ABSTRACT
The family of Ludford had been accustomed to pass part of every summer at Southampton, and as the young man to whom Miss Clarinthia believed herself attached was quartered in that neighbourhood, she was extremely eager that they might go thither earlier in the year than they had usually done. Nothing was easier than to affect a nervous complaint. Her father was as fond of her as his nature permitted him to be of any thing, and readily assented to her wishes. Mrs. Ludford too, who loved to shew herself and her coach and four where they attracted more observation, as novelties, than they could possibly find in the neighbourhood of Ludford House, was not less condescending to the desires of her daughter. They all would have been willing to have left Ethelinde behind them: but as that would have been hazardous on account of Southcote, whose West India connexions brought him frequently to Bristol, it was determined that she should go with them. But Clarinthia, whose natural good humour was lost in her insatiable desire to monopolize admiration, now no longer pressed her to go to public places; but Ethelinde contented herself, after a slight invitation which she invariably refused, to walk, read or otherwise divert herself; while her cousin, either on horseback in a morning, or at at parties in the evening, had opportunities to carry on her clandestine love, without being suspected either by her father or her mother.
