ABSTRACT
I passed the remainder of the night in rumination. The childish levity of Isabella’s conduct, the evident indifference of Sir Sidney on the subject, and Lady Arabella’s impressive conversation, by turns occupied my thoughts. My interview with Miss Hanbury, on the preceding day at Lady Aubrey’s, convinced me that her attachment to my cousin was at an end, and that her aversion to me was insuperable. With this conviction strongly, deeply engraved upon my mind, Lady Arabella’s attentions could not be remembered without an emotion of gratitude – a sentiment of esteem. She was young, lovely, amiable, and ingenuous. I had been persecuted by fortune, neglected by Isabella. Pride began to gain an ascendancy over attachment, and I resolved at least to cultivate Lady Arabella’s esteem, and to try, as my last resource, whether jealousy would not awaken the latent sparks of that affection, which once warmed the bosom of my ungrateful idol.
