agement should or should not be continued. This
was not at all her purpose. Thinking of it all with a view to his
happiness, and to his honour, she did not wish him to suppose that
there could be a doubt on that subject. It was clear to her that a
letter so worded was not fit for the occasion, and she destroyed
it. Still she was minded to write to him, but for the moment she
postponed her purpose. Of course she wrote to her friends in Exeter.
Were she to be silent to them it would appear as though she were
ashamed of what she was now doing. She told Maude Hippesley,--or Mrs.
Thorne as she was now called; and she told Mrs. Green, and also Miss
Altifiorla. Immediate answers came from the three. Those from the
two married ladies were in all respects satisfactory. That from Mrs.
Thorne was quite enthusiastic in its praises of matrimony. That from
Mrs. Green was a little less warm, but was still discreetly happy.
She had no doubt in her own mind that a married life was preferable,
and that Mr. Western, though perhaps a little old, was upon the whole
a well-chosen and deserving consort for life. But the letter from
Miss Altifiorla was very different from these, and as it had some
effect perhaps in producing the circumstances which are to be told,
it shall be given at length:--

"MY DEAR CECILIA,--I am of course expected to congratulate you, and
as far as Mr. Western's merits are concerned, I do so with my full
heart. He is possessed, I have no doubt, of all those virtues which
should adorn a husband, and is in all respects the very opposite to
Sir Francis Geraldine. You give me to understand that he is steady,
hard-working, and properly ambitious. In spite of the mistake which
you made in reference to Sir Francis Geraldine, I will not doubt but
that your judgment in respect to Mr. Western will be found correct.
If it is to be I dare say it could not be better. But must it be?"
"Of course it must," said Cecilia to herself, feeling very angry with
Miss Altifiorla for raising the question at such a time and in such
a manner. "After all the sweet converse and sweeter resolutions that
have passed between us on this matter, must all be abandoned like
a breath of summer wind, meaning nothing?" Of what infinitely bad
taste was not the woman guilty, in thus raising the question when
the only final answer to it had been already given? Cecilia felt
ashamed of herself as she thought of this, in that she had admitted
the friendship of su