Tuesday aflernoon, ^lay 1.5. Lady Clementina, soon after dinner, sent up to me her Camilla (for I was not at table) to desire;i quarter of an hour’s discourse with me in my cham-ber. I gave direction, that nobody should come to me till I rang, bhe entered; made me sit; took her seat by me; and immediately, with a noble frankness in her manner, thus began:

I could not, my dear Lady Grandison, ask the favour of your ear on the subject I wanted to open my heart upon to you, till I saw you were perfectly recovered. God be praised, that you are! What anxieties did your late indisposition give me! I ac-cused myself as the cause of it. 1 had engaged you, thoughtlessly, in too long a walk. You know how Lady G. how Lady L. were terrified. I overheard them once that evening talking over their fears to one another. Lady G. looked with visible unkindness upon me. My aid ineffectual, my person in the tvai/, I hurried to my chamber: Good God! said I (every object looking strange about me) Where am I? What am I? Can I be the same Clementina della Porretta^that I was a few months ago? Can I have brought misery to the family which was my only refuge? To the man who [She paused: then lifting up her eyes; Blessed Virgin! said she, and is Clementina in the house of the man whom she ha& been known to regard above all men: and whom she still docs regard; but not as Olivia supposes? J And then on my knees I offered up fervent prayers for your health and happiness; and that it would please God to return me, with reputation, to my native country. My e3’es are now opened to the impro-priety I have been guilty of in taking refuge in England; and in remaining in it, and in your house, and with a man whom I am known to value. The world has begun to talk: Cruel Olivia! She will lead and point the talk, as she would have it believed. I am under obligation to your goodness, and to that of all your friends, that they and you think kindly of me, situated as I once was. I am obliged (mor-tifying consideration to a spirit like mine!) to Sir Charles Grandison’s generosity and compassion, that he does not despise me. A iiirl (forgive me for mentioning it: it is to you only) has been, by my dear Mrs. Beaumont, proposed, indir?ctly at least, for a pattern to me. How am I sunk! My pride cannot bear it. Had I been allowed to take the veil, all these improprieties in my conduct had been prevented; all these mortifications would have been spared the unhappy Clementina Tell me, advise nic, May I not renew my entreaties to be allowed to take the veil? Give me, as to your sister (no sister ever loved her sister better than I love you) your advice: counsel me what to do, what course to steer, to recover myself in my own eyes. At present I hate, I despise, myself.