eived.

When he arrived at the door, instead of undergoing that perturbation of
spirits, which a lover in his interesting situation might be supposed to
feel, he suffered no emotion but that of vanity and pride, favoured with
an opportunity of self-gratification, and entered his Emilia's apartment
with the air of a conceited petit-maitre, rather than that of the
respectful admirer, when he visits the object of his passion, after an
absence of seventeen months.

The young lady, having been very much disobliged at his mortifying
neglect of her brother's letter, had summoned all her own pride and
resolution to her aid; and, by means of a happy disposition, so far
overcame her chagrin at his indifference, that she was able to behave in
his presence with apparent tranquility and ease. She was even pleased
to find he had, by accident, chosen a time for his visit when she was
surrounded by two or three young gentlemen, who professed themselves her
admirers. Our gallant was no sooner announced, than she collected all
her coquetry, put on the gayest air she could assume, and contrived
to giggle just as he appeared at the room door. The compliments of
salutation being performed, she welcomed him to England in a careless
manner, asked the news of Paris, and, before he could make any reply,
desired one of the other gentlemen to proceed with the sequel of that
comical adventure, in the relation of which he had been interrupted.

Peregrine smiled within himself at this behaviour, which, without all
doubt, he believed she had affected to punish him for his unkind silence
while he was abroad, being fully persuaded that her heart was absolutely
at his devotion. On this supposition, he practised his Parisian
improvements on the art of conversation, and uttered a thousand
prettinesses in the way of compliment, with such incredible rotation of
tongue, that his rivals were struck dumb with astonishment, and Emilia
fretted out of all temper, at seeing herself deprived of the prerogative
of the sex. He persisted, however, in this surprising loquacity, until
the rest of the company thought proper to withdraw, and then contracted
his discourse into the focus of love, which now put on a very different
appearance from that which it had formerly worn. Instead of awful
veneration, which her presence used to inspire, that chastity of
sentiment, and delicacy of expression, he now gazed upon her with the
eyes of a libertine, he glowed with the impat