ld, according to our agreement,
is to be in town. I shall probably put off his arrival under some
pretence or other. He must not come till Mainwaring is gone. I am still
doubtful at times as to marrying; if the old man would die I might not
hesitate, but a state of dependance on the caprice of Sir Reginald will
not suit the freedom of my spirit; and if I resolve to wait for that
event, I shall have excuse enough at present in having been scarcely ten
months a widow. I have not given Mainwaring any hint of my intention, or
allowed him to consider my acquaintance with Reginald as more than the
commonest flirtation, and he is tolerably appeased. Adieu, till we meet;
I am enchanted with my lodgings.

Yours ever,

S. VERNON.

XXX

LADY SUSAN VERNON TO MR. DE COURCY

Upper Seymour Street.

I have received your letter, and though I do not attempt to conceal that
I am gratified by your impatience for the hour of meeting, I yet
feel myself under the necessity of delaying that hour beyond the time
originally fixed. Do not think me unkind for such an exercise of my
power, nor accuse me of instability without first hearing my reasons.
In the course of my journey from Churchhill I had ample leisure for
reflection on the present state of our affairs, and every review has
served to convince me that they require a delicacy and cautiousness of
conduct to which we have hitherto been too little attentive. We have
been hurried on by our feelings to a degree of precipitation which ill
accords with the claims of our friends or the opinion of the world. We
have been unguarded in forming this hasty engagement, but we must not
complete the imprudence by ratifying it while there is so much reason
to fear the connection would be opposed by those friends on whom you
depend. It is not for us to blame any expectations on your father's side
of your marrying to advantage; where possessions are so extensive as
those of your family, the wish of increasing them, if not strictly
reasonable, is too common to excite surprize or resentment. He has a
right to require; a woman of fortune in his daughter-in-law, and I am
sometimes quarrelling with myself for suffering you to form a connection
so imprudent; but the influence of reason is often acknowledged too late
by those who feel like me. I have now been but a few months a widow,
and, however little indebted to my husband's memory for any happiness
derived from him during a union of some