arrative,
when Darnford left her to her own thoughts, to the "never ending, still
beginning," task of weighing his words, recollecting his tones of voice,
and feeling them reverberate on her heart.

* The introduction of Darnford as the deliverer of Maria in
a former instance, appears to have been an after-thought of
the author. This has occasioned the omission of any
allusion to that circumstance in the preceding narration.
EDITOR. [Godwin's note]

CHAPTER 4

PITY, and the forlorn seriousness of adversity, have both been
considered as dispositions favourable to love, while satirical writers
have attributed the propensity to the relaxing effect of idleness; what
chance then had Maria of escaping, when pity, sorrow, and solitude all
conspired to soften her mind, and nourish romantic wishes, and, from a
natural progress, romantic expectations?

Maria was six-and-twenty. But, such was the native soundness of her
constitution, that time had only given to her countenance the character
of her mind. Revolving thought, and exercised affections had banished
some of the playful graces of innocence, producing insensibly that
irregularity of features which the struggles of the understanding to
trace or govern the strong emotions of the heart, are wont to imprint on
the yielding mass. Grief and care had mellowed, without obscuring, the
bright tints of youth, and the thoughtfulness which resided on her brow
did not take from the feminine softness of her features; nay, such
was the sensibility which often mantled over it, that she frequently
appeared, like a large proportion of her sex, only born to feel; and the
activity of her well-proportioned, and even almost voluptuous figure,
inspired the idea of strength of mind, rather than of body. There was a
simplicity sometimes indeed in her manner, which bordered on infantine
ingenuousness, that led people of common discernment to underrate her
talents, and smile at the flights of her imagination. But those who
could not comprehend the delicacy of her sentiments, were attached
by her unfailing sympathy, so that she was very generally beloved by
characters of very different descriptions; still, she was too much under
the influence of an ardent imagination to adhere to common rules.

There are mistakes of conduct which at five-and-twenty prove the
strength of the mind, that, ten or fifteen years after, would
demonstrate its weakness, its incapacity