ABSTRACT
Evans and Ned imputed her agitation to the terrors of friendship for the dangers he was to undergo; but Mrs. Evans was not so deceived – she clearly saw the real cause; she saw and pitied – for nothing could have been more agreeable to her than that alliance, which would not only have been an ample provision for Ned, but would have kept him at home and in safety. And indeed if her wishes were to determine, she would gladly have returned the commission, and kept her son. But this she knew to be impossible – she knew full well the state of/ Ned’s heart, which this commission attered; and were his love out of the question, she knew his passion for glory would never su er him to forego a profession which it had been the height of his ambition to aspire to; and she knew also that her husband would be of the same sentiments. So that pity was all the consolation she could give to poor Harriet, and this she did give her from the bottom of her soul. Indeed she soon a erwards took her up to her own bed-chamber under some pretence, where she gave her an opportunity to unbosom herself, and where that poor girl had the consolation to nd in her all the tenderness of
a mother, and all the delity of a friend. is soothed her so much as to enable her to return to the parlour, and to pass the evening without in the least awakening the suspicion either of Mr. Evans or his son. And indeed from this evening Mrs. Evans did really look upon her with the a ection of a mother, not thinking it at all improbable but that, if Edward lived, she might/ one day become so; for she considered his passion for Lady Cecilia as quite romantic, and that there was not the smallest probability of ever being successful: and Mr. Evans himself coincided with her in this opinion; as he did also in his good wishes for Miss Watkins, when his wife a erwards apprised him of the truth: so that this poor girl found friends and advocates where she most desired them; and was restored, if not to the sweetness of hope, at least to some degree of complacency and tranquillity of mind. Her regret indeed for his absence, and her terrors for the dangers to which he must be exposed, could not be alleviated except by the consciousness how many partners she had in these anxieties; for there was not one of Ned’s acquaintance who was not solicitous for his welfare.
