ABSTRACT
Every thing happened in one respect, as the veteran solicitor would have wished: the ladies had been invited to dine the next day at the house of the noble baron. They had been much pleased with Mallison, as I have related, in their late excursion into Derbyshire: they were still more gratified with the favourable report he now brought respecting me. The young Montagus called in, in their ride before dinner, to remind Mrs Willis and Henrietta of their engagement; and Mallison happened to be present. This hopeful suitor to my sister, as he presumptuously regarded himself, / and these young gentlemen, had never met before. Mrs Willis, who was in high good humour, introduced him; not as the nephew of Holloway, my guardian, but as a ci-devant Wintonian, and my particular friend, to whom they were under great obligations. The Montagus had never heard his name. They therefore invited him to accompany the ladies in their visit; and the invitation was no sooner given than accepted. To crown the scene, beside several visitors from among the neighbouring gentry, there was an unexpected guest: it was Clifford.
