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Cecilia now had no tihts or anxious repentance, since notwithstanding the hurry of her spirits, and the confusion of her mind, she had too ence

Averse to all falsehood, she invented none upon this occasion; she uests she was suh 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 coladly have made Henrietta the companion of her journey, but Henrietta was the last to whoive pleasure She only, therefore, took her maid in the chaise, and, attended by one servant on horseback, at six o'clock the next en it for ever

Disinterested as she was, she considered her situation as peculiarly perverse, that froarded 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 co 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 ed 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 sirace Thesethe whole journey, and though the assurance of Mrs Delvile's approbation was some relief to her uneasiness, she involuntarily prepared herself fornew mortifications, and was tormented with an apprehension that this second attempt made her merit them

She drove i-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 erness Yet she saw in his countenance that all was not well, and heard upon enquiry that his mother was considerably worse Extrean to laled, 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