will be in my
power to see done, and proper settlements drawn, before I enter into any
farther engagements with him; if I will have it so.'

He says, 'That I need not be under any solicitude as to apparel: all
immediate occasions of that sort will be most cheerfully supplied by the
ladies of his family: as my others shall, with the greatest pride and
pleasure (if I allow him that honour) by himself.

'He assures me, that I shall govern him as I please, with regard to any
thing in his power towards effecting a reconciliation with my friends:'
a point he knows my heart is set upon.

'He is afraid, that the time will hardly allow of his procuring Miss
Charlotte Montague's attendance upon me, at St. Alban's, as he had
proposed she should; because, he understands, she keeps her chamber with
a violent cold and sore throat. But both she and her sister, the first
moment she is able to go abroad, shall visit me at my private lodgings;
and introduce me to Lady Sarah and Lady Betty, or those ladies to me, as
I shall choose; and accompany me to town, if I please; and stay as long
in it with me as I shall think fit to stay there.

'Lord M. will also, at my own time, and in my own manner, (that is to
say, either publicly or privately,) make me a visit. And, for his own
part, when he has seen me in safety, either in their protection, or in
the privacy I prefer, he will leave me, and not attempt to visit me but
by my own permission.

'He had thought once, he says, on hearing of his cousin Charlotte's
indisposition, to have engaged his cousin Patty's attendance upon me,
either in or about the neighbouring village, or at St. Alban's: but, he
says, she is a low-spirited, timorous girl, and would but the more have
perplexed us.'

So, my dear, the enterprise requires courage and high spirits, you
see!--And indeed it does!--What am I about to do!

He himself, it is plain, thinks it necessary that I should be
accompanied with one of my own sex.--He might, at least, have proposed
the woman of one of the ladies of his family.--Lord bless me!--What am I
about to do!--

*****

After all, as far as I have gone, I know not but I may still recede:
and, if I do, a mortal quarrel I suppose will ensue.--And what if it
does?--Could there be any way to escape this Solmes, a breach with
Lovelace might make way for the single life to take place, which I
so much prefer: and then I would defy the sex. For I see nothing but
trouble and vexatio