“O no, my brother would have been affronted with him, too, if he had! but he called here to enquire for him at the time when he was lost to us, and my mother quite went down upon her knees to him to beg him to go to Lord Vannelt's, and make excuses for him, if he had not behaved properly: but if my brother was to know this, he would hardly speak to her again! so when this gentleman came next, I begged him not to mention it, for my mother happened to be out, and so I saw him alone.” “And did he stay with you long?” “No, ma'am, a very short time indeed; but I asked him questions all the while, and kept him as long as I could, that I might hear all he had to say about my brother.” “Have you never seen him since?” “No, ma'am, not once! I suppose he does not know my brother is come back to us. Perhaps when he does, he will call.” “Do you wish him to call?” “Me?” cried she, blushing, “a little;--sometimes I do;--for my brother's sake.” “For your brother's sake! Ah my dear Henrietta! but tell me,--or _don't_ tell me if you had rather not,--did I not once see you kissing a letter? perhaps it was from this same noble friend?” “It was not a letter, madam,” said she, looking down, “it was only the cover of one to my brother.” “The cover of a letter only!--and that to your brother!--is it possible you could so much value it?” “Ah madam! _You_, who are always used to the good and the wise, who see no other sort of people but those in high life, _you_ can have no notion how they strike those that they are new to!--but I who see them seldom, and who live with people so very unlike them--Oh you cannot guess how sweet to _me_ is every thing that belongs to them! whatever has but once been touched by their hands, I should like to lock up, and keep for ever! though if I was used to them, as you are, perhaps I might think less of them.” Alas! thought Cecilia, who by _them_ knew she only meant _him_, little indeed would further intimacy protect you! “We are all over-ready,” continued Henrietta, “to blame others, and that is the way I have been doing all this time myself; but I don't blame my poor brother now for living so with the great as I used to do, for now I have seen a little more of the world, I don't wonder any longer at his behaviour: for I know how it is, and I see that those who have had good educations, and kept great company, and mixed with the world,--O it is another thing!--they seem quite a different species!--they are so gentle, so soft-mannered! nothing comes from them but what is meant to oblige! they seem as if they only lived to give pleasure to other people, and as if they never thought at all of themselves!” “Ah Henrietta!” said Cecilia, shaking her head, “you have caught the enthusiasm of your brother, though you so long condemned it! Oh have a care lest, like him also, you find it as pernicious as it is alluring!”