ABSTRACT
Matilda atoned, by hours of the most dreadful anxiety, for the short-lived but exquisite pleasure of those she had passed with Strathallan. e unforeseen re-appearance of Sir Harold Melbourne, whom she believed to be at the Rocks, revived, in their full force, those terrors of which she had experienced a short suspension. As he had not attempted to accompany her home, her fears were as vague as they were terrible. ey all turned upon the suspicion of his having followed Strathallan from the opera; and she was convinced, by the agonies the bare idea of his danger excited, how far she was yet from / experiencing for him only that calm friendship, which the nature of his engagements made her consider as a duty. Bitterly did she lament the fatal chance that had rst introduced her to the notice of Sir Harold Melbourne. ‘Unhappy man! blest days,’ she cried, ‘when I was ignorant of thy existence! Surely ’twas decreed my peace of mind should not survive the hour that brought me acquainted with a relative, so long unknown; and only known at length for my unhappiness!’
