d not behold his passion
with indifference. This thought afforded him a consolation which he had
never before received; and though it increased his love, yet it abated
his distress, and rendered him more able to leave her, since he
flattered himself she would with pleasure see him return, which he was
now more than ever resolved to do as speedily as possible.

The day of his departure she spent chiefly in her own room, to conceal,
as far as she was able, a weakness she was ashamed of but could not
conquer. She had written the day before to inform Mr d'Avora that she
should set out for London four days after her letter. Accordingly at the
time appointed, after having agreed with Lady Lambton that Sir Edward
must be kept ignorant of the place to which she was gone, she set out
with that lady, who carried her in her coach twelve miles of the way and
then delivered her to Mr d'Avora, who was come thither to receive her.
Lady Lambton could not part with her amiable companion without regret,
and expressed her true sense of her merit in such strong terms to Mr
d'Avora, who could not forgive that pride which had occasioned so much
pain both to Louisa and Sir Edward, that he told her in plain terms how
very happy and how much honoured any man must be who had her for his
wife. Perhaps Lady Lambton would have subscribed to his opinion, had any
one but her grandson been concerned; but the point was too tender, and
it was no small command over herself that prevented her giving the good
old man a hint that she thought him impertinent.

Our travellers arrived in town the next day, after a melancholy journey,
for even the company of a friend she so much loved and esteemed could
not restore Miss Mancel's natural vivacity, though in compassion to the
good old man who sympathized tenderly in her distress she endeavoured to
the utmost of her power to conceal how very deeply she was afflicted. It
was some little time before her spirits were sufficiently composed to
form any scheme for her future life, nor were they benefited by a letter
from Lady Lambton which acquainted her that Sir Edward, at his return,
finding she had left the place, that his grandmother had consented to
her departure and refused to tell him where she was gone, was for some
days frantic with rage and grief, and had just then left Lady Lambton
with a determination to serve as volunteer in the army in Germany, in
hopes, he said, to find there a release from his affliction