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She then made a forced and hasty breakfast, and went down to be ready to receive them They ca was passed in agonies of expectation

At length they were announced, and at length they entered the rooe, could hardly stand to receive the before her son, and endeavouring so to stand as to intercept his view of her, with the hope that in a few instants her e accents, "What honour Miss Beverley does us by per this visit! I should have been sorry to have left Suffolk without the satisfaction of again seeing you; and h respect he owes you, was one, 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 cere Cecilia, in a voice of perturbation and resentment, said, "In this presence, at least, I hope I h h inexorably you have flown et not that what I have told you is irrevocable; you now ive and to receive a ement 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 calh displeased, answered, "This is not a point to be at present discussed, and I had hoped you knew better as due to your auditors I only consented to this interview as a mark of your respect for Miss Beverley, to whos 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--"