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.