“Next Tuesday!” repeated I, quite out of breath, “Oh, my Lord!-”
“My sweet Evelina,” said he, “the day which will make me the
happiest of
mortals, would probably appear awful to you, were it to be deferred
a twelvemonth. Mrs. Selwyn has, doubtless, acquainted you with the
many motives which, independent of my eagerness, require it to be
speedy; suffer, therefore, its acceleration, and generously complete
my felicity, by endeavouring to suffer it without repugnance.”
“Indeed, my Lord, I would not wilfully raise objections, nor do I
desire to
appear insensible of the honour of your good opinion;-but
there is something in this plan-so very hasty-so unreasonably
precipitate:-besides, I shall have no time to hear from Berry
Hill;-and believe me, my Lord, I should be for ever miserable,
were I, in an affair so important, to act without the sanction of
Mr. Villars’s advice.”
He offered to wait on you himself: but I told him I had rather write
to you.
And then he proposed, that, instead of my immediately accompanying him
to Lincolnshire, we should first pass a month at my native Berry Hill.
This was, indeed, a grateful proposal to me, and I listened to it with
undisguised pleasure. And, in short, I was obliged to consent to
a compromise in merely deferring the day till Thursday! He readily
undertook to engage my father’s concurrence in this little delay;
and I besought him, at the same time, to make use of his influence
to obtain me a second interview, and to represent the deep concern
I felt in being thus banished his sight.
He would then have spoken of settlements; but I assured him I
was almost
ignorant of the word.
And now, my dearest Sir, what is your opinion of these hasty
proceedings?
Believe me, I half regret the simple facility with which I have
suffered myself to be hurried into compliance; and, should you start
but the smallest objection, I will yet insist upon being allowed
more time.
I must now write a concise account of the state of my affairs
to Howard
Grove, and to Madame Duval.
Adieu, dearest and most honoured Sir! everything at present depends
upon your
single decision; to which, though I yield in trembling, I yield
implicitly.