ABSTRACT
Though Edward had betrayed no visible emotion on being made acquainted with his great elevation, we are not to suppose that he was indi erent about it, or by any means insensible to the many advantages of high birth and a great fortune. He must of necessity then have felt a very considerable degree of internal complacency and satisfaction in the intelligence which had that day been communicated to him; but the circumstance in it which he contemplated with the greatest delight, was the situation it placed him in with respect to Lady Cecilia, on whom he could now confer a higher title than that which she had been accustomed to enjoy; and instead of receiving from her disinterested love the possession of a great estate, he could manifest/ the sincerity of his own, by laying that very estate at her feet. ese were the contemplations which lled his heart with sensations of the purest and most lively joy, and which he was indulging alone with all the secrecy of silent rapture, when his meditations were suddenly disturbed by the noise of a carriage and horses driving to the door. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were surprised who this new visitor could be; and Edward went out to see: he met a lady just alighting from the chaise, whom, as it was night, he did not immediately discover; but whom, as soon as she approached the parlour, he found to be Mrs. Waldron herself; it was in the same moment she rst discovered that it was Edward who conducted her. She turned instantly to him before she spoke to any other of the company. ‘Oh! Edward!’ said she, ‘my son! my son! my Ravensdale! thou precious remains of my dear Lætitia! let me fold thee to my bosom.’/ ‘My mother! my benefactress!’ replied Edward, ‘it is but this day that I have discovered the tender relationship in which I stand towards you.’ A er a mutual embrace, which nature demanded without any regard to the forms of ceremony, Edward continued. ‘Here, Madam, is the only mother whom till this day I have ever known; here are the parents who fostered my helpless infancy, and reared me up to the state of manhood in which you now see me.’
