Camilla, affected by this unexpected address, could only look her desire for an explanation.
'The lady,' he continued, 'whom you are presently to represent, appears to be uncommonly engaging?—'
'Indeed she is! She is attractive, gentle, amiable.'
'She seems, also, already to have caught your affection?'
'Who could have withheld it, that had seen her as I have seen her? She is as unhappy as she is lovely....'
'I have heard of your first meeting, with as much pleasure in the presence of mind it called forth on one side, as with doubt and perplexity, upon every circumstance I can gather, of the other.—'
'If you knew her, you would find it impossible to hold any doubts; impossible to resist admiring, compassionating, and loving her!'
'If my knowledge of her bribed an interest in her favour, without convincing me she deserved it, I ought, rather, to regret that you have not escaped falling into such a snare, than that I could have escaped it myself.'
'I believe her free, nay incapable of all ill!' cried Camilla warmly; 'though I dare not assert she is always coolly upon her guard.'
'Do not let me hurt you,' said Edgar, gently; 'I have seen how lovely she is in person, and how pleasing in manners. And she is so young that, were she in a situation less exposed, want of steadiness or judgment might, by a little time, be set right. But here, there is surely much to fear from her early possession of power.... O, that some happier chance had brought about such a peculiar intercourse for you with Lady Isabella Irby! There, to the pleasure of friendship, might be added the modesty of retired elegance, and the security of established respectability.'