately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such, my good young friends, is the MORAL of your calamities. You have
+      all, in my opinion, been strangely at cross purposes, and trifled, no one
+      knows why, with the first blessings of life. My only hope is that now,
+      having among you thrown away its luxuries, you will have known enough of
+      misery to be glad to keep its necessaries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This excellent man was yet prevailed upon by Delvile to stay and assist in
+      removing the feeble Cecilia to St James's-square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta, for whom Mr Arnott's equipage and servants had still remained
+      in town, was then, though with much difficulty, persuaded to go back to
+      Suffolk: but Cecilia, however fond of her society, was too sensible of the
+      danger and impropriety of her present situation, to receive from it any
+      pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr Delvile's reception of Cecilia was formal and cold: yet, as she now
+      appeared publicly in the character of his son's wife, the best apartment
+      in his house had been prepared for her use, his domestics were instructed
+      to wait upon her with the utmost respect, and Lady Honoria Pemberton, who
+      was accidentally in town, offered from curiosity, what Mr Delvile accepted
+      from parade, to be herself in St James's-square, in order to do honour to
+      his daughter-in-law's first entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Cecilia was a little recovered from the shock of the first interview,
+      and the fatigue of her removal, the anxious Mortimer would instantly have
+      had her conveyed to her own apartment; but, willing to exert herself, and
+      hoping to oblige Mr Delvile, she declared she was well able to remain some
+      time longer in the drawing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My good friends,&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;in the course of my long practice, I
+      have found it impossible to study the human frame, without a little
+      studying the human mind; and from all that I have yet been able to make
+      out, either by observation, reflection, or comparison, it appears to me at
+      this moment, that Mr Mortimer Delvile has got the best wife, and that you,
+      Sir, have here the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husband or any
+      father in the three kingdoms belonging to his Majesty can either have or
+      desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia smiled; Mortimer looked his delighted concurrence; Mr Delvile
+      forced himself to make a stiff inclination of the head; and Lady Honoria
+      gaily exclaimed, &ldquo;Dr Lyster, when you say the <i>best</i> and the most <i>faultless</i>,
+      you should always add the rest of the company excepted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word,&rdquo; cried the Doctor, &ldquo;I beg your ladyship's pardon; but there
+      is a certain unguarded warmth comes across a man now and then, that drives
+      <i>etiquette</i> out of his head, and makes him speak truth before he well
+      knows where he is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O terrible!&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;this is sinking deeper and deeper. I had hoped
+      the town air would have taught you better things; but I find you have
+      visited at Delvile Castle till you are fit for no other place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whoever, Lady Honoria,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, much offended, &ldquo;is fit for
+      Delvile Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every other
+      place may by no means be fit for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes, Sir,&rdquo; cried she, giddily, &ldquo;every possible place will be fit for
+      him, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr Lyster?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, when a man has the honour to see your ladyship,&rdquo; answered he,
+      good-humouredly, &ldquo;he is apt to think too much of the person, to care about
+      the place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, I begin to have some hopes of you,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;for I see, for a
+      Doctor, you have really a very pretty notion of a compliment: only you
+      have one great fault still; you look the whole time as if you said it for
+      a joke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, in fact, madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both in word and
+      look for upwards of fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick a reformation to
+      demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow. However, give me but
+      a little time and a little encouragement, and, with such a tutress, 'twill
+      be hard if I do not, in a very few lessons, learn the right method of
+      seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion of twisting words from
+      meaning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But pray,&rdquo; cried she, &ldquo;upon those occasions, always remember to look
+      serious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If you are
+      tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvile Castle; 'tis an
+      expedient I commonly make use of myself when I am afraid of being too
+      frisky: and it always succeeds, for the very recollection of it gives me
+      the head-ache in a moment. Upon my word, Mr Delvile, you must have the
+      constitution of five men, to have kept such good health, after living so
+      long at that horrible place. You can't imagine how you've surprised me,
+      for I have regularly expected to hear of your death at the end of every
+      summer: and, I assure you, once, I was very near buying mourning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The estate which descends to a man from his own ancestors, Lady Honoria,&rdquo;
+       answered Mr Delvile, &ldquo;will seldom be apt to injure his health, if he is
+      conscious of committing no misdemeanour which has degraded their memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How vastly odious this new father of yours is!&rdquo; said Lady Honoria, in a
+      whisper to Cecilia; &ldquo;what could ever induce you to give up your charming
+      estate for the sake of coming into this fusty old family! I would really
+      advise you to have your marriage annulled. You have only, you know, to
+      take an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you are an
+      Heiress, and the Delviles are all so violent, it will easily be credited.
+      And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to marry my
+      little Lord Derford.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you only, then,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;have me regain my freedom in order
+      to part with it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; answered Lady Honoria, &ldquo;for you can do nothing at all without
+      being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackled than a
+      wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know, has
+      nothing to do but just to manage her husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that,&rdquo; said Cecilia, smiling, &ldquo;you consider as a trifle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, if you do but marry a man you don't care for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right, then, indeed, to recommend to me my Lord Derford!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes, he will make the prettiest husband in the world; you may fly about
+      yourself as wild as a lark, and keep him the whole time as tame as a
+      jack-daw: and though he may complain of you to your friends, he will never
+      have the courage to find fault to your face. But as to Mortimer, you will
+      not be able to govern him as long as you live; for the moment you have put
+      him upon the fret, you'll fall into the dumps yourself, hold out your hand
+      to him, and, losing the opportunity of gaining some material point, make
+      up at the first soft word.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think, then, the quarrel more amusing than the reconciliation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, a thousand times! for while you are quarrelling, you may say any
+      thing, and demand any thing, but when you are reconciled, you ought to
+      behave pretty, and seem contented.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those who presume to have any pretensions to your ladyship,&rdquo; said
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;would be made happy indeed should they hear your principles!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O, it would not signify at all,&rdquo; answered she, &ldquo;for one's fathers, and
+      uncles, and those sort of people, always make connexions for one, and not
+      a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by our
+      conduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for they
+      give us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the world while
+      we are single, but how we can dance a minuet, or play a lesson upon the
+      harpsichord.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what else,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, who advanced, and heard this last
+      speech, &ldquo;need a young lady of rank desire to be known for? your ladyship
+      surely would not have her degrade herself by studying like an artist or
+      professor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, Sir, I would not have her study at all; it's mighty well for
+      children, but really after sixteen, and when one is come out, one has
+      quite fatigue enough in dressing, and going to public places, and ordering
+      new things, without all that torment of first and second position, and E
+      upon the first line, and F upon the first, space!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ladyship must, however, pardon me for hinting,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile,
+      &ldquo;that a young lady of condition, who has a proper sense of her dignity,
+      cannot be seen too rarely, or known too little.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O but I hate dignity!&rdquo; cried she carelessly, &ldquo;for it's the dullest thing
+      in the world. I always thought it was owing to that you were so little
+      amusing;&mdash;really I beg your pardon, Sir, I meant to say so little
+      talkative.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can easily credit that your ladyship spoke hastily,&rdquo; answered he,
+      highly piqued, &ldquo;for I believe, indeed, a person of a family such as mine,
+      will hardly be supposed to have come into the world for the office of
+      amusing it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O no, Sir,&rdquo; cried she, with pretended innocence, &ldquo;nobody, I am sure, ever
+      saw you with such a thought.&rdquo; Then, turning to Cecilia, she added in a
+      whisper, &ldquo;You cannot imagine, my dear Mrs Mortimer, how I detest this old
+      cousin of mine! Now pray tell me honestly if you don't hate him yourself?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope,&rdquo; said Cecilia, &ldquo;to have no reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, how you are always upon your guard! If I were half as cautious, I
+      should die of the vapours in a month; the only thing that keeps me at all
+      alive, is now and then making people angry; for the folks at our house let
+      me go out so seldom, and then send me with such stupid old chaperons, that
+      giving them a little torment is really the only entertainment I can
+      procure myself. O&mdash;but I had almost forgot to tell you a most
+      delightful thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why you must know I have the greatest hopes in the world that my father
+      will quarrel with old Mr Delvile!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is that such a delightful thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes; I have lived upon the very idea this fortnight; for then, you
+      know, they'll both be in a passion, and I shall see which of them looks
+      frightfullest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When Lady Honoria whispers,&rdquo; cried Mortimer, &ldquo;I always suspect some
+      mischief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No indeed,&rdquo; answered her ladyship, &ldquo;I was merely congratulating Mrs
+      Mortimer about her marriage. Though really, upon second thoughts, I don't
+      know whether I should not rather condole with her, for I have long been
+      convinced she has a prodigious antipathy to you. I saw it the whole time I
+      was at Delvile Castle, where she used to change colour at the very sound
+      of your name; a symptom I never perceived when I talked to her of my Lord
+      Derford, who would certainly have made her a thousand times a better
+      husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean on account of his title, Lady Honoria,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile;
+      &ldquo;your ladyship must be strangely forgetful of the connections of your
+      family, not to remember that Mortimer, after the death of his uncle and
+      myself, must inevitably inherit one far more honourable than a
+      new-sprung-up family, like my Lord Ernolf's, could offer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sir; but then, you know, she would have kept her estate, which would
+      have been a vastly better thing than an old pedigree of new relations.
+      Besides, I don't find that any body cares for the noble blood of the
+      Delviles but themselves; and if she had kept her fortune, every body, I
+      fancy, would have cared for <i>that</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every body, then,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, &ldquo;must be highly mercenary and
+      ignoble, or the blood of an ancient and honourable house, would be thought
+      contaminated by the most distant hint of so degrading a comparison.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear Sir, what should we all do with birth if it was not for wealth? it
+      would neither take us to Ranelagh nor the Opera; nor buy us caps nor wigs,
+      nor supply us with dinners nor bouquets.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Caps and wigs, dinners and bouquets!&rdquo; interrupted Mr Delvile; &ldquo;your
+      ladyship's estimate of wealth is really extremely minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you know, Sir, as to caps and wigs, they are very serious things,
+      for we should look mighty droll figures to go about bare-headed; and as to
+      dinners, how would the Delviles have lasted all these thousand centuries
+      if they had disdained eating them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever may be your ladyship's satisfaction,&rdquo; said Mr Delvile, angrily,
+      &ldquo;in depreciating a house that has the honour of being nearly allied with
+      your own, you will not, I hope at least, instruct this lady,&rdquo; turning to
+      Cecilia, &ldquo;to adopt a similar contempt of its antiquity and dignity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This lady,&rdquo; cried Mortimer, &ldquo;will at least, by condescending to become
+      one of it, secure us from any danger that such contempt may spread
+      further.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me but,&rdquo; said Cecilia, looking gratefully at him, &ldquo;be as secure from
+      exciting as I am from feeling contempt, and what can I have to wish?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good and excellent young lady!&rdquo; said Dr Lyster, &ldquo;the first of blessings
+      indeed is yours in the temperance of your own mind. When you began your
+      career in life, you appeared to us short-sighted mortals, to possess more
+      than your share of the good things of this world; such a union of riches,
+      beauty, independence, talents, education and virtue, seemed a monopoly to
+      raise general envy and discontent; but mark with what scrupulous exactness
+      the good and bad is ever balanced! You have had a thousand sorrows to
+      which those who have looked up to you have been strangers, and for which
+      not all the advantages you possess have been equivalent. There is
+      evidently throughout this world, in things as well as persons, a levelling
+      principle, at war with pre-eminence, and destructive of perfection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; cried Mortimer, in a low voice to Cecilia, &ldquo;how much higher must we
+      all rise, or how much lower must you fall, ere any levelling principle
+      will approximate us with YOU!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He then entreated her to spare her strength and spirits by returning to
+      her own apartment, and the conversation was broken up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray permit me, Mrs Mortimer,&rdquo; cried Lady Honoria, in taking leave, &ldquo;to
+      beg that the first guest you invite to Delvile Castle may be me. You know
+      my partiality to it already. I shall be particularly happy in waiting upon
+      you in tempestuous weather! We can all stroll out together, you know, very
+      sociably; and I sha'n't be much in your way, for if there should happen to
+      be a storm, you can easily lodge me under some great tree, and while you
+      amuse yourselves with a <i>tete-a-tete</i>, give me the indulgence of my
+      own reflections. I am vastly fond of thinking, and being alone, you know,&mdash;especially
+      in thunder and lightning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She then ran away; and they all separated: Cecilia was conveyed up stairs,
+      and the worthy Dr Lyster, loaded with acknowledgments of every kind, set
+      out for the country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, still weak, and much emaciated, for some time lived almost wholly
+      in her own room, where the grateful and solicitous attendance of Mortimer,
+      alleviated the pain both of her illness and confinement: but as soon as
+      her health permitted travelling, he hastened with her abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here tranquility once more made its abode the heart of Cecilia; that heart
+      so long torn with anguish, suspense and horrour! Mrs Delvile received her
+      with the most rapturous fondness, and the impression of her sorrows
+      gradually wore away, from her kind and maternal cares, and from the
+      watchful affection and delighted tenderness of her son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Egglestons now took entire possession of her estate, and Delvile, at
+      her entreaty, forbore shewing any personal resentment of their conduct,
+      and put into the hands of a lawyer the arrangement of the affair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They continued abroad some months, and the health of Mrs Delvile was
+      tolerably re-established. They were then summoned home by the death of
+      Lord Delvile, who bequeathed to his nephew Mortimer his town house, and
+      whatever of his estate was not annexed to his title, which necessarily
+      devolved to his brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sister of Mrs Delvile, a woman of high spirit and strong passions,
+      lived not long after him; but having, in her latter days, intimately
+      connected herself with Cecilia, she was so much charmed with her
+      character, and so much dazzled by her admiration of the extraordinary
+      sacrifice she had made, that, in a fit of sudden enthusiasm, she altered
+      her will, to leave to her, and to her sole disposal, the fortune which,
+      almost from his infancy, she had destined for her nephew. Cecilia,
+      astonished and penetrated, opposed the alteration; but even her sister,
+      now Lady Delvile, to whom she daily became dearer, earnestly supported it;
+      while Mortimer, delighted to restore to her through his own family, any
+      part of that power and independence of which her generous and pure regard
+      for himself had deprived her, was absolute in refusing that the deed
+      should be revoked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia, from this flattering transaction, received a further conviction
+      of the malignant falsehood of Mr Monckton, who had always represented to
+      her the whole of the Delvile family as equally poor in their
+      circumstances, and illiberal in their minds. The strong spirit of active
+      benevolence which had ever marked her character, was now again displayed,
+      though no longer, as hitherto, unbounded. She had learnt the error of
+      profusion, even in charity and beneficence; and she had a motive for
+      oeconomy, in her animated affection for Mortimer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She soon sent for Albany, whose surprise that she still existed, and whose
+      rapture at her recovered prosperity, now threatened his senses from the
+      tumult of his joy, with nearly the same danger they had lately been
+      menaced by terror. But though her donations were circumscribed by
+      prudence, and their objects were selected with discrimination, she gave to
+      herself all her former benevolent pleasure, in solacing his afflictions,
+      while she softened his asperity, by restoring to him his favourite office
+      of being her almoner and monitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She next sent to her own pensioners, relieved those distresses which her
+      sudden absence had occasioned, and renewed and continued the salaries she
+      had allowed them. All who had nourished reasonable expectations from her
+      bounty she remembered, though she raised no new claimants but with
+      oeconomy and circumspection. But neither Albany nor the old pensioners
+      felt the satisfaction of Mortimer, who saw with new wonder the virtues of
+      her mind, and whose admiration of her excellencies, made his gratitude
+      perpetual for the happiness of his lot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tender-hearted Henrietta, in returning to her new friends, gave way,
+      with artless openness, to the violence of untamed grief; but finding Mr
+      Arnott as wretched as herself, the sympathy Cecilia had foreseen soon
+      endeared them to each other, while the little interest taken in either by
+      Mrs Harrel, made them almost inseparable companions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs Harrel, wearied by their melancholy, and sick of retirement, took the
+      earliest opportunity that was offered her of changing her situation; she
+      married very soon a man of fortune in the neighbourhood, and, quickly
+      forgetting all the past, thoughtlessly began the world again, with new
+      hopes, new connections,&mdash;new equipages and new engagements!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henrietta was then obliged to go again to her mother, where, though
+      deprived of all the indulgencies to which she was now become familiar, she
+      was not more hurt by the separation than Mr Arnott. So sad and so solitary
+      his house seemed in her absence, that he soon followed her to town, and
+      returned not till he carried her back its mistress. And there the gentle
+      gratitude of her soft and feeling heart, engaged from the worthy Mr Arnott
+      the tenderest affection, and, in time, healed the wound of his early and
+      hopeless passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The injudicious, the volatile, yet noble-minded Belfield, to whose mutable
+      and enterprising disposition life seemed always rather beginning than
+      progressive, roved from employment to employment, and from public life to
+      retirement, soured with the world, and discontented with himself, till
+      vanquished, at length, by the constant friendship of Delvile, he consented
+      to accept his good offices in again entering the army; and, being
+      fortunately ordered out upon foreign service, his hopes were revived by
+      ambition, and his prospects were brightened by a view of future honour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wretched Monckton, dupe of his own cunning and artifices, still lived
+      in lingering misery, doubtful which was most acute, the pain of his wound
+      and confinement, or of his defeat and disappointment. Led on by a vain
+      belief that he had parts to conquer all difficulties, he had indulged
+      without restraint a passion in which interest was seconded by inclination.
+      Allured by such fascinating powers, he shortly suffered nothing to stop
+      his course; and though when he began his career he would have started at
+      the mention of actual dishonour, long before it was concluded, neither
+      treachery nor perjury were regarded by him as stumbling blocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All fear of failing was lost in vanity, all sense of probity was sunk in
+      interest, all scruples of conscience were left behind by the heat of the
+      chace. Yet the unforeseen and melancholy catastrophe of his long arts,
+      illustrated in his despite what his principles had obscured, that even in
+      worldly pursuits where fraud out-runs integrity, failure joins dishonour
+      to loss, and disappointment excites triumph instead of pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The upright mind of Cecilia, her purity, her virtue, and the moderation of
+      her wishes, gave to her in the warm affection of Lady Delvile, and the
+      unremitting fondness of Mortimer, all the happiness human life seems
+      capable of receiving:&mdash;yet human it was, and as such imperfect! she
+      knew that, at times, the whole family must murmur at her loss of fortune,
+      and at times she murmured herself to be thus portionless, tho' an HEIRESS.
+      Rationally, however, she surveyed the world at large, and finding that of
+      the few who had any happiness, there were none without some misery, she
+      checked the rising sigh of repining mortality, and, grateful with general
+      felicity, bore partial evil with chearfullest resignation.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cecilia, Volume 3 (of 3), by
+Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)
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+</pre>
+
+  </body>
+</html>
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