ABSTRACT
Sowerby, in resigning the character of a lover, had resumed, with increased warmth, his former attentions as a friend. He seemed only desirous that it might be forgotten he had ever aspired to a higher place in Matilda’s esteem; and so perfectly did he succeed in making her feel once more at ease in his society, that the charm of her artless manners and affectionate frankness communicated itself to him, and he dictated and dogmatized, quarrelled and asked pardon, with all his former good-humoured assumption of authority. Since his return to town he had taken a lodging near / Mrs. Melbourne, and seemed determined not to forsake her till the first shock of adversity at least was past.
